iPad Air Ipad air 5 256gb should i replace it?

[okan]

Hi all,

My wife bought me an ipad air 5th gen 256gb, a birthday gift as my previous ipad was an old and slow mini 4. Anyways so i was checking the apple website and saw the pro 11 128gb is neary at the same price. I like to draw and take notes so i thought promotion screen would be nice! I have never used that screen but saw on youtube videos. So do you think its worth to give this one back and get pro 11 instead? Any advantages of air comparing to pro? 256gb is also overkill for me 128 would be enough. Thank you.

 

[Student of Life]

Go for it, you will love the Pro, better screen, Face ID, better back camera, flash for the camera (even to use the iPad as a flash light at night when you are going to bede etc) and it still has the M1 chip.

 

[rui no onna]

Whichever makes you happier.

 

[ericwn]

The differences are pretty well documented on this board and summarised in the first reply too. Personally, I’d pick the Pro.

 

[1CaesaR1]

Answer seems to be simple. Prices are similar, the only thing that Air has is more space which is not important to you, so for similar price why not get the better machine that may serve you better for your use (notes and drawing).

 

[curdy]

Is it the M1 iPad Pro 11 inch? A few of are seeing what just the M1 iPads are getting with the iPadOS 16 beta that previous iPads aren’t getting. Your Air would get these features.

 

[platinumaqua]

No, I would keep the iPad air.

I have the M1 iPad Pro 11", and if I get to choose again now, I would definitely choose the iPad Air 5 over it because Face ID is so annoying.

 

[babyexercise]

Hi all,

My wife bought me an ipad air 5th gen 256gb, a birthday gift as my previous ipad was an old and slow mini 4. Anyways so i was checking the apple website and saw the pro 11 128gb is neary at the same price. I like to draw and take notes so i thought promotion screen would be nice! I have never used that screen but saw on youtube videos. So do you think its worth to give this one back and get pro 11 instead? Any advantages of air comparing to pro? 256gb is also overkill for me 128 would be enough. Thank you.

Only if you can return the air for free

 

[Dealmans]

no brainer. also better speakers, FID, and volume buttons not in a annoying place.

 

[rui no onna]

no brainer. also better speakers, FID, and volume buttons not in a annoying place.

Volume button placement is the same on Pro 11 and Air 5.

 

[Dealmans]

Volume button placement is the same on Pro 11 and Air 5.

yeah right next to tid button = annoying

 

[rui no onna]

yeah right next to tid button = annoying

Are you thinking about the iPad mini 6 perhaps? The volume buttons on the Air 4 and 5 are where iPad volume buttons have pretty much always been (on the longer edge of the device).

 

[Dealmans]

Are you thinking about the iPad mini 6 perhaps? The volume buttons on the Air 4 and 5 are where iPad volume buttons have pretty much always been (on the longer edge of the device).

yeah, sorry

 

[*~Kim~*]

Reasons you might opt to keep the Air when confident 128GB is enough and will continue to be so for the time you want to keep the device:

- Outside of return period
- Not worth the headache that the wife would give you for returning a present that she bought you. I recently gifted an iPad and would sooner the recipient got the device that made them happy even if that meant returning what I bought, but others may vary
- You have a model other than space grey much and prefer that colourful option to the space grey and silver available on the Pro

 

[snipr125]

If it’s a M1 IPad Pro then it’s worth considering, but if it’s not then keep the Air 5. As of IOS 16, the M1 IPads are the best you can get.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

IPad Air price points are a little weird… 64GB just ain’t gonna cut it, 256GB is the only other option but then yeah, you’re within $50 of the 128GB iPad Pro. But - if you use iCloud Photo Library then 128GB is totally reasonable for most people. Heck, I’m here at 55GB used out of the 256 on my 12.9” Pro - so I could certainly have done with 128GB but the extra $100 was worth the peace of mind.

There are valid reasons to stick with Air… color comes to mind. But for me, the pro would be a no-brainer.

 

[okan]

Replaced it with pro 11. Screen is much better!!Thank you )

 

[rui no onna]

Enjoy your new iPad!

 

[ArchebaldDiv.]

iPad Air 5 M1 256 is more powerful than the iPad Pro M1 128… So - imo - no, Air is the better device.
Pro is just nice to have, but Air has Virtual Swap - with up to 128 gigs of memory 😉

 

[rui no onna]

iPad Air 5 M1 256 is more powerful than the iPad Pro M1 128… So - imo - no, Air is the better device.
Pro is just nice to have, but Air has Virtual Swap - with up to 128 gigs of memory 😉

All M1 iPad Pros support Virtual Memory Swap. Only the Air 5 has a 256GB restriction.

I seriously doubt Apple is going to allow 128GB total swap. Allowing some apps to request 16GB doesn't mean all 8 apps will be allowed to use 16GB each simultaneously.

 

[darngooddesign]

iPad Air 5 M1 256 is more powerful than the iPad Pro M1 128… So - imo - no, Air is the better device.
Pro is just nice to have, but Air has Virtual Swap - with up to 128 gigs of memory 😉

The M1 Air and M1 Pro should be equally powerful with possibly some differences due to drive speeds.

All M1 iPads have swap memory except for the 64GB Air.

The Pro is better if you want the features it has. If you don't care about those features then the only thing better about the Air is its lower price.

 

[ArchebaldDiv.]

All M1 iPad Pros support Virtual Memory Swap. Only the Air 5 has a 256GB restriction.

I seriously doubt Apple is going to allow 128GB total swap. Allowing some apps to request 16GB doesn't mean all 8 apps will be allowed to use 16GB each simultaneously.

Are you sure about that? That would make the limit completely artificial… 👀

 

[rui no onna]

Are you sure about that? That would make the limit completely artificial… 👀

I don't work for Apple so I can't be sure but logically, they're unlikely to use the customer's entire storage space just for swap. Heck, the highest I've seen my swap go on the Mac was 6GB. Apple's own footnotes don't mention a storage restriction for the M1 iPad Pros, just for the Air 5.

As for being an artificial limitation, not really. SSDs work similar to RAID. 64GB is going to be slower than 128GB. Also, limited writes. 64GB has 1/2 the lifespan of 128GB in terms of writes. Not to mention at 64GB, a lot of users would probably find it annoying that the remaining ~40GB available (after system+other) would be further decreased due to swap.

 

[Mark Stone]

Replaced it with pro 11. Screen is much better!!Thank you )

Great choice! Congratulations and enjoy it.

 

[R!TTER]

Are you sure about that? That would make the limit completely artificial… 👀

The limit is "artificial" anyway, anyone who's worked on PC for the last decade or two knows you can change the swap (or page)file size easily & Windows also allows it to be handled by the system itself.