iPad iPad Pro owner tempted by the new Air

[CE3]

Mainly because I find the FaceID experience on the iPad Pro to be pretty crappy.. so much so that I've disabled it from the lock screen. It works great on the iPhone, but on the iPad I'm constantly having to scan multiple times, move my face closer, etc.

The iPad Air having TouchID on the side button is one of those, why hasn't Apple done this until now? moments and will hopefully be showing up on other upcoming devices soon.

Also, it doesn't seem like the Air will be compromising much in terms of performance. Apple Pencil 2 and USB-C support is still there.. and I wouldn't mind moving up from the 128GB iPad Pro storage I chose to 256GB. The new colors are nice, too.

 

[macdogpro]

Yeah I feel that too sometimes when the iPad Pro tells me to get closer to unlock.
But I think I’d still be happier to unlock by hitting random key + face ID while the ipad is docking onto the magic keyboard compared to have to reach for the power button for touch ID.
Tap to wake on screen is also neat. Wonder if it still be there on the Air 4.

Performance should even be snappier for day to day usage if you’re not doing heavy tasking, but are you willing to sacrifice promotion, quad speakers, and possibly bigger ram for future proofing?
I’m using my ipad pro for drawing and video editing, so the A12Z with better GPU and multicore performance is more suiting for me than the speedier single core performance on the A14.

The colors are surely tempting, but for me it’ll be covered by case anyway most of the time. I use Coverbuddy when docked onto the MKB.

Also I’m one of those people who can really tell the difference of the thicker bezel and gets annoyed, LOL.

But follow your gut man, it’s your money

 

[AutomaticApple]

Mainly because I find the FaceID experience on the iPad Pro to be pretty crappy.. so much so that I've disabled it from the lock screen. It works great on the iPhone, but on the iPad I'm constantly having to scan multiple times, move my face closer, etc.

The iPad Air having TouchID on the side button is one of those, why hasn't Apple done this until now? moments and will hopefully be showing up on other upcoming devices soon.

Also, it doesn't seem like the Air will be compromising much in terms of performance. Apple Pencil 2 and USB-C support is still there.. and I wouldn't mind moving up from the 128GB iPad Pro storage I chose to 256GB. The new colors are nice, too.

For me, it was the complete opposite. I found it annoying to have to put my thumb on the sensor. Just looking directly at the screen was a quick and easy experience.

 

[CE3]

Performance should even be snappier for day to day usage if you’re not doing heavy tasking, but are you willing to sacrifice promotion, quad speakers, and possibly bigger ram for future proofing?
I’m using my ipad pro for drawing and video editing, so the A12Z with better GPU and multicore performance is more suiting for me than the speedier single core performance on the A14.

I wouldn't classify myself as a power user on the iPad, so I doubt I'll notice much of a difference in performance in my typical day-to-day use. The Air's stereo speakers should still be decent, and I guess we'll have to wait and see about the RAM size.

That being said, I'm mostly tempted by the TouchID, and it's unlikely that will be enough for me to switch. The iPad Pro is still a great device with a beautiful display, and after removing FaceID from the lock screen and Safari passwords I've been pretty happy. Now I only use it for a few app logins.

 

[Ra~]

I am happy with my 11” 2020 pro. I happen to use the extra features.
I enjoy the pro-motion and the four speaker audio on my pro.
With the face-id I just press the up arrow on my keyboard and the iPad opens right up. Very convenient for me.
The upgraded rear camera lets me scan my documents easier, and the edges seem to scan better/flatter. Maybe because of the LIDAR sensor?
The free AirPods education promo was nice. May not have tried AirPods otherwise.

Things that I don’t like about the air is random build features.
- The 10.9” screen. Looking on the apple website the horizontal bezels (top and bottom) appear slightly bigger.
I would be annoyed that the bezels around my screen aren’t uniform and the same thickness.
- The side chassis is likely the same for mass production reasons. Thus you have the four speaker slots, however only two of them actually work. I don’t like to see features that are accommodated for, but not actually there. Not cool.

These are both very petty ways to make the Air seem less premium to picky buyers like myself.

 

[georgivelev]

Had the Air 4 been around when I shopped for a new iPad in April I would have probably got it instead of the 12.9”. The price difference for a configuration w/256GB is about 300€. In my opinion, the Pro iPad makes most sense if you’re a designer and use the pencil. However, I am a free-time musician who uses Cubasis for music recording. I guess that program may get very power-hungry when one uses the plugins but that’s not my case.

Would I downgrade to the new Air? No. Do I regret I haven’t waited for the Air 4? No. Would I get another 12.9 in 5 years? Probably wouldn’t want to. Especially if Apple puts USB-C in the base iPad and bump up the storage.

 

[Starscape]

The new Air really looks fantastic, but I'd still prefer a Pro model. Even if the A14 outperforms the A12Z in some benchmarks, I don't think it would matter much in practical use. But for me personally, 4-speaker audio, the much better camera, and ProMotion screen are features that would be important to me. I'm still using my Pro 9.7 but I plan to purchase a new Pro 11 very soon.

 

[C. Robert]

Face ID is better on a tablet. Its a semi single process versus a double with the finger. I would rather have the finger scan on my phone due to covid but not on my tablet. I am not walking around with a mask using my tablet very often if at all.

 

[Digitalguy]

I would wait next months for reviews of the Air, so far there is too much speculation on speakers, performance etc. Having said that, I feel you, I'll take touch id over face id any day, contrary to a lot of people.... And now that I have my new galaxy S7+ I am glad to have both. I hope apple will implement both on the pro at some point....

 

[wxnats]

I’ve found Face ID to work flawlessly on my 12.9” IPP, even at times where I expected to be too far away it still recognized me.

The new Airs look great but for me, I love my screen size so the air wouldn’t work.