Looking at the battery life comparisons, the regular iPad trumps the Air when it comes to battery life, which is huge for me, that additional hour+ is great. This coupled with cost makes me wonder what's the point of getting another Air.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPad Does anyone else prefer a regular iPad over an Air?
- Thread starter ricketysquire
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I think this is because your air's battery has degraded and does not hold as much charge as it used to. Completely normal for a device as it ages.
When did you get your Air?
When did you get your Air?
According to the Apple website, all of the new iPads have the same battery life.
In most of these comparisons, the regular iPad comes on out near top. in this case the Pros with their bigger batteries, M4 chip and OLED screens were the top 2.
The iPad Air has a considerably more powerful desktop grade M chip compared to the regular iPad which has an efficient mobile iPhone chip, so naturally will have longer battery life. So you have to sort of balance your priorities.
I get the same issue, my iPad Air 3 (A12 chip) can last for months on standby, where as my iPad Air 4/iPP M4 last a couple of weeks at best.
I get the same issue, my iPad Air 3 (A12 chip) can last for months on standby, where as my iPad Air 4/iPP M4 last a couple of weeks at best.
I owned a regular iPad, but eventually returned it
1) I did not like the keyboard Apple sells with the regular iPad - it is very lacking compared to the Magic Keyboard for the Air and Pro
2) You notice the laminated screen on the Air
3) For stuff like Word, Mail, etc, Apple Intelligence / processing power / RAM is starting to matter - I do enough of that on an iPad to care about it
For a secondary, consumption only device that you don’t really use a keyboard for, the regular iPad is good - but I think the Air right now is the best combination of productivity, performance, and value in the lineup
1) I did not like the keyboard Apple sells with the regular iPad - it is very lacking compared to the Magic Keyboard for the Air and Pro
2) You notice the laminated screen on the Air
3) For stuff like Word, Mail, etc, Apple Intelligence / processing power / RAM is starting to matter - I do enough of that on an iPad to care about it
For a secondary, consumption only device that you don’t really use a keyboard for, the regular iPad is good - but I think the Air right now is the best combination of productivity, performance, and value in the lineup
9th gen here and for the same 2 reasons
My iPad is primarily a comic reader, so my priorities are:
Now there's a 13" Air and it's catching up in the storage department I'll be seriously considering it next time.
- Screen size
- Storage (Yes there's the cloud, but it's still relatively expensive)
- Weight
Now there's a 13" Air and it's catching up in the storage department I'll be seriously considering it next time.
The Apple website has always given the same 10 hours number. It isn’t true. There’s a difference, and I don’t know why they keep saying that.
But I have both iPads. And I have both in perfect software conditions. I have an iPad Air 5 running iPadOS 15 and I have am 11th-gen iPad running iPadOS 18. Both original versions.
After rather extensive testing with my usage pattern, which is very light (low brightness, efficient settings and content consumption apps), the base 11th-gen iPad’s battery life seems to be 15 to 20% better.
I do not know how you use it. But the heavier you go, the more battery life blends together. Batteries are easy to kill with ridiculously heavy usage, so even significant differences in battery size aren’t as important if you are that ridiculously heavy user. I can’t answer that for you.
With my usage, the Air 5 extrapolates to about 22 hours of screen-on time, and the 11th-gen iPad is almost at 27 hours.
After rather extensive testing with my usage pattern, which is very light (low brightness, efficient settings and content consumption apps), the base 11th-gen iPad’s battery life seems to be 15 to 20% better.
I do not know how you use it. But the heavier you go, the more battery life blends together. Batteries are easy to kill with ridiculously heavy usage, so even significant differences in battery size aren’t as important if you are that ridiculously heavy user. I can’t answer that for you.
With my usage, the Air 5 extrapolates to about 22 hours of screen-on time, and the 11th-gen iPad is almost at 27 hours.
Your iPad 11 has a down-clocked A16 chip so doesn't use as much power as the M1 Chip in your Air 5, so the better battery life is to be expected.