OPINION : Apple this week announced a gang of new iPads , including the Modern top - end iPad Pro range with slightly larger OLED CRT screen , a much thinner design – seriously , these are the thin Apple products to date – and , of course , the Modern radical - powerful 3nmApple M4 chipset .
But all that high - remnant tech comes at a unconscionable price . The basal 11 - column inch iPad Pro starts at £ /$999 , while the 13 - inch iPad Pro commence at £ /$300 more , at £ /$1299 – already a hard pill to swallow when you consider that theonlydifference between the two is the size of the sieve .
Then there ’s the fact that you ’ll have to prefer for either the 1 TB or 2 TB variant if you even require the option of append Apple ’s Modern nano - grain program to the sieve – an extra that ’ll also be you £ /$100 more .
It ’s worth take down that , even for the same cost as aMacBook Air , you ’ll still only be getting the iPad Pro – and not even a charger if you ’re in the UK . You ’ll still need to fork out for the £ /$129 Apple Pencil Pro and £ /$299-£/$349 ( size - dependent ) Magic Keyboard if you ’re severely considering using it for work or creative purposes , motor the price up even further .
Let ’s be reliable ; for the Brobdingnagian majority of multitude , it ’s not worth it – especially with the new iPad Air chain floating around at amuchcheaper price point . Granted , the unexampled 11- and 13 - inch iPad Airs are n’t exactly cheap at £ /$599 and £ /$799 respectively , but they ’re much more manageable fig than Apple ’s top - end pill .
The Air could be the better choice
First off , with matching 11 - in and 13 - column inch pick available , the iPad Air offers the same silver screen real estate of the realm as its more premium sibling . Granted , they ’re Liquid Retina LCD screens and not the ProMotion - enable organic light-emitting diode panel of the iPad Pro range , but considering most iPads until this decimal point have used LCD panels , it ’s not exactly a downgrade that most will notice .
Then there ’s processing power to consider ; the unexampled iPad Air cooking stove sports the background - levelApple M2 chipset – the same chipset as the former - gen iPad Pro range , which we felt – and still feel – is more than enough big businessman for iPadOS , with only a slight fraction of the available apps coming tight to utilise the M2 ’s power .
Yes , the iPad Pro range has an M4 chipset , but considering that most apps ca n’t even take vantage of the M2 , the M4 feels like much of a muchness at this period . possibly that ’ll change with the reveal of the next version of iPadOS atWWDC in June , but right now , it feel pretty pointless .
The iPad Air , with its background - level chip , permit it to put up feature not available on the ilk of theiPad miniandiPad , include Stage Manager , external video display extension support and even Hover Mode with the Apple Pencil , continuing to exit the gap between it and the iPad Pro range .
Then there ’s the all - important accessory support to deliberate . Despite being debut alongside the iPad Pro and not the iPad Air , the new Apple Pencil Pro does influence flawlessly with the late Air range .
That allows digital artists to utilise the new tech within the stylus like a squeeze action to access an on - screen toolbar , haptic feedback and a build - in gyroscope that captures rotation as well as movement , all without the iPad Pro , and at £ 129 , it ’s the exact same price as the previous Apple Pencil .
That ’s not quite the case with the secondly - gen Magic Keyboard , which remains exclusive to the iPad Pro , but you ’ll come up first - gen Magic Keyboards for the iPad Air reach that work just as well . You wo n’t get the newfangled function buttons or atomic number 13 physique , but the burden conception of the Magic Keyboard remains unchanged – essentially turn your iPad into a trackpad - equipped laptop .
Let ’s go back to those all - important numeral from earlier . If you were to buy a 13 - inch iPad Air , style and keyboard it ’d still be you £ /$1277 , but that ’s less than the compete iPad Pro . It ’s a more positive picture with the 11 - inch combo , coming in at a total of £ /$1027 .
So , yes , while the iPad Pro boasts the ultimate pill computer hardware , you may get middling damn tightlipped for much less with an iPad Air .
