iPad Pro 11” 2020 Review: It Goes to 11

There have been a lot of iPads over the past 10 years. I have owned most of them. So it is hard to decide which is my favorite. Allow me to offer three criteria that I use to determine whether or not a product has been a good investment:

1. How much I use it
2. How much joy I get from it
3. How critical is it

At times, the 12.9” iPad Pro has been critical as I used it for an important part of my work so I used it a lot. But I did not enjoy using it as much as some others. I used the mini all the time when I had one. But it was not critical for anything. I definitely enjoyed using it.

The 11” iPad Pro ticks a lot of the boxes. It doesn’t really get the highest score for anything. Yet in aggregate, it gets the highest marks. It is my favorite iPad to date. Yet it is not without its flaws. Here are some of the highlights:

The right size for most things

Most reviewers seem to agree that the 12.9” iPad Pro is a little too big and unwieldy for a tablet. You can definitely use it as a tablet. You are never going to get tired of consuming content on that gorgeous screen. You will get tired of holding it for an extended period of time. It is a little big and heavy for that. Fatigue will quickly set in.

The 11” iPad Pro does not suffer from that particular malady. It is much smaller and lighter than its bigger sibling. It is less awkward to hold, and can be used for extended periods of time as a tablet. It is not as easy to hold as an iPad mini. But it is an overall pleasure to use as the tablet it was designed to be.

The larger model excels at tasks that allow for it to be docked on some sort of stand and used like a laptop or small desktop. Full mouse and trackpad support could even tempt one to use it as a full laptop alternative. At the very least, it is a great 2 in 1.

The 11” will never be as productive of a machine simply due to size. Keyboards made for the device will necessarily be smaller, thus limiting ones typing speed and perhaps even accuracy. Multitasking is similarly limited due to size. You can do it. But you will have to make compromises.

You are not going to want to replace a laptop with the 11” Pro. It wasn’t really made for that. But you can get plenty of productivity done in a pinch. It might not be the one machine that does it all. But when it is all you have when a major task is dropped in your lap, the 11” Pro is a very capable device.

What I am saying is that the smaller pro tablet is a great tablet and a capable general-purpose computer. In my book, that makes it a more appealing purchase than the larger unit. I can handle critical tasks in a pinch and I will definitely use it more frequently because I enjoy it more.

No need for performance anxiety

One of the best features of the 11” Pro is that it has the same internals as the 12.9”. Processor, graphics, and ram are all the same. The cameras are the same. Benchmark one and you will know the performance of the other. Nothing has been crippled or limited in the smaller device.

That means that whatever the larger iPad can do, the smaller one can do just as well. When choosing between the larger and smaller Pro tablets, one only need be concerned with size and weight, not performance and capability. This is not typically the case for most products. Larger phones tend to have more performance or features. The same is true for laptops. iPads Pro constitute a glorious exception to an inglorious rule.

Trade-offs I can live with

Because the 11” iPad is small, the keyboards made for it will also be small. There are no great 11” laptops. Trying to turn the 11” iPad into one will net you a mediocre experience at best. That doesn’t mean that the resulting kit will be unusable. It just means that it is going to have some compromises. One of the main compromises is a much smaller than standard keyboard that will take some getting used to.

Because of that compromise, you are going to have to go a a little slower and be a little more careful when typing. It is most certainly not a dealbreaker. At this very moment, I am using a Keys-to-Go keyboard with my iPad. (My Smart Keyboard has not arrived yet.) It is almost the same width of the 11” iPad Pro.

For the record, I am also using a mouse with this setup just like I do with my laptop. I am funny that way. I prefer using a mouse with my portables and a trackpad on my desktop. This setup works perfectly for me.

That said, it wouldn’t work very well as either a laptop or a desktop. There are just too many compromises to ignore. It is, however, excellent for a coffee shop or library. I don’t believe the iPad is at its best when in this configuration. But it is fine in short spurts.

There are fewer compromises now than there were a year ago. For instance, it used to be said that in side by side multitasking, the app would take on the appearance of the iPhone version of the app. That is not necessarily the case. As you can see, I am using two apps at the same time and Safari is still using the iPad version.

Another improvement is just the app library. When the 11” first landed, there were no apps designed for it. Apps would appear with black bars around them because they didn’t fit the resolution and aspect ratio. Today, that is almost entirely eliminated.

The ecosystem is going to always favor the larger iPad. There will be more cases and keyboards for the 12.9”. If both versions will be available, the 12.9” will be first. Apple landed both sizes at the same time for their new Magic keyboard. But they seeded reviewers with the larger model. That keyboard was clearly designed with the larger model in view.

In some ways, the 11” iPad is a lot like the 11” MacBook Air back in the day. I owned one of those too, and loved it. Fans of small format devices are used to having to make compromises. Just ask any original iPhone SE owner how they feel about the new iPhone SE.

How’s your vision? Accessibility makes the smaller size possible to use by someone with poor vision. I have to crank up the fonts to a ridiculously large size. Don’t let my screenshots fool you. I make everything small for the screenshots so they don’t look weird. But I assure you that is not how my iPad looks when I am using it.

The larger the font and other elements, the less you will be able to display on the screen at one time. When I am writing, I can fit about one paragraph on the screen. At my desktop, I have a 32” monitor. I can run with large text and still have the information density I like. Using the smaller iPad as opposed to the larger one costs a great deal in screen density. Just remember that when you are making your decision.

Less is more

The iPad Pro 11” is a lot smaller than the larger iPad. In that way, it is less than the larger iPad. This is one of those times when less really does end up being more. You will use it more, pick it up more, have it in more places and get those moments of unplanned usage.

Let’s talk about unplanned usage. When you sit down at a desktop, it is generally because you planned to do certain things. If you plan to record a podcast, that is clearly not an unplanned usage. You might be doing something at your computer and receive a text from a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while. The resulting conversation in Messages is unplanned.

Unplanned computer usage comes when you have more access to the computer, have more apps where things can happen, and more free time to take little excursions. At my computer, I am often focused on what I am doing. I use Do Not Disturb a lot while at my computer.

The iPad is a different animal. Due to the very accessible size and weight of the 11” iPad in the Smart Keyboard case, I carry it with me all the time. It is always at my side and near to hand. Even when I am not using it, my iPad is right there at the ready.

I have more apps on my iPad than i do on either of my Macs. There are simply more opportunities for me to rediscover an app when on my iPad. If I succumb to app boredom, it is far more likely I will use the App Store on my iPad than my Mac to discover new apps and games.

Since I use my Macs for productivity, I am less busy by definition when I am on the iPad. That means I perceive myself having more time to be distracted on my iPad than my Mac. The result is that my iPad is a hotbed for unplanned usage. My 12.9” iPad was not. I did a lot more productivity on it and was busy when using it. I didn’t weight it down with a ton of unnecessary apps. And I didn’t carry it with me everywhere I went. Less iPad equates to more unplanned usage.

There are things you will do with the smaller iPad that you wouldn’t do with the larger one very often. You will find the smaller iPad to be functional while lying in bed. I use mine in the morning to catch up on the news and emails. I love reading on this screen. At night before going to bed, I play casual games. My wife has the larger iPad and has a hard time using it in bed. She has mostly given up on it.

I also do some long-form reading on my iPad from time to time. I didn’t do this with the larger iPad because it was too heavy to hold for a long stretch of time. Just keeping the iPad with me everywhere I go is made possible by the small size of the 11” tablet. I didn’t do that with the larger iPad. It stayed plugged in somewhere until I had a specific use for it.

I also have less frustration with the smaller iPad because my expectations are less. I am not frustrated with my phone because it can’t do the things my Mac can. It’s a smartphone, and a very good one at that. I did get frustrated with the bigger iPad because I was using it to replace a Mac laptop. It seems like it should be able to do things that it can’t. I don’t have that expectation for the 11”. So I can enjoy it for what it is.

Usually, less is less. But in the case of the Pro iPads, less ends up being more by quite a lot.

Jack of all trades

There is no such thing as a Jack of all trades that is also the master of all trades. That particular aphorism ends with Jack being the master of none. That said, we don’t really need the iPad to be the master of anything for it to be one of the best all-around computing devices to ever be conceived.

The versatility of the iPad 11” is unmatched. At any point in the day, I could be using it with one of three keyboards I have at my disposal. It all depends on my mood. I could be driving it with a mouse or trackpad or by the touchscreen. I can also dictate aloud when I grow weary of typing. Let’s not forget the utility of the Apple Pencil in this equation.

At one moment, I am taking a phone call from this iPad because it is with me when the call comes in and is more handy than my phone on many occasions. In fact, I have been leaving my phone on the charger for most of the day as it is not needed. I get all of my phone calls and text messages on my iPad.

At another moment, I am doing a jigsaw puzzle on my iPad of a scene from a picture I took myself. Another moment, I am doing an edit to a book I am working on, or watching the local TV news, or reading tech news, or listening to a podcast, or, or, or... You get the idea.

The iPad does not need to master any of these tasks to be the device I use for these tasks. The accessible size of the 11” size makes it big enough for real computing tasks and small enough for ultra-mobile tasks. It can do everything from desktop computer tasks to smartphone tasks. What the 11” iPad masters is versatility. In my opinion, there is not a more versatile tool on the market.

Conclusion: The new default

The 11” iPad Pro gets no respect. Apple pushes the bigger Pro as the default. Just look at what they give reviewers. Look at what they present in marketing materials. Apple treats the 12.9” as the default and the 11” as the afterthought for weirdos. But if you look around very carefully, you will find many luminaries like Marco Arment are among the weirdos.

I believe the 11” size is more accessible for more people due to size, weight, and price among others. It should be the default pro model, but isn’t. And that’s too bad because I believe many people are being steered toward the wrong iPad for them. No one should buy the largest iPad unless they have a very specific use case for that size. In the same way, no one should even consider buying a Mac Pro unless they know they need it.

What’s more, the 11” iPad should not only be the default iPad Pro, I think it should be the default iPad, period. The other iPads should be considered budget iPads, or educational use iPads. The 11” iPad gives you the full iPad experience. Therefore, it should just be called “iPad.” By comparison, the smaller iPads feel like they are missing something vital to the full iPad experience. And they are.

Even more, I believe the 11” iPad should be the default computer recommendation for people who just generically ask what computer they should buy. The accessories are also important. I recommend the Smart Keyboard Folio as the default. For another $100, they can upgrade to the Magic Keyboard. However, it should not be considered the default.

The Apple Pencil is totally optional. So far, Apple hasn’t provided much of a reason to buy it if you are not an artist. Once the iPad can transcribe handwriting in a useful way, that might change. For now, the 11” iPad with Smart Keyboard Folio is the default recommendation for general computing and tableting. Unless you know a person needs a general-purpose OS, don’t recommend a laptop.

David Johnson