Just bought a 12.9" iPad Pro

[HarryT]

I bought the 12.9" iPad Pro a few days ago, and I'm loving it. On paper, the difference between 9.7" and 12.9" doesn't sound like that much, but I'm finding that the larger screen is a tremendous benefit when it comes to the main use of my iPad, which is reading page-scanned PDFs and journal articles. On the large screen I can read them full-size with no zooming or panning needed.

I'm keeping my 9.7" Air 2 for taking away with me on trips (it's much more portable), but the Pro is great for using at home.

Originally Posted by HarryT

I bought the 12.9" iPad Pro a few days ago, and I'm loving it. On paper, the difference between 9.7" and 12.9" doesn't sound like that much, but I'm finding that the larger screen is a tremendous benefit when it comes to the main use of my iPad, which is reading page-scanned PDFs and journal articles. On the large screen I can read them full-size with no zooming or panning needed.

I'm keeping my 9.7" Air 2 for taking away with me on trips (it's much more portable), but the Pro is great for using at home.

Cool! Yep I love my iPad Pro 9.7. I don't read PDFs and I wanted to stay in the 9.7 inch size range for better portability and it is easier to hold and read on. But I love the screen, the pencil capability, and those four speakers actually sound very nice. It was quite a step up from my old iPad Mini 2, which I chose to keep too.

[HarryT]

Yes, the 9.7" is definitely much more portable. I'm pleasantly surprised, though, how comfortable the 12.9" is to hold, and I bought it with the Apple "Smart Cover", which nicely protects the screen while adding very little to the weight, and also folds into a nice stand for propping the iPad up with.

[pwalker8]

I have had the big iPad Pro for a while now and love using it to read PDF's and magazines. Books are pretty nice as well.

[ChristopherTD]

+1 for the 12.9 and its suitability for reading PDFs and comics without having to zoom and pan. Very convenient.

[Anthem]

It kills me that comics are almost the right size on my iPad Air 2... so close! But I can't justify getting the 12.9 Pro just to read comics.

Bummer

[kyteflyer]

I wish I could afford a 12.9" iPad Pro! I'd replace my laptop and air2 with that, and have a Mini for couch surfing. I would use it for photography/editing, rather than reading

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

I wish I could afford a 12.9" iPad Pro! I'd replace my laptop and air2 with that, and have a Mini for couch surfing. I would use it for photography/editing, rather than reading

I still use my MacBook Pro for most of my photography editing since I shoot hundreds of night sky images in a night and need to process the RAW files. Not a good task for a tablet with limited storage space and RAM. However, I am very pleased with my iPad Pro 9.7 and its ability to go way beyond the photo editing of most tablets. I have the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan and that gives me four related iPad apps to use including Lightroom, Photoshop Fix, Photoshop Mix, and Adobe Clip. I also I have few other photo editing and graphics apps. All of these work so much better than the pitiful apps I've used in the past that only give you a few rudimentary editing choices via slider controls. Add the Apple Pencil into the editing mix and I have so much more control than I did on previous tablets using just my finger. Over all I'm extremely pleased with the Pro's ability to edit photos and draw and paint artwork.

[johnnyb]

Funny, I just upgraded my Mini 2 to an Air 2 (used, 350 quid for the 128GB/4G option) and I already feel like I will never have to pan and zoom ever again Totally worth it!

I got up this morning and put my Apple Pencil in the charging station (a 3rd party accessory I bought) and dragged my finger down from the top of the screen to display the Notification Center and the Batteries charge status. The Batteries charge status area did not display. Normally it shows the charge status for the batteries in the iPad Pro 9.7 and in the Apple Pencil. I couldn't get it to display in several attempts. I even plugged the Apple Pencil into the iPad Pro's lightning port to ensure it was connected. Nothing. I test the Apple Pencil on the iPad screen, and no reaction. I then restarted the iPad, but still nothing. I was about to give up but then decided to go into Settings and ensure the Apple Pencil was connected via Bluetooth. It wasn't, but pressing on Unconnected Device (that is how it was labelled as I recall) it went through its connection ritual and then the Apple Pencil displayed as connected. I tested the Apple Pencil and it was indeed working with the iPad again. Whew. For a few minutes I thought it had broke, and I really was not looking forward to dealing with a local Apple Store on a weekend.

I have noticed that since I updated to iOS 10.3.x that occasionally the Apple Pencil is finicky and/or sluggish to connect or display in the Notification Center. But usually even if it does not display its status as charging, the iPad status does display. Neither would display this morning until I went into Setting --> Bluetooth and reconnected it. So just be aware that there might be a glitch in the iOS 10.3.x. But it did connect eventually, so that is good.

[The Old Man]

Also just bought the 12.9" Pro. Great for magazines, papers, pdfs and just about everything if you use it at home and aren't required to tote it about.

[tomsem]

At this point I would be waiting for iPad Pro '2' but would also be looking at Surface Pro 5.

I get frustrated sometimes with iOS, because external keyboard is not as versatile as it is with Windows or Android (mostly fault of app developers not thinking about keyboard shortcuts and so forth), and similarly because you cannot use a mouse/trackpad. I use my (smaller) iPad at least half the time with an external keyboard, while it is sitting on a desktop.

On the other hand, there are some iOS apps that I would miss.

[pwalker8]

I have a case/keyboard that I use with my 12.9 inch iPad. I'm not sure why you would want to use a mouse/trackpad though.

With the older, non-pro, iPads the screen was a touchscreen but not very accurate or precise, nor was there any stylus that worked that well due to the screen not being designed for such precision. A mouse would have possibly given more precise control on the older iPads for such things as artwork or image editing. Plus many people were used to using a mouse since popular computers had been using them from the mid-1980s onward. I personally never found a trackpad I liked though, as mice work so much better for me. However, with the iPad Pro models we now have much more precision via the Apple Pencil, so the use of a mouse seems to be no longer a necessary feature, at least for me. I rarely use a keyboard with my iPads/iPhone. They are not laptop replacements in my case. But it is totally correct that developers need to better support keyboards for those who use them. And Apple needs to create a software touchscreen keyboard that is much more user friendly, especially on the iPhone. It is totally ridiculous how long it takes to type in a password or url. Having to pop back and forth between letter screen and number screen, or even worse fish through several layers of special character screens, is such a waste of time and extremely frustrating. Apple needs to start focusing more on function and less on form. I want a tool that works, that lets me do what I need/want to accomplish. I could care less what that tool looks like as long as it functions superbly.

As far as the Surface Pros, they are basically just laptops with a touchscreen and a cheap keyboard. Those things won't even sit well in your lap due to the way they were designed. I bought a Yoga 2 11 a while back thinking it would be a great laptop. It is built like a traditional laptop with non-removable keyboard, but the keyboard can be folded up behind the screen to make the Yoga 2 11 more like a laptop. It runs Win 10 now. I thought with the touchscreen it would make a nice little device. But Windows is still crap and I found that I rarely used the touchscreen. To me a laptop is a laptop, a tablet is a tablet, and no fanciful combination of the two seems to be a "one size fits all" solution. My iPads will never replace my MacBook Pro nor vice versa. I use the iPads for different tasks and in different ways than I do the MacBook Pro or desktop dual Mac/Windows computer I have, and vice versa. I really don't even care for a MacBook Pro with a touchscreen either as I would likely not use it much. What I would like though is total integration between my iPad Pro and my MacBook Pro so I could use them together like a graphics pad attached to a computer. For my use, that would make much more sense than any single device to replace all other devices. I have a toolbox full of tools. I also have a Leatherman tool and a Swiss Army knife. Neither of the latter two will ever cause me to throw away my toolbox though. The tools in my toolbox will get the jobs done right. The Leatherman tool and a Swiss Army knife are only for use when I don't have my toolbox nearby.

[HarryT]

I do like the fact that the on-screen keyboard on the 12.9" iPad Pro shows letters and numbers simultaneously. That's a great improvement.