“For the past few years, Apple’s iPad lineup has had a large and obvious hole in it. At one end, there’s the $329 iPad, an affordable way to do basic computing and run the many excellent apps out there. It cuts some corners with a years-old design, older processors and a less-advanced screen, but for most people it’s good enough,” Nathan Ingraham writes for Engadget. “At the other end, there’s the iPad Pro, which Apple has made increasingly more powerful in the three years since it first arrived. At this point, it’s a bleeding-edge device with Apple’s best design, a crazy-fast processor and a big, beautiful screen. It’s also quite a bit more expensive, with a starting price of $799.”
“The gap between those two devices is so pronounced that Apple is filling it with a new tablet, the $499 iPad Air — though calling it new might be a stretch,” Ingraham writes. “t’s not the most inspired or exciting product Apple has built… [but] The $499 iPad Air is a notable upgrade in almost every respect over the $329 iPad. It has a bigger, better screen, more storage and support for Apple’s Smart Keyboard case. Unless you’re on a tight budget, it’s worth the extra cash and is probably the best all-around iPad you can buy right now.”
“After a week with the iPad Air, I’m convinced it’s the best iPad for most people. It offers clear and significant benefits over the standard iPad, including double the storage, a much better screen and support for the smart keyboard — while still being affordable,” Ingraham writes. “If the iPad Pro is Apple’s vision for the future of computing, the iPad Air is a device meant for right now, with a price point and feature set that’ll make almost anyone happy. It’s the Goldilocks iPad: just right.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s 10.5-inch iPad Air is seriously tempting.
Apple’s going to sell so many boat- and plane-loads of these new 10.5-inch iPad Airs they’ll wish they were still reporting iPad unit sales! — MacDailyNews, March 27, 2019
SEE ALSO:
Apple made the 10.5-inch iPad Air so capable it could hurt iPad Pro and Macbook sales – April 1, 2019
The Verge reviews Apple’s new 10.5-inch iPad Air: The best all-around tablet for most people – March 27, 2019
Apple launches all-new, A12 Bionic-powered 10.5-inch iPad Air and 7.9-inch iPad mini – March 18, 2019
If it had 4 speakers, sold. Or at two in lanscape mode at least. Really lame that after 9 years and all the new marketing showing it in a horizontally in landscape mode, it still has two “stereo” speakers on one side. When you hold it vertically, which I rarely do, they don’t sound stereo anyway.