Apple iPad Pro 11" M4 Chip 2024 Review

Let's talk about the 11-inch iPad Pro with the M4 chip. This isn't your average tablet. It's a 2TB powerhouse in a package that weighs less than a pound, and it's built for people who need a serious creative or productivity tool that can go anywhere. The OLED screen is stunning, and the M4 chip is the kind of processor you'd expect in a high-end laptop, not a slate you can hold in one hand.

If you're an artist, designer, or someone who does heavy multitasking, this is basically made for you. The scores for productivity and art/design are both over 92 out of 100, which is top-tier. It's for the person who wants desktop-level performance without being tied to a desk. The catch? It's running iPadOS, so you're still in a tablet ecosystem, even with all that horsepower.

What makes it interesting is the combination. You get a near-perfect 99th percentile storage score with 2TB, a 94th percentile OLED screen, and a CPU that's in the 89th percentile. It's like Apple took their best parts and crammed them into the most portable Pro model. But that 50th percentile battery score is a quiet reminder that all this performance comes at a cost.

The numbers don't lie. That M4 10-core CPU sitting in the 89th percentile means this thing flies through apps. Rendering a complex video timeline or working with huge layered art files feels smooth. The 10-core GPU, at the 88th percentile, handles visual tasks and light gaming without breaking a sweat. For real-world use, that translates to zero lag when you've got Procreate, LumaFusion, and a dozen Safari tabs open all at once.

Benchmarks are great, but the real story is in the feel. The 120Hz OLED display makes everything from scrolling text to drawing lines feel incredibly responsive. It's a fluid experience that makes the hardware feel even faster. Just know that pushing all these high-end components—the bright OLED, the powerful chip—is why the battery life lands right in the middle of the pack. It's good, but you'll be reaching for the charger by the end of a heavy workday.

At $1569, the value proposition is all about the form factor and the screen. You're paying a premium to get this much storage and this much power in an 11-inch body. It's not the cheapest way to get M4 performance, but it is the most portable.

When you look across vendors, you're buying into Apple's ecosystem and build quality. The price gets you that unbeaten OLED display and a design that feels premium in every way. But you have to really need that specific combination of ultra-portability and high-end specs to justify the cost. For some, it'll be worth every penny. For others, it might feel like overkill for a tablet.

The most direct competitor is its bigger brother, the 13-inch iPad Pro. You trade some portability for a larger canvas, which is huge for artists and multitaskers. The other big rival is the Microsoft Surface Pro 11. It runs full Windows, so you get proper desktop software, but its hardware and screen likely won't match this iPad Pro's polish or raw performance scores.

Then there's the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra. It's an Android powerhouse with a massive screen, great for media consumption, but the app ecosystem for professional creative work isn't as robust as iPadOS. The Lenovo Legion Go S and Panasonic Toughbook are different beasts entirely—one's for gaming, one's for rugged fieldwork. For a pure blend of creative power, portability, and premium feel, this 11-inch iPad Pro still sets the bar.

If you're a digital artist, a mobile content creator, or a power user who needs a incredibly powerful and portable companion, this 11-inch iPad Pro is an easy recommendation. The performance and screen are fantastic. Just be ready to adapt to iPadOS and keep a charger handy.

For everyone else, think hard. If you mainly do business tasks or just want a tablet for media and light work, this is overkill. Consider a standard iPad or a competitor like the Surface Pro if you need full Windows. But if your workflow lives in apps like Procreate, LumaFusion, or Affinity Designer, this is pretty much the best tool for the job.