Apple (AAPL) - Get Report began taking orders online for its new iPad Pro on Wednesday as many reviews of the newest member of the iPad family came out.

Among the leading tech industry pundits weighing in on the iPad Pro were Walt Mossberg, David Pogue and Ed Baig. While many of the reviewers were upbeat about Apple's new iPad, there were some concerns about its potential to supplant the laptop as the computing device of choice for business customers.

The iPad Pro, which Apple unveiled in September, is the biggest iPad yet, with a Retina display screen measuring 12.9 inches diagonally and running on Apple's A9X processor. The iPad Pro starts at $799 for a Wi-Fi model with 32 gigabytes of storage and customers have the option of adding a smart keyboard that connects to the tablet for $169 or an Apple Pencil for an additional $99.

Apple said on its website that many orders placed online could be picked up the same day at Apple retail stores.

The iPad Pro's release comes at what many see as a crucial time for Apple in the tablet market. Sales of the iPad have been declining for several quarters, including Apple's fiscal fourth-quarter, which ended in September. During that period, Apple reported sales of 9.9 million iPads, a 20% decline from the 12.3 million iPads it sold a year ago.

Here are 7 solid reviews of the iPad Pro.

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Re/code - Walt Mossberg

Longtime Apple product reviewer and admitted fan Walt Mossberg said the iPad Pro is likely to appeal to the business market Apple is courting, but he said a person shouldn't throw out their laptop just yet.

"You'd think an iPad guy like me would be over the moon about the iPad Pro, despite its hefty base price of $799 for a Wi-Fi-only model with 32GB of memory, which stretches to $949 with 128GB of memory, and soars past $1,000 with cellular capability," Mossberg wrote in his Re/code review. "But I'm not."

Mossberg cited three key concerns with the iPad Pro: He said it was "just too big and bulky" to use to for long periods of time, the optional keyboard is missing several shortcut keys and there were few apps that took advantage of the iPad Pro's enlarged screen size to make visible panels or functions that sometimes are hidden on mobile devices.

The longtime tech journalist said he admires the iPad Pro due to Apple's ability to design something "thin and beautiful, yet capable." But in the end, he said, "I won't be buying one, and I don't recommend that averages users do so either."

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The Wall Street Journal - Joanna Stern

In contrast to Mossberg, Joanna Stern, of The Wall Street Journal, wasted little time in praising the iPad Pro and what role it will soon play in consumers' digital lives.

"The Pro may seem wedged between iPads and MacBooks, but it will be your main computer in the future," Stern wrote in her review.

Stern said the iPad Pro should be thought of as three things in one: a version of a laptop, a sketch pad, and a mini-TV. She said consumers will appreciate the iPad Pro's larger screen, as it provides enough space to manage multiple apps, as well as the improvements in the device's battery performance.

As an example of that, Stern put the iPad Pro through what some would see as its ultimate test: streaming Netflix (NFLX) - Get Report videos until the battery died. Stern said that with a screen brightness of 75%, she was able to stream Netflix for eight hours and 15 minutes before its battery gave out. Stern said Microsoft's (MSFT) - Get Report Surface Pro 4 needed to be re-charged after 2.5 hours in a similar test.

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USA Today - Ed Beig

Ed Beig, of USA Today, was impressed with how Apple managed to make the iPad Pro so big, yet remain relatively light for its size.

"Bigger doesn't mean heavier," Beig wrote in his review. "[The] iPad Pro weighs just under 1.6 pounds, which to put things in perspective, is just a tad heavier than the original iPad that came out in 2010 despite the fact that that first iPad, and the standard-sized models that have arrived since, have smaller 9.7-inch displays."

Beig did have a few concerns about the iPad Pro. He said typing on the optional keyboard was "a good, but not perfect experience" and that folding up the keyboard was a challenge. He also said it was bothersome that the keyboard didn't have its own trackpad.

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Yahoo! Tech -- David Pogue

Pogue called out Apple for creating a product that, instead of blazing a new trail in tech products, seemed to be copying a bit from one of the company's old rivals.

"What's that? Is there a question? Yes, elephant in the room - go ahead?" Pogue asked near the start of his review. "Why, yes, indeed - funny you should ask. The iPad Pro really does seem an awful lot like Microsoft's Surface Pro. It's also a tablet with an optional screen cover that unfolds into a real working keyboard, and also has a drawing stylus."

Pogue said that optional stylus, called the Apple Pencil, was "more responsive" than any he had ever used, and the "ink" from the device never lagged behind the Pencil's movement. However, he wasn't sold on the Pencil's $99 price tag, or the fact that it requires a battery to use, and called it a "cheap-feeling plastic tube."

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TechCrunch - Matthew Panzarino

In his review, Panzarino, of TechCrunch,took a more philosophical approach to the iPad Pro, and began by noting how it's making its debut at a time of high expectations for the device and whether it will be a true replacement for the laptop or desktop computer.

"Is it a potential laptop replacement? An enterprise play? Will it bring the consumption heavy world of iPad?" wrote Panzarino. "Instead of dwelling on whether an iPad or tablet can do exactly what a laptop or desktop does, we need to ask ourselves what can it do differently, or better."

Panzarino said it would take some time and experimenting to answer that question, but for now, there is a group of computer users who "could very well end up with an iPad Pro as the 'enhanced' component to their smartphone."

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The Verge - Lauren Goode

At TheVerge, reviewer Lauren Goode said the iPad Pro may be able to find a spot between the laptop and smaller tablets already on the market.

"Some people are just going to want to buy the biggest iPad they can get, and this is a very big, very nice iPad," Goode wrote in her review.

Goode called the iPad Pro's improved screen resolution, "stunning" and said features such as its 1.2-megapixel front camera and 1080p HD video recording capabilities are among the features that justify the tablet's high price tag.

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Bloomberg - Sam Grobart

Bloomberg's Grobart wasted little time delivering his praise of the iPad Pro, and began his review by calling it "the Mercedes-Benz G550 of tablets." That SUV comes with a base price of $119,900, by the way.

Among the items Grobart highlighted were the iPad Pro's screen and its four speakers, which he said were louder and fuller-sounding than those inside of any other tablet on the market.

"[The iPad Pro] is the best large-screen tablet with an attachable keyboard and optional stylus you can possibly buy today," Grobart wrote. "If you're in the market for a nearly 13-inch touchscreen, I truly, non-sarcastically think you will find the iPad Pro perfect for your needs."

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.