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All iPads My first iPad, the Air 3

T

Thoradin

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 18, 2020
778
1,118
Yorkshire, England
I have been kicking around in this forum since joining here, reading many threads and gathering my thoughts as I planned my first iPad purchase.
The temptation to pick up an 11” Pro was huge I must admit. However, I decided to go for the Air 3 due to the added features and cost not making sense to me. The Air won my internal battle due to its better specs over the base iPad and the higher quality of the front facing camera as many of my non lab based lectures will still be online.
I also grabbed a pencil to accompany my new device as the main reason for purchase is to take notes for university and be able to mark points on lecture slides that I wish to look further into.

I have to say after only having the device for a week and not yet using it for the intended purpose, this thing is AMAZING! I’m looking forward to trying out some of the more advanced features in the next few days as I study for my Microsoft 98-367 security fundamentals certification.
 
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PieTunes said:
Hope it serves all your needs! They’re great devices for sure. I’ve been happy with my 3rd gen Air but recently upgraded to a Pro 11”. Congratulations on your purchase!

Side note, I love the user name. Great wow reference :D
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Thanks, it seems like this should fit what I need perfectly.

AutomaticApple said:
I wish you the best of luck and I hope you pass! :D
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Thank you, it’s a freebie cert as my uni have some spaces left since they overbooked. Found out they were giving it to us a couple of days ago and I’m going to need to get moving on the required material as I only have 3 weeks until exam time.
 
Thoradin, I am exactly the same as you, read many threads on macrumours prior to buying my first iPad, which was the air 3 in March/April basically just before the lockdowns started. I too was seriously considering the iPad Pro 11 at the time, and was on the verge of accepting it and buying it twice, before I held off and settled for the iPad Air 3 as it realistically fulfilled my needs. It really is an amazing device, the smoothness, performance, laminated p3 touch tone screen and size. It’s my main iOS device now, and use it for media consumption, productivity, reading comics and many other tasks, in conjunction with my iPhone SE. Good luck with your Microsoft course!
 
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At half of the dough, the Air is a no brainer if your income is low. However, the upgrade from Air (2) to a 12.9” is something I’ll never regret. The screen is of a much better quality and the speakers are much louder and clearer which makes the listening to the podcasts by DW (Deutsche Welle) and Youtube much easier. I guess that, as the years go by, there will be a much less need/want to upgrade an iPad Pro than an Air.

Of course, this is just my opinion. I’m sure you’ll enjoy your Air as much as I used to enjoy mine.
 
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Well this morning I used the picture in picture to watch a YouTube tutorial video whilst taking notes with my pencil, all while relaxing on the sofa with a coffee.
To me this is game changing, usually I have to boot up the laptop and sit at a desk with a paper notebook by my side.
I understand that the Pro is probably in a whole different league of awesome, but the extra features just didn’t seem worth the extra cash for what I would actually use at the moment. As a ‘mature’ student with a family sometimes the sensible part of your brain has to reign in the part that wants to spend £1000+ on what is essentially a luxury item 😂
 
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Thoradin said:
I have been kicking around in this forum since joining here, reading many threads and gathering my thoughts as I planned my first iPad purchase.
The temptation to pick up an 11” Pro was huge I must admit. However, I decided to go for the Air 3 due to the added features and cost not making sense to me. The Air won my internal battle due to its better specs over the base iPad and the higher quality of the front facing camera as many of my non lab based lectures will still be online.
I also grabbed a pencil to accompany my new device as the main reason for purchase is to take notes for university and be able to mark points on lecture slides that I wish to look further into.

I have to say after only having the device for a week and not yet using it for the intended purpose, this thing is AMAZING! I’m looking forward to trying out some of the more advanced features in the next few days as I study for my Microsoft 98-367 security fundamentals certification.
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Congratulations and enjoy! 😄

I was also in this dilemma of deciding between the Air 3 and 2020 iPad Pro 11”, however I picked the iPad Pro due to it having double the RAM (6GB RAM) and the more power withe A12Z.

I keep my iPads for long periods (had my old iPad Air 2 for 5 years) so I justified paying more for the newer iPad Pro so that I can keep it longer (4-5 years), I figure that Apple will not upgrade RAM in the iPads for another 2-3years anyway, if not longer so I should be good with the 6GB. I also plan on doing a lot of video processing on my iPad so I needed the extra power.

The Air 3 I believe is the best iPad to for for most people out there, it has the best spec to price ratio.
 
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Tsepz said:
Congratulations and enjoy! 😄

I was also in this dilemma of deciding between the Air 3 and 2020 iPad Pro 11”, however I picked the iPad Pro due to it having double the RAM (6GB RAM) and the more power withe A12Z.

I keep my iPads for long periods (had my old iPad Air 2 for 5 years) so I justified paying more for the newer iPad Pro so that I can keep it longer (4-5 years), I figure that Apple will not upgrade RAM in the iPads for another 2-3years anyway, if not longer so I should be good with the 6GB. I also plan on doing a lot of video processing on my iPad so I needed the extra power.

The Air 3 I believe is the best iPad to for for most people out there, it has the best spec to price ratio.
Click to expand...

The Air 3 is a really fantastic device, and is more than enough for most people’s needs. The new Logitech keyboard case with touch pad really elevates it into quite the workhorse.

Am interested to see what they do with the next Air - Pencil 2 And Magic Keyboard support would make it into a phenomenal device.
 
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