It is time for a duel between iPad Professional 2024 and M3 MacBook Air.
In recent times, Apple has strongly positioned its strongest pill as a succesful laptop computer substitute. Now that the brand new iPad Professionals are right here, it is time to take one other have a look at the inevitable comparability: iPad Professional or MacBook Air?
Earlier than we start, we have to set the stage a bit. Sure, the iPad Professional is primarily a pill and doesn’t include a mechanical keyboard as normal. However Apple’s Magic Keyboard for the iPad Professional retains getting higher (extra on that in a second), and whereas the iPad has a touchscreen and a Pencil, the MacBook Air does not, making it a bit extra succesful in sure workflows.
Lastly, the iPad Professional is supplied with Apple’s new M4 chip, making it (theoretically) extra highly effective than the MacBook Air.
Huge caveat right here: Till we totally take a look at the brand new iPad Professional, we cannot know precisely how nicely it performs as a laptop computer substitute. Notice that this text solely compares specs based mostly on publicly out there knowledge.
The best way to pre-order the brand new iPad Air
Regardless, the final model of the iPad Professional wasn’t substitute for the MacBook Air as a result of worth, minor bugs, and quite a few workflow points. Has that modified with the brand new iPad Professional? Let’s dive in.
iPad Professional 2024 vs. M3 MacBook Air: Worth
The MacBook Air is considerably cheaper than the brand new iPad Professional. Pricing begins at $1,099, whereas the 13-inch iPad Professional begins at $1,299. The iPad does not include a keyboard, and for a good comparability we have to add the Magic Keyboard, which prices an extra $299, bringing the whole price of the iPad Professional to $1,598. A reasonably large win for the MacBook Air.
iPad Professional 2024 vs. M3 MacBook Air: Specs
That is the place issues get difficult. It doesn’t matter what Apple or anybody else says, the MacBook Air might be higher for laptop computer duties. However in relation to pure processing energy and show efficiency, it lags behind.
Pfft, the keyboard does not even come off.
Photograph credit score: Apple
It’s because the MacBook Air options Apple’s M3 chip, whereas the brand new iPad Professional options Apple’s newest and biggest M4 chip. Nevertheless, we can’t be positive the way it works. Spec for spec the M4 is extra highly effective. The 13-inch iPad Professional with 256GB storage (launch mannequin) options an M4 chip with a 9-core CPU, with 3 efficiency cores and 6 effectivity cores, a 10-core GPU and a 16-core Neural Engine . The primary MacBook Air options an M3 chip with an 8-core CPU (with 4 efficiency cores and 4 effectivity cores), an 8-core GPU and a 16-core Neural Engine. The preliminary storage is identical for each fashions and is 256 GB.
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Every thing Apple introduced throughout its iPad occasion, together with the brand new OLED iPad Professional
Right here too, the MacBook Air’s show is a distant second. The Air encompasses a 13.6-inch IPS LED show with a decision of two,560 x 1,664 pixels and 500 nits brightness. The iPad Professional’s show is gorgeous: it is a tandem OLED show with a 2,752 x 2,064 pixel show and a most brightness of 1,000 nits (1,600 nits when viewing HDR content material).
iPad Professional 2024 vs. M3 MacBook Air: Design
Effectively, one is a pill, the opposite is a laptop computer. Easy, proper?
Once you equip the iPad with Apple’s new Magic Keyboard, it really resembles a laptop computer. And right here we now have to offer the iPad Professional an edge, which may be changed into a ravishing, uninterrupted assortment of… nicely, content material. It is also out there in Apple’s cool new House Black colour, though the MacBook Air provides a wider vary of colours, with 4 on supply: Midnight, Starlight, House Grey and Silver.
May mistake you for an actual laptop computer from a distance.
Photograph credit score: Apple
If we had been to delve into performance, we’d most likely get very completely different opinions from customers: some would favor the flexibility of the iPad, whereas others (myself included) like the truth that the MacBook is only a laptop computer cannot be reworked into one thing else.
Nonetheless, we now have to go away this mannequin to the iPad Professional for purely aesthetic causes.
Oh, and also you must also think about how lighter the iPad Professional is than the MacBook Air: 0.98 kilos versus 2.7 kilos. We do not know the precise weight Magic keyboardwhich you will want so as to add to the burden of the iPad, however we’re fairly positive it does not weigh 1.7 kilos.
iPad Professional 2024 vs. M3 MacBook Air: Options
Sorry, Mac lovers, however the iPad Professional wins right here too. It encompasses a touchscreen show, Apple Pencil Professional help, and a 12-megapixel digital camera on the again. The MacBook Air has…nicely, it has an connected keyboard.
iPad Professional 2024 vs. M3 MacBook Air: Battery life
We have no actual numbers for the iPad Professional, so we cannot deviate farther from Apple’s official numbers: As much as 15 hours of wi-fi internet browsing for the MacBook Air and as much as 10 hours of internet browsing with Wi-Fi or viewing of movies for the iPad Professional.
iPad Professional 2024 vs. M3 MacBook Air: Which is Greatest for You?
We would like to offer you a definitive reply, however that might require us to check the iPad Professional (we’ll) and we might have to know what kind of consumer you’re. Should you want the touchscreen and prefer to jot issues down with a pencil, think about the iPad Professional (in the event you do not thoughts the additional price).
For a lot of customers, one factor issues: whether or not or not they’ve a linked keyboard that’s at all times prepared to be used. Oh sure, and the software program.
Photograph credit score: Apple
Primarily based on specs, design, and options alone, the iPad Professional is a fairly clear winner right here: it has a extra highly effective chip, extra options, a much more superior show, and is only a cooler gadget general.
The elephant within the room in relation to comparisons like that is at all times the software program. Up to now, Apple’s iPadOS is not nearly as good as macOS for many work-related duties. Possibly, simply possibly, Apple will change that with the following model of iPadOS… however we’ll have to attend till June and the Apple WWDC to seek out out.