iPad Pending order iPad Air 2019

[George_A]

Hi,

3 weeks ago I’ve placed an order for an iPad Air 2019 (+free AirPods due an ongoing offer in the UK).
Order was due for pickup in store on next Friday, but can’t see it under my orders anymore. Any ideas on this?
To be honest I’d prefer to pick my order, wouldn’t want to pay extra for the new iPad Air.

 

[George_A]

Also can someone find what’s different between iPad Air 2019 and the new iPad?

 

[AutomaticApple]

the new iPad?

The budget 8th generation iPad?

 

[Tsepz]

Also can someone find what’s different between iPad Air 2019 and the new iPad?

Lol, good question, not too much between them TBH

Compare Apple iPad 10.2 (2020) vs. Apple iPad Air (2019) - GSMArena.com

www.gsmarena.com

 

[George_A]

Thanks, this is useful. As I thought, very little difference so really confused. I’ll ask on the day if new iPad is available and I may get the new one, as cheaper with the same characteristics.

 

[QCassidy352]

IMO the most meaningful difference between the Air 3 and the iPad 8 is the screen. The Air is laminated, has True Tone, anti-reflective coating, and wide color display (P3). It’s a much better screen, overall.

The Air also has a significantly better front camera, Bluetooth 5.0 (instead of 4.2), and is a tiny bit thinner and lighter despite having a screen that’s .3” bigger.

They are also available in different capacities: the Air 3 is 64/256, while the iPad 8 is 32/128.

Basically... they are very similar, but there’s no way in which the iPad 8th Gen is better than the Air 3. Where there are differences, they are all in the Air’s favor.

 

[0906742]

I'm having similar dilemma. Placed order for Air 3 from Back to School promo and get free Aipords plus there is small discount in Air 3 price compared to standard pricing.
So now that Air 4 is announced I'm really puzzled what to do.

So I sum up some things I'm considering following.

1. Air 3 is about 200 cheaper considering Airpods are easily worth 100 when selling them. It seems Air 4 is not included in Back to School offer and all I could see that you get 50 off when buying in from education store but even still the difference is making Air 4 cost +150 more. So is Air 4 really that much better considering price difference?
Is it possible Air 4 will be included in the same Back to School offer this year? It is still valid for few weeks depending on where you live.

2. I don't personally see much benefit from odd aspect ratio on 10.9" vs 10.5" which is standard 4:3. But I'm worried about durability if Air 3 is still suffering from the same bright spot issue as Pro 10.5" did?

3. I don't use pencil, so gen 1 vs 2 pencil is not an issue for me.

4. Obviously A14 is much more powerful than A12 but I'm not really doing anything demanding with it, basically surfing on the internet and some basic email/calendar stuff. No gaming. But obviously A14 gets longer IOS support but then again isn't A12 still supported for many year since even iPad 8 is still A12 (so I guess it should be getting at least 4 year of updates?). Also not sure how long I will keep the machine, usually I get bored with them after couple of years anyway, if not sooner, so not sure if longevity is that important. Also considering battery has limited life it may be a bit of a stretch trying to get 5 year out of it anyway, so where is the benefit from more future proof machine then?

5. RAM size? I don't see information if Air 4 has more ram, in case it has that would be benefit in the future, I guess.

6. I plan to use keyboard case with it and I already placed order for Logitech Combo Touch for Air 3. You can get the same keyboard case but with the exception that you cannot REMOVE the keyboard from case in Air 4 version (Air 3 version is called Logitech Folio Touch), so that would make is very clumsy to use in tablet mode in my opinion. With Air 3 version of that you can just pull the keyboard off as it is only attached magnetically to smart connector on the side and then you still have good protective case and kickstand to use it several ways in tablet mode. In Air 4 version you can just flip the keyboard over and I hate the idea of placing keyboard keys against the table (I would not want to use that in any public placed for example).
I also considered getting iPad Magic Keyboard but when I tried that in local shop I found I don't like how material feels and how badly it seems to be scuffing and staining. Also I hate that there is no additional case for iPad so you cannot really use it in tablet mode other than getting additional case for that purpose. Plus the price is double the Logitech price, so I hardly see the worth of that for me.

7. I only use sounds through my Airpods so not really putting any worth to iPad speakers. Not much ever using main camera either, so that also no difference to me with 12MP vs 8MP. Front camera seems to be the same in both, so that is good.

8. Air 4 has USB-C and 20W charger but I also consider that slower charging is usually better for the battery in long term and I'm not in a hurry, so I guess 10W charger in Air 3 is fine. Also I don't think I will use much any additional devices connected to USB-C, like HDD, so not seeing much benefit from USB-C for me.

9. Both have still Touch ID. Not sure power button Touch ID offer much benefit? Any idea if it require you to swipe up to go to the home screen? In Air 3 you can do that on single button press, so actually that might be nicer?

10. So again all things above considered, is Air 4 worth to pay 200 or 150 extra compared to Air 3? I mean considering that, does Air 3 price still sound fair today?

(11. I know some will suggest iPad 8 as better considering price, but I personally prefer DCI-P3 gamut in Air 3/4 and True Tone. Sizewise 10.2" and 10.5" is not that much difference for me so either one is fine. Also Air 3 has Gen 2 Touch ID vs Gen 1 in iPad 8th, and from my past experience Gen 1 hardly never works with my fingers. Gen 2 in iPhone 7 when I had that couple years ago worked fine, so I assume Air 3 would be the same?).

Sorry for the long post. I guess I'm not the only one in this forum with the same dilemma making decision between Air 3 and Air 4. I numbered my notes so I hope that makes commenting a bit easier.

I would be appreciated any comments and possible findings in case I forgot something in my list that would be important to consider.

 

[james10in]

I am in a dilemma whether to go for Air 3 or Ipad 8,
Anything beyond air 3 is out of the consideration, here Air 3 is 200$ more than base ipad 8, with no education store or back to school thing..

Air 3 goes for 600$ nd sometimes 533$ during some sale..

Ipad 8 is easily available for 370$

32gb looks very less to me, I am not sure though, I ll be primarily using it to consume media nd reading note taking, pretty much thats it..


I am not sure how much big of a difference does true tone or laminated display makes on a device, is that worth spending 150-200$ more

 

[0906742]

32gb looks very less to me, I am not sure though, I ll be primarily using it to consume media nd reading note taking, pretty much thats it..

I think 32GB could be tolerable in that kind of use. I haven't had any issue with it on my iPad 6, lots of free space.

I am not sure how much big of a difference does true tone or laminated display makes on a device, is that worth spending 150-200$ more

Hard to say if you like it or not but I definitely prefer it. I have iPhone X and MBP 2019 both have True Tone and I use it also combined with Night Shift during later night. I also have iPad 6th gen without True Tone and I miss the feature even NS helps a bit during nights.

I personally put no value for laminated screen and I find iPad 6th gen nonlaminated just fine in that regard.

Also I'm not that sure about Air's AR-coating. Usually those can be prone to scratching easily, so not sure if that can be an issue with Air too? There is no AR-coating in iPad 6th gen screen and I haven't managed to make any scratches and it seems very durable, so really not so sure about AR-coating in "better" models.

 

[rui no onna]

32gb looks very less to me, I am not sure though, I ll be primarily using it to consume media nd reading note taking, pretty much thats it..

Consider that you really only get around 20 GB after you account for System (iOS) and Other (temp/cache). Whether that's workable depends on you.

I have a cheapie 32GB iPad 7 ($229 Cyber Monday '19) dedicated to PDF markup and note taking for work. It's got 16 GB free with only Dropbox, Gmail, GoodReader, PDF Expert, Documents, Pages, Numbers and AdGuard installed. iCloud Photos is disabled and on-device images (mostly screenshots) are around ~500 MB.

 

[G5isAlive]

I'm having similar dilemma. Placed order for Air 3 from Back to School promo and get free Aipords plus there is small discount in Air 3 price compared to standard pricing.
So now that Air 4 is announced I'm really puzzled what to do.

So I sum up some things I'm considering following.

1. Air 3 is about 200 cheaper considering Airpods are easily worth 100 when selling them. It seems Air 4 is not included in Back to School offer and all I could see that you get 50 off when buying in from education store but even still the difference is making Air 4 cost +150 more. So is Air 4 really that much better considering price difference?
Is it possible Air 4 will be included in the same Back to School offer this year? It is still valid for few weeks depending on where you live.

2. I don't personally see much benefit from odd aspect ratio on 10.9" vs 10.5" which is standard 4:3. But I'm worried about durability if Air 3 is still suffering from the same bright spot issue as Pro 10.5" did?

3. I don't use pencil, so gen 1 vs 2 pencil is not an issue for me.

4. Obviously A14 is much more powerful than A12 but I'm not really doing anything demanding with it, basically surfing on the internet and some basic email/calendar stuff. No gaming. But obviously A14 gets longer IOS support but then again isn't A12 still supported for many year since even iPad 8 is still A12 (so I guess it should be getting at least 4 year of updates?). Also not sure how long I will keep the machine, usually I get bored with them after couple of years anyway, if not sooner, so not sure if longevity is that important. Also considering battery has limited life it may be a bit of a stretch trying to get 5 year out of it anyway, so where is the benefit from more future proof machine then?

5. RAM size? I don't see information if Air 4 has more ram, in case it has that would be benefit in the future, I guess.

6. I plan to use keyboard case with it and I already placed order for Logitech Combo Touch for Air 3. You can get the same keyboard case but with the exception that you cannot REMOVE the keyboard from case in Air 4 version (Air 3 version is called Logitech Folio Touch), so that would make is very clumsy to use in tablet mode in my opinion. With Air 3 version of that you can just pull the keyboard off as it is only attached magnetically to smart connector on the side and then you still have good protective case and kickstand to use it several ways in tablet mode. In Air 4 version you can just flip the keyboard over and I hate the idea of placing keyboard keys against the table (I would not want to use that in any public placed for example).
I also considered getting iPad Magic Keyboard but when I tried that in local shop I found I don't like how material feels and how badly it seems to be scuffing and staining. Also I hate that there is no additional case for iPad so you cannot really use it in tablet mode other than getting additional case for that purpose. Plus the price is double the Logitech price, so I hardly see the worth of that for me.

7. I only use sounds through my Airpods so not really putting any worth to iPad speakers. Not much ever using main camera either, so that also no difference to me with 12MP vs 8MP. Front camera seems to be the same in both, so that is good.

8. Air 4 has USB-C and 20W charger but I also consider that slower charging is usually better for the battery in long term and I'm not in a hurry, so I guess 10W charger in Air 3 is fine. Also I don't think I will use much any additional devices connected to USB-C, like HDD, so not seeing much benefit from USB-C for me.

9. Both have still Touch ID. Not sure power button Touch ID offer much benefit? Any idea if it require you to swipe up to go to the home screen? In Air 3 you can do that on single button press, so actually that might be nicer?

10. So again all things above considered, is Air 4 worth to pay 200 or 150 extra compared to Air 3? I mean considering that, does Air 3 price still sound fair today?

(11. I know some will suggest iPad 8 as better considering price, but I personally prefer DCI-P3 gamut in Air 3/4 and True Tone. Sizewise 10.2" and 10.5" is not that much difference for me so either one is fine. Also Air 3 has Gen 2 Touch ID vs Gen 1 in iPad 8th, and from my past experience Gen 1 hardly never works with my fingers. Gen 2 in iPhone 7 when I had that couple years ago worked fine, so I assume Air 3 would be the same?).

Sorry for the long post. I guess I'm not the only one in this forum with the same dilemma making decision between Air 3 and Air 4. I numbered my notes so I hope that makes commenting a bit easier.

I would be appreciated any comments and possible findings in case I forgot something in my list that would be important to consider.

Wow, that is some comparison. Impressive. Beware of rationalization. I detect a bias towards the Air 3. I am not sure I would put much weight on some of these factors (like your in depth case review, there will always be more cases to chose from).

But then, I have my own rationalizations, I really hesitate to buy last year's tech. And the trump card I rationalize with is... resale. You have indicated you get bored with tech in 2 years, and you downplay the importance of the A12 to the A14 to you (but hey, what new Apps wlll come out with AR and the A14?), but what about the person you sell/give this to? It will be easier to resale the Air 4.

Just saying, in case you need a reason to go the Air 4.

 

[rui no onna]

But then, I have my own rationalizations, I really hesitate to buy last year's tech. And the trump card I rationalize with is... resale. You have indicated you get bored with tech in 2 years, and you downplay the importance of the A12 to the A14 to you (but hey, what new Apps wlll come out with AR and the A14?), but what about the person you sell/give this to? It will be easier to resale the Air 4.

This is probably going to be a wash or might even be in favor of the $200 cheaper Air 3.

 

[james10in]

Consider that you really only get around 20 GB after you account for System (iOS) and Other (temp/cache). Whether that's workable depends on you.

I have a cheapie 32GB iPad 7 ($229 Cyber Monday '19) dedicated to PDF markup and note taking for work. It's got 16 GB free with only Dropbox, Gmail, GoodReader, PDF Expert, Documents, Pages, Numbers and AdGuard installed. iCloud Photos is disabled and on-device images (mostly screenshots) are around ~500 MB.

thanks for the detailed reply, I ll just wait and see if there is going to be a price cut or price drop on air 3 when I ll actually make a move for the purchase mid next month; if not then I ll consider 128gb variant as well

 

[G5isAlive]

This is probably going to be a wash or might even be in favor of the $200 cheaper Air 3.

I would counter with, if it is a wash, or even close to it (might be in favor of the Air 3), then why NOT go with the better tech if it is essentially costing you nothing or very little. Just saying.

 

[rui no onna]

I would counter with, if it is a wash, or even close to it (might be in favor of the Air 3), then why NOT go with the better tech if it is essentially costing you nothing or very little. Just saying.

That's your bias speaking though. ?

How much better would the Air 4 actually be in normal use compared to the Air 3? I use A9, A10, A10X and A12 iPads interchangeably and honestly, for what I do (browsing, reading, watching) they all feel around the same performance-wise. Besides, afaik the A12 does have AR support. The A14 will just be faster.

At this point in time, all the lower end iPad options are very good whether it's $329 iPad 8, $399 Air 3 (discounted) or $599 Air 4. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. Just depends on what features are important to your and how much you're willing to spend.

With that said, I'll probably end up buying both a Green and Sky Blue Air 4. So pretty. ??

 

[G5isAlive]

That's your bias speaking though. ?

How much better would the Air 4 actually be in normal use compared to the Air 3? I use A9, A10, A10X and A12 iPads interchangeably and honestly, for what I do (browsing, reading, watching) they all feel around the same performance-wise. Besides, afaik the A12 does have AR support. The A14 will just be faster.

At this point in time, all the lower end iPad options are very good whether it's $329 iPad 8, $399 Air 3 (discounted) or $599 Air 4. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. Just depends on what features are important to your and how much you're willing to spend.

With that said, I'll probably end up buying both a Green and Sky Blue Air 4. So pretty. ??

Your last line cracked me up. If I didnt already have a iPad Pro 2020 I would get the sky blue myself.

And darn right my bias is showing. I have no problem admitting to that, clearly identified as such. just .. helping someone else that might be of similar bias

there are two types of people in the world. those that pat themselves over perceived bargains and money saved, and those that splurge and pat themselves on the back for being smart and getting the better value. person bargain, just call me mr value.

 

[0906742]

Wow, that is some comparison. Impressive. Beware of rationalization. I detect a bias towards the Air 3.

Yeah, I sense it too that I have some subconscious bias towards Air 3. But even knowing that I have two weeks time to return it and it is not a problem, I still seriously consider keeping it.

I am not sure I would put much weight on some of these factors (like your in depth case review, there will always be more cases to chose from).

I never learned to like typing onscreen keyboard, so I definitely would like to get real keyboard this time but I definitely also need to be able to use it as tablet easily. So I'm not sure there will be much good choices for Air 4 and Pro's since the smart connector is on the back side. In Air 3 smart connector is on the side so keyboards attach magnetically to it but in Air 4 and Pro's they would have to make some complicated cabling and connector system in the case, so i don't think there will be much those, especially from known manufacturers like Logitech which makes very good keyboards BTW.

Apple MK is the only choice where it would be easy to remove iPad from the case but it offers no additional protection to iPad itself, it would require another case and I don't think it would be very convenient to keep switching between the cases. So considering all that Logitech Combo Touch for Air 3 with removable magnetically attached keyboard makes a lot sense to me.

But then, I have my own rationalizations, I really hesitate to buy last year's tech. And the trump card I rationalize with is... resale. You have indicated you get bored with tech in 2 years, and you downplay the importance of the A12 to the A14 to you (but hey, what new Apps wlll come out with AR and the A14?), but what about the person you sell/give this to? It will be easier to resale the Air 4.

I considered these too and I'm also a bit of a hardware addict myself wanting to get the latest tech but then again honestly the tasks I'm using my iPad for aren't really something that needs much power. I will not use AR and regarding resale value there is like 200 price difference today, after couple of years probably it is not more, could be even a bit less.

Also considering longevity of these machines I realized that iPad 8th gen introduced yesterday is too A12, so based on that I'd say A12 it going to be supported for 4 or even 5 next IOS versions, so probably Air 3 is the same. And after that machine is practically useless anyway if considering battery life and such.
I currently have iPad 6th gen (A10) and I never felt it is slow or anything like that. The worst thing with it is just lousy battery life and Touch ID that rarely works as it should.

Just saying, in case you need a reason to go the Air 4.

I would counter with, if it is a wash, or even close to it (might be in favor of the Air 3), then why NOT go with the better tech if it is essentially costing you nothing or very little. Just saying.

I'm also considering this so that between Air 4 and Pro there is also very little difference in cost too, especially when comparing 256GB models. But again I already considered before Air 4 was introduced that Pro is overkill for my needs and probably I would never use many of its features and also I hated the keyboard case issues I mentioned with non removable keyboards in those versions as one big thing.
In the end, price is not really an issue for me or deciding factor, I'm more like trying to justify myself what is enough for my needs even it is not the latest tech. For example I bought MBA last year and later on returned it and got MBP 2019 that was just released but later on I realized that fact that all I have done with the machine is practically used it for surfing on the internet and some other basic daily stuff, never really used much of the Pro features, Air I had would have been good enough. So I though maybe I should use some better consideration with new iPad I'm selecting for myself.

 

[G5isAlive]

Apple MK is the only choice where it would be easy to remove iPad from the case but it offers no additional protection to iPad itself, it would require another case and I don't think it would be very convenient to keep switching between the cases. So considering all that Logitech Combo Touch for Air 3 with removable magnetically attached keyboard makes a lot sense to me.

I have a friend that swears by his Logitech. To me i'ts too big. I have the MK and it has kept my iPad in great condition. It does offer screen and back protection if things get placed on it, or when it's in my backpack. You are right, might not do much for a 6 foot fall to concrete. surprisingly, the MK does stay on if the iPad gets knocked off the table onto the floor. I have done that more times than I care to admit. No problemo. So I do not completely agree with your no protection scenario. And I love the convenience and fit of it.

 

[rui no onna]

Your last line cracked me up. If I didnt already have a iPad Pro 2020 I would get the sky blue myself.

And darn right my bias is showing. I have no problem admitting to that, clearly identified as such. just .. helping someone else that might be of similar bias

there are two types of people in the world. those that pat themselves over perceived bargains and money saved, and those that splurge and pat themselves on the back for being smart and getting the better value. person bargain, just call me mr value.

I'm still waiting for the 2021 Pros to do that upgrade. The 2020 iPad Pro refresh was kinda meh.

I've done our iPhone, desktop and laptop upgrades this year and those should be good for the next 4+ years. Next year, it's the iPads' turn.

 

[0906742]

This is probably going to be a wash or might even be in favor of the $200 cheaper Air 3.

Yeah, I think so too. I mean if I would have ordered Air 3 for a full list price there would be no question Air 4 is the better deal but considering a small discount in Air 3 price + free Airpods from BTS promo really turns things upside down.

How much better would the Air 4 actually be in normal use compared to the Air 3? I use A9, A10, A10X and A12 iPads interchangeably and honestly, for what I do (browsing, reading, watching) they all feel around the same performance-wise. Besides, afaik the A12 does have AR support. The A14 will just be faster.

This is exactly what I'm thinking. I currently had iPad 6th gen (A10) and it feels snappy and working well for my basic needs. Actually last time I really saw my IOS device getting slow was several years ago I had my iPhone 4S and when I updated it to last IOS released for it. Also I briefly had iPad 5th gen before 6th was released and I always felt it was a big laggy but other than these two examples, I never had any issues with others. I still have iPhone X and it is snappy and fine in my opinion too.

Basically even iPad 8th gen would suffice mostly for my needs but I really value True Tone and DCI-P3 colors, so Air or Pro are the only choice. Well come to think of that was one of the deciding factors I also returned my MBA last year and got MBP but other than that everything else in MBA would sufficed fine for me.

 

[seabrook7039]

My two cents: weight matters and this is where the Air 3 is tactically better. Numerically it may not seem much but after you compare the iPad gen 7 with the Air 3 side-by-side in a showroom (thank you Microcenter!) you can appreciate the difference. All the other metrics discussed are valid ones but to me secondary to the pleasure of a light-to-hold device.

Meanwhile I'm waiting on hearing what the iPad Air 4 weighs...

 

[rui no onna]

Yeah, I think so too. I mean if I would have ordered Air 3 for a full list price there would be no question Air 4 is the better deal but considering a small discount in Air 3 price + free Airpods from BTS promo really turns things upside down.

With that deal assuming you'd buy AirPods anyway, I'd go for the 2020 iPad Pro as well.

 

[0906742]

With that deal assuming you'd buy AirPods anyway, I'd go for the 2020 iPad Pro as well.

Actually I already have Airpods gen2 so I would probably sell the freebies ones.
I've been seriously considering 11" Pro too but as I mentioned I want to use real keyboard with iPad and my choices are Logitech or Apple MK but I hate MK material and the fact it offers no protection or kickstand for tablet use only. Also Logitech version for Pro comes with NON removable keyboard making it very clumsy and heavy. But Logitech version for Air 3 has removable keyboard (just magnetically attached to smart connector on the side) and it has good back cover with kickstand allowing multiple angles for all kinds of use, even when using it as a tablet.

So including these keyboard choices in to consideration nothing really seem to beat Air 3.
Also price difference comparing Air 3 + Logitech Combo Touch VS. iPad Pro 11" + Apple MK is like 500 euros around where I live. (The same keyboard "limitation" apply to Air 4 too, just a bit cheaper than Pro).