Good eye, everyone. Welcome to Tech. Find out.
My name is Toby, and today I'm reviewing the fifth gen iPad app.
It's now powered by Apple's fast and powerful M1 chip,
which is the same processor found in Apple's laptops and high end iPad Pro.
If you want to board the M1 train, this is now the cheapest ticket
in Apple's lineup. Choo choo.
I've been using this daily for both work and play for almost two months now,
and I've already decided I will be using it along after this review is over.
But as always, iPads are only good at iPad stuff and not that much else.
More on that in a moment.
The design is basically the same as last year's and iPad Pro.
It's an ultra thin slab of glass with a 10.9 inch screen
and a chassis made out of 100% recycled aluminum.
The design consistency means the air will comfortably fit
older accessories such as this magic keyboard originally made for the iPad Pro
or my well-seasoned smart keyboard folio from 2018.
It's also 100% compatible with the apple pencil to which magnetically sits
on the side here.
Prices start
at 929 AUD, but
that's for the 64 gigabyte version.
If you want another storage size, the only other option is 256 gigabytes,
which is obviously more expensive.
Also, if you want 5G support, you'll also be paying another $230 on top of that,
no matter which storage size you pick 64 gigs isn't a lot of space.
Once you factor in iPod
OS system files and pre-installed apps, you're left with closer to 50 gigabyte.
So a lot of If you're buying an iPad, mostly for web based
work, streaming and social stuff that might actually do.
In which case this is a pretty decent price.
But if you're anything like me and plan on gaming, creating content
or doing lots of drawing on this thing,
you'll probably want to pick up the 256 gigabyte model like I did.
I've already used over a hundred gigs after just a couple of months,
but I have installed a lot of games on here,
so I've been
using this daily for pretty much the past six weeks.
I've done a bunch of work on it,
I've played a bunch of games and I've used pretty much all the major apps.
I got to say, it's just a super fun experience.
My favorite thing about the iPad
is the same thing I've liked about the iPad pros for years.
It just works.
You can open whatever you want and it will run perfectly.
I've never experienced
crashes, and switching between multiple apps is just a breeze.
For tablet
focused experiences like reading articles, surfing the web, drawing and no taking.
This is an all round, enjoyable experience,
especially when paired with one of the keyboard accessories.
Also, the battery life on this is as amazing as ever, lasting about 10 hours.
Now, this isn't a huge difference
from pretty much every other iPad on the market.
Right now, but you'll always be guaranteed a few days, you said of one of these,
making it a very reliable device to carry around.
So what's the downside?
Well, it's just iPad OS, which has kind of been stuck in this weird
not quite a laptop, but wants to be space for years now.
Like good luck trying to manage files on this thing like you would a desktop
many apps on an iPad as shallow copies of the desktop counterparts too.
So whenever I want to do real work, I'm still reaching for my MacBook.
So why does this need the N1 chip?
Because of iPad OS.
It's kind of hard to tell how much extra power it's providing,
especially when you compare it to older models.
For example,
this is my one inch iPad Pro from 2018, which is getting a bit old now.
It's just bizarre how similar the experience of using these two is.
I just swapped them out and kind of forgot I was using a new one.
Unless I'm doing heavier tasks like 3D gaming or large photo edits,
it's pretty much the exact same day to day performance.
Again, that's more an indictment on iPad OS than this particular device.
It just isn't really letting that N1 chip hit its full potential.
I had the same gripe with last year's iPad Pro, so it's not
that surprising to find this software performance is basically the same.
There are some hardware features you miss out on.
If you opt for the ad, though, you lose promotion display,
thunderbolt, USB, C, lot of the ultra wide camera,
the quad speakers and a few other minor bits and pieces.
The thing that I actually miss the most is face in the air.
Instead reads your fingerprint to open.
It's not a huge loss, but fingering the top of the tablet
just never feels as smooth as giving it a quick, shaky grin.
I also think it's worth noting for just a couple of hundred dollars extra
about the price of a magic keyboard, you're able to purchase the MacBook Air.
It's not a tablet, of course, but those things actually make use of the
have one chip and can run most of the software.
An iPad can plus much more.
If you're looking for advice for work or school.
The MacBook Air isn't much heavier, has a better battery life
and has a larger screen over about the same price.
If you don't need the light or cameras of the iPad Pro,
the MacBook is probably a better choice than either tablet
So with all that said, if you're looking for a dedicated tablet
for tablet stuff, then you don't need to look much further than the M1 iPad Air.
It's got so much processing power, probably more than you'll ever need
or be able to use for the iPad OS,
and it's just an all around smooth and fun experience.
It never gets in your way and it just it just does tablet stuff really well.
Bus. And I'm going to save you some money here.
If you think you're just using your tablet for basic browsing or you know,
watching movies or reading books, then you probably don't need to buy this
M1 model.
You can just opt for the cheaper older models.
They work just as well.
Personally, I think I'll keep using this iPad every day.
It's just that good.
Still, it doesn't quite feel like I've made an upgrade from my 2018 iPad Pro.
Just feels like I'm using the same device now.
It's just blue.
Hopefully sometime soon the M1 chip will be allowed to shine
a bit brighter on this platform.
And when that day comes this will be my spy device.
Storage size, you pick.
Boom. That actually didn't take too long.
That's good.