Hands-On With the New M1 iPad Air

[jcshas]

This review is really more of a comparison of the new iPad Air vs. iPad Pro. I think the features of the new iPad Air should have been reviewed on their own IMO.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Totally opposite here.

ProMotion is one of those features that you don’t understand why you need it at first, but once you use it and you see the fluidity, you can’t go back to anything else with the choppiness and that ‘slow lag’.

If that doesn’t make sense to someone, compare both iPads with a model that has ProMotion and one that doesn’t extensively, and you’ll see exactly what I’m referring to.

I have a 2017 12.9” iPad Pro with ProMotion. I used to have a 2015 12.9” iPad Pro right alongside it until last year. It took effort to notice the difference eleven when scrolling. I could give two sh*ts about ProMotion at this point. The Air is a steal with the M1, 10Gbps USB-C and optional 5G networking. Again, iPadOS still needs work to take advantage of this extra horsepower. Until that happens the 2021 Pros just aren’t worth the premium right now.

 

[returnZero]

Let’s see what wwdc will bring!
Maybe Mixer is more than blending…

Sorry about this. I have replied to the wrong chat

 

[returnZero]

Not a game changer but pretty “in your face” style.
At least for me.
I ate a lot of carrots ?.

What is your secret ? I have consumed fair amount of carrots and wild berries in my life... Yet my vision come close to be almost blind and yes in spite of this I still see the differences in the screen

 

[Theryesider]

Got mine today so far pretty impressed.
Noticeably heavier than my iPad 6 nothing to write home about(although I just did).
Screen pretty sharp and for what I use it for, loads pages slightly faster, still trying to press the back button tho

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Honestly, I had ProMotion on my old iPad Pro. Went to something else that doesn't have it. Not jarring and not missed, really. It's a minor nice to have for me.

Face ID or touch ID really isn’t something that would be a major selling point to the consumer on an iPad. They’re both secure and convenient in their own respects.

Now, the ‘quad speakers’ for watching movies and other media, is an absolute game changer compared to the standard dual-speaker system. What the ‘quad speaker’ also does, is eliminates the vibration that the dual speaker also would pose when holding, because the sound is evenly distributed throughout the chassis with all four speakers, as opposed to two speakers with vibration with how it travels.

Same for me. When ProMotion first debuted I went to my local Best Buy and put it up to a budget iPad. I was expecting a BIGLY difference. I was rather disappointed in that both iPad's had fluid vertical scrolling and the ProMotion iPad display still had a little vertical text smearing when scrolling up and down pretty fast. Although there was a difference it wasn't that huge.

To me ProMotion, Ray Tracing, HDR are features I don't need to have. They are not make or break features for me. For others they can be.

 

[RMo]

You're only going to be missing out on the faster 5G mmWave connectivity, the ProMotion display, and Face ID,

What about Thunderbolt (iPad Pro) vs. USB (iPad Air)? I can't imagine this will matter for most people, but if you're hoping to hook it up to a Thudnerbolt dock, like many Mac users might have, then the Air won't work--at least not if your dock is TB3. (If the Air is USB 4 and the dock is TB4, I assume it might, but I haven't seen confirmation of the former and I definitely don't plan on upgrading my TB3 dock that still works perfectly fine until something significantly better, and perhaps not as expensive, comes along.)

Not that this is super-useful on the iPad in the first place, aside from some accessories, but hopefully we'll get decent external display support at some point...

 

[TechRunner]

Looking at upgrading my 7th gen, and honestly, with storage not being an issue (I have the 32GB version, and still have over 10 GB free) I'm struggling to justify the 11 iPP when the new Air will more than meet my needs. Needs. Now, if we're talking about WANT...

 

[Monsieur Arykovère]

God, if they sold a device like this but with macOS on it, that'd be such a perfect device for me. Basically an answer to the Surface Pro. M1 feels like such an overkill for iOS, idk.

It’s a real shame they’re not doing this. I don’t care about the price; I’d love to have a device this thin and portable that could run macOS when I need it. They could charge a lot more than a MacBook and I would get it.

But until they do something with iPadOS, I guess I’m just going to hold on to my 2018 iPad Pro…I may get the battery replaced or trade it for a refurbished one if this year’s update is minor again.

 

[TheMacDaddy1]

God, if they sold a device like this but with macOS on it, that'd be such a perfect device for me. Basically an answer to the Surface Pro. M1 feels like such an overkill for iOS, idk.

The iPad to me (owner of a 12.9 inch 2020 model) is still just a consumption device. I use it on the treadmill, exercise bike and while flying, to consume video content.

I have tried and tried to make it a device that can get rid of my laptop......but it fails hard every time. I am thinking a TV will replace the ipad for the treadmill and exercise bike and a larger iPhone (max) will replace it for air travel???

Apple I gave you a lot of time to do something real with the iPad. I am tired of waiting. This a common feeling I get with Apple and its products.

 

[tmmacops]

I’ve tried to replace my MBP with an iPad and no luck. I have a 12.9 iPad Pro and it’s nice but way too big. I think I’ll go the MNP route for ever day use and get a mini for consumption.

 

[code-m]

The iPad to me (owner of a 12.9 inch 2020 model) is still just a consumption device. I use it on the treadmill, exercise bike and while flying, to consume video content.

I have tried and tried to make it a device that can get rid of my laptop......but it fails hard every time. I am thinking a TV will replace the ipad for the treadmill and exercise bike and a larger iPhone (max) will replace it for air travel???

Apple I gave you a lot of time to do something real with the iPad. I am tired of waiting. This a common feeling I get with Apple and its products.

You are computing wrong. Jump Desktop app on iOS pretty much makes an iPad a desktop remote device.

 

[Hombre53]

Nothing to see here, still rocking the 11” 2018 Pro, the most future proof iPad ever released! ?

The A12x was/is the best chip Apple ever made. Still killing it, 3+ years later. Until Apple updates iPadOS to process more chip based memory (8gb+) this won't change any time soon.

 

[AndrewC89]

My spouse got her new Air today and I got to compare it side by side with my 11” Pro. Had the M1 Air been available when I was shopping for an iPad this past autumn I probably would’ve settled for it. In retrospect, I’m glad I spent the extra $150 (got it on sale) for the additional features that mattered to me, which were the Quad Speakers, ProMotion, and Face ID. When comparing the two, the lack of ProMotion and Face ID was noticeable but did not come as a surprise; however, the difference in sound quality between her iPad and mine was much larger than I was expecting. The audio quality/volume probably won’t matter to those of you that regularly use headphones or only need the built in speakers for the occasional FaceTime call, but if you’re like me and you often enjoy consuming your media via the built in speakers, then it’s definitely worth gettin the Pro. Here’s an audio comparison I found.

 

[Abazigal]

This review is really more of a comparison of the new iPad Air vs. iPad Pro. I think the features of the new iPad Air should have been reviewed on their own IMO.

It's a 2020 iPad Air with an M1 chip (essentially iPad Pro performance in an iPad Air form factor). Feels like pretty much a known quantity at this point, and I am not sure what there is to review really.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Totally opposite here.

ProMotion is one of those features that you don’t understand why you need it at first, but once you use it and you see the fluidity, you can’t go back to anything else with the choppiness and that ‘slow lag’.

If that doesn’t make sense to someone, compare both iPads with a model that has ProMotion and one that doesn’t extensively, and you’ll see exactly what I’m referring to.

Only because Apple’s LCD panels are terrible when it comes to response times so the ProMotion is essentially a crutch on the IPP. Now the iPhone 13 Pro with OLED and ProMotion are a thing of beauty.

 

[dannyyankou]

Totally opposite here.

ProMotion is one of those features that you don’t understand why you need it at first, but once you use it and you see the fluidity, you can’t go back to anything else with the choppiness and that ‘slow lag’.

If that doesn’t make sense to someone, compare both iPads with a model that has ProMotion and one that doesn’t extensively, and you’ll see exactly what I’m referring to.

I've owned the 10.5 inch iPad with promotion, I don't miss it. To each their own. It's pretty to look it when scrolling, not much more to me.

 

[svish]

If FaceID and ProMotion are not requirements, then one can go ahead and get iPad Air.

 

[0924487]

You run macOS on a Pro?

When did I say that?

 

[DekuSprout]

I bought the iPad Air (blue)
I think (hope) we’re going to see a substantial update to iPadOS this next WWDC !! 🙏🏼😀

 

[contacos]

Honestly, I had ProMotion on my old iPad Pro. Went to something else that doesn't have it. Not jarring and not missed, really. It's a minor nice to have for me.

I also went from iPad Pro to iPad Air 4 and didn’t even notice. Went from a really old MacBook Pro retina (2012) to a 14inch MBP and I don’t notice it either.

However, I do say, that I am pretty oblivious / indifferent to those things. I can’t even tell the difference between my iPhone 11 LCD screen and my iPhone 12 Pro Max OLED besides the 11 having a little bit more black bezel ?

Oh and don’t get me started on 1080p or 4K on my TV. I only notice Dolby Vision because it adds an extra level of falseness to the picture (by default)

 

[Zmmyt]

I don’t get the Air and it’s pricing. 64 gig is too little and the next step up takes you to a Pro with quite a few extra bells and whistles…for just £50 more.

 

[BroMcBroson]

The pricing for this in Germany makes no sense at all.
The current price of an iPad Pro 128GB is 800€, 256GB iPad Pro is 880€ and 256 iPad Air is 850€.

So basically you can choose to pay 50€ less to go for an iPad Pro 128Gb or pay 30€ more for a Pro with the same storage option.

I assume big discounts in a few weeks.

 

[AjTee]

iPad 4 Air is enough for me so far.

 

[Jim Lahey]

Seeing as the newer iPads now have Macbook level of CPU power and memory, has there been any change to how iPadOS handles background applications?

For example, I have an SSH app that allows you to do port-forwarding, but if I want it to work in the background I have to enable GPS location tracking in the app, which is the developer's workaround to making sure the app doesn't get suspended. Otherise the app only gets 30 seconds.

It's a total hack and shouldn't be necessary on an iPad with an M1 chip.

These restrictions and limitations make sense on a phone, and on iPads from five years ago, but it's absurd that we still have to deal with them today. I'm hoping Apple eventually eases up on this and stops making developers use stupid hacks like using GPS to keep apps running in the background. If they do, I might see it fit to finally buy a new iPad; I'm still using a 2016 era iPad Pro (and using it less and less lately).

And let’s not even get started on the Safari sidebar with Alzheimer's, or the suspended tabs with paused videos deciding to reload if you leave them unattended for five seconds.