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iPad Air iPad Air 5 comes with M1 and 8GB RAM
- Thread starter TigeRick
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Also camera flash? The back of the Air 5 looks identical to the Air 4 to me except that it now says iPad Air rather than iPad.
Probably because even after more than a year, intel still doesn’t have anything that remotely challenges the M1, so Apple evidently feels no pressure in this regard.
My guess is that these chips are on a 1.5 to 2 year refresh cycle. Probably closer to 2.
USB C speeds have been doubled on the Air 5 to 10gbps, i think the speeds on the Pro 11 might be faster than this.
One thing that the Air 5 has unique to it though is the colour options.
Whereas I might spring for 265gb Air because I prefer touch id, and the colors are cool.
Everything coming out of WWDC for the last five years indicates Apple has no plans for iPadOS going forward. They should just put macOS on iPad Pro at least- the tradeoffs would be less than what we currently have.
Along with 5G mm wave capability (Air only has 5G NR), 5 microphone studio recording (Air has 2 mics) and 16gb of ram available on 1tb/2tb models
I personally would get wifi only and 128gb 11 M1 Pro so less differences than the maxed out models
iOS is better than macosx. Some people already have a desktop OS and don't need another.
its on top right? i use in landscape mode 99.9% of the time, does it work well that that mode? i returned my 11 pro due to the pain it was for face id and landscape, i like the touch id of the 10.5 pro for landscape but havent used if its on top? whats so dumb is that face id works great on the phone...duh its in the right mode but for ipad they just threw it in there even though its probably used in landscape mode more by most
Such as shame too.. 12.9" iPad Pro's cost as much as MacBooks yet are crippled in what they can do vs. MacBook. Apple can throw advanced iPad Pro users a bone (bootcamp to MacOS, run Mac Apps in sandbox, allow VM software on App Store) every once in a while without jeopardizing the iPads appeal or mission for the larger consumer base. They need to do something to justify selling a device for $2300+ that literally can't DO anything more than the $329 iPad can do.
Yeah, Apple got lazy/cheap there. The Mini 6 got a rear camera flash, but the Air got an M1 chip and double RAM. I guess that was the trade off.
I'd say announced September with the new iPhones and released October?
When the M1 iPad got 16GB RAM I said this might a sign of big plans for iPadOS 15, many people liked that post, we saw how it went. And now people do the same...
I would not bet on any radical change, simply given economies of scale M1 probably does not cost much more than A15 with 6GB RAM while it's a powerful marketing argument, while they skimped again on storage to save money.
With the mini 6 having only 4GB and the iPad 9 only 3, don't expect big changes like monitor support (= desktop mode, as you cannot do proper monitor support without desktop mode). And I doubt they make monitor support M1 only when the mini now has USB C to, so they don't even have the lightning excuse...
Having said that, at least now the value of the Air is justified, the air 4 was a terrible value. With double the RAM and the processing speed, that's different.
The 11 pro will get M2 and mini led at $900 in 6 months and will retain the better speakers and promotion.
I would not bet on any radical change, simply given economies of scale M1 probably does not cost much more than A15 with 6GB RAM while it's a powerful marketing argument, while they skimped again on storage to save money.
With the mini 6 having only 4GB and the iPad 9 only 3, don't expect big changes like monitor support (= desktop mode, as you cannot do proper monitor support without desktop mode). And I doubt they make monitor support M1 only when the mini now has USB C to, so they don't even have the lightning excuse...
Having said that, at least now the value of the Air is justified, the air 4 was a terrible value. With double the RAM and the processing speed, that's different.
The 11 pro will get M2 and mini led at $900 in 6 months and will retain the better speakers and promotion.
I think the difficulty is making macOS support a touch screen; otherwise, they probably would have done this already.
That’s pretty interesting. The upgrade path would be:
iPad Air 64 -> (iPad Pro 128 or iPad Air 256) -> iPad Pro 256
It seems, iPad Air 256 sales will be cannibalized by iPad Pro 128 (unless for people who really need 256gb).
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for you its better but I prefer macOS more. There's nothing in apple doing a dual boot option.
128gb is sweet spot for my needs. If the new Air had a 128 option I'd be way more interested and go that route especially if they offered it at the 64gb price point
In my opinion, people who need 128gb will choose iPad Pro.
As I have already said elsewhere, they could make it available only on external monitors, just as DeX was before they implemented in the tablet itself too.
Also the could make Mac support the pencil and some gestures like on Sidecar.
They want people to buy both Macs and iPads, not just one of them ?
The question is if the tradeoff of macOS on iPad (not touch optimized, although I bet Apple could make it pretty good) is worse than the tradeoff we have now (touch optimized, but unusable for “real work” outside some very specific workflows). I would say it’s not.
Although, it is Apple who has chosen the artificial segmentation of mouse/full OS and touch/limited OS. There’s no reason, theoretically, why Apple couldn’t make a touch-friendly OS with an accessible file system, non-sandboxed apps, real windowing, etc. They choose not to. In that case, I’d rather just have macOS. Since macOS can now run iOS apps, we wouldn’t even be losing anything- we’d get all the touch optimized apps, plus powerful software that’s desktop only.
The new blue colour looks great.
Also I am pleasantly surprised by the spec bump. I was thinking A15 + 6GB RAM, but I’m all for the Air getting M1 and 8GB RAM. It brings the Air 5 back to the whole concept of the Air as a nearly-Pro device.
If I had use for another iPad I would be tempted to buy the blue Air 5.
64GB starting storage is a downer, but it’s the usual Apple deal of trying to upsell you to the Pro 128GB.
Also I am pleasantly surprised by the spec bump. I was thinking A15 + 6GB RAM, but I’m all for the Air getting M1 and 8GB RAM. It brings the Air 5 back to the whole concept of the Air as a nearly-Pro device.
If I had use for another iPad I would be tempted to buy the blue Air 5.
64GB starting storage is a downer, but it’s the usual Apple deal of trying to upsell you to the Pro 128GB.