iPad Air Air 256GB M3 vs 1TB M2 - actual usage and app sizes on iOS?

[Erko]

Hi!

Looking to buy a new 11" iPad for general use with my partner. I almost bought the 256GB M3 as these have a significant discount compared to the new M4s and saw that our local Apple reseller also has a 1TB M2 for 100€ more.

The extra storage seems tempting, but I honestly don't know if it would be of use? I have an old iPad Air 2 from 2015 and its 64GB started becoming restrictive. How large are the new apps & games on iOS and how does actual usage pan out? I potentially could use the 1TB on trips to transfer camera images to, but I don't actually know if that is a valid use case. It most likely will be used for general media consumption, pdfs, note-taking and drawing with the pencil.

 

[Devvy]

Save the 100 euros.
I moved from an Air2 with 64GB to a Pro M1 with 256GB and it is a world of a difference - and at this moment, I do not really need more. I do movie editing in Resolve on the iPad. But to be fair, I don't do gaming.
It's not like you are married to an iPad. So take the cheaper option and move along as soon as you run out of either space or computing power. And use the 100 euros you saved, for your next purchase.

 

[kitKAC]

My last two iPads have both been 256Gb, I think if you needed 1Tb you'd know it.

 

[sparksd]

Regarding use as transferring images while on trips: If you had 1000 images at 30MB each (say they're RAW), that's still just 30GB. As for apps, most are relatively small - a few MBs, though some games can consume GBs with downloaded data.

 

[rui no onna]

On my iPad mini (A17 Pro), iOS+System Data uses up 36GB already so do take that (as well as potential iOS bloating) into consideration.

What games? If you're looking at Resident Evil, Assassin's Creed, Genshin Impact and the like, those are pretty big. They're a lot bigger than what the App Store shows because they have large in-game downloads.

The apps I use clock in at around 100-600MB. Higher once you add the app data and cache.

If you plan on playing large games or storing a bunch of offline video on the iPad, I recommend going for 1TB.

For casual games, the usual apps (socials, streaming, etc) and little to no offline videos, 256GB is fine.

 

[1BadManVan]

256gb on an iPad is more than enough unless you're using it as a laptop replacement and store large files and photo libraries on it. Im still getting by on my 64gb m1 air, though its definitely tight, I just use it for browsing, streaming and a few games

 

[VanXava]

As many have already mentioned here, they would know if they need the additional memory. If this is not the case, only the larger RAM makes sense with the 1 TB Pro version. If Apple is installed in the base of the iPads Pro 12 GB, you can also save yourself the question in my opinion. I have an iPad Pro with 256 GB and I am very satisfied.