Which iPad is best for me?

Bert van Dyke

You can expand the new iPad 10 for 299 euros with a Magic Keyboard Folio

It was a bit of a shock. The successor to the basic iPad has become no less than 51 percent more expensive. The very first iPad also cost 499 euros in 2011, and if you include inflation since that time, the 589 euros now is actually not very strange. Yet that price increase is now suddenly so large that many iPad buyers will probably quickly opt for the popular basic iPad from 2021. All other iPads lack a separate headphone connection. If Apple no longer offers a cheaper basic model, the market share of the iPad will almost certainly fall slightly.
Because the prices of the other iPads have also been increased. For example, the iPad 9 and iPad Air have increased in price by 13 percent and the iPad Mini and iPad Pro models have increased in price by 18 to 21 percent. In the United States, however, prices for existing iPads have remained the same. This clearly shows that we in Europe will pay more because the euro has become much less valuable against the dollar.

Keyboards make it extra expensive
If you include Apple’s Magic Keyboards of 369 and 429 euros, the 11 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro M2 models are now even much more expensive than the powerful M1 Macbook Air of 1219 euros! Strangely enough, Apple now also offers such a pricey keyboard with a large trackpad for 299 euros with the iPad 10. You can even easily disconnect this Magic Keyboard Folio and it also has a row of 14 function keys. So there is a handy one escape key and you can adjust the brightness and sound volume. You can fold out the magnetic rear part as a standard. This makes this keyboard even more extensive than the Magic Keyboards for Apple’s most expensive iPads. The white color is a bit more contagious and there is also no storage space for your Apple Pencil.

Fortunately, Logitech has several affordable alternatives. If you mainly type at home, you will even save hundreds of euros with, for example, the separate K380 Bluetooth Keyboard from Logitech. Due to the higher iPad prices, more tablet buyers will probably choose one of the more affordable combinations of laptop and tablet with Chrome OS.

The iPad 10 (left) has brighter colors than the iPad Air (right)

iPad 10 is similar to iPad Air
From the outside, the iPad 10 now looks very much like the cheaper iPad Air. The round home button from the front has moved to the power button on the side. By moving the selfie camera to the long side, the iPad 10 is now the best iPad for video calls. As a result, there was no longer a place to magnetically charge an Apple Pencil 2. That’s why Apple now sells the Apple Pencil 1 with an adapter that allows you to charge the pencil via the USB-C port of the iPad 10. The disadvantage of such a small separate charging attachment is that you can easily lose it .

The iPad 10 now also has one liquid retinascreen with support for HDR 4 for extra contrast images. However, the screen of the iPad 10 is not laminated and consists of several layers. It also lacks an anti-glare coating that makes it less effective to use in bright light. As with the iPad Air, the iPad 10 is available in multiple colors. Other improvements include 1 MB of extra RAM, 5G (only the cellular version), WiFi 6 and a faster Bluetooth version that extends further. Also very nice is the 20 percent faster A14 processor that was also present in the 2020 version of the iPad Air.

Advantages of the iPad Air and iPad Pro
In the table at the end of this article, you can clearly see that the iPad Air 2022 is over 70 percent faster than the new basic iPad due to the M1 processor. The much more expensive iPad Pro models have now become even faster due to the M2 processor, but in practice you will hardly notice this as a user. The main reasons to buy an iPad Pro are often the 120Hz Oled screen and the larger storage space of 128 GB. Other differences such as Face ID, the 3D Lidar Scanner and the better cameras are less likely to be decisive. Buyers of the latest iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil 2 will benefit more from one Hoverfunction that Samsung has been using for some time: if you hold the Apple Pencil 2 approximately 12 mm above the screen, you can already see where that pencil will end up. This makes accurate drawing a little easier. In Safari you can also easily see the URL of a website with a link and a mini view of the website from that tab with each tab.

You can only charge the Apple Pencil 1 with an extra adapter via a USB-C port

In fact, the powerful iPad Air already offers almost everything demanding users will need for heavy work for years to come. Thanks to the M1 processor and the large 8 GB RAM, it is also the cheapest iPad with which you can work in multiple apps at the same time with the Stage Manager of iPadOS 16. So it’s great that new members and existing members can now win that powerful iPad Air at HCC. You can read about this elsewhere in this magazine.

This way you can save a lot of money
Are you looking for the cheapest possible iPad? Then quickly get that iPad 9 from 2021 at home for around 370 euros. The new iPad 10 has received a much higher price from Apple and you can now no longer even use it with all the possibilities of iPadOS 16. iPad users who want more are therefore much better off opting for the iPad Air from early 2022, which you can now buy at multiple providers with a discount of more than 100 euros. For a limited surcharge, you can get a much faster iPad with a better laminated screen, which is also suitable for the newer Apple Pencil 2. If you don’t mind a slightly smaller iPad screen, the iPad Mini is also very attractive. if you can get that somewhere for a lower price than the iPad 10.

It is a pity that Apple only provides the iPad Pro models with 128 GB of storage space. If you fall short of 64 GB of storage space, you suddenly lose an extra 200 euros at Apple. Fortunately, with the USB-C port you can now easily connect an SSD on which you can store many large files. If 128 GB is enough for you, the previous model of the 11-inch iPad Pro may also be something for you. We also do not recommend the additional cost of 200 euros for 5G mobile internet for most buyers. After all, most smartphones already allow you to share mobile internet with your iPad. This way you save on the purchase and you don’t need an extra data SIM card.

With the table below you can quickly compare the new basic iPad with the iPad Air and the other iPads that Apple still sells itself. The values ​​in bold are better and the best are the properties that are also underlined.