iPad Pro 10.5

I spent $629 for iPad Pro (with student discount) and $159 on Apple’s Smart Keyboard at the Apple Store, plus $81.99 on an open-box Apple Pencil from Best Buy. All that plus 9% tax if you could do the math. And why did I blew off a significant portion of my savings on niche Apple products? The answer is two-fold.

At the heart of Silicon Valley, at some university, someone said this, “Don’t invest on standalone devices, invest in an ecosystem”. And I wouldn’t have better known this when I was using a 17" beast powered by Windows 10 at work, an iPhone SE and an Acer Chromebook 11 for personal usage … and the disaster of using devices in the age of ecosystems — which can be either embracing Microsoft’s Surface line of products and Windows phone or getting a google ecosystem comprising of Chromebook, Android tablet and smartphone or live with the extravagant Macbook + iPad + iPhone ecosystem. After much deliberation, I chose Apple’s ecosystem. Remember, it’s not just about devices. With ecosystem, I also have to take into account secondary factors like using the cloud service that’s native to a given ecosystem and the investment in purchasing essential apps on that ecosystem.

After dropping by Apple HQ’s store early yesterday at 9:05 am, I was greeted by this kind mid-aged Apple genius who addressed my dilemma of going for 64 gb 10.5 inch iPad Pro. Sure, I wanted to future proof myself, and so my brain aspired for a 256 gb model by paying an extra $100. But then I thought — when was the last time I needed so much space on a tablet like device? I watch movies on Netflix and admittedly on yify.tv, I don’t click many pictures and my appetite for apps is bland and bare minimum. I would be spending quality portion of my time on iPad to check for emails — read textbooks and take notes at the same time, apply for new job opportunities and perhaps use it to browse on reddit or watch videos / listen to music. But I would be putting Apple’s 120Hz screen refresh update at greater use — to get over the “yuk” feeling I had upon experiencing screen lag when first tried iPad Pro somewhere last year (and I still remember statement from Microsoft Research, some five years ago). And when I tried the new iPad Pro, I must say — it has restored my faith on technological progress.

To even begin with, I drew this using the notes app. Imagine for a person like myself — who prefers to carry a pocket journal and bunch of Pilot Frixion color pens, suddenly having this power to sketch and share ideas anytime, anywhere …

I also rough sketched my display picture again with notes app (I had to then take a screenshot -> crop it -> use lunapic.com to invert colors -> finally use markup tool in Photos app to give finishing touches):

↑- Not my original work. Pirated.

Anyways, since this is not a review or unbox article nor something to praise the wonders of Apple’s new line-up, I thought I may share something that you may want to consider before buying:

There are very few accessories that go with iPad 10.5 inch. If you are planning on buying iPad 10.5 inch, you only have keyboard case options from Apple (Smart Keyboard cover) and Logitech (It had 2 rating on Apple Store website). I asked someone at Zagg if I would know when they would be officially releasing their new 10.5 inch compatible iPad Pro cases and keyboard folios. Although Best Buy seems to have put up few accessories for pre-order (until June 25) on their website.

It’s okay if some section of your iPad Pro’s screen is heated up when using it with smart cover. I freaked out at first — thought it was some sorta workmanship defect, until I read this post on one of the web bulletins:

Apple’s Smart Keyboard Cover does a bad job of not protecting back of iPad Pro. I didn’t want to spend another two-three figure amount on case, so I bought this from Fedex’s shipping store:

That’s right. A $1.29 bubble mailer (plus taxes, ofcourse!). It fits my 10.5 inch iPad and pencil perfectly, and I can leave this mailer envelope in back seat of my car — without worrying up it getting stolen when parked in a city block or parking lot. Plus, it’s padded — allowing some level of ruggedness if you were to lose grip of this envelope with your beloved inside.

update: Check out pencil trick by James Dandee in responses.

One important observation — even with 10.5 inch, you cannot take notes in scribble mode comfortably with your pencil in either 75–25 or 50–50 split mode with either a video or book on left and notes app on the right side. It’s not natural note taking experience with split mode in a 10.5 incher. I guess a 12.9 inch would be better of for such scenarios.

Charging from 12w adapter shipped with this iPad Pro seems slow. I can dig into technical explanation, but this is just to let you know.

The new policy** (confirmed from Apple Store employee at the HQ store) says that one needs to buy Apple Care within 60 days. Better confirm it while buying.

**correction — this has always been Apple’s Policy — you have 60 days to buy Apple Care+ on iPads. What has changed is the fact that instead of having 1 year from day of purchase of Macbooks, you now have the same 60 day policy till which you are elgible to purchase Apple Care+ for Macbooks. (credit — Redditor /u/jurassic_alan)

I am still to pick up the right apps and fidget with settings and cloud services before it truly can put my desktop out of service. And yes, I would want to explore by disk needs — by budgeting how much physical disk space I may need and deciding if I should invest extra $100 on extra space or Apple Care+ …

Let me know what’s on your mind about the new iPad Pro. And if you want me to try something on iPad Pro for you i.e. feedback on usability or response of certain app on new iPad Pro 10.5 inch, I would be happy to.

I hope you don’t take this post for Why you should buy the new iPad Pro styled posts. Apple products are one of the greatest expression of design and inspiration. Whenever I tend to create something it comes to my mind, “If those folks out at Cupertino can design it right, even I could …”