5 reasons why the iPad Pro M5 is the only device you need

If, like me, you saw the announcement of Apple's new M5 chips and decided now could finally be the time to upgrade your laptop, it is – but maybe not with the machine you were thinking of.

The MacBook Pro 14-inch now features an M5 chip, making it extremely fast, but it's not the only new offering. The iPad Pro also now comes with an M5 chip, making the already super-powerful tablet that bit better. Could it ever really replace your laptop, though?

Having used this new model for a few days, I really think it can. There's now no part of my daily workflow that I can't do on this machine. Plus, compared to a new MacBook, it's lighter and considerably cheaper. The latest iPadOS 26 makes the experience far more Mac-like, too.

So, if you're considering an upgrade, here are five reasons the iPad Pro is all the machine you need.

1. Touchscreen display

The iPad Pro M5 features a tandem OLED touchscreen display. This uses two layers of OLEDs to provide a brighter image with higher contrast and great colour accuracy. That means 1600 nits of peak HDR brightness, 1000 nits of standard peak brightness and a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio – twice that of the MacBook Pro display.

Both the 11-inch (2420-by-1668-pixel) and the 13-inch (2752-by-2064-pixel) models have a 264 pixel per inch resolution and adaptive refresh rates from 10Hz up to 120Hz using ProMotion technology.

There's also the option to feature a nano-texture display on both sizes of iPad Pro with the 1TB or 2TB storage options. This gives a matte finish to the screen, which drastically reduces reflections, making it ideal for creatives working in bright conditions.

2. Operates like a Mac, at last

Thanks to the new iPadOS 26, the iPad Pro has the most Mac-like operating system to date. Using the Stage Manager option, you can have floating windows that you can resize by dragging the bottom corner, and stack on top of each other, rather than having to send background windows to the dock.

Of course, you can turn the Stage Manager function off and fill the screen with your apps. This is perhaps even more useful on the smaller 11-inch model. Or when you don't need to multitask with your windows.

Plus, if you add the Magic Keyboard to the iPad Pro, it looks much like a mini MacBook, with the benefit of a keyboard and trackpad that feels laptop quality to type and navigate on.

3. M5 chip

The M5 chip has has 3.5x the AI performance and 1.5x the 3D rendering speed of the M4. Plus if you compare it to either the M1 or M2 variants the performance increase is even more extreme, from ray tracing to image generation.

Thanks to this, the iPad Pro can zip through just about any task, from image and video editing, professional audio mixing, to AI processing and gaming. This is a professional grade machine, designed for professional level tasks.

4. Apple Pencil turns this into a creative tool

The other advantage of the iPad Pro's touchscreen is that it is compatible with both the Apple Pencil USB-C and the flagship Apple Pencil Pro. Both give potential for drawing, writing and sketching on the iPad, with precision, though the Pencil Pro gives you pressure sensitivity, haptic feedback and barrel roll for calligraphy pen work.

Whether you're using dedicated illustration apps or doodling straight into Notes or Freehand, the Apple Pencil opens up the iPad Pro to creative uses. With the latest Apple Intelligence functionality of iPadOS 26, sketches can be transformed into slick images, handwriting into typed text and mathematical equations solved instantly.

5. Smaller and lighter

Perhaps the best thing about using the iPad Pro for me is how much smaller and lighter it is than carrying a laptop. The 11-inch iPad Pro weighs 444 grams (0.98 lbs), while the larger 13-inch model weighs 579 grams (1.28 lbs). Even if you opt for the cellular version (up to 582g) and add on the Magic Keyboard, it weighs considerably less than the 14-inch MacBook Pro. In fact, even with the case it weighs around the same as a 13-inch MacBook Air.