Apple iPad Pro 12.9" A1671 Space Gray 2017

A renewed 12.9-inch iPad Pro with chart-topping RAM and battery life that still sails through a workday. Get it under $300 and you're laughing, just be ready for occasional Wi-Fi hiccups and an aging processor. If you need a giant Apple canvas for cheap, it's a no-brainer.

This is the 2017 12.9-inch iPad Pro, the second-gen model that put a 120Hz screen and Apple Pencil support in a big, gorgeous tablet. It's being sold renewed, which means someone returned it, it got a full checkup, and now it's back on the market with a 90-day warranty and a price that makes the original MSRP look silly.

Inside you'll find an A10X Fusion chip, a chunky 10,307mAh battery, and one spec that still raises eyebrows: 64GB of RAM. That's laptop territory and it shows when you're flipping between Procreate canvases or a dozen Safari tabs. It runs iOS 10 out of the box, but you can update to a much newer iPadOS version no problem.

The A10X chip lands in the 59th percentile for CPUs and 60th for GPUs, so it's firmly middle-of-the-road by today's tablet standards. For sketching, note-taking, and streaming, it feels perfectly snappy. The 64GB RAM is a flat-out anomaly, sitting in the 99th percentile, and it keeps apps from reloading even when you're juggling productivity tools. Battery life is a real highlight too, 92nd percentile, easily giving you a full workday of use. The screen, though, runs at 120Hz but lands in the 43rd percentile because newer iPads have simply raised the bar on brightness and color accuracy. It's still good, just not dazzling.

Pricing for this renewed model is all over the map, ranging from $295 to a baffling $5261 across vendors. Obviously, ignore anything north of $400. At the low end, you're getting a massive iPad Pro with cellular for roughly the price of a basic new Android tablet. Amazon Renewed tends to offer the best deal around $295, and with the 90-day warranty, it's a steal for anyone who wants a big canvas for drawing or media without dropping $1000+ on a newer Pro.

Stack it against a Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ and you get a newer, slightly brighter screen but no 120Hz promotion. The Xiaomi Pad 7 Pro brings a faster processor and better speakers, but you lose cellular and that handy Apple Pencil integration. If you need a real laptop replacement, the Microsoft Surface Pro 11th Edition runs full Windows and has a way more versatile kickstand, though it's pricier and bigger. For a pure budget play, the HOTWAV R9 Ultra 5G is... a thing that exists, but its software support and build quality can't touch Apple's refurb game. This iPad Pro sits in a weirdly sweet spot if you want a huge, fluid screen and don't mind the age.

Skip this if you need a tablet for fast-paced gaming or heavy multitasking with large, demanding apps. The older A10X chip and occasional touch lag will frustrate you, and the lack of Wi-Fi 6 means you're stuck on slower wireless. Also, if you're counting on the latest iPadOS features like Stage Manager for external monitor support, look at a newer iPad Air or Pro instead.

Grab this if you're an artist, student, or serial media consumer who wants the biggest iPad screen possible and plans to use cellular on the go. It's a killer second device for streaming, sketching, and light productivity, especially at the $295 sweet spot. You won't edit 4K video or play Genshin Impact on max settings, but you already knew that. The 90-day warranty and the sheer number of units in like-new condition tip the scales in its favor.