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All iPads Platinum question: iPad Air 2019 or iPad Pro 2017

Denzzil

Denzzil

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 3, 2019
5
0
Kharkov, Ukraine
Hi guys,
I know, it's a common question, but answers that I've found they are now too old.

So, I'm planning to buy a new iPad (upgrade from iPad 2). I'm interested in games and drawing sketches, some design and youtube. The price difference in my town is somewhere about 50$.
And my main question is about chip and RAM. Which one is better for games and drawing: a little bit old chip but 4 ram or new chip and 3 ram?
I don't use speakers and promotion feature is not important for me, but the new chip looks very efficient. I'm leaning forward to Air because of that, but not sure about RAM.

Any help?
 
First of all you should consider the budget. If you have one that is. If you don’t care about how much you pay then just get the latest iPad Pro and you’ll be fine with games and painting or whatever you can think of.
 
In the past, I was leaning towards the 10.5” Pro, mainly because of the Pro-Motion display. And yes, you have 4GB of RAM instead of 3. But with the Air you can find bargains on Amazon from time to time, being significantly cheaper than the 10.5 Pro.

Keep in mind that the A12 SoC on the iPad Air is more recent than the A10X, and it should last longer regarding iOS releases, BUT I think A10X is beefier when it comes to GPU power.

In my personal case, if I had to chose between those and there were a difference of just 50$, I’d personally get the 10,5” iPad Pro. Mainly because of the high refresh rate screen. If you purchase it, I suggest you download iOS 13.1.3 if Apple is still signing it, and install it while you can, as iOS 13.2 is showing some issues at having apps stored in RAM.

If you look at the screen and you don’t mind how the Air looks (slower animations), then you’ll be fine with it either way. I can’t go back because I’m already used to my 11” iPad Pro screen.
 
Thanks for your replies!
akash.nu said:
First of all you should consider the budget.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I have a budget and it's set to $650. So I've checked local shop and here is what I've found:
  • iPad air 3 256gb - $660
  • iPad Pro 10.5 256gb 2017 - $710
  • iPad Pro 11 64gb - $750
So I have the option to go out of budget for $50 and buy Pro 10.5 with 256 gb. I can even grit my teeth and go for $100 more, but for iPad 11 with only 64gb which I think will be a pain in the ass. I think the iPad 11 is totally awesome, but sadly I can't afford to buy it with higher storage.

Populus said:
If you look at the screen and you don’t mind how the Air looks (slower animations), then you’ll be fine with it
Click to expand...
I actually have compared them side by side and promotion is sweet, but I'm totally can live without it.
 
Denzzil said:
Thanks for your replies!

Yeah, I have a budget and it's set to $650. So I've checked local shop and here is what I've found:
  • iPad air 3 256gb - $660
  • iPad Pro 10.5 256gb 2017 - $710
  • iPad Pro 11 64gb - $750
So I have the option to go out of budget for $50 and buy Pro 10.5 with 256 gb. I can even grit my teeth and go for $100 more, but for iPad 11 with only 64gb which I think will be a pain in the ass. I think the iPad 11 is totally awesome, but sadly I can't afford to buy it with higher storage.


I actually have compared them side by side and promotion is sweet, but I'm totally can live without it.
Click to expand...

Walmart has the iPad Pro 10.5” 512GB for $699.
 
Good decision on getting the iPP 10.5 inch

the Air 3 is good too, but the pro is better in a lot of areas and feels premium
 
Populus said:
Actually, and I think I speak in behalf of many Europeans here, I feel envy to some extent when I see the sales of Walmart and BestBuy in the USA, on MacRumors front page. We, sadly, only have Amazon, and maybe Media Markt sales. And on average prices are usually higher.
Click to expand...

The prices in the USA do not include sales tax though. At least in Europe you get to see the full price of the item.
 
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akash.nu said:
The prices in the USA do not include sales tax though. At least in Europe you get to see the full price of the item.
Click to expand...

Good point, that’s an annoyance that hopefully will go away one day. Fingers crossed.
 
akash.nu said:
The prices in the USA do not include sales tax though. At least in Europe you get to see the full price of the item.
Click to expand...
problem is sales taxes in Europe are much higher than in US (where they can even be 0 in some States), ofte over 20%. So even when factoring in sales taxes, prices are still clearly higher in Europe
 
For that price difference, I would actually get the 10.5” pro.
The A10X is actually quite powerful, and its GPU perform as quite close to the A12 in some benchmarks. As for longevity, we already see that devices with more RAM can hold longer than the one with less, even running the same chip. iOS 13 still supports the A8 iPad mini 4 despite Apple dropping the iPhone 6.

why the pro? Even if you don’t need pro motion, the quad speaker will be great addition to your media enjoyment. And since the price difference is not that huge, I would get the Pro.
 
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If you are actually still using an 8 year old iPad 2 with A5 chip and 512MB RAM, and just now realized you need an upgrade, the experience improvement will be gigantic whatever you buy. I would suggest you just get iPad 7th gen with A10 chip and 3GB RAM. $330. Good news is that by sinking only $330 into it, you don’t need to wait another 8 years for the next iPad.
 
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Digitalguy said:
problem is sales taxes in Europe are much higher than in US (where they can even be 0 in some States), ofte over 20%. So even when factoring in sales taxes, prices are still clearly higher in Europe
Click to expand...
Total cost is higher but sales tax/VAT is out of Apple's control. For a true price comparison, you need to discount sales tax/VAT from the equation. Besides, very few states have 0% sales tax in the US.
 
rui no onna said:
Total cost is higher but sales tax/VAT is out of Apple's control. For a true price comparison, you need to discount sales tax/VAT from the equation. Besides, very few states have 0% sales tax in the US.
Click to expand...
Sure, I know it's more the exception than the rule. But my impression is that Apple still makes products more expensive in Europe. For instance, here in Switzerland sales tax is one of the lowest in the world at 7.7%. Now Airpods pro cost $250 in the US while here they are 280 CHF (CHF and USD are virtually on parity), instead of being more like 270. So there is some sort of "safety margin" that goes directly into Apple's margins and profits...
 
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