Hey guys, Adam Lobo here from Adam Lobo TV. So yes, it is finally here, the M1 iPad Pro has arrived at the Adam Lobo TV studio and in this article, I will be unboxing and giving you my first impressions of this tablet, since this is my VERY first iPad that I have ever owned, so keep tuned!
Unboxing
So the unboxing process was as usual pretty premium and Apple-like style where the box comes in white, with the visuals of the iPad on the front of the box. Then at the back, you will find the specs and variant that you have chosen.
Opening the box, you will find the iPad Pro immediately over there.
Then underneath, there is a small white card sleeve, where you will find the user guide and the Apple Stickers.
Then there is a 20W Charging brick, which I have to say that I love how the 3-pin plug folds into a nice and compact square shape, and a 1-metre USB-C to USB-C Cable
Oh, fun fact…the visuals of the iPad Pro outside of the box, is exactly the size of the iPad inside.
Design & Build
Starting from the design and build, it has a full metal unibody finish which does give it this cool touch to the hand and premium feel too.
The tablet is pretty solid and had quite a weight to it, where this 12.9-inch variant is surely not a device that you would use with just one hand, as it was as close to using an actual laptop.
At the back, there is a dual camera setup with the LiDAR sensor, the Apple logo at the center of the iPad and below that you have the smart connector pins for when you want to connect accessories such as the Magic Keyboard or the Smart connector Keyboard, which I have also got myself the magic keyboard. And yes it is in white… you all know how much I love white right?
And speaking of colors, to compliment the overall white keyboard, I went with the silver color variant instead of space grey.
Taking a look at the ports and buttons, looking down below other than the extremely welcoming Thunderbolt USB 4 port, you will find the dual firing stereo speakers.
Then on the other side, or on top, you will find another two stereo speakers, microphones and the lock or top button.
Then on the left, you will find another microphone over there. And finally on the right, there is the magnetic connector in the middle, volume rockers towards the right and the Nano SIM tray on the left.
Display
Taking a look at the display, which is surely the main highlight of the tablet, now firstly just in case you all did not know, the M1 iPad comes in two sizes, an 11-inch and a 12.9-inch, but the one I have here is the 12.9-inch model.
The display is a Liquid Retina XDR ProMotion display. The ProMotion branding indicates that it has a 120Hz refresh rate. It also has a resolution of 2732 x 2048 pixels and has HDR10 and Dolby Vision certification.
The M1 iPad Pro has True Tone and 600 nits brightness as well and also worth mentioning is that the 12.9-inch model also comes with a brand new Mini LED display.
Now how is this different from a regular display? Well, Traditional LED-backlit displays will have anywhere from several dozen to several hundred LEDs. As the name suggests, mini-LED displays make use of miniaturized backlighting and can feature over a thousand full array local dimming (FALD) zones.
So with the mini LED display the viewing experience is hands down the best that I have seen on any tablet out right now, with its extremely high 1 million to 1 contrast ratio, higher brightness and deeper blacks
During my first impressions, the navigation was extremely smooth and snappy and so was watching videos both on YouTube and Netflix as well.
And speaking of Netflix, during the making of this video, I was also extremely pleased with the audio where again, it had such a great sound quality, great bass and pristine audio separation.
So I am eager to watch more content on this Mini LED display to see how it is when it comes to watching videos for long periods of time.
Camera
In terms of the cameras, the iPad comes with a dual camera setup and a LiDAR sensor. The main lens is a 12MP f/1.8 wide sensor and it also has a 10MP f/2.4, 125 degree ultra wide angle lens. Similar to the Pro series of iPhones, the LiDAR scanner can be used for augmented reality and for depth scanning as well.
So yes, the camera sensors seem to be capable sensors but then again, are you really out there taking photos with your iPad? Let me know in the comments section below!
However, compared to the rear camera, I was extremely impressed with the front-facing camera because the 12MP f/2.4 122 degree ultrawide lens has this cool feature called Center Stage.
So what it does is that when you are in a video call for example, and the camera sees that you are moving around, it will stay locked to the subject and follow you as you move. This is a pretty interesting feature that I will definitely be testing out more in my full review.
And this front camera records up to 1080p, and for the rear camera recordings, up to 4k resolution.
Specifications
Now onto the specs is what sets the M1 iPad Pro apart from the competition. The device is packing the brand new Apple Silicon M1 chip which can be found in the new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini and the new iMac which is just mind blowing to know.
Speaking more about the M1 Chip, it has 8 CPU cores and is built on the 5nm process. The graphics are also built into the chip and it is an 8-core GPU as well.
Now the M1 chip has been hyped because it does generally perform well, so I am really curious as to how it will perform on an iPad. So stay tuned for my full review to find out, especially when it comes to gaming on the iPad, together with the PS5 controller as well.
So the iPad I have with me also comes with 1 Terabytes of storage with a massive 16 gigabytes of RAM, where there is also an option of 128, 256 and 512 GB storage, where those variants come with 8 gigabytes instead.
It also comes preinstalled with iPadOS 14.5 on board which is built on the same design language of iOS, but has some specific iPad only features which during my first impressions I am already loving the whole dock style at the bottom, and it really almost felt like using a Mac, which was sweet.
Battery
Then as for the battery, Apple claims that this WIFI and Cellular Model iPad Pro can last about 9 hours of playback, so I am eager to test that out further so stay tuned for that during my full video review as well and let’s also see how the battery holds up since the Mini LED Display is pretty power efficient too.
Price
Then finally when it comes to the price here in Malaysia, the iPad Pro starts at RM3,499 for the 11-inch variant and RM4,799 for the 12.9-inch variant and I will leave links down below for you guys to get yourself one.
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So guys, with this, do let me know what you guys would like to KNOW specifically about the M1 iPad Pro in the comment section below and I will reply to your comments directly during my full video review.
And as mentioned, since this will be my very first iPad Pro that I have owned, I will surely go into details on how was my experience using this tablet as my main device, either on its own and how I plan to use it in tandem with my Mac and the other Apple ecosystem as well.
And speaking of the ecosystem, as seen in this video, I have also gotten the new Magic Keyboard and also the Apple Pencil to really use the tablet towards its full potential as well.
Aside from that, thank you so much for reading. Hope you guys enjoyed this unboxing and my quick first impressions review. My name is Adam Lobo and I will catch you guys in my next review!
