Professionals
- Similar worth as final yr
- Extra highly effective M5 processor
- Nonetheless-great OLED show
- iPadOS 26 unleashes multitasking
Cons
- Costly with equipment
- Lacks some professional instruments discovered on Macs
- OS browsers nonetheless really feel bizarre to me
Editor’s word, April 29: This evaluate was up to date with details about the CNET Labs Award for Brightest Display. The M5 iPad Professional was additionally awarded a CNET Editors’ Selection award on Nov. 24, 2025, for being the easiest product in Apple’s iPad lineup. Whereas its worth can run very excessive, anybody who is not budget-concerned and desires one of the best show and efficiency on an iPad will discover a wonderful expertise right here. It isn’t the identical as a Mac, however with a keyboard case and iPadOS 26, it is changing into extraordinarily versatile.
I had a sense of cynicism when Apple introduced the iPad Pro with an M5 chip. Right here we go once more with the identical iPad, simply quicker. I’ve felt this way for years in regards to the Professional iPads. They’re quick, fancy and undoubtedly not essential.
And but, residing with the 13-inch iPad Professional with iPadOS 26 for this evaluate, one thing totally different is going on. I am related to my workplace apps and utilizing it like my work laptop computer with a Magic Keyboard. Is the iPad lastly prepared to switch my Mac and function my main computer?
There are issues about this iPad Professional that I like greater than my laptop computer. FaceID sign-ins are clean and straightforward. The crisp OLED touchscreen is best for motion pictures and higher total than any Mac for now. The M5 processor blazes.
The brand new iPad Professional is finest with a Pencil Professional, however its total proposition retains enhancing by levels over time.
Credit score the modifications principally to iPadOS 26, which you’ll run on different, slower iPads too. Due to the M5 silicon, nevertheless, multitasking actually shines on the 13-inch iPad Professional. The multi-window workflow feels extra pure, and in reality I am engaged on it as I write these phrases.
Watch this: Apple’s Newest Professional iPad Is not a Mac But, however It is Getting Rattling Shut
Apple’s newest chip replace to M5 had a telling triple debut throughout MacBook Pro, iPad Professional, and Vision Pro traces. Imaginative and prescient is Apple’s laptop of the long run. MacBook Professional is Apple’s laptop of the previous. And the iPad Professional is so near being my go-to laptop of the current. Nearly, however not fairly. The browser nonetheless would not really feel like a Mac. However my complaints are diminishing with yearly.
For all of the magic of the iPad equipment, you continue to simply get the pill and charger within the field.
Similar design outdoors, new chip(s) inside
The M5 iPad Professional is mainly the identical because the M4 mannequin final yr, however with a brand new M5 processor. Apple additionally claims it has quicker 5G wi-fi and Wi-Fi 7/Bluetooth 6 by way of new CX1 and N1 modem and wi-fi chips. (The M4 Professional had Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.) The dimensions, thickness and weight are the identical, as are Pencil Professional compatibility, cameras and worth.
My normal suggestion stays unchanged as nicely. Similar to final yr, you may buy cheaper iPads and get a whole lot of the identical expertise for informal use. The M5 is about highly effective processing, a greater Pencil, higher graphics and that nicer show.
Engaged on an iPad Professional with Magic Keyboard is approaching being Mac-like much more than ever.
iPadOS opens the door (er, window)
I can not justify the excessive worth of the iPad Professional except it is my major go-to laptop, and iPadOS 26 helps make that doable. It has a extra Mac-like window system that Apple first previewed in June, and now that I am residing on it, I see its benefits clearly. I do not really feel hampered by move as a lot, and the highest menu bars in apps are a much bigger assist in navigating capabilities than I anticipated. Actually, iPadOS 26 is generally doing what Macs can do already, and that is a very good factor.
Apple nonetheless would not specify what number of home windows iPadOS can open without delay, and it is dependent upon the iPad {hardware}. I’ve by no means seen a useful restrict on this yr’s different iPads, although.
What nonetheless feels bizarre on iPadOS is how the browser’s dealt with. iOS and iPadOS lean on apps to tug out particular person capabilities I would usually do in-browser on a Mac. That is nonetheless the case now, and it makes some handoffs for specific workflows (like Google’s ecosystem of cloud instruments) really feel much less natural on iPad. I would love a giant browser replace and overhaul for future professional iPads…or, on the flipside, if that rumored touchscreen Mac does certainly come subsequent yr, perhaps it ought to undertake a ton of iPadOS into it.
Movies look nice on this iPad, unquestionably.
Nice show, quick charging, speedy M5
The Tandem OLED show Apple calls Extremely Retina XDR, which Apple launched on the M4 mannequin final yr, is vivid and nice for motion pictures. The show can be the brightest we have ever examined — of any pill — reaching a peak brightness of 1,535 nits (simply shy of the 1,600 nits Apple states in its specs). The 13-inch M5 iPad Professional is now the recipient of the CNET Labs Award for Brightest Display.
The M5 iPad Professional’s thinner physique helps when utilizing it with a keyboard case, and sure, this M5 mannequin works with the M4’s equipment and circumstances. The Pencil Professional has a number of new methods, together with a rotating brush, however this yr’s iPad Air and final yr’s iPad Mini can use it too.
This iPad can cost quicker, however the quick charger is not included. You want a individually offered adapter plug or a bigger-wattage charger of your personal.
In my exams, the M5 processor seems to be to be a major graphics and pace bump over the M4. In Geekbench 6 exams, the multicore benchmark quantity I bought with the 10-core M5 is 16,116, versus 14,672 for final yr’s higher-end M4 iPad Pro. That is about 10% quicker. In contrast with the M3 iPad Air from earlier this yr, which bought a multicore rating of 11,643, it is 38% quicker.
Similar to final yr, Apple has a extra highly effective processor/RAM tier for Professional fashions with extra storage. The 256 and 512GB fashions have 12GB of RAM and a nine-core CPU/10-core GPU, whereas the 1 and 2TB fashions have 16GB of RAM and 10-core CPU/10-core GPUs. I examined an iPad Professional 13-inch 1TB mannequin with the upper specs.
The M5 iPad Professional is identical worth because the M4 mannequin, and nonetheless costly at $999 or $1,299 with 256GB of storage. The value climbs for those who add extra storage or equipment, and you’ll hit $2,000 with out a lot effort.
You may get a lot of what this iPad gives in lower-priced fashions.
I nonetheless say you do not want the Professional
iPads are the best tablets, and most of the people can be finest served by a less expensive iPad. A number of what I like in regards to the iPad Professional could be executed at lower cost ranges too. Add a keyboard case to the iPad Air and even the entry-level iPad, and you are able to do multitasking home windows and work with Pencils too.
The quick pace, extra-vivid show, and thinner measurement of the Professional make the expertise really feel extra premium. However are they definitely worth the excessive worth on the Professional finish, and may they honestly flex to turn out to be computer systems for every thing else? The reply to that’s more and more sure, however not fairly. The iPad is stuffed with wonderful inventive apps, however nonetheless feels prefer it’s lacking a few of the professional Mac instruments for video enhancing and graphics that might simply be there now. Or, make Mac and iPadOS apps for execs be really interchangeable now.
Do I need a MacBook that feels nearly as good as this iPad Professional? Yeah, I do. We could also be heading to that fusion zone quickly sufficient. Or, as I end submitting this story on a Mac written completely on an iPad Professional M5, and dropping observe of which pc I am on, perhaps I am already there.
