iPad Wait for new Ipad AIR? or buy M1 already?

[averagebuyer]

Hello, this is my first forum post. I am planning to buy an iPad Air for my sibling for their Medical classes. I could see its very easy for them to read digital books, take notes faster and easier. iPad Air hits the perfect spot of money, pencil 2 support and m1 chip. but now its more than 550 days old, and I can't see any legitimate leaks on iPad air right now anywhere. What to do? should I wait or go and buy the m1 air now?

If I buy the air now, what if new air launches next month? T_T

Edit: Guys thanks for your genuine suggestions and insights. I decided to wait till the October end, expecting a potential October event ( or press release ) from Apple. 😊

 

[one more]

Well, the only Air updates we can expect would be an M2 chip and perhaps more baseline storage (128 GB vs 64 GB). Possibly the landscape front camera, if we are lucky. The rest should remain practically identical, so no major leap. The Air refresh rumours are vague at the moment, so we might see it in October-November this year, or not. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Meantime, my Air 5 runs everything like a champ.

 

[averagebuyer]

Well, the only Air updates we can expect would be an M2 chip and perhaps more baseline storage (128 GB vs 64 GB). Possibly the landscape front camera, if we are lucky. The rest should remain practically identical, so no major leap. The Air refresh rumours are vague at the moment, so we might see it in October-November this year, or not. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Meantime, my Air 5 runs everything like a champ.

Thanks for the response. Other than M2, yes the baseline storage of 64gb is a BS imo. Like its so low that you cannot store two playlists of good learning material as video.

 

[one more]

Thanks for the response. Other than M2, yes the baseline storage of 64gb is a BS imo. Like its so low that you cannot store two playlists of good learning material as video.

For passive storage (not continuous reading-writing), you could also consider external USB-C storage solutions. Some of them are quite small, light and rapid, offering you much better value per GB vs Apple.

 

[averagebuyer]

For passive storage (not continuous reading-writing), you could also consider external USB-C storage solutions. Some of them are quite small, light and rapid, offering you much better value per GB vs Apple.

but is it good enough? never user an ipad before. Will it be easy to transfer files and read from it faster?

 

[floral]

My advice... wait.

Right now, the iPad Air is really just a staircase to the iPad Pro. They purposefully gave it a severe bridge in storage space to make the iPad Pro seem like the better deal (technically, it is!)

By the next model, they would definitely increase the base storage to 128gb by then. So waiting is the best option here in my opinion.

 

[one more]

My advice... wait.

Right now, the iPad Air is really just a staircase to the iPad Pro. They purposefully gave it a severe bridge in storage space to make the iPad Pro seem like the better deal (technically, it is!)

By the next model, they would definitely increase the base storage to 128gb by then. So waiting is the best option here in my opinion.

iPad Air will always be “a staircase to the iPad Pro”, IMO. Ironically, though, it also sells in higher numbers than Pros (just because Airs offer a better value). Right now Pros have an advantage of a better quality screen (ProMotion), FaceID, some extra speakers, more RAM and M2. With the next rumoured upgrade, Pros could get OLED screens and end that mini-LED blooming story. So yes, Airs will need to remain just a few steps behind Pros, simply for the sake of Pro sales. The same goes for iPad 10 vs iPad Air 4-5 which are quite similar, and yet… Apple differentiate them all carefully, so they all find their customers.

As far as the storage question goes, I currently use just 28 GB of my 64 GB, as most of my stuff sits in the cloud. And I do not restrict or monitor my space usage in any way. YMMV, of course.

 

[one more]

but is it good enough? never user an ipad before. Will it be easy to transfer files and read from it faster?

It will never be as fast as iPad’s own imbedded storage, yet if you just need to copy some files over every now and again it is totally adequate. I would not be editing large video or audio files on the external storage, however.

 

[Ahoomanb]

I would wait till Black Friday, or till end of October At that time, the iPad will release (in October), or it will only release next year in march. So I suggest waiting 1 month to see.

 

[BenGoren]

There are only two situations in which it makes sense to wait:

A) There is a date certain at which something worth waiting that long is due; or

ii. the device as it stands today is inadequate.

Buy the Air. It’s all but guaranteed to be perfect as it is. Worst case, if something new and better comes along soon, your sibling can sell or trade the Air for the new snininess; in that case, consider the depreciation as the fee to have something actually useful today.

You’re worried about losing out on something in the future, but why aren’t you worried about losing out on something already fantastic today? Is it really worth depriving your sibling of months or more of an Air just for the hypothesized marginal improvement later? After all, using today’s Air today is literally infinitely better than not using tomorrow’s Air today.

Carpe diem.

b&

 

[MarkNewton2023]

The answer is easy. If you do need it right now and cannot wait, buy it now regardless of the chip version. If not, just wait 😊

 

[Ahoomanb]

There are only two situations in which it makes sense to wait:

A) There is a date certain at which something worth waiting that long is due; or

ii. the device as it stands today is inadequate.

Buy the Air. It’s all but guaranteed to be perfect as it is. Worst case, if something new and better comes along soon, your sibling can sell or trade the Air for the new snininess; in that case, consider the depreciation as the fee to have something actually useful today.

You’re worried about losing out on something in the future, but why aren’t you worried about losing out on something already fantastic today? Is it really worth depriving your sibling of months or more of an Air just for the hypothesized marginal improvement later? After all, using today’s Air today is literally infinitely better than not using tomorrow’s Air today.

Carpe diem.

b&

1 month. It realeases next month, or march. Worth the wait to see.

 

[averagebuyer]

My advice... wait.

Right now, the iPad Air is really just a staircase to the iPad Pro. They purposefully gave it a severe bridge in storage space to make the iPad Pro seem like the better deal (technically, it is!)

By the next model, they would definitely increase the base storage to 128gb by then. So waiting is the best option here in my opinion.

thank you

 

[averagebuyer]

It will never be as fast as iPad’s own imbedded storage, yet if you just need to copy some files over every now and again it is totally adequate. I would not be editing large video or audio files on the external storage, however.

Yeah i think in 2023, it will be a fuss to carry around your ssd along with you

 

[averagebuyer]

1 month. It realeases next month, or march. Worth the wait to see.

Yes I will wait for october month end. But there is a student offer for ipad air which ends on Oct4 😭

 

[one more]

Yeah i think in 2023, it will be a fuss to carry around your ssd along with you

Not necessarily, as you can find some tiny ones with multiple (Lightning, USB-C, USB-A) inputs/outputs. It all depends on your ideal usage scenario.

 

[one more]

1 month. It realeases next month, or march. Worth the wait to see.

Apple also released Air 4 in November, if I remember correctly?

 

[HDFan]

there is a student offer for ipad air which ends on Oct4 😭

You have 2 weeks to return so that takes you to October 18.

 

[JustAnExpat]

The purpose of the iPad Air is to read books and take notes in class (according to your post). My advice is that an M1/ M2 chip won't make a difference.

I believe she will be doing a lot of writing in medicine. She will need a MacBook/ MacBook Pro/ iMac/ etc. for that. Academic programs like Zoroto and Scrivener are almost unusable for the iPad in my experience.

 

[one more]

The purpose of the iPad Air is to read books and take notes in class (according to your post). My advice is that an M1/ M2 chip won't make a difference.

I believe she will be doing a lot of writing in medicine. She will need a MacBook/ MacBook Pro/ iMac/ etc. for that. Academic programs like Zoroto and Scrivener are almost unusable for the iPad in my experience.

I agree, their studying will involve a lot of writing indeed and if we add a keyboard to it we enter into MacBook Air price territory. And MBA is way more comfortable for writing, has more space, RAM, and a full OS. I think @GuruZac at some point was having the same questions and ultimately went with an M1 MBA for his medical school?

 

[JustAnExpat]

Another solution is to get a regular iPad 10th edition with Apple Pencil (and a paper like screen protector). It'll be $300 cheaper, and it'll still do the same thing. A person doesn't need an M1 to write and read books on it :O I recommend the 10th generation iPad because it is slightly bigger.

 

[gamerdude]

If iPad 10th gen launched before M1 iPad Air I would have gone with that. But looking at the current lineup iPad Air doesn't make sense to buy. Either go with 10th Gen iPad or iPad Pro (refurbished) or wait for M2 Air if you can wait.

 

[Crow_Servo]

Apple also released Air 4 in November, if I remember correctly?

Air 4 was announced alongside the iPhone 12, so it was a September/October release in 2020.

 

[Crow_Servo]

Another solution is to get a regular iPad 10th edition with Apple Pencil (and a paper like screen protector). It'll be $300 cheaper, and it'll still do the same thing. A person doesn't need an M1 to write and read books on it :O I recommend the 10th generation iPad because it is slightly bigger.

Slightly bigger than what? The 10th gen is 10.9” like the Air 4 & 5.

 

[Crow_Servo]

There very well could be a new iPad or two announced this month, so it might be best to wait until at least mid-October before writing it off and going with last year’s model.