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cheese9man

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 18, 2021
17
4
I currently don't have an ipad and I'm looking for some budget used ipads. The best one for my current budget would be an ipad air 3. The air 4 and even the 2018 ipad pro is still expensive even for a used device. How's the performance of the air 3? Is it slow already or even usable? Thanks in advance!
 

gollum

macrumors regular
Jan 29, 2007
176
60
NKY
FWIW American Airlines and its wholly owned subsidiaries which includes about 20,000 pilots use iPad Air 3's as our EFB (Electronic Flight Bags). It replaced the 2 just before the 4 came out. I doubt AA will spend the money for another 1.5 to 2 years to replace them.
 

appltech

macrumors 6502a
Apr 23, 2020
688
167
It all depends on your budget, i guess. I also agree with @rui no onna about ipad 10.2, you could probably get a good Black Friday deal on that soon
 

dantracht

Cancelled
Sep 19, 2013
1,422
7,945
Performance is still very good but it's prone to the white spot error.

Why not consider the 10.2" iPad 9th gen? Slightly better performance and you get Center Stage but you do lose the laminated display.
Agreed. I had one but sold it almost a year ago. I didn't have the white spot issue, but I had that damn touchscreen freezing issue that also plagued my 2017 IPP.

Also agree on the 9th gen: plenty of deals to be had on that one, would def get that over an air 3.
 
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Isengardtom

macrumors 65816
Feb 14, 2009
1,350
2,194
Agreed. I had one but sold it almost a year ago. I didn't have the white spot issue, but I had that damn touchscreen freezing issue that also plagued my 2017 IPP.

Also agree on the 9th gen: plenty of deals to be had on that one, would def get that over an air 3.
I had that issue too with my iPad Air 3 i sold it to a friend at a cheap price because of that
 

1BadManVan

macrumors 68040
Dec 20, 2009
3,285
3,446
Bc Canada
My 3 kids have the air 3’s. They perform great still and they get a ton of usage over the last 2 years. 2 of them do have a slight white spot issue, kids don’t even notice it, I do.

But the 9th gen is a great buy, has the same amount of ram, same speakers, newer processor. The screen isn’t as nice but also not prone to the white spot issue
 

nburwell

macrumors 603
May 6, 2008
5,559
2,462
DE
I sold my Air 3 a couple months ago for the Air 4. The Air 3 was still operating flawlessly for my needs -- mainly streaming, messaging and web browsing. So the OP should be fine if that's the route they go.
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,920
13,265
I sold my Air 3 a couple months ago for the Air 4. The Air 3 was still operating flawlessly for my needs -- mainly streaming, messaging and web browsing. So the OP should be fine if that's the route they go.

We have an Air 3 (and Pro 10.5) as well but I feel that for the same cost, a brand new iPad 9th gen ($299-329) is a better buy than a used Air 3 ($350-400 for 64GB on Swappa) or Apple certified refurb Air 3 ($419 64GB).
 

3SQ Machine

macrumors 6502
Dec 8, 2019
356
204
Ipad Air 3 serves me fine, and is still great for zoom/work calls and web browsing. Nice screen, no slowdowns. Touch ID is a little, uh, "touchy" but otherwise works flawlessly. Not super-great for movies because the speakers are only on one side, so keep that in mind. If you're used to landscape stereo, like even on your iphone, it will feel like a downgrade.
 

kierennyc

macrumors regular
Dec 3, 2008
163
68
NYC
We have an Air 3 (and Pro 10.5) as well but I feel that for the same cost, a brand new iPad 9th gen ($299-329) is a better buy than a used Air 3 ($350-400 for 64GB on Swappa) or Apple certified refurb Air 3 ($419 64GB).
I bought a used iPad pro 11’ 2018 in mint condition for $400 on my local Craigslist. I don’t think that’s a unique situation as I’ve seen many go for that price. There’s deals out there if you look and do some haggling.
 

TechRunner

macrumors 65816
Oct 28, 2016
1,345
2,328
SW Florida, US
My mother-in-law has an Air 3 that sees daily use and that she still loves. But I agree with others that, for the money, the 9th Gen might be a better option for you.
 
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