Is the new iPad Pro M5 the PERFECT iPad for you?

There's a new iPad Pro in town, and its name is M5. And it's powerful—and pricey. Is it the perfect one for you? Get the scoop in this episode, hosted by Next Level Mac founder and Chief Editor Blaine Locklair.

 

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to episode 4 of the Next Level
Mac Podcast.
My name is Blaine Locklear.
I'm the founder and chief editor of Next
Level Mac.
I'm excited to have you here with me
on the show today.
We're going to be talking about the new
M5 iPad Pro.
I've got the 11-inch model here in
the studio, and I've got some first impressions
that you don't want to miss.
This episode of the Next Level Mac Podcast

(00:21):
is sponsored by ABC Trophies.
For the perfect awards and recognition for your
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So to not many people's surprise, Apple dropped
the new M5 versions of the iPad Pro
11-inch and 13-inch in October of
2025.
The M4 version was about a year and

(00:42):
a half old at that point, so it
was a bit long in the tooth and
ready for an update.
If you've looked through any of the information
for the M5 iPad versions on Apple's official
website, they've made a lot of comparisons between
the M5 iPad and the M1 iPad.
It seems kind of ludicrous to compare the
M5 chip to the M1 chip.
They are four generations apart, and most people

(01:04):
are looking at whether or not they should
upgrade from the M4 iPad to the M5
iPad.
Well, I've got you covered for both of
these.
You see, I actually did upgrade from an
M1 iPad Pro 12.9-inch to the
M5 iPad Pro 11-inch, and my wife
has the M4 iPad Pro 13-inch, so
I can legitimately compare the M5 to both

(01:27):
the M4 and the M1 iPads right here
in hand.
Let's start with the first comparison, which is
going to be going from my M1 iPad
Pro 12.9-inch up to the M5
iPad Pro 11-inch version.
Throw out the differences between the screen size.
Those are kind of obvious, and they're personal
choices.
There's no wrong screen size to get for

(01:48):
the iPad that works best for you.
I can certainly say that the reason I
selected the 11-inch version of the iPad
Pro M5 is that I found that I
tend to hold the iPad in portrait mode
more often than I use it in landscape
mode.
Having the M1 version of the iPad since
its launch, I found that having the 12

(02:08):
.9-inch version and using it in portrait
mode tends to be a bit cumbersome.
Oh, don't worry, I get it.
Whining about having to use an iPad that's
1.9 inches larger diagonally in portrait mode
and having to slide your hand up and
down the device a little bit is definitely
a first world kind of problem.
But as you use a device like an

(02:29):
iPad for a period of time, you start
to notice how the size and weight of
it impact your usage.
It made my decision to go from the
12.9-inch iPad or what ultimately would
have been a 13-inch iPad Pro M5
to the 11-inch version to be a
good one for my fit.
But there's no wrong choice when it comes
to getting an iPad Pro.

(02:49):
They're both incredible.
They have nearly the same specifications other than
the frame size and a little bit of
resolution to match them.
And no matter which of the two sizes
of iPad Pro you consider, they both are
the premier choice in the tablet market.
So what first impressions do I have between
the 12.9-inch iPad Pro M1 and

(03:09):
this new M5 iPad Pro 11-inch?
Well, the first thing that strikes you immediately
when you turn on and set up the
iPad Pro M5 version is that glorious tandem
OLED display.
The brightness levels are absolutely incredible on this
tandem OLED display.
It can hit up to 1,000 nits

(03:30):
of brightness in standard dynamic range and peak
at 1,600 nits of peak brightness in
HDR. The M1 models of the iPad Pros
had a mini LED display.
And don't get me wrong, the mini LED
display is incredible also.
It can hit, I believe, a sustained 600
nits of brightness in standard dynamic range and

(03:53):
still hit those incredible highs with HDR. And
mini LED is no joke.
They're still using mini LED displays on MacBook
Pros and they look astonishingly good.
But if you experience the power and beauty
of the tandem OLED display, there's just no
going back to something less.

(04:15):
If you compare the iPad Pro and that
beautiful tandem OLED display to any of the
non-pro models of the iPad that are
still rocking those LCD 60 hertz displays, that's
when things become jarringly different.
Nevertheless, the leap from the mini LED up
to the tandem OLED is just glorious.

(04:36):
If you've got any iPads that are older
than the M4 Pro, you will absolutely see
the difference in the M4 and M5's tandem
OLED display.
The next thing that stood out to me
right away was the quality of the sound
coming from the 11-inch iPad Pro M5.
So the M1 and the M5 both have

(04:56):
four speaker systems.
Oh, don't get me wrong, the M1 iPad
Pro 12.9-inch has great sound as
well.
But I was just stunned at the quality
of the sound that Apple was able to
get out of the 11-inch model of
the iPad Pro M5, especially with how astonishingly
thin the iPad Pro M5 is.
I played the movie Tron Legacy through Apple

(05:18):
TV to get a sense of how the
audio would sound.
I was completely blown away.
You can actually hear the bass not only
coming out of the speakers, but literally feel
it vibrating the frame on the back of
the tablet.
It's so rare to find this degree of
devotion to sound quality put into a tablet.
I think with most tablets that aren't Apple

(05:39):
tablets, sound is an afterthought.
Like they put in the screen, they put
in the chips, they put in the battery,
and then go, oh no, we forgot to
put in the speakers.
Well, we'll just drop a couple of them
in right here.
And I've tested Android tablets that were premier
level tablets with multi-speaker systems in Dolby
Atmos.
They cannot compare to the sound quality of
the iPad Pro.

(06:00):
The sound increase from the M1 12.9
-inch to the M5 11-inch is incremental,
but it is also noticeable and much appreciated.
Hey, if you're enjoying the podcast so far,
make sure to smash that follow button.
There's a lot more great next level Mac
content coming soon, and you don't want to
miss out.
Another thing that literally grabs you by the
collar right away and says, hey, look at

(06:22):
this, is the thinness of the M5 iPad
Pro.
The M1 iPad Pro 12.9-inch is
6.4 millimeters thick, or exactly one quarter
of an inch thick.
The iPad Pro M5 11-inch version is
5.3 millimeters thick, or 0.21 inches
thick.
That makes the iPad Pro M5 17%

(06:45):
thinner than the M1 12.9-inch version.
As soon as you pick up the M1
and then put it down and pick up
the M5, you notice the difference immediately.
And it's almost jaw-dropping how much nicer
and more comfortable the M5 version of the
iPad Pro is to hold.
And it's not just a difference between the

(07:06):
12.9-inch size and the 11-inch
size.
These are legitimate changes that Apple has made
to upgrade the overall experience of holding the
iPad Pro.
I found one of my favorite things to
do with it here recently is just hold
it in portrait mode and just kind of
wiggle it in my hand a little bit,
because you just get this sense of awe

(07:28):
that Apple could produce a device with 10
hours of battery life, a tandem OLED display,
and the incredible power of the M5 chip
in something so light and so comfortable to
hold and use.
It's not that a 6.4-millimeter tablet
is a chunky boy, but in 2021, it

(07:49):
was about as thin as you could get.
In 2025, it starts to feel like it
is.
It's crazy to think that the iPad Pro
11-inch is thinner than the brand new
iPhone Air.
The iPhone Air is 5.6 millimeters thick,
and the iPad Pro 11-inch is 5
.3 millimeters thick.

(08:09):
Or maybe I should say, it's 5.3
millimeters thin.
It makes this tablet feel much more than
just pro.
It makes it feel premium.
But I wouldn't say that everything that glitters
is gold.
You see, there's actually been a significant amount
of price creep since the 2021 M1 versions
of the iPad Pros launched.

(08:31):
By Apple's to Apple's comparison, pun intended, the
11-inch version of the iPad Pro M1
in 2024 retailed for $799.
Today's iPad Pro M5 11-inch version retails
for $999.
That's a 25% price increase.

(08:52):
Granted, the technologies inside this M5 Pro are
substantially upgraded over the ones from just four
years ago.
And it's hard to just turn a blind
eye to the amount of price increase these
devices have seen.
The 12.9-inch version was $1,099
at launch, and now the 13-inch M5
version is a whopping $1,299 for the

(09:16):
base model.
Interestingly enough though, since the iPad launched back
in 2010 when Steve Jobs famously walked out
on stage, sat down in a chair with
it, and showed it off, the overall pricing
of iPads has gone down.
The original iPad launched for $599.
You can now get the iPad base model

(09:37):
with the A16 chip for as low as
$299 when you catch it on sale.
Even at retail it's $349.
So it's an incredible value.
And it makes no difference whether you're rocking
the base model of the iPad or the
highest tier of iPad Pro, they all run
iPad OS 26.

(09:59):
And they're all capable of running Apple Intelligence.
You know, if you actually want to.
So while the price bumps can be a
big pill to swallow when you go from
just a few years ago in the pro
market to now, the iPad remains accessible to
budgets at all levels.
And we're getting ready to go into the
holiday season of 2025, so there are going
to be discounts on these devices at retailers

(10:21):
not named Apple.
For example, I was able to get this
iPad Pro M5 11-inch at my local
Best Buy for $50 off and with free
Apple care with my Total Plus membership.
One area in which the iPad Pro M5
absolutely destroyed the iPad Pro M1 was in
wireless internet performance.
With the iPad Pro M1, I ran several

(10:43):
tests right before I was recording this podcast.
I got a maximum of 657 megabits per
second download speed.
At wired connection speeds, I can get as
high as 2,400 megabits per second.
And at wireless upload speeds, it came in
at about 317 megabits per second out of

(11:03):
a possible wired speed of about 360.
On the iPad Pro M5, the results were
dramatically improved.
I got 1,537 megabits per second download
speeds and up to 360 megabits of upload
speeds.
These are massive improvements in download speeds, about

(11:24):
2.75 times the download speed over the
iPad Pro M1.
If you spend a lot of time online
with your iPad Pro, you will absolutely notice
the performance gains that you get from the
iPad Pro M5, even over the iPad Pro
M4.
The results aren't shockingly better, but they are
better.

(11:45):
On the iPad Pro M4 13-inch, I
was able to get 1,401 megabits per
second download and 351 up.
It's a 9.7% increase in speed
for downloads.
It is a noteworthy speed increase for downloads,
but it's not enough to move the needle
for most people that use the iPad casually.

(12:06):
Only the highest level of power users of
the iPad would be likely to feel or
see a substantial difference in day-to-day
use.
But anyway you slice it, the iPad Pro
M5 is faster online than any of its
predecessors.
So what about if you do already have
an iPad Pro M4 11-inch or 13
-inch, should you make the leap to the

(12:26):
M5 model?
I would say for most people, the answer
is no.
For example, if you use your iPad primarily
for things like getting on Safari and surfing
the web, checking your email, sending messages, photos,
things that are not high CPU and GPU
intense, or don't use a lot of on
-device AI, you're not likely to see significant

(12:50):
gains in performance with those apps.
The outer design of the iPad Pro is
largely the same.
They're the same dimensions, the same thinness or
thickness, they're the same weight, they have the
same tandem OLED displays, they have the same
speakers and the same cameras.
In fact, I think the only distinguishing difference
between them is the absence of the iPad

(13:12):
branding at the bottom of the back of
the devices.
They even have the same battery life and
the same USB-C connectivity.
So what it boils down to is, are
you going to be able to take advantage
of the power of the M5 chip itself?
It has a new neural engine and the
neural engine can run on-device AI at
about 3.5 times the speed of the

(13:33):
M4 chip.
That is a massive improvement for using Apple
Intelligence.
It also has much faster cellular connectivity than
the M4 model.
Apple introduced the C1X cellular modem into the
M5 iPad Pro, and it gets up to
50% faster cellular connectivity than the M4
version.
If you're a road warrior with your iPad

(13:55):
Pro, this is meaningful.
This is a substantial speed increase.
So much of the things that get done
on an iPad get done through internet connectivity.
Having 50% more speed to do these
tasks can make you substantially more productive.
So if you feel the need for some
online speed, you definitely want the upgrade.
The M5 chip, even at the base model,

(14:17):
includes 50% more RAM than the M4.
The M4 had 8GB of RAM in its
base configuration, and the new iPad Pro M5
has 12GB of RAM in its base configuration.
By the way, the RAM in the M5
is also faster than the RAM in the
M4.
If you're into running browser tasks with multiple
tabs open, or doing tasks like 3D rendering,

(14:38):
having access to more RAM and faster RAM
is going to make massive improvements in the
overall performance of your workflows.
So if you do heavy lifting with your
iPad Pro, upgrading to the iPad Pro with
the M5 chip and its extra faster RAM
is going to make a big difference.
And you always have the option of trading
in your old iPad towards a new one
with Apple.

(14:59):
Okay, understand that this number is going to
fluctuate and actually go down the older this
podcast episode gets.
But at the time of this podcast recording
in early November of 2025, they're offering up
to $695 on trade-ins on iPad Pros.
So trading in your iPad is like trading
in your used car.

(15:19):
It's probably not the most lucrative way to
get rid of it, but it is the
easiest way to ditch your old one and
put that money towards a new one.
So if you do want to ditch the
M4 and get yourself a shiny new M5,
you can always go to the Apple trade
-in website, punch in your serial number from
your device, and get an instant quote.
For more great Next Level Mac content, including

(15:41):
written articles for news, reviews, and how to's,
get the Next Level Mac app at nextlevelmac
.app. Thanks again for joining me on this
episode of the podcast.
I'll look forward to being with you in
the next one.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai