iPad Air M3 vs iPad Pro M4 Review

Tom's Guide

In this video, Tony breaks down the iPad Air M3 vs. iPad Pro M4 biggest differences to consider before you buy. On one hand, you have what’s widely considered the best iPad overall to buy in 2025. On the other, you have a powerhouse tablet that Tony himself uses on the daily. But when it comes to which one is best for you, well, you’ll need to watch to find out!

Transcript

00:00sup guys instead of doing a dedicated review of the ipad air m3 i unboxed here on the channel a

00:04few weeks ago i'm going to break down the biggest differences between the ipad air m3 and the ipad

00:10pro m4 i'll take you through how much they cost with the different configuration options the

00:14differences in design how their performance compares and what to expect in terms of battery

00:18life with some important benchmarks let's get into it i'm guessing that you kind of already know what

00:24your budget is for a new ipad so i'll make the price breakdown quick the 11-inch ipad air m3

00:29starts at 599 while the 13 version costs 799. most can be upgraded with cellular connectivity and up

00:35to one terabyte of storage meaning prices can rise up to 1249 for the smaller version and 1449 for the

00:41larger model i don't know that the ipad air's target customer needs to be configuring the device that

00:46much i think most people will stay under a thousand dollars for sure with the ipad pro m4 the 11-inch

00:52model starts at a thousand dollars technically 999 with the 13-inch model beginning at 1299. we get the

00:58same added cost not only with the cellular data but up to two terabytes of total storage and a

01:02nano texture glass option for models of one terabyte or over you can pay up to 2299 for the 11-inch

01:08version or 2599 for the larger model which is far into macbook territory and maybe you're considering

01:14this as a macbook or laptop alternative but in this case better specs matter i want to pause for a second

01:19to say thanks to everyone who's come back to the channel and also hey to all those here at tom's guide

01:25for the first time my name's tony and you'll find me here talking about tablets laptops and all things

01:30gaming so if you like those kinds of things consider subscribing to the channel and turning

01:35on those notifications so you never miss a future video now as an avid ipad user i can clearly distinguish

01:41which one is which but i think most people you won't find major differences especially considering

01:46they come in the same two size options that said and this might come as a surprise the ipad pro

01:52it's actually thinner and lighter than the ipad air it's 0.21 inches thick for the 11 inch version

01:57and 0.2 inches thick for the 13 inch model compared to 0.24 inches for both ipad airs the ipad pro weighs

02:050.98 or 1.28 pounds compared to the ipad airs 1.1 and 1.36 pounds i know that's not a huge difference

02:13but my point is don't just get the air thinking it's the most portable version of the two you'd be wrong

02:18it's worth mentioning that the ipad pro has an oled display while the ipad air has an lcd liquid retina

02:24panel the upshot of the oled display is better picture quality plus it gets 120 hertz promotion

02:29displays for smoother animations while the new airs are still stuck at 60 hertz there's another

02:35important detail that will become apparent as you use it while the ipad pro now uses face id for

02:40unlocking the ipad air only uses touch id via a fingerprint reader built into the power button

02:45the new ipad air's main upgrade is the apple m3 chip which features an eight core cpu a nine core

02:52gpu and a 16 core neural engine it scored 3042 and 11804 in single and dual geekbench testing

03:00respectively when it comes to gaming m3 features like hardware accelerated mesh shading ray tracing

03:06and dynamic caching also help big titles like resident evil 4 look phenomenal but the ipad pro

03:11performance is next to none this 13 inch unit packs an m4 chip with a 10 core cpu and a 10 core gpu it

03:17hit up to 14 523 insane multi-core geekbench test the biggest benefit as a user is that i can run tons

03:24of apps at once switching between programs and pages and the ipad pro never stutters everything looks and

03:30runs super smooth part of that goes back to the display i mentioned earlier but still this is hard to

03:35beat that's not to say the m3 in the air is outdated it's still really powerful by tablet standards

03:40though if you are the type of person who cares about having the most future-proof tech clearly

03:45the m4 is the latest option in our testing which involves continuous web serving over wi-fi with

03:51the device's display set to 150 nits of brightness the ipad air m3 lasted for 9 hours and 41 minutes

03:57on the other hand the ipad pro lasted for an astonishing 13 hours and 13 minutes that not only

04:02beats the air m3 but also the 10 hours apple promise this is an incredible result that makes the

04:07ipad pro m4 the new premium tablet to beat in terms of battery life though the ipad air m3 doesn't have

04:13the same endurance as the pro nearly 10 hours of battery life isn't anything to scoff at unless you're

04:18really pushing this tablet with a ton of apps it should last you for a full workday what's great

04:23about ipad is a lot of times people get them for their hobbies or to elevate parts of day-to-day life

04:28like school and work you could just get them for reading and streaming though note that the ipad mini or

04:34recently refreshed standard ipad are plenty good enough for both of those things and don't cost

04:39nearly as much ipad air and ipad pro are for when you're going to take things up a notch for artists

04:44or when drawing the ipad pro can handle a greater quantity of large files and assets you need on hand

04:50and a better display means you'll have greater color accuracy things that could matter a lot in

04:55the context of your work similarly if you're looking for an ipad that can replace a macbook be your

05:00workstation on the go the ipad pro is more suited for the task now if you're a student and you need

05:05something for note taking i say the ipad air is more than sufficient you can still download your

05:09textbooks no problem it's a good compliment maybe to the laptop you have back at home or at your dorm

05:15room you can even use features like sidecar and make your ipad air another display for your macbook

05:20so hopefully you have a better sense of which ipad you want to buy but if you have any other questions

05:25leave them in the comment section and i'll be sure to get back to you i've also left a link below to

05:30both ipad models in case you're interested in picking them up but otherwise that's it for me later

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