The more I use my iPad Mini A17 Pro, the more ready I am to assert that it is worthy of being considered a pro-level device. I'm willing to stake this claim because I am looking at the Mini for what it is and is trying to be rather than applying preconceived standards of what "pro" requires of a device.

One of the complications when deciding if something is Pro (or Pro enough) to be worthy of the name is pundits' and consumers' desire for it to be an absolute measure rather than a sliding scale. Specifically, they want to use their scale (which, coincidentally, aligns with their professional needs) as this absolute measure.

Apple doesn't have that luxury. They have to talk to all the pros.

So if we are going to assess whether the iPad Mini A17 Pro is a pro machine, we need to ask what professionals it supports.

Medical personnel and pilots are often referenced here. I'd add to them professional note takers — research-focused individuals like students and college professors like myself come to mind here as might lawyers if they weren't conditioned to use legal-size notebooks. For this group, the quick access to writing tools can be almost as useful as to an artist working on a larger iPad Pro. Indeed, leaning into the Apple Pencil as the primary input device (replacing both pointer and keyboard) allows the Mini to really shine.

Once you get used to it, of course.

This isn't to say the iPad Mini is ideal in all circumstances — even if it aligns well with mine. Federico Viticci has insightfully rehearsed a number of the frustrations that plague the iPad platform. No device is ideal in all circumstances or for all tasks. But it is a different frame than is usually placed around the Mini, which is too often judged as an adjunct to a more "powerful" but awkward laptop or as a "content consumption" device.