iPad Pro M4 vs MacBook Pro M3

In early May 2024, Apple held an event in which they unveiled the most powerful consumer device ever. And no, it’s not a gaming laptop, but a tablet that a lot of people mostly use to watch streaming cat videos. Engineering-wise, Apple managed to pack a lot of power in a slab of glass and metal barely 5mm thick, which is around 100 sheets of paper.

However, given they bumped up the price of the iPad Pro, so now it starts at $1299 for the 13", and the new Magic Keyboard starts at $299, the comparison with their own MacBook Pro is inevitable. Did Apple manage to finally replace the laptop with the tablet of the future?

Basic comparison

For this comparison, we set the price point to compare at two points: $1,500 and $2,000. Why? Apple doesn’t allow you to customize the memory capacity or the M4 chip on the iPad Pro, unlike the MacBook Pro.

At $1,500, you’ll get the binned M4 chip and only 8GB of memory. One of the performance cores on the M4 has been switched off. Chip manufacturers usually do this to improve manufacturing yields and to sell off lesser chips at cheaper prices to recoup costs. If you choose the iPad Pro with 1TB or 2TB storage, all cores on the M4 chip work and you’ll also get 16GB of memory.

At $1,500, you’ll get the base spec MacBook Pro with the M3 chip. It has 8GB of memory and 512GB of storage.

At $2,000, the MacBook Pro now has an upgraded processor, the M3 Pro, and an even higher amount of memory. The M3 Pro might be the binned version, but still have 11 CPU cores, and 14 GPU cores. At 18GB of memory, it has the most amount of memory in this comparison. But your compromise is the upgraded CPU uses slightly more battery life and your storage is stuck at 512GB.

Here’s a table giving an overview of what you’ll get at different price points between the iPad Pro and the MacBook Pro.

Why the iPad

During the launch of the first iPad, Steve Jobs mentioned that the tablet should occupy a space that is not fulfilled by the iPhone or the MacBook. That has been true for years where the iPad is great for content consumption while Apple has trying to push the envelope on content creation.

Here is what’s better on the iPad Pro

• Better processor: The new iPad Pro form factor shows what’s possible with the latest technology. The M4 on the iPad Pro is the only thing that enables Apple to make a slab of glass and metal and make magic from it.
• Best display: The other factor why the iPad Pro can be so thin is the new display technology. With OLED, you don’t need a backlight for the display as the tiny LED does both color and brightness, so the tablet can be thinner. Furthermore, the tablet is touch-sensitive and you can use a stylus.
• Stylus: Yes, the stylus is not the primary input device for the iPad Pro, but with a stylus, it’s far easier to create a painting than using your mouse.

However, there are a few factors that holding the iPad Pro back, namely:

• iPadOS: Yes, Apple has split the OS that manages the iPhone and iPad into two separate branches so the iPad can push more features to be more macOS, and we wrote our thoughts on it, but still, Apple is holding iPadOS back
• Sandboxed: Many users say that iPadOS is lacking compared to macOS but are unable to describe it. I would think the main problem with iPadOS trying to be macOS is that iPadOS is too sandboxed by Apple. You can’t load apps from the web, use a different web browser, and with Apple’s lawsuit looming, certain apps are purposedly sidelines by Apple.
• Single USB-C port: That single USB-C port on the iPad Pro is quite powerful. It runs on Thunderbolt 4 so you can connect your $5,000 Pro XDR display as a secondary display

Why the MacBook Pro

The laptop form factor has been with us for over four decades. The first ones came out in the 80s but the really good ones came out in the 90s. Since then, it was updated to be thinner, more powerful, and lighter and the software has been updated so we can do more. If the computer was a bicycle for the mind, the laptop is the motorcycle.

Apple laptop arguably built the foundation of what is Apple today. Sure, the best-selling product that Apple makes is the iPhone and the ecosystem that surrounds it, but the Mac is the soul of Apple. It’s the tool for wizards that create magic by saying the right incantations.

Apple laptops like the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro has been very popular for good reasons:

• macOS: The star of Apple’s line of laptops is the operating system that runs it. Sure, the hardware quality of Apple’s laptop is second to none and so is the vertical integration surrounding it, but macOS is what enables creators to create.
• versatility: Because macOS has been withup for almost two decades, and the system is relatively open compared to locked-down, sandboxed iPadOS, the MacBook Pro is a very versatile computer. It used to have some hardware performance restrictions, but now, thanks to Apple Silicon, the sky is not the limit.
• Better hardware:

But no device is perfect and the MacBook Pro does have some disadvantages compared to the iPad

• Content consuming: While you can watch your streaming videos on the MacBook Pro, it’s nicer to watch it on the iPad Pro or a big-screen TV and even better on the Vision Pro. Apple has nailed down content consumption on the iPad and the Macbook, no matter how good it is, can’t hold a candle to the iPad
• “Worse” hardware: I say “worse” because MacBook Pro hardware is still great. But, one might argue that the iPad Pro is what MacBook Pro wants to be when they grow up: thin, light, powerful, easy to lug around, supports Apple Pencil for when the need to draw arises, better soundstage, and the best display. Yes, Apple made some compromises to hit a certain price (and profit) target in creating those devices, but I believe people will pay to have an iPad speaker and display on the MacBook Pro.

Conclusion

Engineering is about finding a solution to solve a particular problem within a constraint, which necessitates compromise. Despite Apple’s years of effort to make iPadOS and macOS meet in the middle, they still have divided attributes that made them good for one thing, while worse for another.

One of Apple’s major problems is the desire for control. The ecosystem, the wall garden approach, and the limitation are not incidents, they are by product of policy.

The iPad Pro could easily be Apple’s best product, even surpassing Apple’s best-selling laptop, the MacBook Air, but the software remains the factor holding back the iPad Pro. We hope that WWDC 2024 which will go live next month will address this issue.

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Other Ecosystem Items

• Apple TV (Amazon) / Apple TV 4K (Amazon)
• AirTags (Amazon)
• HomePod Mini (Amazon)