I'm kind of in the same boat. I recently upgraded my trusty iPad 5th gen for a 9th gen 64GB. At $229 on Amazon it was a steal. It's exponentially faster and thus far has been flawless. It's just a streaming, surfing device while I'm in the living room for the most part (but could certainly be put to use elsewhere no doubt.) Already loaded up with IOS 17.1.2 (one of the reasons to upgrade, the 5th gens are done with OS updates.) Truthfully, it's really fast for what it is. I've got an iPhone 15 Pro Max and the iPad 9th gen is no slouch.
But, the allure of the larger laminated drop dead gorgeous screen, 8GB of RAM, quad speakers, Stupid fast processor, WiFi6, etc of the 5th gen Air has got me wanting it. All I need is WiFi and 64GB.
Right now $499 on Amazon (and most other places too.) If, for some blessed reason it drops to $449 anytime soon I'm nailing one. Amazon return policy even for iPad's is great, so I won't take a hit on the 9th gen unit.
At $449 the Air 5th gen is worth the squeeze for me at least. Heck, I'm almost 1/2 tempted today at $499. Truly can't justify it at $500, but $450 I'll take the dive no doubt and never look back.
Decisions, decisions..
I bought a 9th gen on sale as well as an Air 5 on sale here with the long return windows that are in place for the holidays. I am in the same boat where I wanted the great "steal" of a price on the 9th, but also as a bit of a tech enthusiast, I was so interested in the M1 and the 8GB RAM on the Air, so I wanted to try both out and see which draws me in more.
I love the Air, it's a fantastic device. I keep thinking about how future-proof it is with the ridiculously high ceiling the processor and RAM give you.... but with that in mind, all I really do with these are surf the web, scroll Reddit and Facebook, and create 5-8 minute movies (from multiple video clips from my phone taken on hikes, to post on Youtube) that I create in iMovie.
None of this pushes either device in the least. I did side by side tests browsing random websites, and opening the common apps I use. Between the two, apps and sites load either at identical speeds or in a few cases, just a milisecond or two slower on the 9th gen.
And the heaviest thing I do, creating those movies? Surprisingly the process is buttery smooth on both devices, with the heaviest part being the export of the final product. When creating the same exact movie on each device- when the Air was complete, the 9th gen was almost done as well- at somewhere around 80% complete at that moment, taking just a few more seconds to complete.
This is amazing to me how close the 9th gen is in speed on all of this, given the fact that clearly the A13 chip is not quite up there with the M1 (though Geekbench 6 on each shows the A13 at almost 1800 for single core CPU, and the Air at 2250- so the gap is truly not that wide). And the RAM difference, I thought would somehow cause issues- but nothing I was able to see- both were smooth as can be, even when doing split screen with two apps open and scrolling quickly up and down in those apps (Safari and either Facebook or Reddit).
So, I have a 9th gen I paid $250 for, and an Air I paid $499 for.... the Air is great, I like the idea of the extra overhead but at the moment it is not making a real world difference. The only noticeable difference is the slightly larger screen, and the speakers that are truly great on the Air (miles ahead of the sound I get out of the 9th gen).
But, I cannot decide if the Air is really worth double what I paid for the 9th gen. I can afford sticking with the Air, no problem- but the part of me that likes a bargain fears I may be better off sticking with the 9th gen.... but then I fear regretting returning the Air if I do that, given how nice it feels knowing I have that added horsepower. lol
