iPad I went with the Air3

[hyp.spec]

About a year and half ago I gave my iPad Air 2 to the wife so she could use it in her classroom. I did this because I had upgraded from an iPhone 6 to an 8 Plus and thought the additional screen size was enough. I managed without an iPad well enough.

Fast forward to the last few weeks and I found myself in a situation where having an iPad would be extremely useful.

I started off with the Mini as the form factor was extremely appealing to me. I mostly enjoyed it for a few days, but ultimately decided to return it as the fonts on some ups was just too damn small.

That left me with the decision of what to do next. Forget getting an iPad and saving some cash, going with the Air 3 or gunning for a Pro 11?

I very much debated gunning for the Pro 11, but there’s a few reasons I didn’t.

1. Concerns over durability. I checked it out in store and was surprised how ‘fragile’ it felt. The Air3 feels like sturdier device. Also, hearing about ‘bendgate’ and watching drop tests videos has me really concerned about dropping $1000 on a tablet…
2. Lack of a Smart Keyboard. Yes, there’s the Smart Keyboard Cover, but that doesn’t offer enough protection for me, and at $180, the cost is just too much, considering how how much a Pro 11 costs. With an Air 3 I can have a separate back case in addition to the Smart Keyboard, giving me the flexibility for productivity and portable protection.
3. Lack of split keyboard. This is a huge must have for me. While I love the Smart Keyboards, I don’t always want to use my iPad in landscape mode, on a table. Sometimes I just want to type something out while holding in portrait mode, and split keyboard is perfect for this.
4. Cost. Amazon sells the 256GB Air for $30 off right now and the Smart Keyboard is 50% off. Decent savings right there. A comparable pro is $400 more. For that price I could buy a Mini 5 to complement the Air 3…
5. Pro-motion is not a concern for me, nor is Apple Pencil 2 (or pencil 1 for that matter). Quad speakers would be nice, but my Sony noise cancelling headphones are better…

So who else decided the Air 3 is the way to go?

 

[Shirasaki]

Sorry. Deleted.

 

[OldCorpse]

That is what I decided too. I am very happy with my space gray Air 3 256GB Wi-Fi only. I don't have a single complaint. OK, well, I admit, I did buy the Pencil and too bad it doesn't support Pencil 2 - the Pencil 1 is awkward as all get out, not only the shape (round - easily rolls off the desk), but the fact that the cap can be lost super easily, there is no place to put the pencil when not in use (the Pencil 2 snaps nicely to the iPad), and of course that ridiculous charging situation... the fact that it has fewer features is just another downer. So yes, Pencil 1 is *vastly* inferior in every way (compared to the Pencil 2) and superior in none.

But otherwise - wow. I don't care about the speakers one bit - it's enough for watching youtube etc., and I always can use headphones or an external sound bar for better quality, I literally can see zero reason to have the 4 speakers vs 2 on the Air. Same with pro-motion - an non-issue for me - if you have a desktop or laptop, you only have 60Hz to begin with, so I don't miss the 120Hz I have never used anyway. Would it be nice to have thinner bezels like the 11"? Sure. But oddly I kinda prefer the aspect ratio on the Air (weird, I know). I love how light it is, and how nice to hold - in fact 90% of the time I don't have anything attached to it, and the only time I do is when I'm typing on the fantastic Apple Smart Keyboard, which I love. But going buck naked on the iPad Air 3 just feels awesome

I don't see the extra $bills I'd have to shell out for the 11" buying me much over the Air 3, so I am very happy with my choice. Plus, I feel like if I'm going to buy a Pro for that much dinero, I'd rather buy whatever it is that they come out with next, instead of settling for the 2018 version. Air 3 is brand new, and I feel good about buying this technology for much less money compared to paying for pretty much the same technology a lot more money in the Pro. I'll use the Air to chart out my workflows, and learn it thoroughly, and when iPadOS comes out, if I feel like it, I'd go for the next Pro which presumably would be geared much more tightly to iPadOS. Bottom line, I think timing-wise, Air 3 in early 2019 is the right move compared to buying the 2018 Pro. YMMV.

 

[Jcmwwe]

That is what I decided too. I am very happy with my space gray Air 3 256GB Wi-Fi only. I don't have a single complaint. OK, well, I admit, I did buy the Pencil and too bad it doesn't support Pencil 2 - the Pencil 1 is awkward as all get out, not only the shape (round - easily rolls off the desk), but the fact that the cap can be lost super easily, there is no place to put the pencil when not in use (the Pencil 2 snaps nicely to the iPad), and of course that ridiculous charging situation... the fact that it has fewer features is just another downer. So yes, Pencil 1 is *vastly* inferior in every way (compared to the Pencil 2) and superior in none.

But otherwise - wow. I don't care about the speakers one bit - it's enough for watching youtube etc., and I always can use headphones or an external sound bar for better quality, I literally can see zero reason to have the 4 speakers vs 2 on the Air. Same with pro-motion - an non-issue for me - if you have a desktop or laptop, you only have 60Hz to begin with, so I don't miss the 120Hz I have never used anyway. Would it be nice to have thinner bezels like the 11"? Sure. But oddly I kinda prefer the aspect ratio on the Air (weird, I know). I love how light it is, and how nice to hold - in fact 90% of the time I don't have anything attached to it, and the only time I do is when I'm typing on the fantastic Apple Smart Keyboard, which I love. But going buck naked on the iPad Air 3 just feels awesome

I don't see the extra $bills I'd have to shell out for the 11" buying me much over the Air 3, so I am very happy with my choice. Plus, I feel like if I'm going to buy a Pro for that much dinero, I'd rather buy whatever it is that they come out with next, instead of settling for the 2018 version. Air 3 is brand new, and I feel good about buying this technology for much less money compared to paying for pretty much the same technology a lot more money in the Pro. I'll use the Air to chart out my workflows, and learn it thoroughly, and when iPadOS comes out, if I feel like it, I'd go for the next Pro which presumably would be geared much more tightly to iPadOS. Bottom line, I think timing-wise, Air 3 in early 2019 is the right move compared to buying the 2018 Pro. YMMV.

What do u mean by ridiculous charging situation? Thanks.

 

[hyp.spec]

Sure. But oddly I kinda prefer the aspect ratio on the Air (weird, I know). I love how light it is, and how nice to hold - in fact 90% of the time I don't have anything attached to it, and the only time I do is when I'm typing on the fantastic Apple Smart Keyboard, which I love. But going buck naked on the iPad Air 3 just feels awesome

I feel almost exactly the same way!

 

[rui no onna]

What do u mean by ridiculous charging situation? Thanks.

I expect he’s referring to this:

 

[OldCorpse]

rui no onna has got it - it's awkward in the extreme and quite disruptive (you can also charge it through the AC using a dongle you're likely to lose quickly). Compare to how simple it is to charge the Pencil 2 - completely painless.

 

[rui no onna]

rui no onna has got it - it's awkward in the extreme and quite disruptive (you can also charge it through the AC using a dongle you're likely to lose quickly). Compare to how simple it is to charge the Pencil 2 - completely painless.

Lol, I think I lost the teeny tiny adapter on day 2.

 

[ssledoux]

Not that this is in any way meant to tell people what to buy as far as the pencil or anything else, but I purchased (for about $7-8 from Amazon I think) a cord that has an adapter attached to the end. I did this for my grandkids to charge their Apple pencils because I KNEW they would lose the adapter.

Just figured I'd mention it because it sure makes it a lot easier to just keep it plugged in with all the other cords, and charge the pencils there instead of in the iPad (which I knew would be a disaster with my grandkids).

 

[AutomaticApple]

I expect he’s referring to this:

View attachment 842750

Oh my...

 

[Mainsail]

I bought the iPad Air 3. The Pro features were not worth the additional cost to me. Also, I am trying to decide if the iPad is going to be my primary device or just supplemental, so I wasn’t willing to fork out the dough for top of the line iPad while I experimented with different usage.

I have owned the base iPad Air 3 for about 3 months, and it has been great. I use it all of the time and rarely pickup my MBA. IPad OS promises to make the Air even more capable. I will need to use a dongle to connect external drives rather than directly via USB-C, which is a minor inconvenience compared to the Pro.....but I really don’t need to connect that often, since I use cloud storage for everything. Otherwise, the Pro features are really not very important to me, and the Air seemed to be a good value for my use case.

 

[Freakonomics101]

Everyone has a different opinion. I love my iPad Pro 10.5. I do love the pro motion and 4 speakers. Pencil works great on it and the iPad has a good amount of bass and surround sound to it. The Air 3 is nice though. The price for it isn’t bad either. iPadOS 13 will definitely add more value to the price of the iPad.

 

[Torty]

...

So who else decided the Air 3 is the way to go?

Yes, after over 4 years of daily use the battery of my air 2 became weak. With the introduction of the iPad pros the price rose significantly, I am only willing to spend so much money if the pros get OLED displays because I love the OLED of my iPhone X, it’s so beautiful. And i had bad experience with lcds, I had to exchange 2 times my air 2 due to the book spine effect. Now I read a lot about bright spots...

But then the Air 3 came out, I grabbed one last week because of an additional rebate. Very happy with it and i was lucky with the display. The air 3 Much much quicker than the Air 2.
Also got the pencil but only used it once for testing.

Torty

 

[littlepud]

I originally went for the Air 3 then returned it for the Pro. I got spoiled by FaceID and stereo speakers from my iPhone XS Max. That being said, I’m probably going back to the Air just because it’s much better value for the money.

 

[EugW]

I bought the iPad Pro 10.5". It was great because it was cheap on the Apple refurb store (and cheaper than the iPad Air 3), and I got the Smart Keyboard for about 40% off on Amazon. For that combo, getting the 11" would have cost me something like 55-60% more for the same configuration. The Apple Pencil was also cheaper than the Pencil 2 because it was available as a refurb. I then bought a back case for it, so it's very well protected, including with bumpers at the corners.

Now my wife wants it, since the kids got our two iPad Air 2s.

The iPad Pro 10.5 is available on sale again for even cheaper now, but I'm likely going to wait until the 11" is updated and just get the 11".

Why?

I can write off part of its cost, so the out of pocket cost difference isn't as much.

While Touch ID works well, with a Smart Keyboard Face ID works better to take you directly to the home screen when you tap the space bar from sleep. With the 10.5" Pro, I have to remember to reach specifically for the Touch ID button. If I just tap the space bar on the 10.5" Pro, it just takes me to the lock screen.

The Smart Keyboard Cover on the 11" covers the back, so there is no need for a third party back cover. The drawback is the corners aren't protected as well, but I'm OK with that.

There is more screen space on the 11". This is a bonus for multitasking.

Apple Pencil 1 is round and rolls off the desk, and does not attach to the iPad Pro. However, I have a sleeve case for it which stores the charging adapter so I can charge it anytime without having to plug it into the iPad.

The 11" handles multiple video tracks better for scrubbing in video editors (although the 10.5" is quite reasonable).

My 10.5" is 64 GB. For an 11" I'd get 128-256 GB. (I can function fine with 64" but 128 GB would be perfect for me if they updated the base model storage next year, but I suspect I will have to pay for 256 GB.) The times when additional storage becomes important for me is when I'm loading multimedia files in for editing.

USB-C handles more power and doesn't require a dongle for external flash drives. With my 10.5" I have to carry a Lighting to USB 3 dongle, and also connect it to external power.

---

If my wife didn't want my 10.5" I would have been fine keeping it, and my original plan was to update it in 2022 to an 11". But now I have an excuse to move that timeline up to 2020.

My hope is for a 128 GB entry level 11" model with 6 GB RAM. I'm not optimistic about the 128 GB, but I think there is a good chance at 6 GB RAM, since it comes with 6 GB in the current 1 TB model.

BTW, out of the above issues listed, the one that bugs me the most about the 10.5" is the requirement for a dongle and external power to use external drives. If it was just the dongle that'd be more OK, but having to plug in external power every time gets old real fast.

P.S. I got an extra charging adapter for the Apple Pencil for something like $5 off eBay. It comes with a strap to attach it to the Lightning cable, so it always there on my desk at home and doesn't get lost. It is similar to the one on the right.

 

[AutomaticApple]

The iPad Air Pro 10.5

The iPad Air Pro 10.5???

 

[EugW]

The iPad Air Pro 10.5???

Fixed thx. iPad Pro 10.5 on sale here.

 

[Mainsail]

BTW, out of the above issues listed, the one that bugs me the most about the 10.5" is the requirement for a dongle and external power to use external drives. If it was just the dongle that'd be more OK, but having to plug in external power every time gets old real fast.

P.S. I got an extra charging adapter for the Apple Pencil for something like $5 off eBay. It comes with a strap to attach it to the Lightning cable, so it always there on my desk at home and doesn't get lost. It is similar to the one on the right.

I use a SanDisk 32GB external thumb drive with my iPad Air 3. It has a lightning on one end and USB 3 on the other end. I can transfer media from or to the iPad without dongles, adapters or an external power source. $20 at BB.

 

[EugW]

I use a SanDisk 32GB external thumb drive with my iPad Air 3. It has a lightning on one end and USB 3 on the other end. I can transfer media from or to the iPad without dongles, adapters or an external power source. $20 at BB.

View attachment 845771

Requires an app.

So far the few such drives that have been tested in iPadOS 13 have still required the app via Lightning. None have worked natively with the Files app in iOS 13 via Lightning. Having to go through the proprietary app is a major limitation.

Have you tried that one in iPadOS 13?

Eventually there will probably be one that works with the Files app over Lightning without external power, but I'd rather just have the ability to use any USB drive natively without a big concern for power. That is only possible with the 2018+ model iPad Pros.

 

[Mainsail]

Requires an app.

So far the few such drives that have been tested in iPadOS 13 have still required the app via Lightning. None have worked natively with the Files app in iOS 13 via Lightning. Having to go through the proprietary app is a major limitation.

Have you tried that one in iPadOS 13?

Eventually there will probably be one that works with the Files app over Lightning without external power, but I'd rather just have the ability to use any USB drive natively without a big concern for power. That is only possible with the 2018+ model iPad Pros.

I haven’t tried iPados yet. I assume SanDisk will issue an app update in the fall that will allow their devices to function more fully within the File app. It does appear in the Files App now, but just read only. I don’t really understand what using the Files App natively has to do with external power. It seems like a software issue......but, I could be wrong. What am I missing?

Edit: I did a little more reading, and Apple Insider had a pretty good article. Using iPadOS, they had no problem getting thumb drives and smaller capacity drives to work natively in the Files App with iPhones vis lightning connectors. So, I assume iPad Air 3 would work as well. The power issue presented itself when connecting iPhones to larger capacity drives. I don’t know if this had to do with the iPhone battery capacity vs. iPad battery capacity or if it had to do with the type of connector. Nevertheless, I think my 32GB thumb drive should be ok.