iPad Pro 2021 iPad Pro vs Air 4

[jsmith1]

iPad Pro 2021 vs iPad Air 4: How much of a difference?

Should you pick up the new M1-powered 2021 iPad Pro over last year's iPad Air 4, or should you save yourself a significant sum of money and go with the Air?

www.phonearena.com

single core geek higher on air...thinking I may pull the trigger on the air as it appears to be the best bang for the buck currently

 

[ericwn]

Since we established how great a resource that site is when you last posted about the non issue security update I’m not going to give that site any additional attention.

The Air is popular and a good product. I’m sure it will last most users many years.

 

[AutomaticApple]

iPad Pro 2021 vs iPad Air 4: How much of a difference?

Should you pick up the new M1-powered 2021 iPad Pro over last year's iPad Air 4, or should you save yourself a significant sum of money and go with the Air?

www.phonearena.com

single core geek higher on air...thinking I may pull the trigger on the air as it appears to be the best bang for the buck currently

Higher by only a few points? I don't know, it doesn't seem any different.

 

[snipr125]

Yes the single core scores of the air 4 and the m1 ipad pros are about the same, so they will have the same snappiness when opening apps, safari pages etc. Obviously the M1 is more powerful in the terms of gpu and multicore scores though and has base 8gb RAM , and Pro models have other more luxurious features like Pro motion and 4 speakers. But in terms of value proposition, the 64 gb Air 4 is the best bang for buck like you said and will satisfy the vast majority of people. The Pro models are more niche ipads for those that need the extra processing power.

 

[jsmith1]

Since we established how great a resource that site is when you last posted about the non issue security update I’m not going to give that site any additional attention.

The Air is popular and a good product. I’m sure it will last most users many years.

You didn’t establish anything...they posted what Apple has confirmed...they post some good, truthful and helpful articles...that’s what’s established.

 

[jsmith1]

Yes the single core scores of the air 4 and the m1 ipad pros are about the same, so they will have the same snappiness when opening apps, safari pages etc. Obviously the M1 is more powerful in the terms of gpu and multicore scores though and has base 8gb RAM , and Pro models have other more luxurious features like Pro motion and 4 speakers. But in terms of value proposition, the 64 gb Air 4 is the best bang for buck like you said and will satisfy the vast majority of people. The Pro models are more niche ipads for those that need the extra processing power.

Speakers and camera have never mattered to me on the iPad..as I use wireless buds if listening to anything...will the 60vs120 be an issue?

 

[snipr125]

Speakers and camera have never mattered to me on the iPad..as I use wireless buds if listening to anything...will the 60vs120 be an issue?

Ive got the Air 4 and the liquid retina 60hz screen is beautiful to view content on. Its perfectly fine for me. My missus has got a galaxy s20 with 120hz screen and although it does give the impression of scrolling faster etc, it uses more battery so turned it off. Its nice to have but not essential. Also in regards to the speakers on the Air 4, they are landscape stereo with good detail and dynamic range so don't worry about those.

 

[chrfr]

I bought an Air 4 last Friday, trading in a 2017 Pro 10.5. The Air is just enough iPad for my usage and I really don't notice the difference in screen refresh rate. The speakers are fine as well. If I wanted better quality even with the Pro, I'd use headphones, so there's no difference there for me. The battery life and speed is much better on the Air as compared to the 2017 Pro and I'm completely satisfied with having saved money vs. getting the Pro.

 

[jsmith1]

Ive got the Air 4 and the liquid retina 60hz screen is beautiful to view content on. Its perfectly fine for me. My missus has got a galaxy s20 with 120hz screen and although it does give the impression of scrolling faster etc, it uses more battery so turned it off. Its nice to have but not essential. Also in regards to the speakers on the Air 4, they are landscape stereo with good detail and dynamic range so don't worry about those.

Good to hear

 

[jsmith1]

I bought an Air 4 last Friday, trading in a 2017 Pro 10.5. The Air is just enough iPad for my usage and I really don't notice the difference in screen refresh rate. The speakers are fine as well. If I wanted better quality even with the Pro, I'd use headphones, so there's no difference there for me. The battery life and speed is much better on the Air as compared to the 2017 Pro and I'm completely satisfied with having saved money vs. getting the Pro.

This would be my scenario...good to hear that refresh rate no bit deal with better speed and battery and not wasting money...good feedback

 

[MrEcted]

4GB RAM on the Air 4 is a no-go for me, I don’t care about a few benchmark points.

 

[rui no onna]

Higher by only a few points? I don't know, it doesn't seem any different.

Meh, I ignore 50-point differences in GB4. Those are within the margin of error.

As for Pro 11 vs Air:

Pricing is actually pretty close on those two and I think there are enough features on the $799 Pro 11 to justify the upgrade particularly if 64GB is too little storage for someone.

$799 Pro 11 (2021) vs $599 Air 4
M1 vs A14 SoC
8GB vs 4GB RAM
128GB vs 64GB storage
FaceID vs TouchID (admittedly, I prefer TouchID right now)
quad vs stereo speakers
600 nits vs 500 nits
ProMotion
Thunderbolt

It's an extra $150 or $749 to upgrade to the 256GB Air 4 and all that gets you is simply more storage. It doesn't give you any of the other benefits you can get from the 2021 Pro.

With that said, I actually just recently bought an Air 4 (256GB LTE, $750 open-box). TouchID is more important to me right now.

 

[snipr125]

4GB RAM on the Air 4 is a no-go for me, I don’t care about a few benchmark points.

Thats fair enough, but i hear this a lot now about RAM on ipads. What realistically can you do differently with an Air 4 with 4GB RAM and a
Ipad Pro with 6GB+ RAM? Have more Tabs on safari open, more layers on photo editors? Good to have but not essential in terms of core functionality. A lot of people talk about future proofing by having more RAM on ipads, but at the end of the day Apple are developing ipad OS to perform well on the lowest common denominator, which is the entry level ipad. This may hold back the Pro ipads technical potential, but what sells more and is in most people hands... the entry level and ipad airs. The only realistic way to take full advantage of the performance potential of the M1 IPad Pro’s and all its RAM, is to release a separate forked version of Ipad OS or have Mac OS on them.

 

[jsmith1]

Meh, I ignore 50-point differences in GB4. Those are within the margin of error.

As for Pro 11 vs Air:



With that said, I actually just recently bought an Air 4 (256GB LTE, $750 open-box). TouchID is more important to me right now.

Tell me about it...I use my iPad 99% landscape or more and Face ID worked horrible the time I tried one back when the first iPad Pro 11 came out and sent it back...the iPad Pro that I bought after that went back to home button which is by far the easiest way to use landscape....how does the air Touch ID work and where is the button to use in landscape

 

[jsmith1]

Thats fair enough, but i hear this a lot now about RAM on ipads. What realistically can you do differently with an Air 4 with 4GB RAM and a
Ipad Pro with 6GB+ RAM? Have more Tabs on safari open, more layers on photo editors? Good to have but not essential in terms of core functionality. A lot of people talk about future proofing by having more RAM on ipads, but at the end of the day Apple are developing ipad OS to perform well on the lowest common denominator, which is the entry level ipad. This may hold back the Pro ipads technical potential, but what sells more and is in most people hands... the entry level and ipad airs.

Yes as a side piece I think 4 is enough even though I would like 6 it’s not worth the hundreds more for it

 

[Act3]

iPad Pro 2021 vs iPad Air 4: How much of a difference?

Should you pick up the new M1-powered 2021 iPad Pro over last year's iPad Air 4, or should you save yourself a significant sum of money and go with the Air?

www.phonearena.com

single core geek higher on air...thinking I may pull the trigger on the air as it appears to be the best bang for the buck currently

for the 200 dollars or so difference for base models of either one, I think the 2021 11 is the better value for what you get extra for the money. I’ve tried both.

Face ID, better camera, pro motion, more ram, more storage, better speakers.

 

[rui no onna]

Thats fair enough, but i hear this a lot now about RAM on ipads. What realistically can you do differently with an Air 4 with 4GB RAM and a
Ipad Pro with 6GB+ RAM? Have more Tabs on safari open, more layers on photo editors? Good to have but not essential in terms of core functionality. A lot of people talk about future proofing by having more RAM on ipads, but at the end of the day Apple are developing ipad OS to perform well on the lowest common denominator, which is the entry level ipad. This may hold back the Pro ipads technical potential, but what sells more and is in most people hands... the entry level and ipad airs. The only realistic way to take full advantage of the performance potential of the M1 IPad Pro’s and all its RAM, is to release a separate forked version of Ipad OS or have Mac OS on them.

I’d get less of this happening.



4GB was good up to iOS 12 (well, maybe not 11) but iPadOS 13 and 14 seem considerably heavier. I’d occasionally get continuous Safari crashes upon launching that can only be solved with hard reset. Checking with memory monitor apps, there would only be 15-50MB free and it does appear like the 4GB RAM iPad is having a hard time freeing up RAM.

4GB RAM isn’t a lot particularly when the OS doesn’t support swap. I think the last time I had 4GB on the PC was Windows XP. iOS/iPadOS may be more efficient but it’s not a miracle-worker.

Programs randomly reloading typically isn’t considered acceptable behavior on desktop OSes. If I can avoid such bad behavior as much as possible on the iPad for a relatively minimal cost ($200 or more like $150 when normalizing for storage), then sure, I’d go for that.

Mind, rather than Air 4 or Pro, the iPad 8th gen 128GB is actually what I’d get for my parents. More than fine for YouTube and Facebook and not having the traditional Home button would annoy them.

 

[Act3]

iPad Pro 2021 vs iPad Air 4: How much of a difference?

Should you pick up the new M1-powered 2021 iPad Pro over last year's iPad Air 4, or should you save yourself a significant sum of money and go with the Air?

www.phonearena.com

single core geek higher on air...thinking I may pull the trigger on the air as it appears to be the best bang for the buck currently

the geekbench 5 scores on that article are off... 1711 single core and 7279 multi is what I just got on my 2021 11" pro

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I have an Air 4 and it’s well over spec’d for what I use it for. A decent iPad which should last me 4 or 5 years I hope.

 

[GSWForever8]

iPad Pro 2021 vs iPad Air 4: How much of a difference?

Should you pick up the new M1-powered 2021 iPad Pro over last year's iPad Air 4, or should you save yourself a significant sum of money and go with the Air?

www.phonearena.com

single core geek higher on air...thinking I may pull the trigger on the air as it appears to be the best bang for the buck currently

Go for it! Pro is overkill. Air is perfect for most.

 

[Act3]

Go for it! Pro is overkill. Air is perfect for most.

True but if you need any storage over 64 gig, the pro is only $50 more than an air. The cheapest pro comes with 128 gig.

 

[Gandek]

Best bang for the buck if you want a 11” size is the 2018 iPad Pro you can get it on the refurbished Apple store as we speak for $519

 

[Crow_Servo]

Thats fair enough, but i hear this a lot now about RAM on ipads. What realistically can you do differently with an Air 4 with 4GB RAM and a
Ipad Pro with 6GB+ RAM? Have more Tabs on safari open, more layers on photo editors? Good to have but not essential in terms of core functionality. A lot of people talk about future proofing by having more RAM on ipads, but at the end of the day Apple are developing ipad OS to perform well on the lowest common denominator, which is the entry level ipad. This may hold back the Pro ipads technical potential, but what sells more and is in most people hands... the entry level and ipad airs. The only realistic way to take full advantage of the performance potential of the M1 IPad Pro’s and all its RAM, is to release a separate forked version of Ipad OS or have Mac OS on them.

Or just have features/capabilities in apps that are exclusive to the M1. Procreate did this with their latest update. They are very clear that it’s better on the M1 iPad Pro.

 

[Htsi]

Promotion, FaceID, and speakers. Basic things that make the iPad great.

 

[Htsi]

RAM is most definitely a big deal. I find it lacking in my 2018 pro @ 4GB. Same for iPhone 11P. The 12P is way better with ram. Same for iPads with 6,8,&16gb. Huge change. 4GB is *******.