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iPad Air Review - Productivity Powerhouse

2020-11-26 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali, Rene Ritchie · recording, 18:20 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Tools, apps and tech · mode: Review and recommendation · tags: Aimed at students

Ali reviews the 2020 iPad Air after four weeks and recommends it to most iPad buyers: close to the iPad Pro in design, screen, speed and Apple Pencil support for less money, with the budget iPad for students short of cash; Rene Ritchie explains how its A14 chip compares with the iPad Pro's A12Z.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Intro and upfront conclusion: get the iPad Air

  • ★★★ Ali's upfront conclusion on the 2020 iPad Air: anyone in the market for an iPad should get it, while a student on a really tight budget would be completely happy with the budget iPad. — 00:00:00 · iPad Air, iPad, iPad Pro
  • ★★ The 2020 iPad Air starts at $599 or £599, and Ali says buyers will be really happy with it because it is perfect in almost every way. — 00:00:29 · iPad Air
  • ★★ The 2020 iPad Air is not quite as good as the iPad Pro, which Ali will keep using, but it is his recommendation for the vast majority of people. — 00:00:29 · iPad Air, iPad Pro
  • ★★ Ali calls the 2020 iPad Air basically an 11-inch iPad Pro in the form of a 10.9-inch iPad Air, with bezels apparently only 1% bigger than the 11-inch iPad Pro's. — 00:00:58 · iPad Air, iPad Pro

00:01:10 — Design: weight, colours, USB-C, one camera, Touch ID

  • ★★ On Ali's scales the 2020 iPad Air weighs 463 grams and 1,068 grams with the Magic Keyboard, so the keyboard is heavier than the iPad itself. — 00:01:46 · iPad Air, Magic Keyboard, iPad Pro, iPad
  • ★★ Ali always keeps his iPad Air attached to the Magic Keyboard and recommends that to most people. — 00:01:46 · Magic Keyboard, iPad Air
  • ★★ The 2020 iPad Air now has USB-C, so loads of USB-C accessories work with it and it charges with the same cable as a MacBook. — 00:01:46 · iPad Air, MacBook
  • ★ The 2020 iPad Air has only one rear camera, which Ali puts down to Apple realising that no one seriously cares about the cameras on an iPad. (overstated) — 00:02:30 · Apple, iPad Air, iPad Pro, iPad
  • ★★ Ali prefers the 2020 iPad Air's Touch ID on the power button to Face ID, which was always a bit annoying, especially when wearing a mask. — 00:02:30 · iPad Air
  • ★★ The 2020 iPad Air's screen lacks ProMotion: it runs at 60 Hz, which feels painfully slow to Ali after the iPad Pro's 120 Hz. — 00:03:11 · iPad Air, iPad Pro

00:03:14 — Screen: 60 Hz versus 120 Hz, brightness in Tenerife sunlight

  • ★★ Someone not used to a 120 Hz display will not really notice the 2020 iPad Air's 60 Hz screen, Ali says. — 00:03:50 · iPad Air
  • ★★ The 2020 iPad Air's screen goes up to 500 nits and the iPad Pro's to 600, a difference Ali says you rarely notice in everyday life. — 00:03:50 · iPad Air, iPad Pro
  • ★★ On a trip to Tenerife a couple of weeks earlier, Ali found the iPad Air a bit harder to use than the iPad Pro in very bright sunlight by the hotel pool and on the beach. — 00:04:19 · iPad Air, iPad Pro
  • ★★ Apple says the 2020 iPad Air gives about 10 hours of web browsing, which Ali found roughly accurate. — 00:04:19 · Apple, iPad Air

00:04:52 — Battery life

  • ★★ Ali could take the iPad Air with the Magic Keyboard out for a whole day without worrying about charging, plugging it in only towards the end of a very long day. — 00:04:59 · iPad Air, Magic Keyboard

00:05:25 — Apple Pencil and handwriting

  • ★★ The second-generation Apple Pencil now snaps magnetically to the top of the iPad Air, charging and pairing there, where earlier iPad Airs needed it plugged into the Lightning port. — 00:05:28 · Apple Pencil, iPad Air
  • ★★ Having graduated from medical school, Ali no longer does a lot of handwriting on the iPad. — 00:05:49 · iPad Air, iPad Pro, iPad
  • ★★ For handwriting on the iPad Air Ali would definitely use a matte screen protector: he has used the Paperlike for about three years. — 00:05:49 · Paperlike, iPad Air
  • ★★ Writing on the iPad Air's 60 Hz display, Ali can just about notice a tiny lag that the iPad Pro's 120 Hz screen does not have; people not spoiled by an iPad Pro probably won't. — 00:06:30 · iPad Air, iPad Pro, Apple Pencil
  • ★★ The 2020 iPad Air has the A14 Bionic chip, which Ali calls ridiculously fast. — 00:06:30 · iPad Air

00:07:01 — Speed: A14 Bionic against the A12Z, a question for Rene Ritchie

  • ★★ In Geekbench scores, the 2020 iPad Air's single-core performance is faster than the A12Z chip of the older iPad Pro, Ali says. — 00:07:09 · iPad Air, iPad Pro
  • ★★ Ali has not noticed any real-world difference in performance between the 2020 iPad Air and the iPad Pro. — 00:07:09 · iPad Air, iPad Pro

00:07:38 — Rene Ritchie on single-core versus multi-core performance and memory

  • ★★ Rene Ritchie says the 2020 iPad Air's A14 chip is the fastest at single-core work such as keeping the interface responsive, launching apps and rendering web pages. — 00:07:38 · iPad Air
  • ★★ Rene Ritchie: The iPad Pro's A12Z, two generations older, has two more high-performance CPU cores and four more GPU cores than the iPad Air: eight and eight against six and four, Rene Ritchie says. — 00:08:07 · iPad Pro, iPad Air
  • ★★ Rene Ritchie: Heavier multi-core workloads such as rendering video or 3D work will still be better on the iPad Pro, Rene Ritchie says. — 00:08:36 · iPad Pro
  • ★★ Rene Ritchie: The iPad Pro has 6 GB of RAM against the 2020 iPad Air's 4 GB, and higher memory bandwidth, so memory-heavy work is better on the Pro, Rene Ritchie says. — 00:08:36 · iPad Pro, iPad Air
  • ★★ Rene Ritchie likens the 2020 iPad Air to an incredibly fast sports car and the iPad Pro to a really fast truck. — 00:09:06 · iPad Air, iPad Pro

00:09:35 — Why speed is rarely a reason to upgrade

  • ★★★ If you already have an iPad, Ali would not upgrade to the iPad Air or iPad Pro just for speed unless you have actively noticed it is too slow for what you do. — 00:09:35 · iPad Air, iPad Pro, iPad
  • ★★ Apple devices last ages, Ali says: his mother's iPhone 7 feels as fast as his iPhone 12. — 00:09:35 · Ali Abdaal's mother, iPhone, Apple
  • ★★ The vast majority of people will not notice a performance difference between the 2020 iPad Air and the more expensive iPad Pro, Ali says, unless they push the iPad to its peak for hours every day. — 00:10:05 · iPad Air, iPad Pro, iPad
  • ★★ The keyboard case for the 2020 iPad Air is a ridiculously expensive extra of about $300, but Ali calls it a really nice typing experience. (hedged) — 00:10:05 · Magic Keyboard, iPad Air

00:10:34 — Keyboard and typing test

  • ★ Ali types 127 words per minute in a typing test on the iPad Air's keyboard, which he calls a bit crap. — 00:10:52 · Magic Keyboard, iPad Air
  • ★★ The 11-inch keyboard feels more cramped and he hits the trackpad more often, so if he could have any iPad Ali would still choose the bigger 12.9-inch size, easier to type and multitask on. — 00:11:24 · iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad
  • ★★ People use iPads for a mix of things, Ali says: consuming, creating, connecting and coordinating, the four Cs, with celebrating as a possible fifth. — 00:11:54 · the three Cs of tech, iPad, iPad Pro

00:12:00 — Is the iPad Air worth it: the Cs, students, value per price

  • ★★★ Whether an iPad is worth it depends, Ali says, on whether you already have one and what you do with it: ask how much your own productivity will improve with an iPad versus without one. — 00:12:23 · iPad, the three Cs of tech, iPad Pro
  • ★★ Going from no iPad to an iPad is a big jump, Ali says: you can leave your laptop at home or, as he did, switch to a Mac mini, and work in a coffee shop or on a plane. — 00:12:23 · iPad, iPad Pro
  • ★★ Having an iPad did unlock new productivity for Ali: he used it a lot for handwritten notes and still uses it for hand-drawn diagrams. — 00:13:02 · iPad, iPad Pro
  • ★★★ A student completely strapped for cash does not need an iPad at all, Ali says: it will not magically transform the student experience. — 00:13:02 · iPad, iPad Pro
  • ★★★ Most students lean far too much towards note-taking, making pretty notes in Notability or GoodNotes, which Ali calls a total waste of time; if having no iPad stops that, all the better. — 00:13:32 · Notability, GoodNotes, iPad Pro, iPad
  • ★★ A student really strapped for cash should just get the budget iPad, with the older Apple Pencil and a less nice keyboard but a lot cheaper: it gets you 90% of the way there, Ali says. — 00:14:01 · iPad, Apple Pencil, Magic Keyboard, iPad Pro
  • ★★★ Ali rates the iPad Air at about 98% of the value and the iPad Pro at 100%, with significant diminishing returns on what you spend on an iPad. — 00:14:25 · iPad Air, iPad Pro, iPad
  • ★★ There is very little point in getting an iPad Pro over the iPad Air, Ali says, unless you are so used to its 120 Hz screen that the Air's 60 Hz bothers you. — 00:14:55 · iPad Pro, iPad Air
  • ★★ Ali keeps his 10.9-inch iPad Air in a sleeve at the side of his bed. — 00:14:55 · iPad Air

00:15:10 — How he uses the iPad: bedside, sofa, balcony, writing

  • ★★ With the iPad Air at his bedside, Ali types night-time ideas into Notion or Drafts, and in the morning does his journaling, plans his day or scrolls Twitter without getting up. — 00:15:24 · iPad Air, Notion, Drafts, Twitter
  • ★★ When he is sick of sitting at his desk, Ali takes the iPad Air or iPad Pro out onto the balcony or lies on the sofa with it. — 00:15:24 · iPad Air, iPad Pro
  • ★★★ For any extensive writing, such as an essay, a blog post or a video script, Ali prefers writing on the iPad to sitting at his desk, which feels a bit depressing when all he does is write. — 00:15:53 · iPad Air, iPad Pro, iPad
  • ★ Before lockdown Ali used to take his iPad to coffee shops to get loads of writing done. — 00:15:53 · iPad, iPad Pro

00:16:19 — Can the iPad replace a laptop

  • ★★★ Even with the new M1 MacBooks, Ali does not think the iPad has ever been able to fully replace a laptop for someone like him: it can do almost everything, just a little slower, which wastes his time. — 00:16:19 · iPad, MacBook, iPad Pro
  • ★★ Taking a screenshot into notes takes Ali half a second on a Mac with Command-Shift-4 but about 15 seconds longer on the iPad, time that adds up for someone who takes many. — 00:17:22 · iPad, MacBook, Apple Pencil, iPad Pro

00:17:46 — Closing verdict and sign-off

  • ★★★ The M1 MacBook Pro is becoming Ali's daily laptop and the Mac mini his desk setup, but he will still carry an iPad nearly everywhere. — 00:17:46 · MacBook, iPad, iPad Pro

Threads in this video

  • restate · Which iPad should you buy? — Ali's upfront conclusion on the 2020 iPad Air: anyone in the market for an iPad should get it, while a student on a really tight budget would be completely happy with the budget iPad. (00:00:00)
  • refine · Which iPad should you buy? — Ali rates the iPad Air at about 98% of the value and the iPad Pro at 100%, with significant diminishing returns on what you spend on an iPad. (00:14:25)
  • restate · Which tech is worth buying? — Ali always keeps his iPad Air attached to the Magic Keyboard and recommends that to most people. (00:01:46)
  • refine · Which tech is worth buying? — If you already have an iPad, Ali would not upgrade to the iPad Air or iPad Pro just for speed unless you have actively noticed it is too slow for what you do. (00:09:35)
  • refine · How do you decide whether a purchase is worth it? — Whether an iPad is worth it depends, Ali says, on whether you already have one and what you do with it: ask how much your own productivity will improve with an iPad versus without one. (00:12:23)
  • restate · How should you take notes when studying? — Most students lean far too much towards note-taking, making pretty notes in Notability or GoodNotes, which Ali calls a total waste of time; if having no iPad stops that, all the better. (00:13:32)
  • restate · Can an iPad replace a laptop? — Even with the new M1 MacBooks, Ali does not think the iPad has ever been able to fully replace a laptop for someone like him: it can do almost everything, just a little slower, which wastes his time. (00:16:19)
  • kept · Ali promises a review of the iPad Air 4 (2020) — Ali's upfront conclusion on the 2020 iPad Air: anyone in the market for an iPad should get it, while a student on a really tight budget would be completely happy with the budget iPad. (00:00:00)

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: iPad Air

Also: People: Ali Abdaal's mother · Rene Ritchie · Taimur Abdaal

Organizations: Apple · Twitter

Concepts: diminishing returns · the three Cs of tech

Places: Tenerife

Products: 10FastFingers · Apple A12Z Bionic · Apple A14 Bionic · Apple M1 · Apple Pencil · Drafts · Face ID · Geekbench · GoodNotes · iPad · iPad Pro · iPhone · iPhone 7 · Mac mini · MacBook · Magic Keyboard · Notability · Notion · Paperlike · Touch ID

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