Whereas it’s true that the iPad Professional fashions are probably the most highly effective iPads out there, for most individuals they’re merely overkill. Additionally, they arrive with Professional degree costs, which isn’t nice should you’re solely going to make use of them to observe iPlayer and FaceTime the grandkids. So, for the extra discerning person that requires loads of energy however at an inexpensive worth, the iPad Air is a superb answer.

With the latest introduction of the iPad 10.9-inch (tenth era), there’s not a lot to differntiate that mannequin and this one. However, while you look intently, you may see from the place the additional expense comes. The 2 units are across the similar measurement, though the Air is marginally extra compact and light-weight. Each sport a ten.9-inch Liquid Retina Show, however the one on the Air is fully-laminated, so there’s no air-gap between the glass and digitiser, which makes it really feel such as you’re touching the precise pixels and makes utilizing the compaible Apple Pencil (2nd gen) that a lot smoother.

They function the identical 12Mp cameras on the front and back, solely the iPad 10.9-inch (tenth gen) one is positioned on the longer aspect of the machine, making it panorama. However, below the hood the Air has the extremely highly effective M1 processor, which was beforehand discovered within the final era iPad Professionals, to not point out a number of latest Macs. This takes issues to a different degree. If somebody desires to play video games, use graphically intensive apps or simply desires a extremely quick person expertise, then the M1 delivers that in spades.

The iPad Air (2022) has usually be known as the iPad Professional for regular folks, and that’s precisely what it’s. The USB-C port means that you can join numerous exterior units, reminiscent of storage or screens, so it may simply rework into an erstaz laptop computer with a processor that’s desktop-class. Apple presents the modern Magic Keyboard folio case, however at $299/£319 it’s manner overpriced, so we’d counsel a 3rd occasion Bluetooth keyboard and case as extra frugal choice.

The one actual draw back, aside from a latest worth hike by Apple for non-US prospects, is the 64GB of storage out there on the bottom mannequin. In 2022 this appears very mean-spirited of Apple, particularly when its iPhones often begin at 128GB. With that in thoughts, you’ll in all probability need to go for the costlier 256GB configuration as it’ll age a bit higher.  

You possibly can choose up the iPad Air within the following configurations: 

• iPad Air (2022, Wi-Fi) 64GB: $599/£669
• iPad Air (2022, Wi-Fi) 256GB: $749/£849
• iPad Air (2022, Wi-Fi + Mobile) 64GB: $749/£849
• iPad Air (2022, Wi-Fi + Mobile) 256GB: $899/£1,029

You should definitely learn our roundup of the greatest iPad Air offers too, so that you don’t miss out on any nice presents.