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The new Pro is the first iPad I've ever been tempted to buy

Apple announced a brand new iPad Pro alongside the iPhone SE Monday.

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Apple says the new iPad Pro has the least reflective tablet screen ever made and a feature called True Tone that should make precise color work much easier on the go.

And for the first time, I'm tempted to buy an iPad.

When Apple debuted the first iPad back in 2010, I remember asking friends why anyone would want a big iPod Touch. This will flop, I smugly predicted. Well, it didn't. But I still didn't see a reason to buy one. It seemed, frankly, like a computer optimized for children and the elderly.

iPad Pro
Apple screenshot

Even when the first 12-inch iPad Pro was announced last year with its powerful processor and keyboard, I just couldn't see myself replacing my laptop. As a writer and photographer, I need a light and powerful photo-processing device with plenty of storage and a comfortable typing experience. Windows Ultrabooks still seemed like the best option for that — I bought an attractive 12-inch, 2-pound Samsung Ativ Book 9 in 2015 and thought I'd made the right call.

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But in practice, Windows laptops have been a disappointment. My Ativ Book's touchpad stopped working after a few weeks sitting in a soft case in my backpack, and the keyboard's already starting to go. The screen's too dark and shiny to use in many circumstances, and I don't trust any Photoshop work I do on there because of color issues.

Meanwhile, iPads keep getting better. The 9.7 inch Pro's 256-gigabyte storage capacity is more than enough for an on-the-go device. The promised best-in-class screen is exciting. And iPads are tough — I know at least one septagenarian who's carried her original iPad around in a purse for more than half a decade without incident.

It's true, the iPad won't run all the apps I prefer to use — like Lightroom and Photoshop Creative Cloud for photos — but PhotoRaw is a great substitute for those images I have to process before I can reach my desktop. And the bright, color-accurate screen should more than make up for the app deficit.

Also, with all the moving around I do, the extra pound they've shaved off from the smallest laptops' weight should be a boon to my back and shoulders.

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All this should be great news to Apple execs — they explicitly said they want to nab Windows users with this device.

Of course, I'll have to get my hands on one before I can know for sure. But the new iPad Pro looks like the first iOS device that could lure me away from a Windows computer.

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