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Tablets · Apple iPad Air

Apple iPad Air M1

7owners with an opinion
40%of verdicts positive
1/2positive/negative since 2024
0happy after 3+ years

Praised for performance and value; criticized for software and display.

What people wrote

Neutral
The flip side here is if I could use an iPad to replace the MacMini on my desk and connect to a monitor with the same support my Mac does I'd most likely have a top end iPad Pro as opposed to my mildly spec'd MacMini M2 and iPad Air M1. I'd literally spend MORE money on that 1 iPad than both existing iPad and Macs I have today.
Neutral
Well, I’m pretty entrenched in Apple’s ecosystem because I value the iCloud integration between my devices, but all my devices are a couple years old and I tend to keep them until they are no longer supported (M1 Air, iPhone 14, iPad Air M1, etc.). In particular, I don’t drive my iPhone hard. As long as it can do phone and texting and run a browser and the Kindle app, I’m good. Needless to say, I won’t be upgrading devices for liquid glass.
Doesn’t like it
I needed a light machine to do some web design work on figma. My first instinct was to get a Chromebook but my designer found an iPad air with m1 for cheaper. I checked and figma was available for iPad so I authorized. A couple days later we get the iPad and it does have the figma app but it is view only! You can still use figma but it has to be the web version. It works but because apple has terrible PWA support the experience is much inferior than in a much weaker Chromebook. The Apps for iPad are just weak on general. Often the only available app is the one for iphone, and you can still install but it renders in a third of the screen as a phone App with big black bars on the sides. We returned it the same day.
Doesn’t like it
I'm in the market for a tablet upgrade because my Galaxy S3 Tab is feeling quite laggy and is years out of support. I was excited to give the iPad Air a shot as I've heard so many good things about about the M1 chip. But the locked down nature of iOS made it impossible to recreate my workflows and seemingly failed to really take advantage of the M1, so I returned the Air and am currently looking into the S9 Tab.
Likes it
I have a MacBook Pro m1, with external monitor, keyboard and mouse. All of these can be reused with my iPad Air m1. For desktop use I need to purchase exactly the same equipment as for the iPad. The keyboard, Nuphy air 75, can easily switch between devices, same for the Logitech mouse. And with the display plugged into the iPad using usb c, there really isn’t that big if a difference between the MacBook and iPad when using it. The MacBook 16” is really heavy, so I mostly use it at my desk. But it’s too heavy for the couch so that is where I use my iPad.