[Swordmaker]

Apple opened pre-orders for their new iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil today. John Gruber and others offer reviews of the new iPad Pro and the specific Pro accessories such as the Apple Pencil, the new keyboard, and smart case. -- PING!

Apple iPad Pro Pre-Sales start today
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[Swordmaker]

Here is Walt Mossberg's review:

Mossberg: The iPad Pro can't replace your laptop totally, even for a tablet lover
The Verge, Walt Mossberg, November 11, 2015

I am a tablet man, specifically an iPad man. I do love my trusty, iconic, MacBook Air laptop. But, except for heavy writing, I'm likelier to grab my iPad Air or even my diminutive iPad mini to get work done.

That includes everything from email to photo cropping; from reviewing and annotating PDFs to signing legal documents and editing articles and spreadsheets. I surf the web on it, run Slack on it, use it for Facebook and Twitter, business and personal video calls, and even keep my calendar on it.

Of course, I also use my iPads for consuming content -- videos, photos, books, and music. But, contrary to the conventional wisdom, I see the iPad as a productivity device as well. While the iPad hasn't entirely replaced my laptop, it has replaced so many of the scenarios for which I used my laptop in the past that I turn to the laptop much less often.

So I was quite intrigued when Apple announced the iPad Pro, a new, jumbo-sized iPad with an optional snap-on physical keyboard cover and stylus for drawing. This whopping slate can be ordered starting today, and I've been testing it for the past week. In fact, I wrote much of this column on an iPad Pro with Apple's Smart Keyboard. For comparison, I also used a new iPad Pro keyboard from Logitech, and a MacBook Pro to write portions. And of course I've reviewed the Microsoft Surface Pro and its Type Cover in the past, and used a variety of third-party iPad keyboards as well.

The iPad Pro is a huge tablet. Its 12.9-inch screen is almost as large as the 13.3-inch display on the MacBook Air, and has much higher resolution. The display is 78 percent larger than the screen of Apple's standard-sized iPad Air 2. When encased in its keyboard cover, the iPad Pro is longer, wider, thicker, and heavier than Apple's smallest Mac laptop, the 12-inch MacBook.

You'd think an iPad guy like me would be over the moon about the iPad Pro, despite its hefty base price of $799 for a Wi-Fi-only model with 32GB of memory, which stretches to $949 with 128GB of memory, and soars past $1,000 with cellular capability.

But I'm not.

And here is another review by Lauren Goode also on The Verge:

iPad Pro review
The Verge, Lauren Goode, November 11, 2015.

When I first picked up the iPad Pro at an Apple event this past September, I couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. For one, its size: it is holy-crap-look-at-this-iPad big. And with a price tag that easily jumps up to around a thousand dollars, it’s the most expensive iPad ever.

There’s also the fact that Apple has once again hung back and watched others launch a new product category before bursting in and laying claim to it. The company had done this with MP3 players, phablet phones, smartwatches. Now, it was unveiling a high-powered tablet computer with a stylus and accessory keyboard.

But after a few days of using the iPad Pro, I started to look at iPad differently. The large tablet pretty much demanded it. I’ve always been a bit of an iPad skeptic, never understanding how people can use them all the time for productivity, even with a Bluetooth accessory keyboard attached. By day three with the iPad Pro, I had started to wonder, Could this replace my MacBook?

It’s the question everyone is asking. And while Apple says it didn’t make iPad Pro with the intent to replace a laptop, even Apple CEO Tim Cook suggested in a recent interview that this could be the case — because what else could this massive iPad be for? It’s the same question Microsoft has been trying to answer with the Surface since 2012, with mixed results.

Either way you look at it, the iPad Pro is meant to change how we think about computers (or at least turn around the iPad’s flagging sales) — which is, actually, no laughing matter.

(There's a lot more at the link above. . . )

[Conservative4Ever]

Have had my iPad mini for a year now. For me, the iPad is a communication device. Light weight and a good size crisp clear screen. Great for short posts, like this one, and as an ereader for study text, blogs. Great for playing certain types of games and monitor weather, earthquakes apps. Short emails, sending pics. And on-line shopping, can’t forget online shopping. OK, I do a lot on my iPad. My laptop pc is for work.

[AlaskaErik]

I have an iPad Air 2. It is just fine for traveling. I can look up what I need and I can keep up with FreeRepublic. It's also great for off roading. The big screen allows me to see the big picture. Much better than paper maps.

[montag813]

What an outstanding review, unlike 99.9% of them out there.

[Yaelle]

Ok, my dear Sword, here is my big question: can the iPad pro be working multiple browsers at once like a laptop?

I live with my iPad next to me or on my lap. My iPad is my most prized possession, I guess. I don’t have to go over to my desk where my iMac sits except for one thing I need to do in my small business that requires multiple browsers at once. I’d like to have a laptop for that, but if an iPad could do that, I’d not need anything else ever. :)

Can it multitask yet?

Thanks.

[Enlightened1]

Thanks!

[Enlightened1]

I have an iPad Air and love it. My previous device was the iPad II.

Anyhow, I’m thinking about getting this.

If I do then I’ll sell my iPad Air on Craig’s List.

[texas booster]

I start my new job at a small company today. From what I see, corporate laptops are older Lenovos and Dell. I have a maxed out HP 3rd gen i7 that I may bring to work.

So I spent last night drooling over the Surface Book, and thinking that I may finally try to get a top-of-the-line Win 10 laptop. And yes, it would be useful to have a Surface Book selling the products I rep.

Which goes against the entire line of thinking that my next laptop will be OS/X. The iPad Pro actually focuses my thoughts on how I use my computers, since I travel 160+ days annually.

Reading this review makes me realize that even if the hardware is the same or better than Apple, it is the compromises from M$ that I no longer want to deal with. And no more threats from CryptoLocker etc.

Do you think that the transition from an all M$ world to OS/X is realistic, in a small company with little IT staff?

I live by Outlook and dozens of Windows programs for my demos.

I wish the Apple had the 6th gen i5 and i7. I wish the Surface Book I want wasn't $3,000. I wish a Democrat anywhere would stop spending my money for me, and for unicorn ... well, you get the idea.

As an IT professional who lines in both worlds, how much agony do I bring to the new company's IT guys if I have a Macbook Pro? They know Winders and Linux.

Any other thoughts that I should consider before I convince my wife that I really need a $3,000 upgrade? (actually, forget the wife part of the equation)