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Der_mit_dem_langen

macrumors member
Original poster
I am currently looking for a new tablet and of course my first instinct was to buy an iPad Air M4. But then I stumbled upon some posts describing iPadOS as extremely bad in comparison to Samsungs OneUi. On the Samsung galaxy s11 you can natively run a Linux VM which I find impressive. Also, the screen of the S11 is much better than that of the iPad Air (AMOLED, 120Hz, higher PPI). Does anyone know how flawlessly one can integrate a Samsung tablet into the Apple ecosystem? I currently use an M5 macbook and an iPhone 16. The tablets main use would be reading and annotating PDFs, no gaming or movie watching. The screen is very important to me as I need it to be extremely sharp and “paper like”. Also, the Samsung s11 is €200 cheaper if I were to get the Apple Pencil Pro with the iPad Air.
 
If you want to remain in the ecosystem I wouldn’t suggest a Samsung tablet.

Pick up a refurbished m2 or m3 iPad Pro instead.
 
You’re going to have to fudge it to get the Samsung “into” the Apple ecosystem system (i.e. third party apps across all devices).

As others a have said the M4 Pro would be ideal but obviously cost is a factor then.
 
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You’re going to have to fudge it to get the Samsung “into” the Apple ecosystem system (i.e. third party apps across all devices).

As others a have said the M4 Pro would be ideal but obviously cost is a factor then.
Yeah. I have decided not going with an Android tablet. Even though integrating it via Syncthing more or less works I’m just allergic to Androids UI. Also all the free PDF apps I’ve tried on a Samsung tablet suck. I’ll get the Air or if I can find a good deal, the A16.
 
Thank you for your answer. As far as I know, there is no iPad Pro M3 and an M2 iPad Pro will soon be 5 years old…

A refurbished m4 with an oled display.

 
I have the 10th gen iPad air. I game on it via the arcade, and do everything else. Am I going to edit videos on it? probably not unless I am stuck. Can it do 90 percent of tablety stuff that people use the iPad for? damn right! I would say get the ipad....stop. not the air, pro etc no need if you are only doing light things.
 
I have the 10th gen iPad air. I game on it via the arcade, and do everything else. Am I going to edit videos on it? probably not unless I am stuck. Can it do 90 percent of tablety stuff that people use the iPad for? damn right! I would say get the ipad....stop. not the air, pro etc no need if you are only doing light things.

Pro line is good for Face ID exclusivity, Air line is designed around being able to hold it for greater lengths of time comfortably, and the iPad is there to get you in the door to figure out if you want a Pro or Air model later on.

Speaking of the pro, having face ID makes it a good pedestal smart controller. Not needing to use your hands to unlock the device comes in handy a lot for situations. Thats why I always keep an older pro around to use as my home controller.

To OP

If you want to keep your ecosystem going, get the iPad Air. no samsung will ever integrate into Apple like another Apple.. its quite frankly, Apples to something else.
 
I am currently looking for a new tablet and of course my first instinct was to buy an iPad Air M4. But then I stumbled upon some posts describing iPadOS as extremely bad in comparison to Samsungs OneUi. On the Samsung galaxy s11 you can natively run a Linux VM which I find impressive. Also, the screen of the S11 is much better than that of the iPad Air (AMOLED, 120Hz, higher PPI). Does anyone know how flawlessly one can integrate a Samsung tablet into the Apple ecosystem? I currently use an M5 macbook and an iPhone 16. The tablets main use would be reading and annotating PDFs, no gaming or movie watching. The screen is very important to me as I need it to be extremely sharp and “paper like”. Also, the Samsung s11 is €200 cheaper if I were to get the Apple Pencil Pro with the iPad Air.
I have an S11 from work. It’s ok, but nothing compares to the iPad experience IMO. My S11 is also broken already and Samsung won’t work on it unless I had purchased their version of Care+. Truly underwhelming support. I’ll never go droid.
 
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