You’ve seen the ads. Apple loves to talk about how thin the new iPad Pro 11-inch M4 is, comparing it to everything from a pencil to their own thinnest iPods. But honestly, if you're buying a $1,000 tablet just because it’s 5.3mm thick, you’re missing the point. The real story isn't the thickness—it's the weird, powerful, and sometimes frustrating reality of using a chip designed for a high-end laptop inside a device that still thinks it’s a phone half the time.
The Tandem OLED Screen is Actually the Star
Everyone talks about the M4 chip, but the screen is what you'll actually notice every single second. Apple calls it "Ultra Retina XDR," but basically, it’s a Tandem OLED. This means they literally stacked two OLED panels on top of each other. Why? Because single OLED layers often struggle to get bright enough for HDR without burning out or looking dim in daylight.
This new panel hits 1,000 nits of full-screen brightness. Most tablets can’t even dream of that. If you’ve ever tried to use an iPad Pro M2 or an iPad Air at a coffee shop near a window, you know the struggle of seeing your own reflection more than your email. The M4 fixes that. The blacks are "ink" black, not the "mostly dark grey" you get on LCDs. When you watch a movie like Interstellar on this thing, the space scenes look like a window into the void.
There is a catch, though. If you want the "Nano-texture" glass—the matte finish that kills reflections—you have to pay a massive tax. You can only get it on the 1TB or 2TB models. That means a screen upgrade that should cost $100 actually costs you closer to $600 because of the storage requirement. It’s a classic Apple move that kinda hurts the value for professional artists who just want the better texture for drawing.
M4 Power: The Chip Nobody Can Actually Max Out
The M4 chip is a beast. It’s built on a 3-nanometer process and, in benchmarks like Geekbench 6, it regularly clocks multi-core scores over 13,000. To put that in perspective, this 11-inch tablet is faster than many high-end Windows laptops and even beats the M3 MacBook Air in raw bursts.
But here’s the truth: iPadOS is the cage this beast lives in.
You have all this thermal headroom and 120GB/s of memory bandwidth, yet you’re still limited by how iPadOS handles multitasking. Stage Manager has improved, sure, but it still feels like you're fighting the system to do basic things like window resizing or file management. If you’re a video editor using DaVinci Resolve or Final Cut Pro for iPad, the M4 is a godsend. It renders 4K ProRes video like it’s nothing. For everyone else? You're essentially using a Ferrari to drive to the grocery store.
The 11-inch vs. 13-inch Dilemma
Most people assume the 13-inch is the "better" Pro. That’s not necessarily true anymore. In previous generations, the bigger iPad had the better screen (Mini-LED) while the 11-inch was stuck with standard LCD. With the M4 generation, the playing field is level. Both sizes get the Tandem OLED.
The 11-inch is the "Goldilocks" size. It weighs less than a pound (about 444 grams). You can actually hold it in one hand to read an ebook or take notes while standing up. The 13-inch is spectacular for a desk, but it’s awkward on a plane or a couch. If you plan on buying the Magic Keyboard, remember that the 11-inch combo is significantly more portable. The 13-inch with a keyboard weighs about the same as a MacBook Air, which begs the question: why not just buy the MacBook?
Battery Life and the Heat Factor
Apple claims 10 hours of battery. In real-world use? It depends. If you’re just browsing Safari and answering emails at 50% brightness, you’ll easily hit that 10-hour mark.
However, if you fire up a high-refresh-rate game like Resident Evil 4 or Death Stranding, the battery drains significantly faster. We're talking 3 to 4 hours. Also, because the device is so thin, it can get noticeably warm right in the center of the back panel under heavy load. It doesn’t "throttle" to a crawl like some older tablets, but you’ll feel the M4 working.
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What You Lose in the Transition
It’s not all upgrades. Apple made some "stealth" cuts to the iPad Pro 11-inch M4 that might annoy longtime users:
- The Ultra-Wide Camera is Gone: The back now only has one 12MP wide camera and the LiDAR scanner. Apple thinks you shouldn't be taking landscape photos with a tablet anyway. They replaced the extra lens with an "Adaptive True Tone flash" specifically for scanning documents.
- Microphone Tweak: There are now four "studio-quality" mics instead of five. Most people won't notice, but if you used your iPad for field recording, it’s something to keep in mind.
- Accessory Lock-in: The M4 has different magnets and charging pins. This means your old Magic Keyboard or Apple Pencil 2 will not work. You have to buy the Apple Pencil Pro and the new aluminum Magic Keyboard. It’s a frustrating extra $400+ if you’re coming from an older Pro.
Is it Worth It?
If you are coming from an M1 or M2 iPad Pro, honestly, the answer is probably no—unless you are obsessed with having the best screen on the market. The speed difference in daily tasks is invisible.
But, if you’re still rocking a 2018 or 2020 iPad Pro with the A-series chips, the jump is massive. You get FaceID that finally works in landscape (thanks to the camera being moved to the long edge), a screen that looks better than your TV, and enough power to last you probably seven or eight years of software updates.
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Actionable Next Steps
- Check your storage needs: If you don't do heavy video work, the base 256GB model is plenty. Don't let the 1TB "Nano-texture" bait pull you into spending $1,600+ unless you truly work outdoors daily.
- Test the keyboard: Before you drop $299 on the Magic Keyboard, go to a store and type on it. The new function row is great, but the 11-inch version is still a bit cramped compared to a laptop.
- Pencil Choice: Remember that only the Apple Pencil Pro and the USB-C Pencil work here. If you need pressure sensitivity, you must get the Pro version.
- Update to the latest iPadOS: Many of the M4’s best features, like advanced Ray Tracing for games and improved Apple Intelligence tasks, require the most recent software builds to function properly.
The iPad Pro 11-inch M4 is a masterpiece of engineering that is currently waiting for the software to catch up. It’s easily the best tablet ever made, but for many, it’s more power than they’ll ever know what to do with.