I had a chance today to swing by an Apple Store and try out the new 10.5’’ iPad Pro. It’s very close in size and weight to last year’s 9.7’’ model. So much so that I understand why they chose to phase out the smaller model from the pro line up. The screen is fast and responsive, but not as responsive as some of the early adopters have claimed. If you scroll a web page quickly, for example, there’s still motion blur just less than there used to be. Where the new screen makes a more significant contribution is in the apparent performance of the Apple Pencil. We’re at the point now where the differences between using the iPad with Apple Pencil and using a pen and paper are down to the feeling of the materials rather than the responsiveness of the technology. I know that iPad sales appear to be in a somewhat disturbing death spiral, but with iOS 11, I really think that this new hardware will be a credible laptop replacement for the vast majority of consumers come fall. The changes that Apple have brought to the iPad’s hardware and software show that they still believe in this platform as the future of personal computing. I think they’re definitely on to something here and I’m encouraged that they are still expending effort in this space. It’s early days, but I suspect I’ll be recommending iPads to many more people in the not-too-distant future as primary computers.