iPad Pro (M5) Review: Faster Than Ever, Still Held Back by iPadOS

On pure hardware terms, the M5 iPad Pro is hard to fault. The tandem OLED display is the best screen on any tablet, the M5 chip makes short work of 4K video editing in LumaFusion or Final Cut, and the new Magic Keyboard with a larger trackpad and function row makes the case for the iPad as a laptop replacement stronger than ever. Apple Pencil Pro's squeeze gesture and haptic feedback continue to make this the best tablet for illustrators and note-takers by a wide margin.

The catch, as always, is iPadOS. Multitasking with Stage Manager is more capable than it used to be, but it still doesn't match the flexibility of a traditional desktop OS, and the M5's power is frequently wasted on an interface that was designed for a much less capable chip a decade ago. If your workflow lives comfortably within Apple's app ecosystem, the M5 iPad Pro is a joy to use. If you need desktop-class multitasking, a MacBook Air will serve you better for less money.