Apple’s giant iPad Pro is now available to buy the United States. The 12.9-inch slate is Apple’s most decked out tablet and is the company’s take on a true PC alternative. Launched two months ago, the iPad Pro is now available in a number of configuration and with optional accessories such as the Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil.
As part of the roll out, Apple is saying that it will throw in a free engraving. Considering the size of the Pro, you could have a mini essay etched onto the back, but instead Apple allows just a brief message that will sit above the company’s logo.
There are two variants of the iPad Pro, a 16GB Wi-Fi version and a 128GB cellular LTE model, the former will cost $799 and the latter the $1,079. There is also a Wi-Fi 128GB version that will cost $949, but if you want to get the Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil you will have to fork out $169 and $99 respectively.
The iPad Pro may spell trouble for the humble old small laptop, including Apple’s own MacBook Air, especially for those who only do minimal casual computing. It will also help Apple’s aspirations in enterprise and with the deal with IBM in place expect Cupertino to really drive this product to companies around the world.
This is probably the most decked out product Apple has ever made, at least in the mobile space. The Pro comes with a massive (it really looks huge) 12.9-inch Retina Display packing screen that sports a higher resolution than the MacBook Air Retina. Under the hood there is an A9X processor that is 1.8 times faster than the A8 found in the iPad Air 2. Apple says the result is the iPad Pro being faster than 80% of the portable laptops on the market and graphically better than 90%.
You may remember back in the day that Steve Jobs was pretty adamant that Apple wouldn’t ever make a stylus, so what do we make of the Apple Pencil? Well, firstly it is not a stylus says Apple, much the same way as Samsung’s S Pen is not a stylus. Ok, we get it, the Apple Pencil is much more functional and in the coming days we will be doing an extensive post on the Pencil, which brings a host of functionality to the Pro that pushes it past any other tablet on the market.
The peripherals do not end with the Apple Pencil as the company also launched a SmartCover Keyboard that connects to the device via three magnetic dots. This further adds to the enterprise leanings of the iPad Pro for those who want to type physically.
As you can probably guess, the iPad Pro is very expensive, insanely so probably. The standard entry level Wi-Fi model with 32GB of storage will cost a huge $799, while a 128GB storage comes in at $949, and the flagship 128GB LTE version is a dizzying $1079. Factor in the $99 price of the Apple Pencil, and frankly crazy $169 you need to pay for the keyboard then you have a very expensive product indeed. Of course, Apple can get away with these kinds of margins, but this is certainly not a casual purchase.
