5 reasons why the iPad Pro will change your life

Looking for your first tablet display? Wacom seem a bit pricey? Worried that alternatives wont be reliable. If your answer to these three questions is yes then maybe take a look at the iPad Pro.

1. The Apple Pencil

I would be lying if I said I wasn't sceptical about this type of device. I had previously tried the Wacom Bamboo, Creative stylus 1 & 2 and the Pixel Point from Adoint all claiming to mimic pressure sensitivity to one degree or another. While their performance was adequate they simply couldn't compete with the user experience I was getting with my Wacom Cintiq stylus. Enter the Apple Pencil. This device blew me away, working straight out of the box with a good weight , balance and the pressure sensitivity that worked like a charm.

2. Portability

I know that there are plenty of portable options out there such as the Wacom Companion, Surface Pro and Samsung Slate but in my experience I've found these options to at be stretching the word portable to its limit. I currently own a Wacom Companion and find I don't use it as much as my iPad Pro due to its weight and size not to mention its heat output. Its fine on a desk hooked up to a secondary monitor but on your lap it can be really quite uncomfortable and Adobe Photoshop becomes almost unusable.

With my iPad Pro I can sit for hours quite happily sketching away in my living room with the ability to upload directly to my iMac in the studio upstairs. Fitting easily into my messenger bag I'm able to whip that sucker out in an instant and continue with a piece of concept art which really is a big deal for me being a graphic designer by day and illustrator any time in between. With a lightning fast boot up time and fast loading apps I can quite literally be up and running in under a minute.

3. Apps

It won’t run Adobe Photoshop! This must be one of common complaints I hear about the iPad Pro but fear not as there are enough apps currently available that this shouldn't be too much of an issue. Working with layers, higher resolutions and fully customizable brushes the likes of Procreate, Tayasui Sketches and Concepts are looking like a serious alternative for some artists with the ability to export PSD files as standard.

There is also Astropad, giving you the ability to turn your iPad into a Cintiq (or so the company says). Connect wirelessly or via usb and use your iPad Pro as a pressure sensitive tablet giving you the use of Adobe Photoshop and illustrator. I find that I still have the same real estate issues though and it’s only marginally different from using my Wacom Companion.

4. User experience

This really is its main selling point for me. Being able to use a multi touch device during the initial creation process is a must. iPad Pro is one of if not the best multi touch experience I have up to this point and it makes my work flow intuitive and fun. I have a Wacom Intuos Pro with touch and to be honest I found it to be buggy to the point of distraction. In the end I just switched it off. This was a deciding factor in choosing my Wacom Cintiq 24hd over the 24hd touch as it felt like flushing additional thousand pounds down the drain.

5. Build quality

There’s no denying Apple knows how to make a slick bit of kit and the iPad Pro is no exception. Even at the larger sized 12.9” it feels light and easy in the hand and I have never experienced any hot spots. Of course you have to pay for all that quality and this might be the sticking point for some. At £799 for the 12.9” model plus the additional £95 for your Apple Pencil and you’re looking at a cool £900 price tag (pretty much mirroring a 13” Wacom Cintiq Pro).

The iPad may still have a little way to go before it becomes a replacement for Wacoms portable solutions but gap seems to be closing with ever increasing performance boosts and a seemingly endless pool of creative apps appearing every few months. What I can say is I wouldn’t be without my iPad Pro and its ease of use has certainly resulted in some great artwork.