It's pretty hard to know when it's time to upgrade your devices these days. Companies churn out bigger and better versions every year, and it can get difficult to decipher whether you actually need a better model or you just really love shiny new things and pulling the plastic off screens.

Recently more and more of our customers have mentioned that they've moved up from their regular iPads to the new iPad Pro, released in November 2018. We were intrigued to see whether the pros and cons of upgrading and using Showcase on the behemoth of a device the Pro is, would outweigh sticking to the standard tablet size.

We picked up the one we've had floating around the office and took it for a test run. We also took some points from some of our customers with regular Pro usage and we're going to run through the pros and cons of using Showcase on an iPad Pro.


Extremely large screen size, and 4K Retina display.


We all know iPad Pros are like, really huge. I put an iPad Pro next to my two year old sister and it was half her size. How’s that for a screen?

The Pro comes in two sizes, a 10.5-inch and a 12.9-inch screen. That means that these are the largest iPads ever made!

While they may seem a bit too big, when you are using them all day long as your primary machine they don’t seem that way. The screen is bright, crisp and super clear and feature 4k resolutions on their Retina displays.

Having a screen that large is great for presenting using showcase because everything becomes easier to see, allowing you to present your showcase to a larger group of people without having to crowd around one small tablet.

Opening content in a showcase with a large amount of text, like PDFs and tables, is also much easier to view on the larger screen.

Showcase also fits to the Pro screen size so you get maximum screen use!

If screen quality is one of your major selling points (which ideally it should be when you’re presenting from a device), then look no further than an iPad Pro.
You’ve spend time and effort designing and creating your showcases so they really reflect your brand - putting them on the best possible display quality is doing yourself a service.

Apple Pencils do not work within Showcase

If you're dead keen on getting a Pro because you're dying to use the Apple Pencil to write throughout your showcases, well unfortunately you're out of luck.

The Apple Pencil is a great tool for note taking, drawing, and annotating documents but it's capabilities are limited to a select group of apps and functions within the iPad Pro.

Pencil was definitely made for artists. Education and business users will benefit to a lesser extent, especially in apps where note taking and markup features play central roles but unfortunately, Showcase Workshop is not Apple Pencil compatible.

Processing Power & Storage  

Using an iPad Pro is a great choice for those who want a hefty device that's capable of being an all round business machine, rather than 'just a tablet'. Being able to switch from showcase presentations, to docking a keyboard and using it without issue as a regular computer is truly the peak of versatility.

The A10x processor featured only on the iPad Pros is the fastest and most powerful processor ever created for an iPad. It can easily handle any app available in the app store so you can work (or play) free from any annoying lag or buffering. This fast processor also means that your iPad will last you even longer as well!

The brand new iPad Pro third generations (the ones released in November) even have internal storage of up to 1TB! Do you know how many showcases you could hold with that amount of storage space? Like.. a lot!

Having a device with that much internal storage could be super beneficial if you're a big user of showcase for the following reasons:

  • If you're part of multiple workshops, you may need to have many showcases downloaded and readily accessible on your device.
  • Your showcases themselves may be large (showcases can be up to 1GB in size, just for one individual showcase!) so the extra space allows you to keep even the largest of showcases dowloaded.

Overall?

Are the functionalities miles ahead of a regular iPad? Will it revolutionise the way you use Showcase in your business?

Not necessarily.

We think the Pro is the perfect device for people who regularly present on a tablet due to it's crisp and incredibly clear screen, and the vast screen size. We'd also recommend a Pro or a device with a similar internal storage size for those of you who need to regularly have many showcases downloaded to your device, or have showcases with large file size.

The Pro has awesome features within itself, like the split screen function and the Apple Pencil but for choosing a tablet for presenting in showcase? A regular iPad with a retina screen is fab.