The Apple iPad Pro was also a strong performer in Laptop Mag's battery testing, in which a tablet loops through webpages until it powers down. With a mark of 10 hours and 53 minutes, the 9.7-inch Pro was in line with the average nine-hour mark for mainstream tablets.

Considering that the Pro is more power intensive than standard tablets, its battery life is especially impressive. For home users, the 9.7-inch Pro's physical appearance is familiar. With dimensions of 9.4 x 6.6 x 0.24 inches and a weight of 0.96 pounds, it's virtually identical to the iPad Air 2.

Apple's build quality is an upside on the Mini 4. The dimensions of 8 x 5.3 x 0.24 inches and weight of 0.66 pounds make the Apple's iPad Mini 4 one of the lightest tablets we've seen.

The Mini 4's rounded edges and weighty aluminum construction give it a durable feel. The tablet lasted for a lengthy nine hours and 23 minutes in Laptop's battery test, in which a tablet loops through webpages at a constant brightness until it powers down. Apple offers the tablet in 16GB, 64GB or 128GB configurations, and separate models include support for cellular data.

During its evaluation, in which a tablet loops through webpages at a constant brightness until the battery dies, the Google Nexus 9 only lasted for seven hours and 42 minutes; battery life under eight hours is usually only seen on budget tablets. During our hands-on testing, the Nexus 9's 2048 x 1536 display handled tasks like displaying text and playing high-definition videos exceptionally well.

In Laptop's benchmarking, the display's brightness rating of 371 nits was more than Top Ten Reviews' average of 347 nits.

Despite the lack of major upgrades, the Apple iPad Air 2 holds a spot as one of the best tablets on the market. During Laptop's testing, in which a tablet loops through webpages at a constant brightness, the Air 2 lasted for nine hours and 20 minutes before powering down.

While this mark is in line with Apple's advertised Wi-Fi browsing battery life of up to 10 hours, the iPad Air's battery is a step behind other multimedia tablets that tout battery lifespans of more than 10 hours.

Text and images were displayed with excellent fidelity and virtually free of noticeable pixilation. Overall, the Google Pixel C display abilities deservedly place it in the same league as other premium tablets we reviewed.

The Pixel C also performed solidly during battery benchmarking tests from our colleagues at Laptop Mag. In their testing, a tablet loops through webpages at a constant brightness until it powers down.

During our hands-on evaluations, pixelation was still present in high-detail applications like those for reading, but the display's brightness kept the screen from appearing dulled. Likewise, the Samsung Galaxy Tab E performed superbly in battery benchmarking.

Our testing followed methodology developed by our colleagues at Laptop Mag, wherein a tablet is set at a constant brightness and simulates normal web browsing until it powers down. The Tab E produced an exceptional mark of 13 hours and 22 minutes, which managed to beat the 11-hour average of competing premium tablets.

Though the battery life is excellent, the Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 suffers somewhat in the weight category. At 1.44 pounds, this is one of the heaviest tablets on the market.

That's likely thanks to the extra juice used to keep it running for so long. For reference, the Apple iPad Pro weighs 1.6 pounds – pretty close to the Yoga Tab 3.

With the age of Apple's iPad series, the 9.7-inch Pro's place in the company's hierarchy is mostly clear. From the inside and outside, it improves on its predecessor's shortcomings thanks to a focus on performance and specifications.

With its top-in-class processor and stellar build quality, the Apple iPad Pro earns its mark as the best tablet on the market, and it is equally capable of handling the needs of home and business users.

Appropriately, these marks place the Pro's performance ceiling closer to standard laptops than mainstream tablets. For enterprise or business users, the Apple iPad Pro is fast enough for tasks like multimedia editing.

Home applications like gaming are similarly easy for the Pro. You can purchase the optional Apple Pencil stylus with the Pro to make tasks like writing notes and drawing easier. The 9.7-inch Pro has the same 2048 x 1536-pixel resolution of past iPads, but it benefits from hardware improvements like ambient light color correction and an improved brightness mark of 432 nits.

The Apple iPad Pro A9X processor is fast and performed excellently in benchmark testing. Apple only offers the Smart Keyboard cover as a separate accessory for the iPad.

As a de facto iPad Air 3, the 9.7-inch iPad Pro features stellar build quality and specifications and is a great fit for business and home users alike. For better or worse, the first generation iPad Pro was defined by its sheer bigness. The tablet computer was much bigger than you'd expect for a non-enterprise tablet, and with a 12.7-inch frame, it looked comically large when used like a standard tablet computer.