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Best iPad Pro alternatives available in the US today
It’s almost the middle of October and Apple remains mum on prospective sequels to the 10.5 and 12.9-inch iPad Pros commercially released way back in June 2017. Granted, next-gen devices have started leaking again, but as we approach the holiday season, an official announcement by the end of the year feels more and more unlikely.
After all, it was only a couple of months ago that we were ready to bet the house the Cupertino company’s drastically redesigned high-end tablets would see daylight alongside the iPhone XS, XS Max, and iPhone XR.
If you’re unwilling to wait any longer, you can obviously still pick up last year’s iOS giants. Extremely well-reviewed after their commercial debut, they continue to dominate the market, helped by a lightly refreshed non-Pro 9.7-inch iPad.
Alternatively, you could always buy a decent Android, Windows 10, or even Chrome OS slate. Because sales aren’t exactly thriving, it’s not easy to put together a robust list of iPad Pro alternatives. But here are your best options available today if you’re bothered by the advanced age of Apple’s latest Pro tablets or don’t consider iOS the most optimized platform for a gargantuan screen.
Any conversation about a solid iPad Pro rival must start with a detachable keyboard and productivity-enhancing stylus. The Pixel Slate, which is technically not up for grabs yet, ticks both boxes, supporting Pixelbook Pen interaction, as well as pairing with a separately sold Google-made keyboard.
The latter is actually pricier than Apple’s Smart Keyboard, at a whopping $199, featuring love-or-hate circular keys, an etched glass trackpad, as well as doubling as a protective cover, just like the competition. Intriguingly enough, a slightly cheaper third-party option promises to make the Pixel Slate look more like a traditional laptop.
The Pixelbook Pen is not new, matching the $99 price tag of the Apple Pencil, while also offering pressure sensitivity and tilt support. Basically, your decision to buy the Pixel Slate over an iPad Pro will come down to whether or not you can live with Chrome OS (and Android apps).
You may also want to consider the entry-level configuration is 50 bucks cheaper than a 10.5-inch iPad Pro... with a beautiful 12.3-inch “Molecular” display in tow. But because the Intel Celeron processor is not ideal, we highly recommend you go for a $799 Core m3 or a $999 Core i5 variant. Both of those pack 8GB RAM, with 64 and 128GB solid-state storage respectively.
Whichever model you end up choosing, a pair of USB-C ports will provide a much higher degree of flexibility and versatility compared to Apple's proprietary Lightning connector.
Let’s be honest, the latest Surface Pro redesign has hardly been substantial. But that’s because the 2-in-1 Windows 10 PC was already pretty great. Now it’s slightly greater, powered by 8th generation Intel Core i5 or i7 chips, starting at $899, or 100 bucks more than a 64GB 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
Naturally, Surface Pro Signature Type Covers and Surface Pens are available separately at $160 and $100 respectively. The former is arguably more “professional”-looking and productive than Apple’s Smart Keyboard, not to mention “infinitely adjustable” and extra-stylish, with a luxurious Alcantara cover.
The Surface Pen is no pushover either, boasting 4,096 pressure points, compared to Apple’s unspecified sensitivity levels.
As far as the actual tablet is concerned, the aforementioned extra $100 will buy you twice the internal storage of the entry-level iPad Pro 12.9, a generous 8GB RAM, and a blazing fast i5 processor of the latest generation.
