iPad Air Hi. I'm about to buy my first iPad..

[qkrgusdb33]

I'm about to buy the new iPad Air.

Planning to use it for second monitor, Logic Remote, and want to also try out drawing animation ( not a pro or anything at animation I just want to try out.. I don't know much about this field yet..)

Will this be a good choice ? and any other tips for first buyer who doesn't know much about tablets ?..

Also I'll be buying the 64gb with no cellular because I'll be using it almost at home only...


What do you think ?

 

[snipr125]

The iPad Air 4 is a great all round package, as it has all of the features of the iPad Pro models (minus pro motion and quad speakers), but the landscape stereo speakers are very good in their own right (Much improved over the iPad Air 3). It has serious performance with the 5nm A14 bionic which is incredibly powerful and efficient, and will get support for the next 5 years at a minimum. lovely 10.9 p3 colour screen so great as a sidecar second screen that you require. You can use the 2nd gen Apple Pencil for drawing etc and also the Apple magic keyboard. All this for £200 less than the base iPad Pro 11. You could of course save a lot more money and get the Ipad 8 for £329, but it has the older chassis and you will always be glancing enviously at the iPad Air/Pro models, thats what happened to me anyway when I brought Ipad Air 3.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I concur with @snipr125

I don’t think it is worth getting the base model iPad to try and save some money. I don’t think you would be happy with a gen 1 pencil and the hardware of the iPad. I also think the iPad Pro would be overkill unless you got a good used model for cheap.

 

[Digitalguy]

I'm about to buy the new iPad Air.

Planning to use it for second monitor, Logic Remote, and want to also try out drawing animation ( not a pro or anything at animation I just want to try out.. I don't know much about this field yet..)

Will this be a good choice ? and any other tips for first buyer who doesn't know much about tablets ?..

Also I'll be buying the 64gb with no cellular because I'll be using it almost at home only...


What do you think ?

I think that 64 is still limiting... I thought it was enough when getting my mini 5, since it was a secondary iPad (the other ones have 128 or 256), but after one and a half year I am having to delete things to manage storage. Games in particular take many Gbs and I did not realize at the time that the mini was great at that. I won't get a 64GB iPad anymore....

 

[getrealbro]

We convinced ourselves that we only needed a 32GB iPad back in 2013. And regretted that decision within weeks, as memory began filling up. The amount of iPad memory is a one time decision. So this time we bought the 256GB iPad Air 4.

Ironically the longer the iPad lasts the more you’’ll probably wish you had sprung for more memory.

GetRealBro

 

[Digitalguy]

We convinced ourselves that we only needed a 32GB iPad back in 2013. And regretted that decision within weeks, as memory began filling up. The amount of iPad memory is a one time decision. So this time we bought the 256GB iPad Air 4.

Ironically the longer the iPad lasts the more you’’ll probably wish you had sprung for more memory.

GetRealBro

Absolutely, my first ipad I bought the cheapest at 16GB, it was a nightmare... I call this the mistake of the first one, since you tend to spend the minimum you can when it's your fist time, then you realize it's a mistake.... I leaned from that and bought the mini 4 at 64GB which was fine at the time, but today games and other apps are getting bigger and bigger and the ipads are so powerful they can last a decade... and even 64 is no longer enough, especially if it's your main tablet...

 

[qkrgusdb33]

Absolutely, my first ipad I bought the cheapest at 16GB, it was a nightmare... I call this the mistake of the first one, since you tend to spend the minimum you can when it's your fist time, then you realize it's a mistake.... I leaned from that and bought the mini 4 at 64GB which was fine at the time, but today games and other apps are getting bigger and bigger and the ipads are so powerful they can last a decade... and even 64 is no longer enough, especially if it's your main tablet...

Hm..But I don't think I'll be doing gaming or taking photo and such....

and also I'm not the type to take around expensive gears when I go outside...so I don't know if the bigger gb will be good for me..

 

[qkrgusdb33]

I think that 64 is still limiting... I thought it was enough when getting my mini 5, since it was a secondary iPad (the other ones have 128 or 256), but after one and a half year I am having to delete things to manage storage. Games in particular take many Gbs and I did not realize at the time that the mini was great at that. I won't get a 64GB iPad anymore....

But I don't game at all....will it still be limiting ??

 

[qkrgusdb33]

We convinced ourselves that we only needed a 32GB iPad back in 2013. And regretted that decision within weeks, as memory began filling up. The amount of iPad memory is a one time decision. So this time we bought the 256GB iPad Air 4.

Ironically the longer the iPad lasts the more you’’ll probably wish you had sprung for more memory.

GetRealBro

What do you do with your iPad ? I'm curious about what usually take storage...

 

[qkrgusdb33]

The iPad Air 4 is a great all round package, as it has all of the features of the iPad Pro models (minus pro motion and quad speakers), but the landscape stereo speakers are very good in their own right (Much improved over the iPad Air 3). It has serious performance with the 5nm A14 bionic which is incredibly powerful and efficient, and will get support for the next 5 years at a minimum. lovely 10.9 p3 colour screen so great as a sidecar second screen that you require. You can use the 2nd gen Apple Pencil for drawing etc and also the Apple magic keyboard. All this for £200 less than the base iPad Pro 11. You could of course save a lot more money and get the Ipad 8 for £329, but it has the older chassis and you will always be glancing enviously at the iPad Air/Pro models, thats what happened to me anyway when I brought Ipad Air 3.

Thank you for your information !

Do you think I should upgrade GB to 256 ?

Everybody here is suggesting it..but I don't know. I don't think I'll do any gaming or whatever that takes storage..

Is 64gb really too small ? Am I missing something..?

 

[AutomaticApple]

I'm about to buy the new iPad Air.

Planning to use it for second monitor, Logic Remote, and want to also try out drawing animation ( not a pro or anything at animation I just want to try out.. I don't know much about this field yet..)

Will this be a good choice ? and any other tips for first buyer who doesn't know much about tablets ?..

Also I'll be buying the 64gb with no cellular because I'll be using it almost at home only...


What do you think ?

You've definitely made a good decision. The iPad Air 4 is the perfect sweet spot. Get it!

 

[qkrgusdb33]

You've definitely made a good decision. The iPad Air 4 is the perfect sweet spot. Get it!

Thank you for your reply ! But what do you think about the GB ? should I move up to 256 ?

 

[Apple_Robert]

Thank you for your reply ! But what do you think about the GB ? should I move up to 256 ?

From what you stated, 256GB is overkill. You wouldn't use most of it. Why pay for something you won't need? Unless you have left out important details, 64GB should be fine. If you want to have piece of mind go to 128GB max.

 

[getrealbro]

What do you do with your iPad ? I'm curious about what usually take storage...

We don’t game at all either. But we do shoot a lot of photos & short videos* when we are on road trips/camping.

Each evening we use the iPad to collect and view the photos/videos we shot with our two iPhones and a Canon point and shoot. Prior to heading off, we also download a few videos (e.g. Amazon Prime, Netflix) to the iPad. This gives us some entertainment when camping, if the weather turns bad. An iPad is ideal for this and it can be used without AC power & charged in the SUV or AirStream via USB while on the road.

Edit: Our iPad Air 4 is only a month old and we haven’t gone on any road trips yet. So it only has 2GB of photos. It currently has 32.6 GB used.

GetRealBro

* short videos are better than photos for capturing just the right position when shooting wildlife.

 

[ericwn]

For your stated use cases I think 64 GB is fine.

 

[snipr125]

Thank you for your information !

Do you think I should upgrade GB to 256 ?

Everybody here is suggesting it..but I don't know. I don't think I'll do any gaming or whatever that takes storage..

Is 64gb really too small ? Am I missing something..?

For me personally 64gb is more than enough on my iPad Air 4. I don’t game on it at all (have my PS4 for gaming). My music takes up about 8gb, and I also download comics on Kindle. I have synced about 2gb of photo albums from my Mac thats pretty much it. I stream most of the videos I watch from you tube, Amazon prime, Netflix etc. From the usage that you described, I think you would be fine with 64gb. Now if you really want more storage, then this complicates things with pricing, as the iPad Pro 11 base model which has 128 gb is only about £50 more than the 256 gb iPad Air 4 (there is no 128 gb iPad Air 4 annoyingly)...

 

[getrealbro]

FWIW I’m not suggesting that the OP NEEDS more than 64GB for the stated use case. Just that the use case may change over the useful life of an iPad Air 4. And you only get one chance to spec the right amount of memory.

If the OP’s main uses are now (and will likely be in the future) at home/office with a high speed internet connection that allows offloading apps, photos etc. to iCloud, 64 GB may be plenty.

GetRealBro

 

[tops2]

If you stream videos and don't game much, 64 GB is enough. It may feel limiting if you hoard (especially larger) apps.

I have a 64gb iPad Pro and have 14gb free at the moment. I have to be mindful to not keep large apps on there, but otherwise I don't usually feel it's limiting. I have a 128gb iPhone and older iPad Mini and I don't think about storage on those.

Pricewise it may really go up if you consider more storage, and official Apple Pencil and any of the Apple iPad keyboards. If money isn't too much of an consideration, the 64 iPad Air 4 is an awesome choice.

If price is a bigger consideration, I think the 128 basic iPad 8 is plenty combined with an Apple Pencil clone/Logitech crayon is enough. For this Christmas, I got my wife and kid the 128 basic iPad 8 and it feels plenty fast for them (and me) with enough space for my son to make his silly minutes long video... lol. My $17 Apple pencil clone works between our 3 devices seamlessly without needing to keep re-pairing.

My Apple pencil clone is perfect (for me) as I wanted to try out the pencil but not sure if I'll realistically keep using. Good thing I did cause after the honeymoon period, I barely touch the pencil clone.

 

[secretk]

Just for reference for you. I have 128 GB iPad 6th gen and I have 109 GB filled in. Here is breakdown on the type of files that take the most storage:

1. Movies - 24 GB
2. Books - 18.2 GB
3. OneDrive (work and personal) - 6 GB
4. Photos - 4 GB
5. Music - 4 GB
6. Goodnotes - 2.5 GB
7. Garageband - 2.5 GB
8. Procreate - 2.5 GB

And lots of other apps take 1 or 2 GB. Overall honestly I would say that I have lots of books. Also I do store files in OneDrive enough and as it seems this takes storage on the iPad as well due to some caching.

 

[zkap]

Thank you for your information !

Do you think I should upgrade GB to 256 ?

Everybody here is suggesting it..but I don't know. I don't think I'll do any gaming or whatever that takes storage..

Is 64gb really too small ? Am I missing something..?

I don't know about others, but I never needed a lot of storage on the iPad. I have 64GB on the iPad Pro 10.5 and it's enough. I even install a few games sometimes and there are no problems. I don't know what people do to use up storage so I can't say for sure, but in my use case I don't have to deny myself any apps or be careful in any way and I find 64GB storage sufficient. I use iCloud and I don't like to hoard apps, but rather delete them when I no longer need them.
Still, I have a few apps I could delete that I don't use at all and right now I have about 20GB of free space.

 

[Digitalguy]

FWIW I’m not suggesting that the OP NEEDS more than 64GB for the stated use case. Just that the use case may change over the useful life of an iPad Air 4. And you only get one chance to spec the right amount of memory.

If the OP’s main uses are now (and will likely be in the future) at home/office with a high speed internet connection that allows offloading apps, photos etc. to iCloud, 64 GB may be plenty.

GetRealBro

Same here, when I bought my mini 5 I didn't have use cases that required more storage, it came later.
On my iPad pro, I never thought I would edit videos, until I started doing it with lumafusion. I also have many books and a few gigs of music. Also dowloaded videos for offline use. And quite a few big apps of more than 1 GB each
Fortunately I have many devices. I have a big movie (and personal videos) collection (local files) of several hundreds gigs and that stays in the 512GB microsd card of my Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ (which also has 256 GB).
If your use cases don't change in the future 64GB is enough.

 

[qkrgusdb33]

From what you stated, 256GB is overkill. You wouldn't use most of it. Why pay for something you won't need? Unless you have left out important details, 64GB should be fine. If you want to have piece of mind go to 128GB max.

There is no 128 GB on iPad Air. Only 64,256..

Oh man..I'm starting to have a headache. I don't know what to do ..

 

[qkrgusdb33]

For me personally 64gb is more than enough on my iPad Air 4. I don’t game on it at all (have my PS4 for gaming). My music takes up about 8gb, and I also download comics on Kindle. I have synced about 2gb of photo albums from my Mac thats pretty much it. I stream most of the videos I watch from you tube, Amazon prime, Netflix etc. From the usage that you described, I think you would be fine with 64gb. Now if you really want more storage, then this complicates things with pricing, as the iPad Pro 11 base model which has 128 gb is only about £50 more than the 256 gb iPad Air 4 (there is no 128 gb iPad Air 4 annoyingly)...

Yes, you're right.. Is only about 50 dollar difference in iPad 4 air 256GB and iPad Pro 128GB..

I do think 64gb will be enough but if I download more apps in the future..I don't want to be feeling limited...

But if I decide to go 256GB on iPad Air...would it be better to just go iPad Pro 128GB ?

 

[snipr125]

Yes, you're right.. Is only about 50 dollar difference in iPad 4 air 256GB and iPad Pro 128GB..

I do think 64gb will be enough but if I download more apps in the future..I don't want to be feeling limited...

But if I decide to go 256GB on iPad Air...would it be better to just go iPad Pro 128GB ?

qkrgusdb33, you see this is exactly the thought process Apple want you to go through as part of their “up selling” strategy. Apple are experts at this, and their entire iPad range and storage options have been specifically set up this way, leading you from initially wanting the iPad Air 4 64gb, to now considering the iPad Pro 11 128gb, which is an extra £200. Don’t feel bad or anything, it’s your own hard earned money that you can spend as you see fit, and it’s your first iPad that your buying so you probably feel like you want to make the right choice.
All I can say is that with 64gb you should be fine, but you may have to manage your space a bit in the future with more apps, but don’t forget you can delete stuff when not needed, and also uninstall apps like garage band to free up even more space. If you feel it’s best to spend the extra £200 for the iPad Pro 11 for its 128 gb storage you will also get promotion and an extra 2gb RAM. You can’t go wrong either way both are fantastic devices, so don’t stress too much, just go with your gut feeling.

 

[Digitalguy]

qkrgusdb33, you see this is exactly the thought process Apple want you to go through as part of their “up selling” strategy. Apple are experts at this, and their entire iPad range and storage options have been specifically set up this way, leading you from initially wanting the iPad Air 4 64gb, to now considering the iPad Pro 11 128gb, which is an extra £200. Don’t feel bad or anything, it’s your own hard earned money that you can spend as you see fit, and it’s your first iPad that your buying so you probably feel like you want to make the right choice.
All I can say is that with 64gb you should be fine, but you may have to manage your space a bit in the future with more apps, but don’t forget you can delete stuff when not needed, and also uninstall apps like garage band to free up even more space. If you feel it’s best to spend the extra £200 for the iPad Pro 11 for its 128 gb storage you will also get promotion and an extra 2gb RAM. You can’t go wrong either way both are fantastic devices, so don’t stress too much, just go with your gut feeling.

great post, agree 100%, that's why apple does not do 128, with 64GB it's not a matter of running out of space, it's a mater of havinng to do management, like when you live in a small apartment, you cannot skip tidying up for too long, contrary to someone having a large apartment... some may said it's even good so that you don't leave things you don't need around