Apple iPad Pro Apple iPad Pro 12.9 64GB Cellular (2017) MQED2LL/A Review

It's a beautiful screen trapped in 2017. Only buy this if you need a big, smooth display for drawing or videos and don't care about using modern apps.

Look, this is a weird one. You're looking at a 2017 iPad Pro, but it's listed with 64GB of RAM, which is impossible. That's a typo. It's a 64GB storage model. The one thing to know is this: you're buying a seven-year-old tablet with a great screen and a dated processor, and you're doing it because it's cheap. For under $300, you get that massive 12.9-inch ProMotion display and Apple Pencil support, but you're also getting iOS 10, which is ancient. It's a niche buy for a very specific person.

The performance is exactly what you'd expect from a 2017 A10X chip. It's fine for basic web browsing, note-taking, and media consumption. Our database shows its CPU and GPU land in the low 70s percentile, which means it's still faster than a lot of budget tablets today. The real surprise is the battery life score in the 49th percentile. For a renewed device, that's a gamble. Some units might have great battery health, others might be on their last legs. That's the risk you take.

At $295, the value proposition is simple: you're trading modern software and speed for a big, high-refresh-rate Apple screen. If that screen is your entire world, it's worth it. If you need a tablet that actually works with apps made in the last five years, it's not.

Don't compare this to a new iPad Pro. Compare it to other cheap big screens. The modern base iPad 10.2-inch costs about the same new, has a worse screen but runs current software. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE is more expensive but is a fully modern tablet. This 2017 Pro is for people who prioritize screen quality over everything else, including app compatibility. The Lenovo Idea Tab Pro offers a more modern Android experience on a similar-sized screen for a similar price, but its display isn't as smooth.

If you're looking for a general-purpose tablet to use daily, this isn't it. Go get a base model 10th-gen iPad instead. You'll lose the fancy screen but gain a device that actually works with the modern internet.

We can only recommend this to a very specific user: someone who needs a large, high-refresh-rate display strictly for passive media consumption, light web browsing, or as a dedicated display for an Apple Pencil with old art apps. For literally any other use case—streaming modern services, using current apps, general productivity—you should buy something newer, even if the screen is a downgrade. This is a tool, not a daily driver.