The best tablet on the market for years now has been the iPad and it continues to be the market leader as Android just can’t match the iPad’s tablet experience. The standard $329 iPad is a great device for basic tasks like watching YouTube videos, streaming Netflix shows, reading news, and more. However, it does not provide a lag-free experience and neither does it offer the best display.
The $499 iPad Air while not the best iPad is a great tablet at the price. The $329 iPad is by no means bad, it’s a great tablet – iOS on a tablet is always better and at $329 it’s a steal. But of course, with the low price tag the customer does not get the best experience. The iPad Air sports a much recent A12 Bionic chip from 2018 whereas the $329 iPad sports the A10 Fusion chip which was introduced alongside the iPhone 7 in 2016.
The A10 Fusion chip is by no means a slow processor but most apps will definitely take few milliseconds or seconds in some cases to open. The A12 Bionic chip with Neural Engine on the iPad Air will offer a much snappier performance with apps opening instantly or almost instantly. If you use an iPhone XS or iPhone 11 along with the latest MacBook Pro, you should definitely get the iPad Air as its much faster as the experience will be similar moving between devices (in terms of speed).
iPad Air: iPad but more qualitative!
The iPad Air also has a much nicer display compared to the $329 iPad. The iPad Air packs a laminated display with anti-reflective coating to provide a much better viewing experience. A laminated display has no space between the display and the glass and the difference is noticeable – once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
If you were eyeing the $329 iPad, it certainly won’t hurt to take a look at the iPad Air. Tablets generally tend to last long, so invest in something that you’ll enjoy using for a long time.
