i haven't used an iPad in years it never felt like it fit into my workflow between my MacBook,
iPhone, and ultrawide setup. But,
when the iPad Air 5 dropped with the new integrated M1 chip, I had to take a look.
A month later not only am i impressed with the new ipad air i also think i finally found
a productive place for a tablet in my daily devices that i use hey friends andrew here
hope you're well in today's video let's explore whether or not the new ipad air is worth it
what the differences are to the previous ipad air and how it stacks up to the ipad pro and why i
even bought an ipad tablet in the first place to fit into my daily workflow and daily desk setup
so there's a number of color finishes you can go with this year and the blue is quite appealing
in person though being the vanilla person that i am i settled on of course space gray i stuck with
the wi-fi only model because i plan to tether via my iphone for internet access anyway but
maybe most controversially i went with a smaller 64 gigabyte configuration and these specs will
cost you 599 and this leads me to start with the negatives and pitfalls with the new ipad air first
so let's address the small storage space frankly if you're going to be using your ipad frequently
the 64 gigabyte isn't going to work for most people ipad os takes up to 8 gigabytes alone
which gives you only 56 gigabytes to work with from the get go out of the box sync it up with
your existing photos download a few apps or even movies and you'll fill up your storage
space as soon as you've unboxed it your only other option is the 256 gigabyte upgrade which
is fortunately only a 150 upgrade so then you're probably wondering why i even bothered with the
64 gigabyte version right i think the 64 gigabyte version does work for some depending on how you
plan to use your ipad air in the first place for me this device is not the primary workhorse
it's an extension of both my macbook and my iphone which are my true daily drivers that i use
you know every day in and out i won't be loading any intensive apps onto this ipad uh most of the
apps that i do have on here are quite minimal and that's how i like it most of the work that i'll
get done on this ipad will be cloud-based anyway from reading documents on google drive to editing
photos on lightroom and just browsing youtube i'll go into more detail about how i'm using
this ipad to boost productivity and how it integrates into my work setup desk setup later
on in this video but yeah if most of what you're doing is on the cloud and the ipad air is just an
extension of your tech that you'll be using save yourself 150 the 64 gigabytes is manageable moving
on to the other letdowns the battery i found is just okay don't get me wrong it's no slouch
but it's not spectacular either of course apple never officially releases their exact battery
sizes for almost all their devices but they do share a battery life estimate and it's 10 hours
of general use the exact same as the previous ipad air and base ipad 2. on my testing which includes
web surfing youtube videos lightroom editing emails and some light gaming the ipad held up just
shy of 10 hours in real life use though which was a few hours of daily use in between all my devices
it held up fine for a couple days before it needed a charge and with a 20 watt charging block and
usb c cable it took about two hours to get to a full charge overall not too shabby considering
it now powers an m1 chip but it's definitely no marathon runner the other two let downs are and
this may be a little picky the fact that face id and promotion are absent i get it apple does need
to differentiate their pro line to the heirs but there's still enough differentiation in my opinion
if the screen was to get promotion it's just a little hard to go from promotion to non-promotion
when you get used to it i'm sure eventually later down the track apple will standardize promotion
across their product lineup at some point in time i just thought it was time for the ipad
era to step up to 120 hertz refresh rate at least that's what i was hoping but hey you win some and
you lose some this leads us onto the differences between the new ipad and the pro and frankly there
aren't too many especially now the ipad air features the m1 processor for starters you do
get a nicer screen on the pro a liquid xdr display with promotion and slightly higher peak brightness
you then also have a superior dual rear camera with lidar which i'm still on the fence with when
it comes to usefulness and finally you have the choice of the larger 12.9 inch display and up to
2 terabytes of storage and 16 gigabytes of ram in comparison to the 8 gigs we get with the ipad air
it's insane how feature packed the new ipad air is and at the core is the inclusion of that
m1 processor the ipad air is now officially the cheapest device you can buy from apple with an m1
processor included and it's everything we've come to expect from the m1 processors fast efficient
and integrated the ipad does not stutter at all even with intensive features like multitasking
split screen and raw photo editing lightroom everything is buttery smooth it's also now able to
take on just about any task or app with absolute ease and also future proofs the ipad air for some
time to come purely because of that m1 processor let's not forget about mobile gaming 2 with the m1
it runs so nicely on the new chip and it looks really nice on the 10.9 inch screen just like
call of duty mobile here i can imagine setting this up on the plane with a controller and you
essentially have a portable gaming console and also surprisingly i had a kd ratio of 12
on my first round of a new town on this game it's really no surprise the m1 is a big big draw card
for this thing here but i do think it's actually quite generous of apple to include the m1 chip in
this case it was a big selling point for the pro and so to add it to a non-pro apple product such
as the ipad air here at such a low price point sub thousand dollars is a big move right now though
it just feels like an m1 is kind of overkill for the ipad air and ipad os but we can't forget about
the future who knows what functionality we'll get in future renditions of ipad os or maybe
who knows even mac os on this ipad the front camera is a big leap forward from the previous
it's now a very nice 12 megapixel ultra wide camera and when taking selfies or on video calls
it's very evident it's crispier far more detailed and highlights aren't blown out when paired up
with the apple's new center stage feature video calls are pretty brilliant on the ipad air
if you don't know what center stage is it's basically a feature that helps people remain in
focus while on a video call so if you move to one side of the frame it will pan over to you and do
its best to keep you in the center of the frame as for the rear facing camera it's still the usual 12
megapixel camera and it does the job if you need to take a quick snap and the ipad is all you have
when it comes to its design it's identical to the ipad air 4 which isn't an issue at all it
remains premium and elegant the glossy sheen of the space gray on the back is beautiful as its
minimalistic look overall it's super thin light portable and still lacks a headphone jack which
i guess we're all used to at this point it looks amazing accompany any workspace bedroom or even
lounge room i have it paired up with a coveted 2nd gen apple pencil which cost 129 but is worth every
penny yes it's aimed at creatives and digital artists but you can mark up documents and jot down
notes if you enjoy a good old notepad and pencil setup i quite appreciate the design and build
of the apple pencil and of course the seamless wireless charging you get by magnetically snapping
onto the side of the ipad air not only does this keep the apple pencil charged at all times
but it also makes it super convenient to grab and use whenever inspiration strikes it's also worth
mentioning for those who purchased the stellar version the previous ipad generation supports
wi-fi six as this new current ipad air but we now also get the addition of 5g on the cellular models
just be aware though it's not the mm wave version of 5g as seen on the ipad pro so what this means
is you're going to get slightly slower speeds in comparison but regardless it's still really nice
to see 5g integrated in so i think it's pretty clear the ipad air 5 is a great purchase at the
price point particularly with the inclusion of the m1 chip but what about for those who already have
enough devices in their life and are considering an ipad or a tablet in general what's the point
of an ipad especially if you already have mobile devices i personally have my ipad setup on my desk
right next to my docked macbook and ultra wide screen the lifesaver here is apple's sidecar
which allows you to use an ipad as a secondary display for your mac it's surprisingly useful
for views of widgets monitoring the stock market or even leaving videos running in the background
it helps that i have it paired up to my kikron mechanical keyboard for a seamless desk experience
i also find myself grabbing the ipad on the go when i want to change my environment or work
remotely on easy tasks like answering emails from the cafe reading documents at the park or even
taking video calls for those who value portability without sacrificing power and screen space
the ipad air 5 really does deliver at an amazing price point and it even complements existing
desktop setups if you can find room for it so i bought this ipad as someone who hasn't used one in
so many years because i just didn't find a use case for it but after using this for a month i
found new value and appreciation for the ipad not just because it's a beast with the m1 chip at its
price point but it genuinely is a great piece of portable tech to have on my desk and out and about
so here's my overall take on this thing if you're new to the world of ipads and you're not a fully
fledged creative professional this ipad is the one to get over the ipad pro this one's already
so powerful with the m1 in it the build and portability is an obvious selling point as the air
and the price point is at a sweet spot i'd even argue that you may want to consider this over an
entry-level macbook depending on what your needs are and maybe particularly if you're a student
and who knows how the ipad os will evolve over the years now we have the m1 chip in this ipad air we
essentially have a future-proofed apple device that should see support for many years to come
at 599 there's really not much to complain about here sure we could have promotion and the battery
life could be slightly better but all in all it's very hard to fault this new ipad air over the
last month currently apple seems to be doing a lot right ever since the new m1 chip dropped and
if this is a sign of what's to come i cannot wait to dive deeper into the apple ecosystem if you do
already own an ipad let me know if you find it as useful as i do it's interesting to come back
to an ipad after years and years of going without one also if you liked the custom wallpaper here
on the ipad let me know in the comments below they're actually a custom made 3d render on
blender and i'll drop a pack of desktop and mobile wallpapers if you guys want them and
like them if you made it this far in the video make sure you drop the code word affinity
drop a like and subscribe for everything tech and business as always thank you for watching