Let's get started with the tablet itself. The Redmi Pad Pro comes with a 12. 1 inch display with what Xiaomi calls a 2.5K resolution - 2560 x 1600 - and a refresh rate of 120 Hz. It is a pretty bright display, although more rectangular rather than square (as the iPad and the OnePlus Pads are), so the hint is that this one works best in landscape mode. And that is okay with us - it is a nice, bright display.

The tablet is made of metal, with a slightly dual-toned back. It is not going to win design awards - it is smart and sturdy rather than spectacular, and our grey unit did not turn heads. It is a rather tall tablet at around 280 mm (just short of a foot) but is not too heavy for its size - about 570 grams (the base iPad weighs about 480 grams and has a smaller display).

The tablet runs on a Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chip, which is a solid mid-segment performer, and you get 6 GB/ 128 GB, 8 GB/ 128 GB and 8 GB/ 256 GB RAM and storage options, There are some golden oldies here - you can increase storage using a memory card, and yes that's a 3.5 mm audio jack you can see. Also in the mix are quad speakers, HyperOS on top of Android 14, and a large 10,000 mAh battery with support for 33W charging.

There are some misses - rather ordinary 8 MP front and rear cameras and no fingerprint scanner, but all said and done, this is a very solid tablet if you want to watch lots of content - you know, series, films, videos, browse Openvy and so on. The chip will even let you play some heavy games although there will be the odd lag. This is not a tablet made for heavy duty gaming.

The Redmi Pad Pro is a pretty good tablet in its own right, but let's go back to the headline of this post - you can kinda sorta notebook-ify it with a special keyboard and stylus both from Redmi. They do not attach magnetically to the tablet and connect over Bluetooth but they work very well.

The stylus comes with handwriting recognition and comes with good sensitivity, and the keyboard is rather spacious with keys with decent travel. There is no trackpad, but we did not miss it that much - palm rejection can be a bit of a nightmare on the ones we have used, with the cursor jumping whenever we accidentally touched the keyboard. This is a pretty good keyboard. Attach it to the Redmi Pad Pro and you have a decent enough makeshift notebook for writing articles, blog posts, journals and the like.

The best part is the price. The Redmi Pad Pro starts at Rs 21,999 for the 6 GB/ 128 GB Wi-Fi variant, with the 8 GB/ 128 GB 5G variant being Rs 24,999, and the 8 GB/ 256 GB 5G version being Rs 26,999. That is cool. BUT the stylus and the keyboard are priced at Rs 3,999 each. So you can get the base model and a stylus and keyboard for: Rs (21,999 + Rs 3,999 + Rs 3,999) Rs 29,997! For comparison, just the base iPad which has a smaller display will set you back by Rs 34,999. Even just the keyboard of the new OnePlus Pad 2 is priced at Rs 8499 - even a Logitech keyboard cover will hit you by more than Rs 10,000!

All of which makes the Redmi Pad Pro a pretty crazy value for money proposition for anyone looking at a good-ish tablet that can also slip into the role of a good-ish notebook for not too many bucks. Look, it is not going to blow away the iPad or the OnePlus Pad 2 in performance terms, but it gets a lot of work done, is a very steady work horse and costs less than those two pricey pieces even with a stylus and keyboard added to it. That!