The Best iPad to Buy in 2021 - iPad Pro vs iPad Air vs iPad 8th Generation By Ali Abdaal

- Hey friends, welcome back to the channel. Today, we are gonna be talking about which iPad out of the legend choices that we have, which iPad you should buy in 2021. Let's go. (upbeat music) So in the market for an iPad in 2021, there are five options to choose from. We've got the iPad Mini, the iPad Budget, the iPad Air the 11 inch iPad Pro and the 12.9 inch iPad Pro. And two, we're gonna go over each of those in turn.

And for each one, I'm gonna give you my opinion on whether you should buy it. And we'll talk about the performance and the value for money and the fun factor for using that particular iPad. All right, let's start with the iPad Mini. Now, I probably wouldn't recommend the iPad Mini for anyone. It hasn't been updated in a while.

It doesn't really give you the full experience of using an iPad. If you need a little device to read on, you'd get a Kindle or use your phone. If you need a little device to type on, again you can just get an external keyboard for your phone. But the iPad Mini isn't really an iPad that I would consider as being a proper iPad. And therefore, we're gonna kind of exclude it from these calculations.

Next, we come to the Budget iPad. Now the Budget iPad is actually genuinely really good. It is the by far the best value for money iPad that you can get. And it's the one that the broadly trying to aim at students or basically anyone on a budget. In terms of performance the Budget iPad has the 812 chip in it, which is actually very good.

The new iPads have the M1 chip in them. But honestly, for most things, if you are most people, you won't really notice a difference in performance between the $329 Budget iPad and the $1,300, you know, M1 iPad Pro. And so if we're rating the performance of the iPad Budget, we're gonna have to give it a three stars because it is the least powerful chip out of the iPad lineup. But honestly, most people probably won't notice the difference between the 812 chip on this, the 814 on the iPad Air and the M1 or the iPad Pro, unless you're the sort of person that pushes the iPad to its limits which I personally am not. Obviously if you're the sort of person who does like professional grade things on an iPad, like, I don't know, video editing or 3D modelling, or like very intensive gaming, then you're probably gonna notice a difference in performance.

But I know lots of people who have an iPad and I don't know anyone who actually uses it for those intensive level things. And so if you are like 99% of people, the Budget iPad performance wise will be completely fine for you, right? So what are the drawbacks of the Budget iPad? Well, there are a few drawbacks. The first one is that it uses the old generation Apple pencil. This is not a huge deal. It just is slightly annoying to charge because you have to stick the lightening thing at the bottom of the thing.

And it just looks, it looks a little bit annoying. Whereas for the second generation, you can stick the iPad pencil on the iPad, it chargers magnetically. So you've gotta decide is that like worth paying the extra money for. The Budget iPad also doesn't let you use the new magic keyboards. The magic keyboards are very good but you can use the smart keyboard, which is, it's all right.

It's not as nice as the magic keyboards and it doesn't have a track pad but it's still pretty good. In terms of price, if you were gonna get the Budget iPad, it starts at $330 but that's for the 64 gigabyte model. And please don't get the 64 gigabyte model. It's gonna run out of space very, very quickly and you're gonna be very annoyed. So if you upgrade the storage, ends up costing $430 for the Budget iPad, you get the 128 gigs of storage.

And then if you add on the cost of the Apple pencil and the smart keyboard, it ends up overall, the package costs $700. This is still quite a lot of money to pay for an iPad but the iPad is the best tablet on the market as most people say, not just Apple fanboys. And therefore this actually pretty pretty solid value for money. And so we're gonna give five stars to the Budget iPad in terms of value for money. And honestly, if you're looking to get an iPad and you're on a budget, this is an absolute no-brainer.

It gives you, you know, if we think of the iPad lineup, it's basically a demonstration of the idea of diminishing returns, where you get a lot of bang for your buck, for the Budget iPad, but then as you pay more and more money for the iPad Air and the iPad Pro and the iPad Pro 12.9 inch, you actually get a lot less for your money the more you pay for it. And so you get this sort of diminishing returns type curve. And I would suggest that the Budget iPad probably has about 90% of the overall kind of like a goodness of owning an iPad. And so, yeah, if you're on any kind of budget, Budget iPad is definitely the way to go. But 10.9 inch model, it's very good. Yes, you don't get the apple pencil, nice one.

And yes you get a slightly worse keyboard but it is a fantastic option for students or anyone who doesn't have like $1,200 to blow on an iPad pro. And finally, let's talk about the fun factor, the joy of owning the Budget iPad. And honestly, this is the point at which the Budget iPad starts to flop a little bit. Because yes, you do like it is an iPad and it gets the job done of an iPad. You can write on it.

The apple pencil feels broadly the same. You can put the paper like screen protector on it, if you want. That's the screen protector that I use. Link in the video description if you wanna check it out. This is not not as nice to use as the iPad Air or as the iPad Pro.

The display is only 60 hertz. So it's not quite the fancy display of the iPad Pro. The FaceTime HD camera is like 4.2 megapixels. So if you're doing Zoom calls on an iPad, it looks a bit crap. And it is quite an old design.

You don't see many people with sort of the old design with the touch ID button of the iPad these days. So, I mean, I'm gonna have to give this one a two stars in terms of like how nice and experience it is to use the Budget iPad. And so if you're gonna get one, it's about weighing up, like, do you care more about the fact that this is by far the best value for money? And are you okay with the fact that your user experience is gonna be a little bit, well, it's significantly less good than someone who has an iPad Air or an iPad Pro. All right, let's move on to the iPad Air. Now, the iPad Air is interesting.

It's sort of like the middle of the lineup starts at $600 and it comes in all these fancy colours. I have the sky blue version here. Now, in terms of performance, the iPad Air is reasonable. It's the A14 chips. So it's a bit better than the 812 that we've got on the Budget iPad.

And it's not quite as good as the M1 chip that we've got on the iPad Pro. But, you know, again, when it comes to performance on an iPad, you probably wouldn't set again unless you're a pro level user who really needs the power of the M1 chip which almost no one in the world is. The 814 chip is gonna be absolutely fine. And so we're gonna give this a four stars in terms of performance. But again like it's probably five stars for most people 'cause you just won't notice the difference.

The real problem with the iPad Air comes in when we think about the value for money. So it does start at $600. But again, the problem is that the $600 gives you the 64 gigabyte version of the iPad Air. That is really bad. You do not wanna buy an iPad with 64 gigs of storage because it's gonna run out of space very, very quickly and you're gonna be super annoyed by it.

And so we need to upgrade the storage. But the only storage upgrade option is to 256 gig. And that takes the cost up to $750. That is remarkably similar to the cost of the 11 inch iPad Pro, which is $799. So like again, value for money, I'm gonna have to give this like a two star rating because it fits into this like very weird camp where realistically the one you're gonna buy is exactly the same price as the 11 inch iPad Pro.

In fact, if you get the Apple pencil and the magic keyboard, with it, it takes it to a total cost of about $1,200 for the 256 gigabyte version. And honestly, if I had $1,200, I would never ever ever get an iPod Air. I would instead just shell out an extra $50, whoops for the 11 inch iPad Pro because the iPad Pro has a lot more quality of life improvements than the iPad Air. Finally, let's talk about the joy factor, the fun factor how nice this thing is to use. It's nicer than the Budget iPad but it's just not as nice as the iPad Pro.

And the thing that makes it not as nice as the iPad Pro is purely the screen. So the iPad Air, again only has a standard like 60 Hertz display screen whereas the iPad Pro has the 120 Hertz promotion display. And it doesn't like, I didn't I think I would notice much of a difference, but like the iPad Pro screen is so much more smooth and nice and a pleasure to use than the iPad Air screen. If the only iPad you've ever used is an iPad Air or a Budget iPad, you probably won't realise what you're missing from going from 60 hose to 120 Hertz where the display on the iPad Pro is just so smooth. But I think the smoothness of that display and the fact that it's just got a brand new more powerful chip makes the iPad Pro 11 inch a no-brainer.

If you are in the camp of spending in the region of, I don't know, 700 to 1200 depending on how many accessories you have, if you're spending that amount on an iPad I would not recommend the iPad Air in the slightest. Even though I'd like to because it's pretty and it's got nice colours and stuff. Let's talk about the 11 inch iPad Pro now. So it's actually very similar to the iPad Air. You can still use the, it's got the same keyboard the magic keyboard, which is awesome.

They've got the same Apple pencil. Again, second generation Apple pencil. You can do the same things. But the crucial difference between the iPad Air and the iPad Pro is that the iPad Pro is now well as of this recording brand new and has the M1 chip which is better than the 814 chip. Not that anyone's really gonna notice, but as I said, the main thing is the promotion display that makes the iPad Pro like a really smooth and lovely and nice experience.

Now, the iPad Pro starts at $800 for the 128 gigabyte option. And I think 128 gigabytes is actually completely fine. I have 128 gigabyte version and I don't have an issue with it. Like I've never had an issue with 128. I have had an issue with 64.

So it's completely reasonable to buy the $800 128 gigabyte base model of the M1 iPad Pro. And then of course, if you add in the Apple pencil for 129 and the magic keyboard for $300, it ends up taking you to about $1,200 which is basically the same price as the iPad Air. But instead you get an iPad Pro with a nicer screen and a better chip. The new iPad pro lineup also has this cool feature where the sort of the front facing camera is higher quality. And it does this really cool thing where it follows you around if you're walking around.

I've never needed to use it because whenever I'm on a call, I'm generally sitting down and I don't need the camera to follow my head. But it's a nice little thing to have if you're the sort of person that walks around doing presentations while you're on a Zoom call. So performance wise, obviously we've got to give this five stars. It's got the brand new M1 chip. It's the same chip that's in the iMac.

And it's in the MacBook Pros and the MacBook Airs. It's now in the iPad as well, which is quite a bit of overkill. A lot of people are saying because iPad OS, the operating system, it doesn't really let you use the sorts of apps broadly that actually use the M1 chip to its full potential. But either way, performance definitely gets a five star. In terms of value for money, we're gonna give this a four star rating.

But I think it is really important to keep in mind that the diminishing returns. So again, you get 90% of the value of having an iPad from the Budget iPad for 430 or $700, if you buy all the stuff. And if you spend an extra 300 like, if you spend an extra $400 literally double the price of the Budget iPad, you get an extra, like, I don't know, 10% like 9% of value. I would give this sort of a 99%. You get like 99% of the value of having an iPad with the 11 inch iPad Pro because it's just so nice but it is double the price of the Budget iPad.

And all accessories considered this plus pencil plus keyboard is 700 whereas I've had iPad pro plus pencil and keyboard is 1200. So you're paying an extra $500 basically for like 9% extra user experience. For me personally, that is actually worth it. Even if I don't notice any performance difference between the Budget iPad and the iPad Pro, I'm still more likely to use the iPad Pro because of the joy of using it because the screen is so nice because the keyboard is nice because the pencil is a bit more convenient. And because the sorts of things I do on my iPad Pro involve like focused work like writing.

You know, if I can squeeze out a few extra hours of productivity in a given year, that easily makes up for the price of the iPad Pro. That's a position that you're gonna be in. If you run your own business, if you use the iPad for work stuff. If you're a student, you should you get the Budget iPad or the iPad Pro. Don't get the iPad air.

IPad air, we are putting away because it does not count anymore because of the weird price point. And if you're a student, should you get Budget iPad or iPad Pro, I think broadly, it really comes down to how much money do you want to blow on an iPad? You will prefer the iPad Pro if you get it, it's really, really nice. But if you need to save money then the Budget iPad also does the job just as well. And as I said earlier, the thing that you're paying for is really the user experience rather than performance. And so if you're a student trying to convince your parents to get you an iPad, sure, try and shell for the iPad Pro and you can convince your parents, oh I really need an iPad Pro for university, but realistically you can get away with a Budget iPad.

It's just a little bit less nice to use. Finally, let's talk about the 12.9 inch iPad Pro. Now this is exactly the same as the 11 inch iPad Pro. It's same performance, same everything, except this time around increased the like it's a fancier screen. So I think it's like an older display.

And side by side, it's kinda hard to tell the difference but like watching something on Netflix or something on YouTube, the fact that, you know, this is an old led display means the blacks look more black and it looks a bit more contrasty and just a little, a bit more nice. Honestly, if I didn't look at themselves by side, I wouldn't really notice that this screen is noticeably better than the screen that I would expect to see on an iPad. But, you know, maybe I'm weird like that. Plus I always have the people like screen protector which I've not yet installed on this, which I'm going to. And that is a matte screen protector.

That's sort of makes the screen a little bit more like, you know, is my old one mat but it also makes it much nicer to write on and genuinely feels like paper. So if that sounds up your street at the affiliate link in the video description, it's not sponsored, but I do get a bit of a kickback. If you buy the screen protector, it's very good, I would recommend. Anyway, the iPad Pro is great. Like obviously performance has five stars because it's the M1 chip, which is the same chip as in the 11 inch iPad Pro and the IMAX and the MacBook Pros and the MacBook Airs.

Now, value for money again is a bit difficult because this is the true, you know, the big daddy of iPads. It is 100% of the power of having an iPad, but it costs $1,600. It's like 1100 for the baseline, and then you add the magic keyboard and you add the Apple pencil and you end up paying like 1,517 or $1,600 for the iPad package. That's not very good value for money. Again, if you're the sort of person who is not price sensitive about these things, and you really want a big screen, then by all means, go for it.

But for most people, I would suggest that the iPad Pro 12.9 inch is probably a bit overkill. In the past, it used to be my daily driver. I used to take this to work. I used to have the magic keyboard attached to it. I used to do lots of writing and lots of work on the iPad pro.

But ever since the M1 MacBook pro and MacBook Air came out, I haven't really had any much need to use a 12.9 inch iPad Pro because if you have a 13 inch laptop that you carry with you which has amazing battery life and it's thin and light and gets the job done, then carrying another 12.9 inch with a keyboard that looks kinda like a laptop and just works a little bit less well than a laptop. I haven't found that to be particularly handy. And so to be honest, my main driver these days is the 11 inch iPad Pro. And I always carry this with me along with my 13 inch MacBook Pro. And so if I need something that requires a laptop or if I'm on a desk or something, I will absolutely always reach for the MacBook Pro.

But if let's say I'm chilling on the sofa or I'm on a train and I don't have much space, you know, then I will bust out the iPad Pro and I'll do some writing on the 11 inch monitor. Anyway, going back to the 12.9 inch performance, definitely a five star, but we're gonna have to give this like a one-star in terms of value for money, just because of how expensive it is compared to what you get. But again, that's the sort of thing you'd expect from this diminishing returns end of the spectrum. And in terms of joy factor, we're gonna have to give this a five stars. It's just such a, it is really nice.

It's a pleasure to use. It's super nice. And the screen is side-by-side a little bit nicer than you would get on the 11 inch model. And so let's put all of this stuff together. So what would be my recommendations if someone asked me all right, Ali, which iPad should I get? I wanna say, I think the biggest thing is just how much money do you want to blow on an iPad? If you are on a budget and you want an iPad and you need not, I don't think anyone needs an iPad.

But if you're on a budget and you want an iPad then the Budget iPad is absolutely the way forward. It will get the job done. If however, you have more money to burn then the iPad Pro 11 inch would be my recommendation. It's very hard to recommend the iPad Air these days, purely because of how the pricing and the upgrade structure works and the fact that it doesn't have the 120 Hertz display which is like super, super nice. And it's very hard to recommend the 12.9 inch iPad Pro unless you literally want the iPad to be your only device that you carry with you. In which case 12.9 is actually quite nice and better to have because it just gives you more screen real estate than the 11 inch model. If you're the sort of person who needs pro-level performance, again you've got to go for the iPad Pro because the 812 chip in the Budget iPad is probably not gonna cut it.

And the 814 in the iPad air, well, why would you get an iPad Air given all the stuff we've talked about? And if you're a student again, like how much can you convince, you know, yourself or your parents to pony up, Budget iPad, totally fine. iPad Pro just a little bit nicer to use. And if you're thinking of getting an iPad Pro and you're really not sure between the 11 inch and the 12.9 inch, despite the price difference, you should check out this video over here which explains why I personally chose the 12.9 inch iPad Pro. My mind on this has changed a little bit because of the addition of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro M1 liner which is now my daily driver. But that video will give you kind of my thought process on 11 inch versus a 12.9 inch. Thank you so much for watching and hopefully I'll see you in the next video.

Bye-bye.

Source : Ali Abdaal