All iPads iPad Air 4 vs 11 pro for similar price

[TorontoSS]

Hello,

I'm a pretty basic user of iPads. I do some note taking from time to time, and want to make edits to some writing as well. Generally I have pretty general usage though. I have a 10.5 pro which is overkill for me. However I'm using about 55GB on it. So I would upgrade to at least 128GB when I do.

anyway - I was considering getting an Air because it's light weight, and just nicer, and I like the form factor. I figured the pro is over kill.

BUT I noticed that I can take advantage of apple's free AirPods promotion which is on till the 29th. The price of the Pro 128GB with AppleCare is 830£ but with free AirPods. the price of the iPad Air 256gb with AppleCare is 740£. It basically means if I sell the AirPods, I can get the pro for the same price. as someone who won't need a full 256, is it actually worth the hassle for someone with my usage?

thanks so much for answering!

 

[doolar]

I think you should go for the pro. I’m a very light iPad user, even though it serves as my primary computer. Mostly consumption and some emails and web surfing. I took it one step further and went with a 2018 pro, since I’m fine with 64 Gb and the performance are very similar between them, with an even greater saving. But no free AirPods of course, but I’m not eligible anyway.

120 Hz and better speakers are my reasons for choosing the pro over the air. I actually waited until the release of the new air and made my decision. Very happy indeed!

 

[satchmo]

Well after much deliberation, I canceled my iPad Pro 11 order and switched to an iPad Air 4 64gb Space Grey

I took advantage of the AirPods promotion as well, with the intent to sell it. I placed a few ads in local classifieds and only got low ball offers. It wasn't worth the time and hassle of negotiating, meeting up and potential no shows.

Then I tried out an iPad Air 4 at BestBuy today and it just felt snappier.
I saved myself $300 even though I lose out on storage. In the end, I think my needs at this are suited for the Air.
It's mostly light productivity apps, Illustrator for iPad and trying out LumaFusion. So I'm hardly a power user.
Plus I'm coming from a 6th gen iPad. So the Air will feel much faster.

My advice is not to pretend to be someone you want to be.

If you're just taking notes and general use, you really don't need the Pro...you just want the Pro.
And the saying goes, "if you have to ask yourself if you're a Pro, then you're not a Pro."

 

[TorontoSS]

Both very good replies thanks so much. will go with satchmos advice though. I may look out for that extra memory but won’t go looking to sell airpods.
thank you so much!

 

[doolar]

Both very good replies thanks so much. will go with satchmos advice though. I may look out for that extra memory but won’t go looking to sell airpods.
thank you so much!

They are both great iPads for sure! Can’t go wrong with any of them. Enjoy your air!

 

[satchmo]

Both very good replies thanks so much. will go with satchmos advice though. I may look out for that extra memory but won’t go looking to sell airpods.
thank you so much!

Glad to help out a fellow Torontonian.

 

[doboy]

Hello,

I'm a pretty basic user of iPads. I do some note taking from time to time, and want to make edits to some writing as well. Generally I have pretty general usage though. I have a 10.5 pro which is overkill for me. However I'm using about 55GB on it. So I would upgrade to at least 128GB when I do.

anyway - I was considering getting an Air because it's light weight, and just nicer, and I like the form factor. I figured the pro is over kill.

BUT I noticed that I can take advantage of apple's free AirPods promotion which is on till the 29th. The price of the Pro 128GB with AppleCare is 830£ but with free AirPods. the price of the iPad Air 256gb with AppleCare is 740£. It basically means if I sell the AirPods, I can get the pro for the same price. as someone who won't need a full 256, is it actually worth the hassle for someone with my usage?

thanks so much for answering!

I would read this thread. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/air4-256gb-or-pro-128gb.2262303/

Having said that I would go for the Pro especially with edu deal, I did. I actually needed the AirPods so it worked out.

 

[SkiHound2]

Read the longer thread to which doboy linked. My personal take is that the processors in both are more than sufficient for the vast majority of stuff most of us do most of the time. Both are really nice and you won't go too far wrong with either. I think the Air is a great deal if 64gb is sufficient, and if 128gb is not sufficient but 256gb is, then it's again probably the better value. But the Pro has better speakers and promotion display. It also has a wider angle camera and LIDAR, though I'm not sure many folks use either of those features. I'd take the 128gb Pro over the 256gb Air. If I thought I needed more memory than 128gb I might well change my view.

 

[S1njin]

Do most not consider the 12.9 Pro b/c of the price? That screen size almost never comes up in the conversation. People oooh and ahh when you get 1/4” in a iPhone, but Apple is giving close to 3” in the iPad yet we don’t discuss it much. Is it the price?

 

[Kjs100]

If it was me I'd take the Pro every time. Both are fast enough so the promotion and 4 speakers on the Pro would be my deciding factors. There's even a flash for the camera on the Pro, not that anyone takes photos with an iPad ?.

 

[doboy]

Do most not consider the 12.9 Pro b/c of the price? That screen size almost never comes up in the conversation. People oooh and ahh when you get 1/4” in a iPhone, but Apple is giving close to 3” in the iPad yet we don’t discuss it much. Is it the price?

You can’t compare the 10.9” Air to 12.9“ Pro. I think most like the portability of the 11”. I personally have a 1st gen 12.9” as well as 2020 11” that I plan to upgrade when the 2021 version comes out with mini-LED.

 

[doboy]

If it was me I'd take the Pro every time. Both are fast enough so the promotion and 4 speakers on the Pro would be my deciding factors. There's even a flash for the camera on the Pro, not that anyone takes photos with an iPad ?.

Flash could be useful as a flashlight and during document scanning.

 

[onfire23]

I would take the snappiness of the A14 over promotion. It looks like the ipad air is noticeably snappier for everyday apps. If you want the pro, it is better to wait for A14X which should be only a few months away. From the reviews, the speakers of ipad air seems to be 90% there. A14 GPU also seems to be better looking at Geekbench compute. The CPUsingle core is 42% percent higher, but the multicore 9% percent lower.

Wasn't there a leak that the A14X was already in mass production.

 

[MikhailT]

I would take the snappiness of the A14 over promotion. The ipad air is noticeably snappier for everyday apps. If you want the pro, it is better to wait for A14X which should be only a few months away. From the reviews, the speakers of ipad air seems to be 90% there.

Wasn't there a leak that the A14X was already in mass production.

It could be for the upcoming Apple Silicon Macs, not for iPad Pros just yet, which was rumored by some folks to be next spring if they wish to include the miniLED display. Given that iPad Pro was already refreshed a bit early this year, they are not in a rush to update it again this fall/winter.

I do agree with waiting for the next iPad Pro if you can. I still have 2015 first gen iPad Pro 12.9 and can't wait to see what A14X can do with the extra 2 CPU P cores and 4 more GPU cores.

The fact that Air 4's 4c GPU cores can beat 8c A12Z GPU is awesome. We could expect 20% faster CPU multicore at least and 50% faster GPU For A14X compared to A14, and that's not even including the improvements from A12 > A14 as well.

I'm also anxious to see what Apple Silicon Macs can do; imagine A14X that's actively cooled with 8GB at min.

 

[Prabas]

Thing is, Pro has the same amount of RAM, slightly slower single core but slightly higher multi core CPU performance. GPU, IIRC, is better on the Pro. 120Hz, brighter screen, 4 speakers, Face ID is too good to pass on, especially when you can get refurbished (like new) for the same price as Air and if you're lucky even cheaper.

I bought 2018 Pro a month or two ago, just after they showed the new Air, I am extremely glad that I bought it instead of Air because of the reasons mentioned above.

 

[AutomaticApple]

120 Hz and better speakers are my reasons for choosing the pro

Same here! The iPad Pro is worth it for those reasons alone.

 

[Marlon DLTH :)]

I was in the same situation as you, and I got the Pro.

If the AirPods promo had been available for the Air, I’d have bought it. Unfortunately, it was only for the Pro.

By selling the AirPods, it was at the same price as the Air, so I got the Pro.

 

[kristalsoldier]

Same here! The iPad Pro is worth it for those reasons alone.

And, I have to admit, the marginally slimmer bezels look better (at least to me).

 

[doboy]

Thing is, Pro has the same amount of RAM, slightly slower single core but slightly higher multi core CPU performance. GPU, IIRC, is better on the Pro. 120Hz, brighter screen, 4 speakers, Face ID is too good to pass on, especially when you can get refurbished (like new) for the same price as Air and if you're lucky even cheaper.

I bought 2018 Pro a month or two ago, just after they showed the new Air, I am extremely glad that I bought it instead of Air because of the reasons mentioned above.

2018 Pro has the same amount of RAM as Air, 2020 is 6 GB.

 

[onfire23]

Look at this video before making your decision. The extra ram doesn't seem to make a difference and the air is faster across the board.

 

[SkiHound2]

Do most not consider the 12.9 Pro b/c of the price? That screen size almost never comes up in the conversation. People oooh and ahh when you get 1/4” in a iPhone, but Apple is giving close to 3” in the iPad yet we don’t discuss it much. Is it the price?

For me it's purely a matter of size. If used as a primary device with a keyboard the 12.9 would probably be the better choice. For travel and my uses the 11" or Air are better fits. I'm not aware of anything that would differentiate the 12.9 from the 11 other than preference for screen size and weight.

 

[Prabas]

Look at this video before making your decision. The extra ram doesn't seem to make a difference and the air is faster across the board.

If you only care about speed sure, speed is the only better feature over the older Pros. Extra RAM is for the future iOS updates.