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iPad iPad A16 versus iPad Air M3

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bladerunner616

macrumors member
Original poster
My 8th gen is getting pretty pokey after 5 years so I am planning an upgrade.

The price on the A16 is really appealing.

I do mostly web surfing, emails and a few livery basic game like Scrabble.

i do want something to last at least three and preferably up to five years. Also, the A16 doesn’t do Apple Intelligence.

Is the extra $200 for the Air M3 worth it or will the A16 serve me well.

Thanks.
 
If it is within your budget I definitely think the jump to an M3 Air is worth it, especially if you keep your device for several years. The A16 iPad is a capable device, but it won't age nearly as well as the M3 with its significantly more CPU and GPU power, plus double the RAM and faster storage, even putting the other quality of life improvements the Air comes with aside.
 
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The A16 model is in an odd spot, as the CPU is fine but the 6GB RAM is going to be a bottleneck before long. 8GB would be my minimum. I was hoping we'd get an upgraded base model this March but I ended up with the M4 Air instead. Unless money is really tight, I'd try to spring for one of the last couple Airs (the M2 models or forward are fine, check Apple refurbs and deals at Best But etc.)
 
estabya said:
If it is within your budget I definitely think the jump to an M3 Air is worth it, especially if you keep your device for several years. The A16 iPad is a capable device, but it won't age nearly as well as the M3 with its significantly more CPU and GPU power, plus double the RAM and faster storage, even putting the other quality of life improvements the Air comes with aside.
Click to expand...

M3 Air only has 8GB RAM, iirc. But yeah, our iPad Airs of same vintage have aged more gracefully compared to the basic models.
 
bladerunner616 said:
My 8th gen is getting pretty pokey after 5 years so I am planning an upgrade.

The price on the A16 is really appealing.

I do mostly web surfing, emails and a few livery basic game like Scrabble.

i do want something to last at least three and preferably up to five years. Also, the A16 doesn’t do Apple Intelligence.

Is the extra $200 for the Air M3 worth it or will the A16 serve me well.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
The A16 will serve you well! It fits your use case perfectly: Surfing, email, scrabble. For $299, it’s a great bargain and will hold up for the things you do just fine for a few years. I wouldn’t spend the extra $200 unless you just want to. You don’t need to though.
 
estabya said:
If it is within your budget I definitely think the jump to an M3 Air is worth it, especially if you keep your device for several years. The A16 iPad is a capable device, but it won't age nearly as well as the M3 with its significantly more CPU and GPU power, plus double the RAM and faster storage, even putting the other quality of life improvements the Air comes with aside.
Click to expand...
But are things like double the RAM, faster storage more CPU/GPU really going to affect my surfing, emailing and minor game play plus a few random apps like ones for astronomy?
I don’t do any sort of content creation on the device or play high end action games.
So four years from now am I still going to be able to surf and email effectively?

No Doubt about it the Air is a significant step up but will that step up affect me?

I like to bake and we have a KitchenAid 5 quart mixer. I could get a 10 quart mixer but I never will make batches that big. Now a 6 quart mixer with the lift bowl feature would have some utility.

Is the Air a 6 quart or a 10 quart?

Thanks.
 
bladerunner616 said:
But are things like double the RAM, faster storage more CPU/GPU really going to affect my surfing, emailing and minor game play plus a few random apps like ones for astronomy?
I don’t do any sort of content creation on the device or play high end action games.
So four years from now am I still going to be able to surf and email effectively?
Click to expand...

As far as surfing, the 2019 iPad 7th gen (A10/3GB) got too slow for my taste around 3 years in while the 2019 iPad Air (A12/3GB) only became unbearable on iPadOS 26 (~6 years)

I find the 2021 iPad 9th gen (A13/3GB) similarly frustrating to use for surfing on iPadOS 26 (~4 years) while the 2020 iPad Air (A14/4GB) is still managing to chug along (at least 6 years).

The 2022 iPad 10th gen has the same specs as the 2020 Air so the Air gets essentially 2 years longer useful life.

It's harder to gauge between A-series and M-series chipsets but I feel like the A16/6GB is unlikely to outlast M2/8GB (or even M1) in terms of performance.
 
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