2021 Apple iPad Air vs 2020 iPad Pro Comparison By Pete Matheson

- Wondering which iPad is best? The new iPad Air? Or perhaps the iPad Pro? Are you about to buy one but can't quite tell the differences between the iPad Air or the iPad Pro? Well in this video I'm gonna talk about the differences and hopefully help you make the same decision that I'm about to make right now, which is which one should I buy? Those of you new to the channel. Hi, my name is Pete Matheson and I make videos around tech like this. So please do subscribe if you want more that'd be appreciated. Apple recently launched their brand new iPad Air, which is nearly identical to the specs of the iPad Pro. So in this video we're gonna touch on all of these differences. And then towards the end I'm going to sum up which one I'm gonna be choosing and why.

Now the main difference of course, is the price difference with the base model iPad Air with 64 gig of storage coming in at 579 and the base model iPad Pro, which starts at 128 gig of storage is 769. So there is a £90 difference between the two here in the UK, but obviously different in storage in those prices as well. And also FYI the models I have here are the 256 gig iPad Air and the 128 gig Pro. Now first up is the display with the iPad Air having a 10.9 inch Liquid Retina display and the iPad Pro 11 inch ProMotion Liquid Retina display. And personally and to be honest, this isn't probably something you've really notice unless you had these both side by side like I do.

I mean certainly the size is just well I couldn't honestly tell you that one was 0.1 inches smaller than the other one but I said they're identical. But the ProMotion definitely is something that I noticed on the Pro. And basically it means the iPad Pro screen has a high refresh rate and faster display. So things definitely look smoother. But of course with that said, it's impossible for me to show this to you unless I upload like this actual video in 120 frames per second which would just be insane.

So they'll Probably look the same to you over YouTube and compression and everything. But trust me ProMotion does look really nice. Now the displays also have differences in how bright they can go with the iPad Air hitting 500 nits, but the Pro goes up to 600 nits. And whilst this doesn't really seem like a huge difference. If you are someone who works outside, and particularly when it's sunny, than that extra 100 nit brightness can make a huge difference.

Next is the inner chips that actually are inside these devices. So the iPad Air has the A14 bionic chip. Whereas the iPad Pro has the A12 Zed bionic chip, which is older than the Air because well the Air is the newest one but the iPad Air is cheaper. And to be honest both of these are super snappy whilst I've been switching the two, I couldn't really put my finger on which one is faster than the other. Though I do expect Apple to bring out an updated iPad Pro in the near future to fix that difference.

When it comes to storage then the base model iPad Air comes in with 64 gig of storage. Whereas space model Pro comes with 128 gig of storage. Now you can spec up the Air to 256 gig, which is pretty good, but you can spec the iPad Pro right up to a huge one terabyte of storage which is a huge amount. And I guess great if you're a content creator who likes to store and edit large files, or maybe someone who uses that iPad as their only computer. For cameras the Air just has a single 12 megapixel wide camera versus the iPad Pro's dual 12 megapixel wide camera and 10 megapixel ultra wide camera.

Though to be honest I don't think I've ever used a camera on a iPad like ever. So for me the cameras don't really matter. And the wide camera is an F1.8 aperture and the ultra wide is a F2.4. Now when it comes to the front facing camera, then on the Pro you'll also get portrait mode as well as the Animoji and Memoji things. And the only other difference you can see on the spec sheet is the Pro has a brighter true tone flash.

But again who's really using an iPad Pro as a camera nowadays? Weight wise the iPad Air weighs 458 grammes versus the iPad Pro's 471 grammes. Well so the Air really isn't air then? Again to be honest no noticeable differences when holding both of them. Though maybe I can just about tell that this one is heavier, which Probably is just my subconscious, because this is the Pro. So who knows. In terms of audio well the iPad Air has a two speaker system versus the iPad Pros four speaker system, which I think sounded slightly better, but overall volume wise, they're both about the same max volume.

And if you're thinking two speakers means double as loud. Then of course one of the biggest differences here is the Face ID versus Touch ID. Now the iPad Air has Touch ID, which is now integrated with the power button over the top. Whereas the iPad Pro of course has Face ID using the same built-in camera technology. And I have to say that I find Face ID a much better system to use overall.

You just pick up the iPad and it's already unlocked before you even get to reach your hand to swipe up. Whereas with the iPad Air to be honest whilst it is easy to use, it did mean I have to go hunting sometimes for that touch button. Because if you're holding it slightly differently, but it does give you a nice indication where that touch button is depending on how you're holding the iPad Air. So that is quite nice. But to be fair there have been a couple of times where I've picked up the iPad Pro and it hasn't been able to unlock using Face ID.

Because I've been covering the camera, but it is so quick to recognise once you moved your hand that I just don't think it even competes with Touch ID. Though of course with that said, and in today's world of social distancing, if you are using this out and about a lot and having to wear a mask whilst using the iPad Pro, then actually the iPad Air would be a better choice because we all know how painful Face ID can be when wearing a mask. So there's some food for thought. And lastly in terms of differences, we have the LiDAR scanner on the Pro, which the Air doesn't have. Now the LiDAR scanner is something I saw a tonne of info about when the Pro was actually launched.

And it's been included in the iPhone 12 range, but I'm yet to see any actual real world useful implementation of it. I have no doubt at all that it's gonna be something incredible, but it's still in its early phase. And in my opinion it's something that having a LiDAR scanner isn't really a feature where I think, Oh, wow I really want that one because it's know the LiDAR. No just no not yet. So those are all the differences, but what about the similarities? Well both of these work with the magic keyboard case and the second generation only of the Apple Pencil.

They both have USB-C instead of Lightning, but I wish that Apple would standardise and just put USB-C on everything and iPhones as well. Both of these are also the same physical dimensions, except they squeezed the extra 0.1 inch from the screen. The same battery life of 10 hours web surfing on wifi. Though have you seen the battery life of those new M1 Macs? That is just insane. Maybe they'll bring some of those efficiencies over to the iPad soon.

But Oh... by the way I did make a video recently about comparing my near four grand 16 inch MacBook Pro to the very cheapest M1 MacBook Air. So I highly recommend watching that go up here or down below if you wanna be shocked. They both have exactly the same video recording 4k at 24 30, 60 FPS. Same slow-mo time-lapse and all that stuff.

Just everything else is identical. And if you were to spec these up similar in terms of storage, which is at 256 gig, then you're talking a £140 difference, which means it's decision time on one should you get. And which one do you think I'll be keeping? And the decision will of course be different depending on your needs and wants. If you need more storage to watch videos whilst you're travelling, then the 256 gig Air is great value. And you honestly won't notice the lack of ProMotion display and pretty much all your rest of the other features.

For me it comes down to a few things I think. I don't travel much because like most people pandemic. Though that will hopefully change soon. And even when I do, I don't think I need 256 gigabytes of storage. What I do notice is Face ID.

And I find it's just so much easier to use the iPad Pro because with the Air you have to sometimes fiddle with finding the button, which could be at an awkward angle if you're resting on your lap or something. So for the combination of Face ID, ProMotion display, also I think the extra a hundred nit brightness, just in case we ever see the sun here in England again. As it does make a difference when using it outside. All of these reasons even though it has less storage and an older generation A12 Zed bionic chip. So my decision I think is to pick the 128 gig iPad Pro over the 256 gig iPad Air.

Now it is worth mentioning that I use both of these with the iPad magic keyboard, and they both work exactly the same way. It gives you just a far more comfortable way to type and includes a mouse pad, which I'll be honest I just always just reach up and touch the screen still. It's just force of habit. Now I will of course drop links in the description below. You can actually currently get both the iPad Air and the iPad Pro slightly cheaper than shopping direct at Apple.

So I'll put those links there. Otherwise thanks for watching. Please do subscribe to the channel if you want more videos like this. Like the video if you did. Hit the notification bell to be notified when new videos posted.

And I'll leave you with a conundrum, because if you're buying an iPad Air or a Pro and then another £300 ish on a magic keyboard, which yes is a very expensive keyboard. Then this immediately puts you into the bracket of the new M1 MacBook Air which is cheaper and has double the battery life of any iPad and a bigger screen and a faster CPU and the full OS X operating system without any of the iPad limitations. Well damn that's an interesting conundrum. Bye-Bye.

Source : Pete Matheson