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Marques Brownlee - iPad Pro M1 Review: The Ultimate Spec Bump!

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Author: Marques Brownlee
Categories: Technology
Tags: technology
Views: 2 · Last viewed: 2026-10-16 08:09 UTC

Short Summary

Main recommendation: The M1 iPad Pro is a huge performance leap and, in his view, 'the GOAT of tablets,' but that performance is mostly wasted on typical users, so only buyers with heavy pro workflows or a need for the new mini-LED screen should upgrade. The reviewer calls it "the GOAT of tablets" and says the same performance increase is hard to feel in daily use. He keeps his own 2018 11-inch iPad Pro because the 11-inch model did not receive the new display.

Key Points

  • The M1 iPad Pro is internally essentially the same as the M1 MacBook Air, with an 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine.
  • RAM is 8 GB in lower storage models and 16 GB in the 1 TB and 2 TB configurations, which keeps older heavy apps in memory.
  • Benchmarks show roughly 30 to 45 percent faster performance than the A12Z iPad Pro: about 6,900 to 7,000 Geekbench multi-core versus 4,500 to 4,700, and 1,084,000 AnTuTu versus 723,000.
  • The 12.9-inch model gets a new mini-LED Liquid Retina XDR display with up to 1,600 nits peak brightness, while the 11-inch model keeps last year's screen.
  • The front camera adds a 122-degree ultra-wide lens and a Center Stage feature that follows faces during video calls, with no change to Face ID.
  • The reviewer says that a regular user would be better served by an iPad Air, and that the iPad's software still limits its use as a full computer.

Details Worth Noting

  • Concrete instructions: To turn off Center Stage for a specific app, open the Settings app, select that app, and uncheck the Center Stage checkbox; there are no other adjustment settings.
  • Concrete instructions: For heavy video work, the reviewer's one-hour iMovie export took 12 minutes on the M1 iPad versus 17 minutes on the previous model, so batch exports and large Lightroom or LumaFusion projects are where the upgrade is most noticeable.
  • Concrete instructions: The Thunderbolt/USB 4 USB-C port supports up to 40 Gbps, can drive a 10-gigabit Ethernet dongle, and can drive the Pro Display XDR at 6K, which suits users who transfer large photo or video libraries by cable.
  • The cellular model now supports 5G, and the new 12.9-inch screen supports full HDR creation workflows including Dolby Vision viewing.
  • The M1 iPad Pro is rated for the same 10 hours of battery life as the previous model, though the reviewer saw somewhat faster drain at full brightness with heavy use.
  • The existing Magic Keyboard works with the new model despite a half-millimeter increase in thickness, though it may feel slightly snug when closed.

Bottom Line

Upgrade only if you have a workflow that pushes the previous iPad Pro or you want the 12.9-inch model's mini-LED display; otherwise the performance gain is hard to notice, and the reviewer himself is keeping his older 11-inch model.