So my laptop is on its way out and I was thinking of replacing it with an iPad. Any advice on whether I should get the Air 10.9” or the Pro 12.9” that’s coming out later this month? The main reason I was contemplating the pro was the M1 chip and the fact the sceen is larger and that might it easier to use a laptop replacement? Any advice is welcome!
It depends on what you do with your laptop. Only you know this.
Just curious, why did you join this forum to ask this?
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I joined the community to ask about an account specific enquiry and noticed the tech and gaming section and since it’s been on my mind I just thought why not see if anyone had insight to it
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I use my iPad for the vast majority of my browsing and consumptoin but when it comes to “real” work I prefer using a laptop. That’s not to say that other people don’t prefer doing everything on their iPads.
There’s a pretty massive price difference between the Air and the big Pro. It should be pretty obvious which one you’d prefer for your needs.
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Just bear in mind the pretty small price difference between the 256gb Air and the 128gb Pro. Considering the Air doesn’t come in 128, if you need more than 64gb but not as much as 256, then the 128gb 11 inch Pro is probably the best value option.
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I thought hard about this last year. I tried out my iPad (not a Pro, admittedly) as a replacement for my aging 12 inch MacBook - but I ended up getting frustrated. I eventually went for the base level M1 MacBook Pro when it came out and I’ve never been happier.
If you can afford the extra couple of hundred quid for the MBP over the iPad Pro, do it.
To be honest for most people an M1 MacBook Air would be more than enough laptop-wise - it’s a very powerful machine and since Apple silicon, the performance gap between the Air and Pro lines has been shrunk dramatically. So if you think leaving behind a desktop operating system isn’t manageable, then I’d say go for the M1 Air instead of the M1 MBP, unless you’re a video editor or something similar (in which case you wouldn’t be looking at replacing your laptop with an iPad anyway).
An M1 Air may very well be cheaper than an iPad Pro, especially if you’re adding a Magic Keyboard.
I don’t think power has much to do with it. For me, the iPad has been super powerful for a long time but I don’t ever find myslef needing that power. The bonus for me is that it keeps it future proof.
I’ve been using an iPad Pro as my computer for nearly three years now and it’s been a great workhorse. I bought it when I started my degree for all my school work and it managed it all remarkably. I only had to use my work computer to finalise all the footnotes on my essays before submitting them (and that is thanks to how Microsoft designed the iOS version of Word).
Absolutely agreed on this point. I edit videos, and the MBP is out of this world (more powerful/as powerful as the iMac). But from YT videos I’ve seen, even an M1 MacBook Air would be fine for editing video.
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Out of interest what size screen are you using?
Would an average user notice the difference between the M1 chip and the A14 chip when doing common daily tasks?
Who knows what an average user is but personally if my iPad Pro had an A10 (instead on an A12X) I’m fairly sure it would perform nearly just as well for what I use it for.
I’m on my second iPad Pro and both have been the 11inch size (my first one was the older 10.5 size). For me portability was an important factor and I wanted it to fit in my regular bag and be easy to grab on the go. I don’t do any art/drawing so I didn’t need the extra screen space.