Hands-On With the New M2 iPad Air

[jmoore5196]

Your review actually swung my thinking from an iPad Pro to a 13" Air, so thanks for that.

I know I'm talking to the wall here, but not every "the" and "a" has to be a 'hard' "the" and "a."

Saying 'thuh' and 'uh' once in a while would make you sound more like a human being and less like an autonomic YouTube generation robot.

 

[klasma]

And if you go to the refurb store you can find the iPad Pro priced around the current Air.

Well, refurb means that someone already payed money for that device in the past. But yes, if you find a refurb 2022 Pro for that price and you’re fine with the mini-LED blooming, go for it. I bought my 2018 12.9” used as well for roughly that price.

 

[Edx09]

Too bad the new iPad Air still has no FaceID.

 

[Abazigal]

And the 11in $599 can do the same stuff as the $2000+ iPad Pro…

Is the concept of paying for “niceness” really so foreign here?

 

[bradman83]

The Air seems to have the same engine (RAM, M2, cores, etc.) as the prior M2 iPad Pro, but without ProMotion, Mini-LED screen, FaceID, etc. I just got a mint-condition M2 12.9" iPad Pro on eBay ($700 with AppleCare+) - still waiting for it to arrive, but I'm expecting to be very happy with it. Is there anything I'm overlooking with this approach? Seems to be a "better" version of the new Air, keeping many of the iPad Pro bells and whistles at a better price.

The guts of an M-series based machine is prettymuch the same no matter what you're using. The chips they put in the iPad Pros are the same that are now in the iPad Air and the same that were in the 2022 MacBook Air and Mac Mini. There's no lower-end version they'd put in the new iPad Air.

 

[sleeptodream]

This has been true of Apple's Air product line for a while now; the MacBook Air was thicker and heavier than the 12" plain old MacBook back while it was still around. Personally I think both the MacBook Air and iPad Air should be renamed just plain old MacBook and iPad accordingly as they're the default consumer options, with the base model iPad renamed iPad SE and "Mini" models to denote smaller.

That alone would dramatically simplify the product line. Heck, call the 13" iPad variants and 15/16" MacBook variants "Plus" models if you want.

MacBook
MacBook Pro

iPad SE
iPad
iPad Mini
iPad Pro

iPhone SE
iPhone ##
iPhone ## Pro

Apple Watch SE
Apple Watch ##
Apple Watch Ultra ##

I like the word Air though :3

It is thinner and lighter than the regular iPad still, which I think was the point

Pro doesn’t need to be big/heavy, it just needs to be the best hardware, which in this case happens to make it slim since it’s OLED and a 3nm processor

I think they’d have added Air to the regular iPhone if it wasn’t for the numbers, which I hope go away someday. It has to end up being a model year eventually right? Like there can’t possibly be an ‘iPhone 37’ right?

 

[Scottsoapbox]

I’m enjoying my new M4 Pro. It’s not for everyone, but it is my main tech device.

Happy tech blogging / photo editing / drawing!

 

[Macaholic868]

It's an iPad. Feels like using an iPad.

Thinner, lighter, faster ….. well faster anyway than the last Air anyway!!!! 😂

 

[Mansu944]

Bear in mind the display tech tho

Yes, but my m2 pro doesn’t have OLED and the screen is just fine.

 

[SpanishAppleNerd]

Yes, but my m2 pro doesn’t have OLED and the screen is just fine.

Yeah, but the Air doesn't have miniLED either. That's what I meant

 

[dooyou]

The 2022 iPad Pro is simply the better device and also offers FaceID.

 

[scupking]

And the 11in $599 can do the same stuff as the $2000+ iPad Pro…

And the 10th gen at $349 can do the same stuff as the $599 air and $1000+ Pro. I would never recommend the Air. The M1 or M2 pros would be a better device and I’m sure you can get them for close to the price of the new Air.

 

[svish]

iPad Air will be a great iPad for majority of users. The M1 Pad Air can also be a good buy at the right price.

 

[sodajerk2]

I replaced a 2nd gen. 11” iPad Pro with the new 11” iPad Air as the Pro had more power and features than I needed in an iPad. After having the Air for a few days now, two differences stand out: The Air is noticeably heavier than my old iPad Pro. The Touch ID button is obstructed by the edge of the case, which sits slightly proud of the button, rendering it mostly inoperable.

I miss Face ID but can’t justify the premium for that benefit alone.

 

[Vetiver1]

I traded in my wife's iPad 8th gen. for the new Air 11" WiFi/Cellular. The M2 is insanely fast! I can't imagine how the M4 in the Pros performs. Definitely overkill but it's a nice upgrade.

 

[SonsofAres]

...who just want a simple tablet for watching movies or browsing the web...

Ugh, at this point, this is just now a canard. They all run the same OS. They're all capable of doing the same thing, and unless you have a stopwatch, it mostly is not going to matter what model you do what on: in more cases than not, you're going to get the same result. It's a question of price and personal choice, *not* this bogus marketing setup of "pro/not pro". Even the "entry" iPad is capable of running Affinity Photo and FileMaker Go just fine.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

The 13" can be a nice on the go computer if you have a desktop mac and no laptop.

Wouldn't a better OTG computer be a Mac though?

 

[daneoni]

Wouldn't a better OTG computer be a Mac though?

I suppose it depends on the usecase/workflow.

Also some people don't like the redundancy of 2 macs

 

[Edx09]

The guts of an M-series based machine is prettymuch the same no matter what you're using. The chips they put in the iPad Pros are the same that are now in the iPad Air and the same that were in the 2022 MacBook Air and Mac Mini. There's no lower-end version they'd put in the new iPad Air.

The one notable difference is the selfie camera placement. I make a lot of video calls and the positioning of the camera on the side (if landscape/with keyboard) for the existing iPads does make your appearance look weird for others. Of course, a first world problem, but again, if you do make a lot of video calls of formal nature, iPad Air could be a better solution.

 

[Edx09]

This thing is completely let down by the keyboard. It has no function keys, has a camera hole that doesn’t fit camera design, tiny trackpad.

I was ready to buy, but I just can’t with that keyboard. Even the base iPad gets function keys.

It is almost curious for me why people need a bigger trackpad for basic navigation. I use iPad daily work work and trackpad is really not an issue. Granted, if you do some serious photoshopping or what not it is a different scenario, but even then the bigger trackpad may not be of much help (and iOS I’m general); you may need to attach a mouse.

 

[Macaholic868]

Apple needs a new, less confusing naming scheme for iPads. You’ve got 3 tiers. High end models in the Pro line, middle of the pack models in the Air line and the basic line. I’m not sure what you’d call them but referring to a heavier line as an Air is unnecessarily confusing and borderline misleading.

How about the iPad, the iPad Ultra and the iPad Pro or simply design the Air making it just as light as the Pro while sticking with the better M2 processor and giving it more RAM than the iPad line and then stick with the Air moniker and call it a day….

 

[Mainsail]

So, $900 + $350 = $1,250 for 13” M2 iPad Air (256GB) with MKB. Or, $1,100 for base 13” M3 MBA (256GB). If I could only have one, I would pick the MBA. Someday, that might change, but iPad and iPadOS are just not there yet for me.

As a result, I start with the MBA and add the inexpensive iPad 10 ($350), if I want a ”complementary” or “secondary” device.

 

[Adelphos33]

One thing that needs more investigation is the compatibility of the Smart Keyboard Folio with the 11" M2 iPad Air. Apple says they are not compatible on its website, but there are many reports they are compatible. If so - the 11" M2 iPad Air will be the most recent iPad compatible with the Smart Keyboard Folio, and the only iPad with a landscape front camera that is compatible with such a "smart keyboard (the iPad 10th Generation only works with the $250 Magic Keyboard thing)

 

[daneoni]

Its actually crazy that price of the MKB is also the price of the base iPad

 

[Macaholic868]

So, $900 + $350 = $1,250 for 13” M2 iPad Air (256GB) with MKB. Or, $1,100 for base 13” M3 MBA (256GB). If I could only have one, I would pick the MBA. Someday, that might change, but iPad and iPadOS are just not there yet for me.

As a result, I start with the MBA and add the inexpensive iPad 10 ($350), if I want a ”complementary” or “secondary” device.

I’m right there with you except my 2020 MBA was the last one with an Intel chip because I rushed out to get one after they announced the switch over to Apple Silicone because I use Windows at work and need some Windows dev tools on my laptop to do work from time to time so knowing the option to dual boot or run the x64 version of Windows in a VM was off the table at the time with Apple Silicone I wanted the newest Intel base MBA I could get until the dust settled and a solution to the Windows issue was either available or it was clear there wouldn’t be one.

So when the 14” M3 MacBook Pro with 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD became available last fall I upgraded instead of waiting for the 15” M3 MBA to become available. I loaded Windows 11 on ARM and the dev tools I need in a Parallels VM including SQL Server 2022 Developer and SQL Server Management Studio and they all run plenty fast for what I need to do.

I got rid of my OG iPad Pro 9.7” back in 2022 in favor of the 10th Generation iPad but in all honesty now that I own an AVP I never use it. I’ve had it out 4 or 5 times since I got the AVP primarily to install developer beta iPad OS updates and the release versions. I can only think of a single time I had it out since then to use it and only then because I didn’t feel like going upstairs to get the laptop when my iPhone was on the charger across the room.