Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi‑Fi, watching video, or listening to music Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi‑Fi, watching video, or listening to music Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi‑Fi, watching video, or listening to music Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi‑Fi, watching video, or listening to music
Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi‑Fi, watching video, or listening to music
iPad Air 2020 vs. iPad Pro 2021 Buyer’s Guide
In April 2021, Apple updated its popular iPad Pro lineup, introducing the M1 chip, a Liquid Retina XDR display, a Thunderbolt port, and more. Since the iPad Air saw a major update in September last year, both the iPad Air and the iPad Pro now share similar designs and an increasingly close feature set.
The iPad Air and iPad Pro share a number of key features, such as design, rear Wide camera, and a USB-C port: Liquid Retina display with 264 ppi, full lamination, oleophobic and anti-reflective coating, P3 Wide Color, and True Tone ƒ/1.8 12MP Wide rear camera, with digital zoom up to 5x and Smart HDR 3 for photos Apple’s specification breakdown shows that the two iPads share a number of important features.
Even so, there are an even larger number of meaningful differences between the iPad Air and iPad Pro that are worth highlighting, including their displays, authentication technologies, processors, and camera setups. Available in Silver, Space Gray, Rose Gold, Green, and Sky Blue
Both the iPad Air and the iPad Pro use Apple’s most recent product design language, also seen on the iPhone 12 and the iMac, featuring industrial squared-off edges. Unlocking is something that may be used dozens of times every day, so it is important to choose your preferred method of authentication if you feel particularly strongly about it. That being said, both Touch ID and Face ID are now extremely refined technologies that work well, and most users will likely be happy with whichever they have. These models are around half a pound lighter than the 12.9-inch iPad Pro and will be best for users focused on portability and easy handheld use.
Both the iPad Air and the 11-inch iPad Pro feature Liquid Retina LED displays with 264 ppi, full lamination, an oleophobic and anti-reflective coating, P3 Wide Color, and True Tone. Apple calls the 12.9-inch iPad Pro’s mini-LED screen a “Liquid Retina XDR display.” The display can reflect what can be seen in the real world by capturing the brightest highlights and subtle details in even the darkest images, allowing users to view and edit true-to-life HDR and Dolby Vision content, which is especially important to creative professionals, including photographers, videographers, and filmmakers. The iPad Air’s Liquid Retina display will be sufficient for the vast majority of users, but some may prefer the responsiveness of ProMotion of the iPad Pro for tasks such as gaming. Both chips are fabricated using a 5nm process and contain Apple’s most advanced 16-core Neural Engine for machine learning. Only users with an intensely demanding workflow will need the extra power the M1 in the iPad Pro offers over the A14 in the iPad Air.
For example, photographers working with large images, graphic designers, and video editors may be able to take advantage of the M1’s extra power. 4GB in the iPad Air will be adequate for casual users, but 8GB will be defter at handling multiple windows of the same application and a range of intense background tasks.
The iPad Pro has extended dynamic range when recording video up to 30 fps, and also features a True Tone flash.
LiDAR allows the iPad Pro to measure the distance to surrounding objects up to five meters away, operating at the photon level at nano-second speed. This makes the iPad Pro capable of a “new class” of improved AR experiences with better motion capture, understanding of the environment, and people occlusion. If you use your iPad for consuming lots of music and videos with the built-in speakers, the iPad Pro will deliver a slightly better experience.
As well as being considerably faster, Thunderbolt opens up the potential for compatibility with a much broader range of Thunderbolt-only accessories such as external hard drives and monitors. Since they both support the same accessories, there is no reason to buy one model over the other when it comes to the likes of keyboards or trackpads. Nevertheless, it should be considered that accessories such as the Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard have to be purchased separately from the iPad, so will push up the overall price.
While it lacks the all-screen design of the iPad Air, USB-C, and 4K video recording, the eighth-generation iPad is an excellent low-cost alternative to the mid to high-end iPads.
Moreover, if you are looking for the smallest, most portable iPad, you should consider the iPad mini, which features a smaller 7.9-inch display and the A12 chip, for $399. For most people, the additional $200+ needed to buy the iPad Pro will not be justified to get a better camera system, more memory, and a 120Hz display. Some iPad Pro features, such as LiDAR, the Ultra-Wide camera, large storage configurations, and Thunderbolt, will only be practically useful to a small niche of iPad users. Professionals who have a clear use case for needing larger amounts of RAM and storage, Thunderbolt, mini-LED for HDR content, and the added performance of the M1 chip will benefit from buying the iPad Pro.
Prosumers will also enjoy features such as 120Hz ProMotion for smoother scrolling and gaming, deeper blacks and more vivid colors with the mini-LED display, Center Stage, and LiDAR for AR experiences, even if they are not necessary, and those who want a larger 12.9-inch display will need to go with the higher-end iPad Pro model. Prosumers and professionals who want the iPad to replace their laptop or computer should likely choose the 12.9-inch iPad Pro if they are pairing it with the Magic Keyboard due to the added screen space for multiple applications.
We put the latest iPad Pro and iPad Air head to head, and it’s clear the cheaper iPad Air is the better tablet for most people
Apple’s iPad Pros differentiate with ProMotion screen tech, better cameras, and a 12.9-inch option. Get honest reviews on top products & services — delivered weekly to your inbox. But if you value a bigger screen, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is essentially one of this line’s primary differentiators. If you’re using an iPad for simpler tasks like browsing the web, running standard apps like email, social media, or shopping apps and playing casual games, you’d likely be fine with 64GB iPad Air. Just keep in mind that the iPad Air doesn’t come with Apple’s ProMotion screen tech, if that sounds tempting to you, as well. The iPad Pros also have a LiDar scanner that helps with better focus when taking photos in low light.
I’d also consider this a niche feature that should only really speak to professionals who are often transferring big projects to and from the iPad and external storage devices. It basically means that big files or projects will transfer faster on the iPad Pros.
After considering the storage options and their prices, knowing that they possess the same processing power, the iPad Air 2022 poses the best value at the time of writing. While ProMotion on the iPad Pro is great, it’s still a cosmetic feature that adds to the experience rather than the utility of the tablet. But if 128GB of storage is enough for you, and you value a more premium experience from Apple’s ProMotion screen tech, the iPad Pro is for you. If you want the best cameras possible on a tablet, or super fast data transfer speeds, the iPad Pros are again your best bet.
iPad Pro (12.9) vs. iPad Air 2, mini 4, Air 1 and mini 2
iPads may not be the must-have devices they once were, but they’re still the best standalone tablets – not to mention the most popular by a longshot. Unfortunately interest in such a device has diminished over the last few years, as phablets and 2-in-1 tablets have grown in popularity. No surprises here: aluminum unibody designs are par for the course with current iOS devices.
Apple only makes its own keyboard accessory for the iPad Pro, but there are plenty of third-party options for all the other models. The big difference is that the keyboards for iPads Air and Minis require a Bluetooth connection. Apart from iOS’ limitations as a laptop OS, the biggest reason we weren’t fans of the iPad Pro in laptop mode is that it has no trackpad – requiring you to repeatedly reach out towards the screen.
There are third-party styluses you can use with all the iPads, but Apple’s own Pencil naturally has better integration with iOS (it’s a great fit for the Notes app, for example), it can charge in the iPad Pro’s Lightning port and even detects tilt – for shading like you’d do on a real pencil. The Apple Pencil’s biggest drawback is that it only works with the iPad Pro.
Some of the better third-party alternatives, which you can use with the Air and Mini models as well, include styluses from Wacom, Adonit and Fifty Three. The three newest models add a gold option to the space gray and silver colors that you can buy for all five iPads. If you don’t have any need for a giganto-tablet, then the two 9.7-inch iPad Airs will hit the sweet spot for the most people. If you already own a large-screened smartphone, then you may find the iPad mini to be a bit of a redundant device, but the Air provides a much larger window into your content without venturing into the Pro’s absurdly large territory.
Though the iPad mini has the highest pixel density, you’ll likely hold the smaller tablet closer to your eyes, which may make the effective sharpness pretty similar. Going by that logic, you’ll hold the iPad Pro the farthest from your eyes, giving it the best perceived sharpness.
That makes the iPad Pro the most powerful one in this pack by a wide margin.
That sneaky Apple, putting a mere 32 GB in the entry-level iPad Pro (not much for a “Pro”-level machine designed to replace a laptop for some) then quadrupling that for “only” $150 extra. You’ll see a downgrade in rear camera image quality if you go with either of the 2013 models (second row). If you want a cellular-enabled iPad Pro, though, you’re limited to the 128 GB storage tier. All five iPads support Slide Over, which lets you swipe from the right side of the screen to view a second app next to your primary one. Only the first three iPads in this group (Pro, Air 2 and Mini 4) support Split View, which is an extension of Slide Over (and similar to Windows’ Snap feature).
Of course this makes the most sense on the huge iPad Pro screen, though it works nicely on the Air 2 as well.
The last two tablets are two years old and clinging to life as today’s budget options. Prices correspond to size and age, with the huge (and brand new) iPad Pro starting at a hefty $799 (not including keyboard or Pencil). If you want to cast your net wider, to include smartphones, laptops and 2-in-1s, you can check out Gizmag’s top mobile devices of 2015.
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