The 13 inch iPad Pro M5 is hard tell apart from the previous M4 chip version even though inside there are some significant upgrades. Now if you’re wondering if it’s worth the upgrade and also how it performs then read on as I share my experience of using it over the last several weeks.
I use all my iPads more for fun or as an accessory tool for work. Normally when I create content or work on VFX I prefer to use a beefy PC or laptop. Where I think the iPads and especially the iPad pros have a huge advantage is when you combine them with the Apple Pencil Pro. Doing any kind of photo retouching, drawing, animation work in Pro Create Dreams or even 3D sculpting is so much better on the iPad pro. Also in my opinion the 13 inch version has an advantage over the 11 inch ipads because of the extra space that allows detailed work with less zooming in and out.
Let’s start with the screen. I think it’s one of the best displays on any device period. The OLED Touchscreen with a resolution of 2752 x 2064 pixels is very sharp and the color reproduction is dead on accurate. 120hz refresh rate makes gaming and working very fluid. Also using it outside is never a problem thanks to the 1600 nits peak HDR brightness with a 1000 nit sustained brightness.
Now if you really want that apple pencil pro to feel more natural then I would suggest adding a textured magnetic screen protector. I don’t like the permanent solutions as the textured screen always looks a bit more dull and muted. So I prefer to take the screen protector off when watching content or doing video editing. I’ll provide a link to my favorite option in the description.
iPad Pro M5: https://bhpho.to/3JVoMRT
On Amazon https://amzn.to/4nSMEDS
Apple Pencil Pro: https://bhpho.to/4p6MWYJ
On Amazon https://amzn.to/4oZELgB
Magnetic Screen Protector: https://amzn.to/4qN6rHj
The iPad Pro case I am using: https://amzn.to/3LUSrv1
Now talk about video editing on the iPad Pro. Can you realistically do it? Yes you can and that’s all thanks to the new M5 Chip with a 9-Core CPU, a 10-Core GPU. Plus the 12 gigs or RAM on the base model versus just 8 on the M4. Now can you edit the same as you would on a powerful PC or laptop. Not quite. While it’s a great backup option especially if you are just working with 4K footage and no more than 4 video streams at once, but if you go beyond that, you have to be aware of its limitations, plus the different workflow because of the tablet design. Some people compare the iPad Pro with a keyboard to a laptop replacement but in my opinion MacBook Pro is just a better suited tool for this task.
Now like I said if you like doing CPU or GPU heavy work on an iPad then you might want to upgrade. In benchmarks you see a 10 to 15% improvement on the CPU and 30 to 35% improvement on the GPU over the M4 iPad. However if you aren’t regularly pushing the hardware limits of the previous generation then you won’t really see much of a difference here. Even when gaming, I right now have not seen any real improvements but that could be more to do with the limitations of the games which haven’t yet been updated to take advantage of the extra hardware.
I did want to quickly mention the iPad OS 26. While it’s still not as good in my opinion as using a Macbook Pro I think the iPad OS 26 does get a lot closer to a desktop like experience. Proper window management and a cursor that feels more natural really helps.
Battery life is advertised the same as the M4 iPad. Although in my tests I seem to get almost an hour of extra battery life.
So should you get the new iPad M5 Pro? If you have the M4 version and you don’t usually push its CPU or GPU to the max then I’m not sure the upgrade is worth it. If you are new to the iPad ecosystem and you use a pen a lot then this combined with the Apple Pencil Pro is really an amazing tool. Now if you don’t do 3D graphics or video editing and want to save yourself some money then get the previous version. And if you just want a good drawing tablet then there are other options out there to consider like the one I showed in my previous video.
In the end this iPad pro has an amazing display with beautiful colors. It’s great for drawing or gaming or watching videos. The only thing to consider is the high price.
If you enjoyed this please let me know by leaving a comment. Thanks, I’ll see you in the next one!