Apple iPad Pro: it's either a computer, or it is not.

Upon its first unveiling, the 12.9 inch iPad Pro has been marketed as a laptop-killer, as the company touted it’s faster and more powerful than most laptop PCs, a statement that positioned the largest iPad Pro as officiel competition for most consumer laptops. Of course it is implied that the definition of consumer laptops includes devices that are comparably less powerful than MacBooks, by a variety of parameters.

Last year’s campaign reinforced the original message, officially endowing the iPad Pro with PC-qualities and definitions.

This year, the tune has changed, and the iPad Pro is a tablet again. In Apple’s short new ad, poking fun at Twitter users who argue that the iPad isn’t “remotely close to being a computer”.

The Twitter username in the ad, @NasKarrKid, to those who may wonder, and those who have not checked it yet, is real, although the actor portrayed in the ad isn’t.

So is the iPad Pro a computer, or not? It depends on your definition of “computer”, considering that technically, anything with a processor, a logic board, memory and a storage drive is a computer, from smartphones to motor vehicles.

What the common consumer understands as being a computer, however, has little to do with the technical side of it, and more to do with the perception of what a “computer” is, beyond legitimate descriptors like “laptop”, “desktop”, “ultraportable”, which are all terms that are mostly understood at retail level, but rarely used in everyday conversations.

With that said, the question is whether the iPad Pro can hold its own against a whole array of Windows PCs, and in how many categories.

While the iPad Pro is certainly a powerful computer, by standard of most laptops, it’s unlikely that a MacBook Air, or 12 inch MacBook user will completely ditch his or her Mac for an iPad Pro, considering the fundamental differences between what one can do in iOS, versus macOS, or Windows 10.

The iPad Pro can’t do “everything” a laptop does, but it is certainly very efficient at what it can do, which incidentally covers most of the usual tasks of a typical laptop user, so long as storage requirements and applications don’t require what’s beyond the iPad’s specs.

Should you buy an iPad Pro instead of a laptop? That’s a tough question. If you need more than 128GB of storage, and you need to use applications that are not available on iOS, a laptop is the better choice, no doubt about that. However, if your work routine revolves around office documents, web surfing, music and even art, the iPad Pro is a device well-worth your consideration.

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