Apple Guide Podcast

Apple Guide Podcast


Your iPad Options in Early 2021

January 08, 2021

Apple currently sells five iPads. There's the iPad, iPad Mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro. Here lies the question, which one is right for you?

https://youtu.be/FS9wGXh1teg

Let's start off by taking a look at all the iPad currently for sale.

iPad Pro

(11" - $799, 12.9" - $999)

We're going to start by looking at the higher end of the line iPad line, the iPad Pro. It's like a combination of the MacBook Pro and iPhone Pro. You can choose between a 12.9-inch or 11-inch sized screen featuring "ProMotion Technology," Apple's fancy talk for 120Hz. To put it simply, this is what gives the iPad Pro a fast, smooth feeling when navigating. The 2020 iPad Pro is powered by the A12z Bionic chip, which is Apple's current high-end processor for iPads. It features a fully-fledged camera array including wide and ultra-wide camera lenses, a flash, and a LiDAR Scanner for augmented reality (AR), 3D spaces. Flipping around the front, you will find the TruDepth camera, used as the front-facing camera and FaceID. You will find two speaker grills at the top and two at the bottom. In between the bottom speakers is USB-C instead of Lightning, more on that later. Both sets come together to create an excellent audio experience. The iPad Pro also supports the second-gen Apple Pencil, which conveniently attaches to the iPad both for storage and to recharge. Upon checkout, you can upgrade the storage capacity from 128GB up to 1 TB and choose between space gray and silver colors. 

More on iPad Pro

iPad Air

($599)

Up next, we take a look at the iPad Air, just a step down from the iPad Pro. The iPad Air takes all the important parts of the Pro and leaves the rest behind. That being said, the Air misses out on the TrueDepth camera system in favor of the FaceTime HD camera. Without the TrueDepth camera, FaceID was dropped in favor of TouchID built into the sleep/wake button. Continuing with the cameras, the Air skips out on the multiple lenses and LiDAR Scanner in favor of a single wide lens. They also have roughly the same displays minus ProMotion. However, the iPad Air gets the generic A14 which is still super fast and on par with the A12Z of the iPad Pro. Almost everything else is the same, Apple Pencil 2 support, USB-C charging, and speaker arrangement. When checking out, you can choose between a wide range of colors and upgrade the storage from 64GB up to 256GB. 

More on iPad Air

iPad

(8th Generation - $329)

Then on to the standard 8th gen iPad (2020). This is the most basic of iPad. It uses the old design language with a TouchID home button. The camera is super basic, but I'll get the job done. I think the 10.2-inch screen is the perfect size for a tablet. You get to keep the 3.5mm headphone jack and only one speaker grill at the bottom between the lightning port. All of this is powered by the A12 processor, which was originally launched in the iPhone XS. During checkout, you can choose your color option, space gray, silver, or gold, and upgrade the storage from 64GB to 128GB. 

More on iPad

iPad Mini