iPad Air Upgrading from iPad Air 2020, but to what?

[ChiLLon]

For me, it came down to storage. The base version of the 2022 Air is 64GB. Not enough. I would need to buy the 256GB version, even though 128GB is sufficient for my needs. The new Air‘s base version is 128 GB, my sweet spot.

So, based on my requirements, the new Air would be the same purchase price as a discounted 2022 Air - no brainer.

If you need the space then valid. I don't even download movies and series to watch Netflix or whatever else in offline mode. I just use my phone as a hotspot. I do not play games on iPad either.

I think the 11th gen iPad will be the ultimate mainstream iPad, since I'm assuming they're putting the M1 as well as laminated screen on that. Next lineup of Air SHOULD get promotion screen so would make sense to give the current Air screen to the base line iPad. Or am I dreaming and asking too much?

 

[Supermallet]

For your needs I would be scouring the web for deals on the M1 Air. No need for anything more.

 

[ChiLLon]

For your needs I would be scouring the web for deals on the M1 Air. No need for anything more.

I am indeed. Also looking for deals on the Pro M2 2022. I can pay extra for 120hz and double the amount of speakers, that is right up my alley.

 

[Spindel]

Couldn't really find a firm amount of years of support, but there's been iPads that have had 8 years of support since their release. So, buying an iPad 2022 today should still be OK. Doubt you'd want to keep it for more than 5 years anyhow because by then you could get a new $400 base iPad but with much much better tech.

It is still too early to see the "new" price of the iPad Air 2022 here in Sweden. If you check prisjakt and check price history you can see that it isn't a recent discount, it's been 700 SEK "cheaper" for over a year now. As someone mentioned, some people are clueless and might still walk in and buy an Air today, without realising and paying full price. Personally I feel Air M1 2022 needs to be at least $200 cheaper than Air M2 2024 for me to consider that.

I like everything about iPad 2022 except the low RAM. Even the chip I can live with. The low memory I have felt being annoying on my now broken Air 2020 so many times. Like if you have too many tabs open, or tabs with too much content, they will forcefully refresh when you run out of RAM. That has caused me on multiple occasions to lose long messages/texts for example. Air 2022 has double the RAM, but no landscape camera and we don't know if price can even drop enough to make it worth it over Air 2024. Buying the Air 2024 over the iPad 2022 would basically be paying $400 for the extra 4GB of RAM and future proofing, which is a a lot.

Yeah that’s what I’m feeling too equivalent to $150-$200 cheaper should be a good price point for the M1 Air.

Regarding the amount of RAM on the regular iPad it’s not something that concerns me, for me it’s the worry that software support will be dropped too soon.

 

[Edd70]

I borrow this thread instead of making another one.

Because I’m also conteplating if I should hope for a good discount on the 2022 Air? To me I do not need an M2 Air but on the other hand the best discount I can currently find here is about 700 SEK (I’m also in Sweden) which is about $65 compared to an M2 Air.

I currently have a 5th gen regular iPad (7 years old). The iPad I had before that was a 3rd gen iPad that I used for 5 years. I’m more concerned for long term support than raw power and wonder what the best course would be.

I’m a bit worried that Apple will drop aoftware support too soon for the 2022 Air and even more worried about the 10th gen (regular) iPad (why I’m contemplaiting if I should hope for a better discount of the 2022 Air).

The whole point of this post is that I find the Air a tad to expensive compared to my needs. But on the other hand I’m worried that if I get an 10th gen iPad now it will be supported for a short time. On the other hand with the current price difference here between the M1 and M2 I might as well get an M2 or should I hope there will be some fire sale coming in the next couple of weeks?

I have the same 5th Gen iPad you do, bought in 2017. Two years in the speakers crapped out and been using BT ever since. Otherwise been ok but that thing is tired. It’s a media consumption device in the living room and, more importantly, while traveling for me.

I had $350 of Best Buy gift certificates so that factored into my decision to pull the trigger on 2024 13” Air. It’ll be an upgrade from the old one in virtually every metric. I think it’s always worth getting the latest model if you use it long term.

If I didn’t have the gift certificates, I would have gone for the 11” to lower cost. If the old one wasn’t so tired I may have waited until fall to see what the new base ipad featured, but I’ve waited long enough.

 

[Spindel]

I have the same 5th Gen iPad you do, bought in 2017. Two years in the speakers crapped out and been using BT ever since. Otherwise been ok but that thing is tired. It’s a media consumption device in the living room and, more importantly, while traveling for me.

I had $350 of Best Buy gift certificates so that factored into my decision to pull the trigger on 2024 13” Air. It’ll be an upgrade from the old one in virtually every metric. I think it’s always worth getting the latest model if you use it long term.

If I didn’t have the gift certificates, I would have gone for the 11” to lower cost. If the old one wasn’t so tired I may have waited until fall to see what the new base ipad featured, but I’ve waited long enough.

Always interesting to hear from someone else with the same model as me.

As for my main usage it’s for web browsing, mail, ebooks, manageing different WebGUI systems, SSH etc. Both at home and when traveling.

So not so much for media consumption or gaming. Maybe I should hold out until fall and see what the new standard iPad brings (unless a really good deal comes up for a M1 air).

As stated earlier, I have no need for raw power (got my mac for that) but this 5th gen iPad is starting to show its age both in being dropped for iPadOS updates and you start to notice that it’s a tad slow (probably related to the battery staring to become aged).

 

[familychoice]

I plan on upgrading from my iPad Air 2020 but I am unsure to what. I was waiting for the new lineup, but I am kinda meh about it. So I am playing with the idea of waiting to see if some sites have a iPad Air 2022 fire sale and pick one of those up instead. The difference between 2022 and 2024 seems very small in terms of just watching media and surfing the web. Do I need the m2 chip? No.

So, if I can find a discounted new Air 2022, is the 2024 version even worth it?

I’ve always wanted a bigger iPad, but couldn’t justify the cost of a Pro, so the Air 13” will make a nice upgrade from my Air 4. More RAM, more storage, faster, and at £799 is less painful than shelling out for a Pro.

 

[ChiLLon]

I’ve always wanted a bigger iPad, but couldn’t justify the cost of a Pro, so the Air 13” will make a nice upgrade from my Air 4. More RAM, more storage, faster, and at £799 is less painful than shelling out for a Pro.

Would be nice, sure. But $300 more over the 11” is something I cannot justify.

 

[Edd70]

Would be nice, sure. But $300 more over the 11” is something I cannot justify.

It’s $200, right? I’ve never been unhappy with a bigger screen on anything.

 

[ChiLLon]

It’s $200, right? I’ve never been unhappy with a bigger screen on anything.

In Sweden the price difference is $276

 

[Edd70]

In Sweden the price difference is $276

Ah, sorry. Tougher decision, I agree. BTW, visited Sweden (Gothenburg) for the first time last year and had an excellent few days.

 

[Ramoncitos]

Ipad Air 6th 60 hz refresh rate in 2024...come on!!!!

 

[ssledoux]

It was a good plan. My 2020 is broken and repairing is costs about $400, so that is not worth it. So I have no choice but to buy a new one. Just gotta see what discounts come to the 2022 air and decide then I suppose.

Sending you a PM

 

[familychoice]

Would be nice, sure. But $300 more over the 11” is something I cannot justify.

Only £200 more on the UK Store. The Pro is £400 more, once we factor in the extra storage.

The extra screen space is a big plus for me, so an extra £200 is do-able. Annoyed it doesn’t support my Pencil 2 though.

 

[ChiLLon]

Only £200 more on the UK Store. The Pro is £400 more, once we factor in the extra storage.

The extra screen space is a big plus for me, so an extra £200 is do-able. Annoyed it doesn’t support my Pencil 2 though.

It is not fully $300 more in Sweden but very close to. Bigger screen is for sure nice, but not vital for what I use it for. $150 more I would probably pay, but not close to $300 more. At some point you can just as well grab the laptop I feel. I have a super light and very thin 15'' gaming laptop and a what I think is 14'' touch screen work laptop.

 

[rMBP2013]

I'm curious if you considered a 5th (M1) or 6th (M2) gen iPad Pro instead.
You still get Pro-motion.

But I guess if you wanted OLED, that might have been the determining factor over mini-LEDs.

I did consider those models (5th - M1 and 6th - M2) but never pulled the trigger as the cost wasn't worth it.

The new model is even more expensive than the 5th and 6th gen iPad Pros but the screen alone is worth it for me. The fact that it's comes with an M4 is just a bonus. I suspect the new iPad will last me an easy 10 years, if not more.

 

[familychoice]

It is not fully $300 more in Sweden but very close to. Bigger screen is for sure nice, but not vital for what I use it for. $150 more I would probably pay, but not close to $300 more. At some point you can just as well grab the laptop I feel. I have a super light and very thin 15'' gaming laptop and a what I think is 14'' touch screen work laptop.

I’ve been buying (mostly) music-making apps for over a decade - several thousand pounds worth - so despite having music software on laptops and desktop Macs, the iPad is a pretty important workhorse for me, and there are a lot of very unique, powerful music-making iOS apps that don’t have Mac OS equivalents (and those that do are significantly more expensive).

So I’m not really a standard iPad user, as I’ve already invested a lot of cash in the platform, and the extra screen space and CPU/RAM/storage in the 13” Air will enhance my workflow.