All iPads iPad Air VS iPad Pro Question

[Pezimak]

Hi, so I was thinking of upgrading my mums old 9.7” iPad Pro this Christmas, she uses it every single day. I am split between which model though.
I am thinking of the iPad Pro 11” M1, the new M2 or the current Air with or without cellular, the Air may be a good option but I haven't really seen the screen on it. Currently I can get it at the old price too, how much difference is there for video on the screen of the Air VS the Pro? Anyone had both? I appreciate Pro Motion etc but the Pro has 100 more bits of brightness too.

Is their much difference? Also does the Air have a speaker at each end or are they both at just the one end? Also I’m not sure she would get in with the Face ID, she is kind of used to Touch ID. I was set on getting her the new Pro, but with the price increase not so sure now.

 

[Technerd108]

Hi, so I was thinking of upgrading my mums old 9.7” iPad Pro this Christmas, she uses it every single day. I am split between which model though.
I am thinking of the iPad Pro 11” M1, the new M2 or the current Air with or without cellular, the Air may be a good option but I haven't really seen the screen on it. Currently I can get it at the old price too, how much difference is there for video on the screen of the Air VS the Pro? Anyone had both? I appreciate Pro Motion etc but the Pro has 100 more bits of brightness too.

Is their much difference? Also does the Air have a speaker at each end or are they both at just the one end? Also I’m not sure she would get in with the Face ID, she is kind of used to Touch ID. I was set on getting her the new Pro, but with the price increase not so sure now.

If you are in USA wait until Black Friday sales and see if you can get a good discount on the 2021 iPP with M1. It should be very close to 5th Gen air in terms of cost and two features are the Pro Motion and quad speakers.

I have a 5th Gen air and love it but if I can find a decent sale on the iPad Pro 3rd Gen I will sell my air and pick up the Pro.

The 5th Gen air is a great tablet and it has two stereo speakers on the landscape side so you get decent stereo separation.

 

[Devyn89]

Personally I’d go for the M1 version because ProMotion is awesome, the speakers are awesome, and that extra .1” of screen, while not at all important, is a nice bonus.

 

[rui no onna]

I have the Air 4 (same display as Air 5) and M1 Pro 11". The Pro 11" gets noticeably brighter but it's more of a minor difference, not a night and day one.

If you can get it on a good sale, I'm more inclined towards the M1 Pro 11" for the 128GB storage and FaceID.

 

[lostPod]

I switched from an iPad Pro 11" first gen to an iPad Air and I have not looked back. The only difference that I can marginally tell is the screen refresh. It also comes in colors! Wooo

 

[1BadManVan]

she might notice the lack of promotion after being so used to it if you're going for the air. Hard to say, my wife doesn't notice any difference when scrolling with her 13 pro max vs her 12 and doesn't notice it on my m1 pro which I notice right away.

My vote is for the 11" pro, quad speakers, brighter display, faster storage, pro motion. Overall a very nice package that will last her for years.

 

[Pezimak]

she might notice the lack of promotion after being so used to it if you're going for the air. Hard to say, my wife doesn't notice any difference when scrolling with her 13 pro max vs her 12 and doesn't notice it on my m1 pro which I notice right away.

My vote is for the 11" pro, quad speakers, brighter display, faster storage, pro motion. Overall a very nice package that will last her for years.

Her iPad is too old for Pro Motion, but most of you seem to favour the Pro screen. Hmm. I'll see if it's still around later. But worries she might not manage Face ID.

 

[1BadManVan]

Her iPad is too old for Pro Motion, but most of you seem to favour the Pro screen. Hmm. I'll see if it's still around later. But worries she might not manage Face ID.

Well maybe the air is the best bet then. Same m1 and ram as the pro and if she hasn’t had pro motion, then she’s not losing out on it lol.

 

[Pezimak]

Well maybe the air is the best bet then. Same m1 and ram as the pro and if she hasn’t had pro motion, then she’s not losing out on it lol.

Its certainly an option, but she dies watch a lot of streaming sports on her iPad, so the better speakers of the Pro may be better. she uses it more now energy in the U.K. is so expensive and I told her that her iPad uses a lot less energy then the TV does.

 

[rui no onna]

Her iPad is too old for Pro Motion, but most of you seem to favour the Pro screen. Hmm. I'll see if it's still around later. But worries she might not manage Face ID.

My aunt and dad have pretty high failure rate when using TouchID. I dunno if that's due to fading fingerprints due to age or something. They were both very happy to switch to FaceID from TouchID.

 

[FeliApple]

she might notice the lack of promotion after being so used to it if you're going for the air. Hard to say, my wife doesn't notice any difference when scrolling with her 13 pro max vs her 12 and doesn't notice it on my m1 pro which I notice right away.

My vote is for the 11" pro, quad speakers, brighter display, faster storage, pro motion. Overall a very nice package that will last her for years.

The 1st gen iPad Pros are the only Pros that don’t have ProMotion.

 

[Pezimak]

My aunt and dad have pretty high failure rate when using TouchID. I dunno if that's due to fading fingerprints due to age or something. They were both very happy to switch to FaceID from TouchID.

Thanks for the info. Very useful, the M1 iPad Pro is out of stock where I wanted to get it from, so may have to stump up for the M2 after all if I choose a Pro iPad.

 

[1BadManVan]

Its certainly an option, but she dies watch a lot of streaming sports on her iPad, so the better speakers of the Pro may be better. she uses it more now energy in the U.K. is so expensive and I told her that her iPad uses a lot less energy then the TV does.

The quad speakers are pretty awesome, I use mine a lot for streaming shows, they are definitely very nice sounding. Plus the pros do get better battery life then the air as a plus if you’re taking about energy savings

 

[russell_314]

I don’t have both but I’ve seen the Pro in the Apple Store and I can’t really justify it for my use case of watching TV and browsing the Internet.

I mean it could be my eyes but I don’t get the “Oh my God it has 120 Hz refresh rate, I can’t ever look at a 60 Hz screen in my life again or my eyes will be burning” crowd.

 

[1BadManVan]

I don’t have both but I’ve seen the Pro in the Apple Store and I can’t really justify it for my use case of watching TV and browsing the Internet.

I mean it could be my eyes but I don’t get the “Oh my God it has 120 Hz refresh rate, I can’t ever look at a 60 Hz screen in my life again or my eyes will be burning” crowd.

I hear you, while I love my 120 hz, i also own a MacBook Air and love it

 

[Pezimak]

I’ve decided to get her the new M2 iPad Pro, the older base M1 model is out of stock from the places I’d buy from, the cheapest one I can find is the cellular one which is 899 anyway so may as well get the new model. With energy being so expensive my mum has been using her iPad a LOT to watch tennis on so I think a new Pro would be a nice treat.

But is it wise to get a screen protector? I always wonder about them due to the finger print resistant costing Apple puts in its screens, I keep thinking if screen protectors wear it off? If they are fine what’s the best one to get?

 

[CharlesShaw]

If she's using the 9.7" iPP every day then is she happy with it? What exactly is she going to like better in the new model? Does the battery no longer keep enough charge for her usage? All the pro models still get iPadOS updates, so hers is still supported. Is she going to like the "industrial design" of the new model? Is she going to be worried about handling the new device if she looks up how much you paid for it? As an older person, I happen to prefer the older form factor because it's easier to hold for reading. I recently tried the newer design for one day and I didn't like FaceID or the form factor or the missing headphone jack, so I was glad I had my 10.5" iPP to go back to.

 

[Pezimak]

If she's using the 9.7" iPP every day then is she happy with it? What exactly is she going to like better in the new model? Does the battery no longer keep enough charge for her usage? All the pro models still get iPadOS updates, so hers is still supported. Is she going to like the "industrial design" of the new model? Is she going to be worried about handling the new device if she looks up how much you paid for it? As an older person, I happen to prefer the older form factor because it's easier to hold for reading. I recently tried the newer design for one day and I didn't like FaceID or the form factor or the missing headphone jack, so I was glad I had my 10.5" iPP to go back to.

Thank you for your input, but I’ll spend ’my‘ money how I choose to thank you. I’m sure she will love it and no she won’t go looking to see how much her present cost.

 

[Smoovejayy]

I’ve decided to get her the new M2 iPad Pro, the older base M1 model is out of stock from the places I’d buy from, the cheapest one I can find is the cellular one which is 899 anyway so may as well get the new model. With energy being so expensive my mum has been using her iPad a LOT to watch tennis on so I think a new Pro would be a nice treat.

But is it wise to get a screen protector? I always wonder about them due to the finger print resistant costing Apple puts in its screens, I keep thinking if screen protectors wear it off? If they are fine what’s the best one to get?

I picked up an M1 iPP 11” from Amazon, refurbished for $600. Maybe try getting it refurbished? If you still want to save a couple hundred dollars/pounds.

 

[Danando1993]

I was in the same predicament with my girlfriend. She has the 9.7” Pro but it’s starting to slow down. She doesn’t specifically need a pro as she mainly uses it for watching YouTube / streaming, some basic web browsing and drawing on illustrator / Procreate. I thought it would be overkill going for a pro, so bought an Air whilst I could still get it for the original price here in the UK. Coming from the 9.7 she will get the bigger screen, redesign and M1 chip and having not experienced the 120hz I don’t think it will make a difference.

 

[Pezimak]

Anyone able to recommend a screen protector for the iPad Pro M2 11”?

 

[lordhamster]

I got an m2 pro 11 inch and my kids have iPad Air 5s. I honestly don’t notice any difference yet. The promotion is something my old eyes simply don’t pick up on.

 

[darngooddesign]

Her iPad is too old for Pro Motion, but most of you seem to favour the Pro screen. Hmm. I'll see if it's still around later. But worries she might not manage Face ID.

The new Air has a different Touch ID so she's going to have to get used to something new either way.