I tested the new iPad Pro, packed with the new M4 chip, and I’m floored.
Revealed at Apple’s “Let Loose” livestream event, the iPad Pro skipped a whole generation of chips (i.e., the M3 series) in favor of the brand-spankin’ new M4 chip.
When Apple boasted that the M4 iPad Pro would deliver a significant gen-over-gen performance increase, I didn’t really understand the gravity of the iPad Pro’s uptick in processing prowess. But now that I tested it for myself, I can’t believe my eyes.
M4 iPad Pro beats (almost) every laptop we’ve tested for the past 6 months
The new iPad Pro, Apple’s slimmest tablet ever, now features a new Tandem OLED display that delivers striking contrast, true blacks, and a dazzling display with 1,600 nits peak brightness.
The 13-inch iPad Pro
Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable
However, nothing could prepare me for the mind-blowing results of the iPad Pro’s M4 chip. The iPad Pro I tested sports the M4 with the 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU chip, which can only be found in the 1TB and 2TB configurations. (I’ve got the 1TB variant.)
Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable
The other versions, 256GB and 512GB, also have an M4 chip, but the processor has less cores (9-core CPU). As such, the iPad Pro with 1TB and 2TB should slightly outperform the 256GB and 512GB options because the extra core implies that it should handle more tasks at once for simultaneous processing.
M4 iPad Pro’s shocking Geekbench 6 benchmark results
Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable
So I was minding my own business, humming a tune of absentminded contentment while running the Geekbench 6 benchmark on the iPad Pro, and then my heart fell into my butt when I saw the results:
Mashable Light Speed
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Single-core: 3,764
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Multi-core: 14,586
For the uninitiated, Geekbench 6 tests for productivity workloads (e.g., PDF rendering and file compression), image editing (e.g., removing objects and adding filters), machine learning, text processing, and more.
Looking back into six months worth of data collection from our PCs and MacBooks, the M4 iPad Pro blew almost every computer out of the water. Even the 14-inch MacBook Pro and the 15-inch MacBook Air, both featuring M3 chips, were left in the dust with multi-core scores of 11,998 and 12,057, respectively.
Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable
The M4 iPad Pro even surpassed a bunch of gaming and creator laptops we’ve tested:
The only laptop that the M4 iPad Pro couldn’t beat is the incredible Lenovo Legion 9i (Intel Core i9-13980HX CPU), a $4,000 gaming rig with a Geekbench 6 score of 17,711.
Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable
Plus, the new 2024 iPad Pro has incredible battery life, too, lasting over 16 hours on a charge.
If the M4 chip can cause this much destruction with its performance prowess, imagine what will happen once the M4 chip inevitably gets packed inside the next crop of MacBooks.
The iPad Pro starts at $999 for the 11-inch model and $1,299 for the 13-inch model. The new tablet is poised to start shipping on May 15.
