Apple introduces iPad Air with powerful M3 chip and new Magic Keyboard

Give me a MB with LTE and I can finally stop buying&regretting iPads.

Maybe Apple moving into the modem space will get us there but it does feel like some sort of purposeful market segmentation

Or a 12” MacBook - Apple is missing both 11” and 12” options.

Or let us run Mac apps on the darn iPad.

I „found“ a MacBook 12“ Retina from 2015 at home a few weeks ago. Size wise that's the sweet spot for me. Would totally buy such a device running on Apple silicon. In the end I sold it for 50 Euro after tinkering with Pop!_OS and ultimately realizing that the processor is way too slow for Java development nowadays.

They make more money from selling you all the add-on dongles

That sounds sweet ride.

I spend all my time either with my laptop docked in the office, or at home, but I sometimes I need to bring my device with me. Such a laptop would be perfect for me.

I would love an 11" MacBook. The new chips are perfect for that form factor given they're so powerful & light on battery.

Studies have shown that when companies present an overwhelming number of choices, consumers often end up spending more. The psychology behind this is rooted in decision fatigue, where consumers are more likely to choose something familiar or assume that a more expensive product is the best choice.

Reminds me of when Steve cut all the numerical suffixes from the product line and drew the grid:

               home   work
    
    portable  iBook | PowerBook
              -----------------
     desktop   iMac | PowerMac

I don't really see the value proposition for the iPad Pro. It's got powerful hardware, but I can't imagine myself doing any heavy work on a tablet.

Well, Apple employees can’t work remotely :) But if you do, and you like working outside your house, the cheapest 10+-inch M-series model you can get is the answer. With Sidecar, it’s at minimum a wireless external display everywhere you go.

At this new model’s cost, it’s hard to recommend. But it does make last year’s M2 models (and older M1 models) more sensible for this purpose.

It's not that complicated, there's basically 3 iPads. iPad, iPad Air, iPad Pro. Good, Better and Best. The Mini is a niche product that you buy if you need a smaller iPad.

The famous "four quadrant" product matrix expanded to "Good, Better, Best" across most their product line towards the ends of Job's era. Airpods/Pro/Max. Apple Watch SE/10/Ultra. iPhone 16e/16/Pro (with some size variations).

I keep seeing people saying it's complicated but it's really not.

if( price sensitive ) return iPad; else if( know what you're doing and you know it needs a Pro ) return iPad Pro; else // I guess I'll be browsing and watching movies?? return iPad Air;

I’ve been waiting for a Mac version. Why on earth would I type anything of any length on a phone when my favorite docked laptop setup is an option?

It’s just that such a small startup don’t have the funds and resources to work on 2 CRUD apps at the same time.

My guess is that not many people are using it on the iPhone (of which Apple is selling five times as many as iPads, hence they started with that), so they extrapolated that an iPad version isn’t worth it.

Or maybe it’s just general Apple dysfunction. It took them 14 years to port the Calculator app after all.

For me the iPad has become one of my favorite ways to use applications like ZBrush, Procreate/Clip Studio, Photoshop/Affinity products.

Now I just need to find good texturing and basic modeling applications I can use on the iPad and I could do a lot more from the comfort of my couch or even outside in the spring.

ZBrush especially on the iPad is an impressive feat and is almost a 1:1 port. I don’t have years and years of ZBrush experience so I actually much prefer the iPad ZBrush GUI to the traditional one.

edit: Shoutout to Paperlike screen covers.

The iPad got good for me when I deleted everything but reading and designing/art apps and turned off notifications.

It doesn’t come close to doing all of my computing but it helps me immerse in areas I struggle with on a laptop or desktop.

I realize I’m blessed to be able to split my computing across multiple nice devices.

This is a meme comment by now.

I've been using an iPad Air (with Paperlike) for the past 4 years for basically running my life at school, and I can't imagine going back to working with actual paper for daily note-taking and homework assignments. It's great for reading whitepapers and marking them up while laying on the couch.

That functionality by itself justifies its existence in my estimation.

My main use is cooking. I keep the recipes in Obsidian, can enable timers hands free, and because it's a big slate of glass its easy to wipe down when it inevitably gets pasta dough on it.

It could be a great do-everything machine if they let you run macOS on it, but of course they don't want to sell one machine that does everything, they want to sell you an iPad and a MacBook even though they are basically the same hardware plus or minus an integrated keyboard.

Yah, got a m4 ipad with a keyboard addon ... it just doesn't work, its not a computer.

I had the same thought and bought it with the Magic Keyboard. I was surprised to find that the iPad Air with the keyboard weighs about the same as a MacBook Air. Now, I mainly use it as an extra display when traveling and for note-taking. The usage as a separate device is minimal since a lot of uses has intersections with a mobile phone.

Same. Maybe if I had drawing talent, it would be useful.

I have tried to incorporate it into my daily workflow (maybe use it to help with diagramming), but it ends up collecting dust. Or used to watch films in bed.

Using it as a glorified Kindle also doesn’t work well.

I also hope for a new take on an ultraportable Macbook w/ less than 1000g

the 12" Macbook was special

I see my colleagues using iPads at work when on Zoom calls as a whiteboard. It's pretty cool when done effectively. I'd like to practice that skill.

I bring my iPad to the coffee shop and leave my laptop at home when all I want to do is send emails and read. I don't think I could do "heavy" work on it, but it's great for quick stuff. The fact that it has 5g means I don't mess around with finding wifi. I wouldn't pay extra for the 5g (tethering works perfectly), but I got a few free unlimited data lines back when various US cell companies were fighting to churn customers.

I really started to enjoy my iPad Pro M1 messing around making music.

There are hundreds of fantastic apps out there from mixers, sequencers to excellent synthesizers, effects and samplers. For an idea of what this can look like, here's a video: https://youtu.be/ft8erjlzg4A?si=lCg77DZAUYNa1SEf

Add a midi controller and you can make pretty much any kind of music you want.

A great benefit over mac / pc computer based music making is that the apps are very affordable.

My iPad Mini is my primary travel computer. Fits (barely) in most of my front pockets. But the screen is big enough that I feel comfortable. Keep a bluetooth keyboard with an attachment slot in my bag. The slot holds the tablet firmly enough that I can use it as a laptop when wanted.

For my needs it's mostly perfect. Can have it with me at all times without requiring a bag. Much more portable than an actual laptop while the screen is more comfortable in size/ratio than the usual 6.8 inch phones.

iPadOS isn't my favorite but the form factor makes up for it.

They're a computer for things that your laptop sucks at. Draw directly on them, use them for reading, carry them to work sites and use them in situations where a laptop would be super-awkward, put them on sheet music stands, prop them up in the kitchen, hold them up and use their tilt sensors in games, all that kind of stuff.

They're basically never better than a laptop at things laptops are good at (though often serviceable enough that folks don't need both) but excel at other use cases where laptops aren't great.

iPads are useless for developers. When working I just use mine as a 3rd monitor for Slack, Notion, Linear, Grafana, or whatever I want to keep an eye on.

iPads are amazing for other things though:

- they're the best platform to read comics or mangas

- they're great to learn/play piano with dynamic sheets

- they're great for games (Balatro on iPad is top tier), and basically anything where tactile is good as an input control (GarageBand is nice to use on iPad)

- they're great for travel

You can do many things with an iPad, developing is not one of them.

My M1 iPad Pro works well for photo editing (using Photomator, now acquired by Apple).

That, and the normal consumption stuff - web, streaming TV/movies, magazines, news, etc.

Never bothered trying to build software with it - that's why I own a MBP.

I do the exact same thing. I buy an iPad because it seems cool, use it for a bit, forget about it, sell it/give it away, repeat two years later.

I love the idea of an iPad, but they just don't really fit into my life I guess.

My biggest use case was as a recipe manager: I used the app Mela and placed the iPad in the kitchen, giving me a touchscreen with water resistance that would give me step-by-step instructions on cooking the family meal.

People complain because they care...

You're absolutely right, when people stop caring -- that's when Apple should be concerned.

Are you new to this space? Complaining about product announcements, especially Apple's, is a game with many players and has been for decades.

Agreed. This was also the first thing I searched for when clicking on the article. 60Hz screens should not be a thing in 2025.

I must be very lucky - I have 60hz monitors on my desk, and a 120hz iPad Pro, and I don't really notice a difference!

IKR

People who need intelligence, obviously.

Wow they really reused that word three times in once sentence. Ouch.

And thicker

They still age out, my mum has had excellent success with iPads, after somehow killing a litany of laptops.

Shes a consumer through-and-through, and an iPad is great for that- and occasionally calling people.

Unfortunately she’s had her current iPad for about 8 years, so it has aged out of security updates- so I am looking to upgrade her. Battery still holds charge though, at least enough that she doesn't complain.

I find the phone to be too cramped and when I'm at home, I do most of my computing on an iPad.

iPads are great for my son (8yo) and my parents (80s).

Apple sells roughly double the number of iPads vs. MacBooks, so there’s that.