Apple iPad Pro Apple iPad Pro Tablet (256GB, Wi-Fi, 9.7in) Silver Review

This is the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and it's a bit of a time capsule. It's got a great screen and a solid 256GB of storage, which is still plenty for most people. But you're looking at iPadOS 9 and older specs, so it's firmly in the 'legacy device' category now.

The screen is still fantastic, landing in the 91st percentile. That makes reading and watching stuff a real pleasure. But the internals show their age. The CPU and RAM are in the bottom third of all tablets, so don't expect it to handle modern apps or multitasking well. It scored its lowest in business use, which makes sense.

At around $491, the value proposition is tricky. You're paying for a great screen wrapped in an obsolete package. If you just need a dedicated reader or a simple media viewer, it might be okay. But for that money, you can get a much more capable modern budget tablet that will actually run current software.

Don't even compare it to a modern iPad Pro or a Surface Pro. That's not fair. Stack it up against other older devices or basic new tablets. A current base model iPad would run circles around it for a similar price. Even a Samsung Galaxy Tab A series would offer a better, more up-to-date experience. This iPad Pro is for a very specific, nostalgic buyer.

Only buy this if you're a collector, or if you found it for dirt cheap and only plan to use it for one single, simple task like reading. For literally anyone else, a newer, cheaper tablet is a smarter buy. This is a cool piece of tech history, not a practical daily driver.