REVIEWS / TABLETS / OWNER INSIGHTS
🦉 WE READ 66 OWNER COMMENTS
Apple iPad Pro 13-inch M4: what owners actually say
Owners see a powerful, beautiful device that Apple deliberately held back from its potential — thinner for marketing, not for users
What owners complain about
- Thinness prioritised over battery COMMON
Multiple owners frustrated Apple reduced battery capacity to make it thinner while maintaining roughly the same battery life via M4 efficiency, rather than keeping the old thickness and giving users longer battery life
- Pencil gatekeeping SOME
Digital artists specifically call out Apple's decision to gatekeep the Pencil as a negative business move, with the tech being cool but the compatibility decisions feeling anti-consumer
- Audio regression from thinness FEW
Owner notes bass quality suffers because the thinner chassis lacks the 'boxy space' needed for low-end response, saying older gen sounds better
- Random crashes FEW
One owner reports their iPad Pro M4 crashed randomly while simply watching a YouTube video
- No desktop-style mode SOME
Owners want a Samsung DeX-style simulated desktop environment to make the iPad function more like a MacBook, which is still missing
What owners love
- Serious professional workhorse
A medical resident reports using it daily for clinical rounds notes, studying heavy textbooks, building Keynote presentations, and thesis work in Word — calling it more useful than a Mac for their workflow
- Premium media consumption
Multiple owners describe it as the ultimate YouTube and Netflix machine, albeit somewhat tongue-in-cheek about the device being overpowered for that use
- M4 efficiency delivering
The M4 chip is acknowledged as genuinely responsible for maintaining battery life despite the reduced battery capacity
- Longevity of older models
Owners of 2017 and 2020 iPad Pros report their devices still handle everything they need, praising Apple for not forcing upgrades
Surprising patterns
- Multiple commenters actively praise reviewers for telling people NOT to buy the device, suggesting a community-level awareness that most users don't need this much tablet
- A self-described 'dude on the couch' honestly considers upgrading from an iPad Mini to this M4 Pro purely to watch YouTube — the device's power is almost comically mismatched with common use cases
- The black cable with a white power block drew specific aesthetic ire, with one commenter joking Steve Jobs would have fired someone over it — owners notice and care about these details
WHO SHOULD SKIP IT
Anyone whose current iPad still functions, per multiple owners of 2017–2020 models who see no meaningful gap — and anyone hoping this will replace a laptop, given the continued absence of a desktop-class operating mode
Synthesised from 66 real owner comments across 2 platforms. Every point is grounded in the comments — no marketing, no AI guessing. How we do it →