iPad Pro M5: You Don’t Need It, but It’s Funny How Close This Is Getting to a Mac
iPad Pro M5: You Don’t Need It, but It’s Funny How Close This Is Getting to a Mac
In this year’s upgrade, the iPad Pro M5 with its powerful M5 processor and iPad OS 26 approaches Mac-like functionality. The new OS includes robust multitasking features that allow users to streamline their workflow and enhance productivity, blurring the lines between tablet and laptop. The vivid display remains unchanged from the M4, but the M5 boasts improvements in graphics, AI capabilities, and potential battery efficiency.
While the iPad Pro’s Face ID allows for speedy logins, it also highlights a growing desire for even more Mac-like features. Despite its many advancements, the M5 still requires additional purchases, like the keyboard case and Apple Pencil, drawing attention to the cost-benefit ratio.
Although the M5 is a compelling upgrade, users with the M4 may find their current devices perfectly adequate. The entry-level iPads, now utilizing iPad OS 26, provide a more budget-friendly option for those wanting to experience the new features without splurging on the Pro model.
Ultimately, while the iPad Pro M5 is inching closer to a traditional Mac experience, it still stands apart, prompting questions about the future of Apple’s device ecosystem and the potential merging of their tablet and laptop lines.
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Video “iPad Pro M5: You Don’t Need It, but It’s Funny How Close This Is Getting to a Mac” was uploaded on 10/21/2025 to Youtube Channel CNET
Spend a grand and then have to think about whether you can use it to do anything serious. Talk about Stockholm syndrome.
Sellouts.
I’ve never owned a tablet, but what’s the point of it compared to a laptop?
I have the iPad Pro, 2. Generation. I mostly use it for google, Procreate and Youtube. I really want the new one, but not sure it’s worth it for my use…?
from 1st IPAD, mac replacement selling point
OMG @apple, just offer people a choice for M CPU iPads when booting for macOS or iPadOS OS and it is done, you will shut up all critics with this move
Even with the base iPad, i found what made it feel more like a main computer to me wasn't the power of the device, as I'm a more casual user than anyone who reviews tech for a living, it was the windowed mode option in iOS 26 that let you do multiple apps at once, sizing the windows so I had the dock like you would on a Mac, etc. That was a game changer for anyone who uses the iPad as their primary device, especially if you have one of those really good Logitech keyboards!
Is it worth upgrading from M2 to M5? Or should I wait for next year potential redesign or new upgrades?
I'm convinced Apple OWNS CNET.
I've been doing everything described in this video during my university years on my tablet since 2016.. taking notes with the pen, writing articles and editing spreadsheets with the magnetically attached keyboard etc… having ditched the physical notebooks, and having literally everything I needed on one device was so much easier…
And now it's almost the end of 2025 and the world is waking up that that's possible… Yet nothing new was added or improved for that experience!! It's still the same drawbacks, the same limitations, the same experience really!! I'd have guessed that technology must have improved since 10 years ago, but apparently not that much 🤔
The 11" makes a nice min computer if you need a graphics tablet. I love the iPad Pro, but for most people if you only use it for basic tasks then you do not need it. The biggest and best change is more memory. For Pro's you NEED 16GB standard. If you say YOU don"t, then you should get a base iPad or iPad Air.
You get the same feeling with an iPad Pro M1, M2, M3, M4… and now with an M5. Oh, and then there's iPad OS26, which is now totally buggy. 🎉
Why not testing OpenAIs GPT-OSS 120B model speed running locally on the Machine. Would be interesting, how it performs.
But Apple hasn't launched ipad pro M5 chip yet….r u kidding us😂😂
Now there won’t even be a need for a MacBook
🎉😢
Tech channels nowadays ,first half of a year complain ‘my Mac isn’t more ipad like’, and second half complain that ‘my ipad isn’t more mac like 🥲’
First