That must seem nuts, I’m sure. But I figured I’d share my experience and reasoning just in case it’s valuable for anyone else.
The 12.9” - a 2018 one, btw - ended up being too big for me in handheld use.
An 11” Pro or the Air might seem like the more logical choice then. But I already have an Air 5 and I use it for entirely different things than the Pro was meant for. Another Pro was not an option because I realized there are very few features that I actually miss on any of the non-Pro iPads.
Come to think about it, it’s just Face ID I really miss. I don’t care about Pro Motion - it looks nice, of course, but it doesn’t provide any benefit for me in my workflows. The cameras/lidar I don’t care about, either, because I don’t use them. Speakers aren’t a factor because I mostly use headphones anyway. So the price difference would be for a lot of stuff I don’t want or need.
As for the concessions you have to make with the base iPad - they don’t really bother me, either. Sure, a laminated display is nicer than non-laminated, but I can work on a non-laminated one just fine. (Taps and writing on it sound weird, though. That’s my main gripe.)
Charging and pairing the Pencil via USB-C cable is not particularly elegant, but it’s fine.
The Magic Keyboard Folio is not as nice as the Magic Keyboard for the Pro and Air but it, too, is fine. In fact, I quite like that I can detach it and still have the other part protecting the back of the iPad and functioning as a stand. And of course, there are function keys on the Folio.
Performance-wise - maybe I simply don’t do anything particularly demanding*, but I can hardly ever tell a difference between the iPad 10 and the Air 5. These aren’t scientific findings, mind you, and more comparisons in every day use. Performance does seem better than on the 2018 Pro - but it’s a much newer chip, so I’m not really surprised.
And so far, I love this iPad. I’ve even been using it for work (mainly note-taking and image editing) and made myself use it as a laptop replacement. The latter doesn’t quite work, but in my experience, that’s the same with the Pros.
tldr: Don’t knock the iPad 10, it’s a surprisingly capable device.
———
*I use an iPad for notes, writing, reading (ebooks), browsing, some music recording, some image editing, as an additional screen and every once in a while, I’ll play a game on it.
The 12.9” - a 2018 one, btw - ended up being too big for me in handheld use.
An 11” Pro or the Air might seem like the more logical choice then. But I already have an Air 5 and I use it for entirely different things than the Pro was meant for. Another Pro was not an option because I realized there are very few features that I actually miss on any of the non-Pro iPads.
Come to think about it, it’s just Face ID I really miss. I don’t care about Pro Motion - it looks nice, of course, but it doesn’t provide any benefit for me in my workflows. The cameras/lidar I don’t care about, either, because I don’t use them. Speakers aren’t a factor because I mostly use headphones anyway. So the price difference would be for a lot of stuff I don’t want or need.
As for the concessions you have to make with the base iPad - they don’t really bother me, either. Sure, a laminated display is nicer than non-laminated, but I can work on a non-laminated one just fine. (Taps and writing on it sound weird, though. That’s my main gripe.)
Charging and pairing the Pencil via USB-C cable is not particularly elegant, but it’s fine.
The Magic Keyboard Folio is not as nice as the Magic Keyboard for the Pro and Air but it, too, is fine. In fact, I quite like that I can detach it and still have the other part protecting the back of the iPad and functioning as a stand. And of course, there are function keys on the Folio.
Performance-wise - maybe I simply don’t do anything particularly demanding*, but I can hardly ever tell a difference between the iPad 10 and the Air 5. These aren’t scientific findings, mind you, and more comparisons in every day use. Performance does seem better than on the 2018 Pro - but it’s a much newer chip, so I’m not really surprised.
And so far, I love this iPad. I’ve even been using it for work (mainly note-taking and image editing) and made myself use it as a laptop replacement. The latter doesn’t quite work, but in my experience, that’s the same with the Pros.
tldr: Don’t knock the iPad 10, it’s a surprisingly capable device.
———
*I use an iPad for notes, writing, reading (ebooks), browsing, some music recording, some image editing, as an additional screen and every once in a while, I’ll play a game on it.
