All iPads 2020 iPad vs 2019 Air vs 2017 Pro

[ejin222]

Just wondering your thoughts as I'm debating this myself. Granted, choices #2 and #3 would be refurb and I haven't seen a refurb 2017 Pro 10.5" in a while, but given the choices, what would YOU choose?

A refurb Air would be slightly more than a new iPad 8, and the Pro would have a slightly slower chip than the Air, but it seems that the Pro would be the best bang for buck?

 

[snipr125]

It’s not an easy choice, but overall the iPad 8 is the best value overall in terms of cost and performance.

 

[Phogro]

I'd say the Air is probably the most bang for the buck assuming they're all priced around the same.

There's trade offs which each one though. The pro is the only one with promotion, the air is the only one with bluetooth 5.0, the pro doesn't have the neural engine and runs an older chip set (albeit an X series which might make up for it). The 8th series doesn't have the fully laminated display or anti reflective coating.

It's a really close one to be honest and I think you'd be happy with any of them. So with that said it might come down lowest price.

 

[rui no onna]

2020 iPad 8. I already have the other two. ??

Kidding aside, for me it'll primarily be between 2019 Air and 2020 iPad with the deciding factor likely being availability, price and storage.

The extra GB RAM on the Pro 10.5 is nice but I don't really care about the beefy GPU, ProMotion or quad speakers. Would rather take the power savings that come with the A12.

 

[AutomaticApple]

Just wondering your thoughts as I'm debating this myself. Granted, choices #2 and #3 would be refurb and I haven't seen a refurb 2017 Pro 10.5" in a while, but given the choices, what would YOU choose?

A refurb Air would be slightly more than a new iPad 8, and the Pro would have a slightly slower chip than the Air, but it seems that the Pro would be the best bang for buck?

Probably the iPad Air if you factor in its tech specs.

 

[ericwn]

I’d probably get the Air.

 

[QCassidy352]

Air, but it depends on the prices. It's not such a big difference that I'd pay a lot more for the air.

 

[ejin222]

At the refurb store, the Air is $420. The 128gb iPad also hits around the same price. So, not sure if the extra 64gb of storage in the iPad is enough to better the Air.

 

[rui no onna]

At the refurb store, the Air is $420. The 128gb iPad also hits around the same price. So, not sure if the extra 64gb of storage in the iPad is enough to better the Air.

This really depends on your storage needs. Consider that System+Other usually takes up 10-15GB of storage.

 

[ACG12]

iPad Pro 10.5” over the other two.

Why? I had a 6th gen iPad and the screen was awful along with the front facing camera. I currently have an Air 3 and my wife has a 10.5” Pro that I much prefer to use (quad speakers, 120hz, 4gb RAM). Don’t let the old processor fool you, the A10x can hang with the A12.

 

[McScooby]

iPad Pro 10.5” over the other two.

Why? I had a 6th gen iPad and the screen was awful along with the front facing camera. I currently have an Air 3 and my wife has a 10.5” Pro that I much prefer to use (quad speakers, 120hz, 4gb RAM). Don’t let the old processor fool you, the A10x can hang with the A12.

Might be able to hang for now, but straight off the bat you’re losing 3 years support/upgrades that you get with the other 2.

 

[ejin222]

Might be able to hang for now, but straight off the bat you’re losing 3 years support/upgrades that you get with the other 2.

Yeah, that's the one thing going against the Pro vs the Air.

But this would be going to my children, so I'm not THAT worried about upgrades. I can't even follow all the features with every iPadOS release. The loss of extra security is concerning though..

 

[ACG12]

Might be able to hang for now, but straight off the bat you’re losing 3 years support/upgrades that you get with the other 2.

How so? Lately RAM has been more important for long term support and the 10.5” Pro has more.

 

[McScooby]

How so? Lately RAM has been more important for long term support and the 10.5” Pro has more.

Sorry, should've said IMHO....
always find a way counter to what 'we' think the hardware should support. All it takes is a killer feature packed iOS to drop and support for older models evaporates, see iPad 3/4 for reference - 4 iOS updates, when the iPad 2 had 5.
I'd say aiming for 5/6 iOS releases is generous by being higher than the averages of previous years, so for comparison,
iPad Air 2 introduced Oct 2014 and discontinued Mar 17, is still supported by iOS14
iPad Pro 10.5 introduced Jun 2017 and discontinued Mar 19 and obv is still supported, I'd reckon maybe 2/3 more iOS releases (3/4 years support)
So if anything, you'll at minimum get 4 releases on past performance, anything higher count as a bonus but don't count on it.
Or another way of looking at it is across the board (OS & iOS), in my experience, average min value per product usually hovers around £100/150 per year supported.