iPad iPad Air to iPad Air 2 or iPad 2018?

[gdourado]

Hello, how are you?

I currently have an original iPad Air as my tablet.
I bought it at launch and it served me well since.
But I have been finding it needing an upgrade.
Apps take some time to open and switch between open apps.
When I open chrome or switch tabs, they reload often.

I was thinking about getting a new iPad 2018.
But today I saw a mint 64 gig Air 2.

And so I am thinking what is the better option.
The air 2 already has 2gb of ram on a 128 bit bus and that is a big upgrade from my air with the 1gb on the 64 bit bus.

The 2018 has the a10 fusion, but the air 2 has the laminated anti reflective display.

The air 2 is 180 euros for the 64 gig and the 2018 is 265 for the 32 gig.

What do you think is the better option here?
How big of a difference is the laminated display?

Thanks.

 

[Jimbo Limbo]

I use an iPad Air 2 64Gb at work with iOS 12.1.

The laminated display is quite nice. I have used the other kind as I owned an iPad mini2 also.

The Air 2 is a pleasure to use. I have
Not used the 2018.

 

[CoachDriver]

I have recently gone from an iPad Air to a 2018 iPad.

Not a huge jump generally as it’s so
similar but the speed of opening apps, switching apps and multiple tabs on safari etc is noticeable. The use of split screen is great as well as the slide over on the iPad Air was awful in operation

Improved battery life is also very noticeable

Happy I have made the upgrade but the iPad Air is still a very capable device depending upon your usage.

 

[Dented]

I was in your shoes before Christmas, with a still good and reliable iPad Air which was running slow and struggling with certain tasks (sorting and sharing photos from my DSLR was the big problem for me).

Honestly I didn’t really consider the Air 2 because it’s only one generation on from what we both have, and although it did introduce extra ram (2gb) and a faster processor, I’m sure like the Air it’s getting to the end of full software support and it’s useful life now.

The 2018 iPad has a much stronger processor and is going to be supported much longer - at least as long as you’ve had from the Air, which I don’t think can be said for the Air 2 now. And since it’s physically almost identical to the Air (same screen and largely same enclosure), while it won’t look like a massive upgrade, there’s nothing you’ll be missing either. I’m sure you’ll be happy with it for the next few years at least.

For myself, I actually ended up stretching my budget slightly and going for a good deal on the iPad Pro 10.5. This gave me the laminated screen, Pro motion and true tone together with a couple of extra processing cores, but more than that it also doubles the ram to 4gb, which I’m hoping will make it a lot more enjoyable to use for a lot longer as iOS demands increase over time.

 

[newellj]

Hello, how are you?

I currently have an original iPad Air as my tablet.
I bought it at launch and it served me well since.
But I have been finding it needing an upgrade.
Apps take some time to open and switch between open apps.
When I open chrome or switch tabs, they reload often.

I was thinking about getting a new iPad 2018.
But today I saw a mint 64 gig Air 2.

And so I am thinking what is the better option.
The air 2 already has 2gb of ram on a 128 bit bus and that is a big upgrade from my air with the 1gb on the 64 bit bus.

The 2018 has the a10 fusion, but the air 2 has the laminated anti reflective display.

The air 2 is 180 euros for the 64 gig and the 2018 is 265 for the 32 gig.

What do you think is the better option here?
How big of a difference is the laminated display?

Thanks.

I've owned both (the Air 2 until two weeks ago). My short take:

The Air 2 is in every way a better experience UNLESS you want pencil support. The laminated, AR-coated display is to me a really, really big deal. I cry every time I touch the 2018 iPad display. It's also thinner and lighter - much nicer in the hand. I don't see any difference in speed (but I don't game). But the Air 2 doesn't support the pencil. If I didn't need the pencil, I'd buy an Air 2 refurb from the Apple website.

 

[gdourado]

I am getting some conflicting opinions here and it is not making the decision easy.
The air 2 is just a gen away from my air, but I think the ram makes a big difference.
For my use case that is mostly chrome with multiple tabs, would the, 2018 have a noticiable performance advantage?
Also, my air does not have a laminated display, so I am guessing the user experience of the 2018 would be quite similar to what I am used to.
Is the laminated display a big step up in the experience of using the device and reading on it?

 

[Audit13]

I moved from an Air 1 to Air 2. With the Air 2, it was quicker and much more responsive to finger touches. I think the laminated display improved things for my daily use which is limited to email, Safari, and a few apps.I can't comment on the 2018 iPad as I have never used one.

I'll be moving to an iPad Pro 10.5 I ordered on Boxing Day using my credit card's reward points.

 

[JPack]

The Air 2 has a battery that's about 20% smaller than iPad (2018). It also has a old A8X processor that doesn't support ARKit apps.

Batteries degrade over time and even if you found a new in sealed box Air 2, the battery won't be in good condition.

 

[ecschwarz]

I'd go for the 2018 model only because it has a few generations newer of internal components (A10 vs A8) and if you're considering the cellular model, it adds a few more LTE bands. There's also Pencil/Crayon support if you want to add that and there's often heavy discounts. You do give up the laminated screen, but responsiveness/feel is pretty good (my personal device is a 2017 model, so it's the same as the 2018 in terms of design).

The Air 2 is a pretty good device (it's my main computer at my day job), but I suspect if you're the type to keep things long-term, skipping a few generations ahead might be better.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

I'd go for the 2018 model only because it has a few generations newer of internal components (A10 vs A8) and if you're considering the cellular model, it adds a few more LTE bands. There's also Pencil/Crayon support if you want to add that and there's often heavy discounts. You do give up the laminated screen, but responsiveness/feel is pretty good (my personal device is a 2017 model, so it's the same as the 2018 in terms of design).

The Air 2 is a pretty good device (it's my main computer at my day job), but I suspect if you're the type to keep things long-term, skipping a few generations ahead might be better.

Air2 has the A8X processor not the A8, big difference..

 

[ecschwarz]

Air2 has the A8X processor not the A8, big difference..

Thanks for catching that—for some reason I spaced and forgot that it had A8X with the beefier GPU and an extra code (because if I remember correctly, the 2017 and 2018 models were not the "X" SoCs).

 

[BugeyeSTI]

Thanks for catching that—for some reason I spaced and forgot that it had A8X with the beefier GPU and an extra code (because if I remember correctly, the 2017 and 2018 models were not the "X" SoCs).

The 2017 and 2018 iPads are definitely more powerful than the Air2 but the Air2 has had a hell of a run!

 

[newellj]

I am getting some conflicting opinions here and it is not making the decision easy.
The air 2 is just a gen away from my air, but I think the ram makes a big difference.
For my use case that is mostly chrome with multiple tabs, would the, 2018 have a noticiable performance advantage?
Also, my air does not have a laminated display, so I am guessing the user experience of the 2018 would be quite similar to what I am used to.
Is the laminated display a big step up in the experience of using the device and reading on it?

I had an Air and replaced it as soon as the Air 2 hit the stores. There is no comparison (IMO).

The Air had a non-laminated, non-coated display that went 'thunk' every time you touched it. And yes, the weak points of the Air display are all still the same on the 6th Gen iPad.

The Air had half the RAM, IIRC, and that makes a huge difference to how the iPad runs.

The Air 2 also had a tri-core SOC (CPU) that in real world terms, even today, is very competitive with the SOC in the 6th Gen iPad.

Every time I touched the Air display I cringed. The Air 2 feels and to some extent (thanks to the anti-reflective coating) looks much more like the Pro displays than the standard iPad displays.
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I'd go for the 2018 model only because it has a few generations newer of internal components (A10 vs A8) and if you're considering the cellular model, it adds a few more LTE bands. There's also Pencil/Crayon support if you want to add that and there's often heavy discounts. You do give up the laminated screen, but responsiveness/feel is pretty good (my personal device is a 2017 model, so it's the same as the 2018 in terms of design).

The Air 2 is a pretty good device (it's my main computer at my day job), but I suspect if you're the type to keep things long-term, skipping a few generations ahead might be better.

If someone were going to buy an Air 2 today, I think buying an Apple refurb would make sense - it will have a new battery.

Pencil support is the big discriminator between an Air 2 and the 6th Gen iPad, in my opinion. The Air 2 is also noticeably thinner and lighter. I think it was the best iPad ever, before or since, for just holding in your hands.