It is, I would even say that's the only big upgrade, the CPU/GPU added power is just a bonus that won't make much difference to most people, except for some niche use case (since what most people feel is the single core performance, which is the same, and the quad-core A14 is already plenty powerful for the limited multitasking iPadOS can do now), but it's nice to have some more room in case Apple decides to unleash iPadOS at some point (but I keep my expectations low given the disappointing last 2 upgrades)
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iPad Air iPad Air 5 is a joke
- Thread starter mebehere
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Apple’s refurbished computers and devices are one of those best kept secrets. You still get a full warranty (I think you may even still qualify for Apple Care, even Apple Care+), but they come at a significant cost reduction to buying new (especially if you buy a generation or two back). The only real downside is that support might end for them sooner than they do for a new machine.
I've been hit and miss with refurb replacements. I think in the last handful of years they must have improved the requirements on what they'll use as a refurb, because I've had to exchange iPhones and iPads in the past (never Macs for some reason) and have gotten some real doozies in exchange as far as cosmetics. It's how I learned early on that getting in the return/exchange cycle with any given device, even one not from Apple, can be maddening.
I'll just give the example I remember best: my iPad 3 with Retina Display back in 2012. My first unit had a dead pixel or two that I didn't notice until about a week into using it. I returned it and got a refurb with 3 dead pixels. I returned that and got one with a perfect screen but a visible scratch in the glass on one corner in the bezel area. I figured after 3 exchanges I was finally at least free of dead pixels, so I just didn't worry about the scratch and carried on. I had similar issues with my iPhone 4 back in 2010--dead pixels, damaged antenna bands right out of the box, a wifi antenna that wasn't working, etc. Same deal as with my iPad 3--a zillion trips to the Genius bar and finally settled on a unit that had no functional problems but clearly was not treated well in manufacturing.
Either my standards are too high, or the cosmetic standards for Apple's refurbs are too low, but I've never had super great luck in this regard. I usually try to stick with my original unit as long as it's functioning correctly and not falling apart out of the box.
The word significant may be subjective. Most last gen iPads are under 15% discount, and if you go 2 gens back most are still under 20% discount (which in my subjective opinion is not significant). Some models though, for some reasons, get bigger discounts, like 30%. That was the 12.9 256GB 3rd gen wifi I got.
To be fair, my experience with Apple refurbished devices is more on the desktop Mac side of things, I can’t really speak as much to refurbished iPads or iPhones.
The whole event that got me into iPads was getting a used iPad Air (1), 128 GB, for $400 (half off at the time in 2016). I would've done that this time around, except the iPad line being the basic tier (no Air nor Pro suffix) won't really get any cheaper than that. I figured let's enjoy a new device for once (in terms of condition, and how recently it came out). Came with a few months of Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade (which we're using nowYeah, getting a refurbished or preowned items should always be on the table. This way you can maximize what you can get with the budget that you have and always try to leave yourself some flexibility. I spend a couple of weeks causally looking around and doing my research along with adding what might possibly be the AIR 5 before the official announcement and of course checking what certain items are going for in the preowned market. I ended up getting a preowned iPad pro 3rd gen (M1) 256gb wifi for close to $650. . Its a very nice upgrade from my iPad Air 1
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For the sheer convenience for one. Having a whole lot of multimedia can eat up GB and GB of storage, just, like, that. There was a Reddit post where people post some of their largest iOS games. They're easily taking up 3 to 10 GB, apiece.
Somebody else mentioned not having access to wifi. I wouldn't want to have to keep using internet access just to access stuff that could've been easily done locally.
I went with the 64 GB model since to me, it's just going to be a glorified gaming device. However, other people use their iPads as laptop replacements, and it's nice to have the extra space for productivity usages.
Absolutely! If you're using your iPad Pro for graphic design, photo/video editing, etc. you are definitely going to want more space. When I was doing that kind of stuff on my 12.9, I was using internal AND external storage. However, I never buy extra storage just "to have it" when I know there's a 99% chance I will never use it and can just use my external SanDisk drive if it comes down to it--lesson learned for next time.
I also realize I'm being hypocritical, as I have the max storage iPad mini in front of me on my desk right now, but that was a rare splurge.
How does "external store" work on iPads these days (and I presume on iPhones)? Is it just some USB connected storage device like an micro SD card or external hd?
I tried to transfer files off my 9th gen iPad via USB cable to my windows 10 machine and couldn't for the life of me get that to work (which is odd b/c this was something that used to work on my iPod Touch 5, and iPad Air 1st gen)
You can directly connect external storage and access it via Files and other apps, depending upon the developers' support. Be aware that there are issues with exFAT-formatted storage -
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/file-corruption-on-copy-to-external-storage.2235171/
NTFS storage is supported as read-only.
For a direct connection to a PC, you will have to use iTunes or an alternative like iMazing.
I figured I’d chime in on the graphic design thing. I’ve been doing it for years and I have a 128GB 2021 12.9” iPad Pro and it is not even 1/4 full. Of course my thing is I pay about $3 a month to Apple for 200GB of iCloud storage, but you definitely can go that route instead of buying a more expensive iPad Pro when you don’t necessarily have to have it. I have 15,000+ photos shared between my iPhone and iPad and iCloud works just fine for me.
I tested the Air 4 against the 11" M1 Pro last year and the M1 upgrade definitely helped in LR as far as quickly rendering changes; it was particularly noticeable when updating a screen full of thumbnails. Now this is with 24MP Raw files which means the upgrade will help all the higher res cameras. If you edit photos on your iPad, which I don't consider a niche use-case, the RAM, CPU, and GPU upgrade are the best part of the Air 5.
I was going back and forth with the Air 5 and the 11 Pro. I ultimatly went with the Air 5 256 because I wanted more storage for offline movie viewing (i live in the boonies and loose power from time to time). Also Costco has the new Air for $50 off ($30 savings on the iPad and $20 savings on the applecare). so it still made it decently cheaper than the 128GB Pro. Plus, i could get it in purple which is cool.
Just bought one today. Have had about 5 or 6 iPads in the family since version 1.
Build quality is absolutely top notch. No issues whatsoever. By far the best iPad yet (making me question why I carry a laptop around so much)
Build quality is absolutely top notch. No issues whatsoever. By far the best iPad yet (making me question why I carry a laptop around so much)
Ok was just checking as I might get one if this 10.5 bites the bullet anytime soon.
So I was checking them out and ran across this so, glad hearing it’s ok
The new iPad Air is making customers worry about its build quality
Does the new iPad Air come with worse build quality than previous models? Some customers seem to think so.
Ok was just checking as I might get one if this 10.5 bites the bullet anytime soon.
So I was checking them out and ran across this so, glad hearing it’s ok
The new iPad Air is making customers worry about its build quality
Does the new iPad Air come with worse build quality than previous models? Some customers seem to think so.www.phonearena.com
A lot of sites have written up articles based on those Reddit posts alone, just like this one that was basically copied from iMore, but I’d be surprised if Apple made any changes to the casing materials compared to the previous Air with the exact same outer shell.
That’s part of the problem with both Reddit and the news media these days. So much of the news media these days is “here’s something someone said on Twitter/Reddit/Facebook, let’s extrapolate from there”* (pretending as if everything on those sites has value or can be wisely extrapolated from), and Reddit (in addition to being an echo chamber) is a little like an all-year-round traditional Festivus airing of grievances. A lot of people use it to complain about stuff and tear things down, a lot more than who seem to use it to build something up or improve the world.
* Also, that’s not an original scoop. With the old problem of running stories from the wire services, at least the story was the same everywhere, so there wasn’t this feeling of getting a unique scoop. But with reporting on social media posts, the articles are all different (different text, for instance) yet all the same (despite that, journos treat it like a unique scoop).
it's a maintenance update. The 4 was a massive update, and is solid, the 5 is a refinement, an "s" year if you will, nothing wrong with that. For the same money people can get a faster device with a bit more RAM and a better camera, or get the 4 on sale cheaply right now which will still be supported for a long time.
omg hard to have a conversation when you dont get it...the problems is with the build of the exterior not the interior...did you read the articles or just faked it and not very well..wow