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The M5 iPad Pro is a ridiculous device that hardly breaks a sweat when asked to do some pretty intensive tasks like music production. If you need the ultimate power you can get from a tablet, then there is nowhere else you should look. It is very expensive though.
The Good
- M5 chip is so powerful
- Nanotexture display is beautiful
- Super premium build
- Future-proofed for years
The Not So Good
- Extremely expensive
- Most people can make do with the iPad Air
Need-to-knows
- M5 chip is light-years ahead of the competition
- Nanotexture display is brilliant
- Will last you a very long time
- Most people don’t need the Pro model
I’ve been using the 13-inch M5 iPad Pro for a couple of weeks now, and I’m still completely unsure about who it’s actually for.
There’s the obvious: the uber Apple FanPerson. I’m one of those, and I bought the original iPad Pro ten years ago for no reason other than I wanted to own the best and biggest iPad on the market.
I didn’t do anything special with it. I didn’t know what to do with it beyond enjoying the huge, expansive display when I was watching YouTube videos.
This has led to a peculiar fascination I have with the people who can make the most of an iPad Pro. I don’t know who they are or what they’re doing with it, but I’m determined to find them and make sense of all this.
However, I’m doing my best to make the most of the 13-inch M5 iPad Pro, too, and that’s where I’ll start today’s story.
Shop the M5 iPad Pro below!
At a glance
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Display | 13″ Ultra Retina XDR (Tandem OLED), 2752 × 2064 @ 264 ppi, ProMotion (10–120 Hz), P3 wide color, True Tone, up to 1600 nits peak (HDR), Nano-texture option (1 TB / 2 TB models) |
| Chip | Apple M5 chip — • 256 GB / 512 GB: 9-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 12 GB RAM • 1 TB / 2 TB: 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16 GB RAM 153 GB/s memory bandwidth, hardware ray tracing |
| Storage Options | 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB |
| Camera (Rear) | 12 MP Wide (f/1.8), Smart HDR 4, 5× digital zoom, 4K up to 60 fps, ProRes video (up to 4K 30 fps) |
| Front Camera | 12 MP Landscape Center Stage (f/2.0), 1080p 60 fps, Portrait Mode, Portrait Lighting |
| Audio | 4 speakers, 4 studio-quality mics |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 7 + Bluetooth 6 (N1 chip); 5G (sub-6 GHz) on cellular models; eSIM only; Thread support |
| Ports | Thunderbolt / USB 4 (up to 40 Gb/s), Smart Connector, Magnetic connector (for Apple Pencil Pro & Magic Keyboard) |
| Apple Pencil Support | Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil (USB-C), Apple Pencil Hover |
| Battery Life | Up to 10 hrs (Wi-Fi), 9 hrs (Cellular); Fast-charge to 50% in ≈ 30 min with 60 W adapter |
| OS | iPadOS with Apple Intelligence and enhanced Siri integration |
| Biometrics | Face ID |
| Build / Finishes | Silver / Space Black; Aluminum unibody |
| Dimensions & Weight | 281.6 × 215.5 × 5.1 mm; 579 g (Wi-Fi) / 582 g (Cellular) |
| Included in Box | iPad Pro, 1 m USB-C Cable, 20 W USB-C Power Adapter (+ Polishing Cloth for Nano-texture models) |
| Pricing | From $1,249/£1,299 |
My iPad Pro music production setup
I’m that old, I remember using Logic on a Windows PC (no, really), when it was owned by Emagic in the 1990s. If you want some beautiful nostalgia, this is what it used to look like back then.
If you’re scratching your head and slowly reaching for the ‘back’ button, let me just quickly clarify that Logic is a music production app (to use 2025 parlance). It’s used by music producers, composers, and podcasters to – you guessed it – create, edit, and process audio.
Apple acquired Emagic in 2002 and, soon after, ceased development of the Windows version. Logic subsequently became a Mac-only affair until May 2023, when Apple decided to port it over to the iPad. And they ported the bejesus out of it; Logic Pro on the iPad is as fully featured as any of us could have hoped for.
This is how I think I can make the biggest dent in the M5 iPad Pro’s lofty capabilities. I can make music with it. I can trouble those CPU, GPU, and neural network cores by making noises with soft synths and FX plugins. Surely.
There are some immediate problems. Firstly, to make music with any degree of control and freedom, you need a controller keyboard (my personal pick for on-the-go stuff is the Novation Launchkey Mini), a pair of wired headphones (for zero latency and maximum privacy), a keyboard, and a mouse or trackpad. The latter two can be solved via the Magic Keyboard, or a third-party alternative, but for the rest, well, you need to head into Dongle Town.
The resulting mess of cables and connectors is rather unsightly and completely incompatible with making music in most public places. It’s also a right old faff to set up each time.
The other issue lies within Logic itself. As noted, the iPadOS version is incredibly comprehensive. A work of art, to be honest. But it also requires some serious re-jigging of any learned Logic behaviour, because it doesn’t operate like the Mac version at all in terms of the way you make your way around the app.
Compare: M5 iPad Pro vs M1 iPad Pro
However. It’s a lot of fun and can inspire some truly creative moments when you least expect them to arrive. There’s also something mesmerising about using an iPad rather than a Mac to make music. It feels new and exciting, and the addition of a touch interface makes it all feel a bit more tangible. I’m going to stick with it.
Who needs the M5 iPad Pro (according to ChatGPT)
My confidence in making the most of an iPad Pro ends at music production. After that, I hit a colossal wall. I’m not an illustrator or a 3D artist, and I have never written a single line of modern code. Sure, I still edit the odd video here and there, but I’m not making Hollywood movies.
So, I decided to do what everyone does in 2025 when they hit a brick wall: I asked ChatGPT.
Check out my M5 MacBook Pro review
The following answers are what Mr Terminator spat out when I asked who on earth should buy the M5 iPad Pro.
Professional creatives
ChatGPT suggests that, if you use LumaFusion, DaVinci Resolve, Lightroom, or Capture One and have the desire to put a tablet to use for your work, you should probably think about getting an M5 iPad Pro.
It lists 4K and 8K video editing, “editing massive RAW files”, and 3D modelling as some of the tasks that would benefit from the M5 iPad Pro’s horsepower.
“Basically — if your workflow is GPU-bound or RAM-heavy, the M5 finally makes iPad a serious tool,” said Mr GPT.
What that doesn’t answer is the question I’ve always encountered whenever I consider those use cases for the iPad Pro: why not just use a MacBook instead?
Pick the right one: Read my list of the best iPads
Let’s continue digging.
Mobile producers / On-the-go creators
Granted, this sounds extremely similar to the above, but let’s give AI the benefit of the doubt (dangerous, I know).
If you edit and publish videos on the road, or do similar time-bound tasks within the photography field in the back of your camper van, the M5 iPad Pro’s sheer grunt and speedy Thunderbolt capabilities will be a worthy investment, apparently.
Similarly, if you’re a travelling DJ, musician, or podcaster who needs “that extra Neural Engine and RAM headroom help with real-time effects”, the M5 will save your bacon. Or, at the very least, a few minutes of exporting time.
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This makes a bit more sense. I still think that a lot of those people will opt for a MacBook, but if you prefer the idea of a device that includes a touch interface and, paired with the right keyboard case, a bit more portability, the iPad Pro does make sense, and it won’t let you down.
Heavy multitaskers and laptop-replacers
Now we’re getting somewhere.
Highlighting multitasking as a potential feather in the cap of the M5 iPad Pro is pushing it; iPadOS still very much feels like a single-app platform (and, in my opinion, benefits from it).
But, the ‘laptop-replacer’. That’s where this gets interesting.
I see a pretty clear split in opinion about this in the comments sections of my YouTube videos. Some people hate the idea of the iPad being a laptop replacement; it’s its own thing, they say, and can live quite happily alongside a laptop. Others love the idea of the iPad being a laptop replacement, and that’s the camp I sit in. Attach it to a Magic Keyboard and it looks like a laptop, whichever way you or Apple swing it.
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What’s more, if you’re serious about switching from your laptop to an iPad and have a workflow which demands as much horsepower as possible, you’re arguably going to get more for your money with an M5 iPad Pro.
Long-term power users
Yes, Mr GPT! Now we’re talking.
The length of time people hold onto their iPads has been steadily increasing. This is a testament to what remains one of Apple’s most capable and, clearly, reliable products, but it’s also a head-scratcher for Tim Cook. It’s why, with each new M-series launch of the latest iPads, we’re informed about how worthy they are as an upgrade for legacy users.
It’s hard to argue with that. I think the leap from M1 to M5 iPad Pro is significant enough for most people to give it a second thought. But it also means that if you buy an M5 iPad Pro today, it’s going to last you an awfully long time. Therefore, if you’re committed to the iPad as a tool you use regularly, the Pro version arguably delivers the best value in terms of how much performance headroom you’ll have across the lifetime of the device.
It’ll probably still be worth decent money when you eventually come to sell it, too.
Who doesn’t need the M5 iPad Pro?
If you use your iPad for watching Netflix, emailing people, and doing the occasional bit of work, you don’t need the iPad Pro. If you occasionally dip into 4K video editing and RAW photo edits from your family holiday, you don’t need an iPad Pro.
The above two statements can be rendered incorrect if you want the best iPad display, of course, but I think that’s a relatively small market. For most people, the iPad Air remains the sweet spot.
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It’s the age-old conclusion for me: if you know you need an iPad Pro, you know you need an iPad Pro. I’m not the one to tell you whether that’s the right or wrong decision. What’s clear, after my AI-infused research, is that the M5 iPad Pro is for a very specific audience, particularly if you strip out any emotionally-charged FanPerson purchases.
Wrapping up
It still feels like the M5 chip in the iPad Pro is lightyears ahead of what anyone can actually do with it. My music production project is a case in point: I could do what I’m doing in Logic just as easily on the iPad Air.
The iPad Pro does have a lot going for it, though. It has a much better display (along with a nano-texture option, which I highly recommend), faster I/O, faster charging, and a chip which outclasses a lot of desktop variants, including the M4 Max.
What I love about the iPad Pro, however, is how long it’ll last most people. If you’re going to put it to daily use, I’m struggling to think of another Apple product that delivers the same level of long-term value.
