0:00
the M3 iPad Air is Apple's mid-range
0:02
tablet that can do it all it's the thin
0:06
lightweight living room device perfect
0:08
for reading watching and browsing with
0:11
the magic keyboard and apple pencil you
0:13
can get some serious work done now I've
0:16
never owned an iPad of my own I've been
0:19
using Windows PCS and Mac since 2002
0:22
switching to the Mac full-time in 2012
0:25
between my Mac Mini and Vision Pro I've
0:28
felt no need for an iPad in my life
0:31
nonetheless I went all in on the M3 iPad
0:35
Air to see how much of my work I could
0:38
still do here's what I found
0:42
out I ordered the entrylevel iPad Air
0:47
$947 you get an 11-in LED display 128 GB
0:52
of storage 8 gab of ram the M3 chip a
0:56
magic keyboard an apple pencil with USBC
1:00
and the 20 W USBC power adapter for an
1:04
extra $100 you can upgrade to 256 GB of
1:08
storage which I recommend if you plan on
1:10
using any of Apple's Pro apps like Final
1:12
Cut Pro or Logic Pro for iPad and then
1:16
you're within spitting distance of the
1:18
cost of a new Macbook Air while the
1:20
MacBook Air has more versatile software
1:22
with Mac OS the iPad has transformable
1:26
Hardware it's not just a laptop it's
1:28
also a handheld tablet
1:30
and a Sketchbook the iPad has been
1:32
locked into a particular design in order
1:34
to stay compatible with its two main
1:36
accessories the magic keyboard and the
1:38
apple pencil it has to have flat sides
1:41
so the apple pencil can magnetically
1:43
snap onto the side and it has to stay
1:46
the same two sizes so that it's
1:48
compatible with the two sizes of magic
1:50
keyboard thankfully it's a very pleasant
1:52
design that doesn't Feld many complaints
1:55
it's a thin and light tablet that's easy
1:57
to hold in the hand put it in a big
1:59
bulky case and it's still easy to hold
2:03
because it's typically a two-handed
2:04
device anyways the iPad Air still uses
2:07
Touch ID built into the power button
2:09
instead of face ID a reasonable excuse
2:13
is that the face ID components are more
2:14
expensive and had never before been in a
2:17
brand new device costing only
2:21
$599 that is until the iPhone 16e was
2:24
announced a week prior with face ID
2:31
Touch ID is still pretty convenient
2:33
since you can just train yourself to
2:34
turn it on by tapping the power button
2:36
anyway but it's a little inconvenient in
2:39
the magic keyboard where it's
2:41
ergonomically out of the way from where
2:44
your hands typically are I ordered my
2:46
iPad Air in purple 10 points if you were
2:49
even able to tell before I pointed it
2:51
out it's irritating that Apple seemingly
2:54
thinks only the entry-level iPad is
2:56
allowed to come in fun colors while the
2:58
mid-range iPad has to look like a poorly
3:01
dyed Easter egg and the pro iPad is
3:04
apparently only purchased by Goths the
3:08
purple iPad looks like a silver iPad
3:11
that Waluigi threw in with his laundry
3:14
an iPad is more than a tablet add the
3:16
magic keyboard and it becomes a sort of
3:18
Proto laptop iPad OS still feels like a
3:21
totally different world to Mac OS but
3:24
with a traditional keyboard and trackpad
3:26
it feels uncannily familiar the new
3:29
magic keyboard adds a row of function
3:31
keys and a slightly larger trackpad the
3:34
prior magic keyboard positioned the iPad
3:36
much farther forward likely to keep the
3:38
weight balanced the new model pushes the
3:40
iPad back to make more room all the most
3:43
recent 10 or 11in iPads have floated
3:46
around one PB but when you add the magic
3:49
keyboard that weight triples it feels
3:53
really dense it's about the same weight
3:55
as an M3 MacBook Air but because all
3:58
that weight is in the back half when you
4:00
carry it around it feels heavier the
4:03
center of gravity is right around the
4:05
function Row the trackpad feels a little
4:07
cramped if you're used to the desktop
4:09
magic Trackpad as I am it's enough for
4:12
mousing around the interface but it
4:14
still feels small when you scroll up and
4:17
down through a timeline or a big web
4:19
page the oddness of this accessory makes
4:22
it hard to buy a proper iPad case if you
4:26
always keep it in the magic keyboard
4:28
it'll be protected against minor drops
4:31
if you never use the magic keyboard you
4:33
can encase your iPad in one of those
4:36
bulky plastic monstrosities but the
4:38
magic keyboard is supposed to be used
4:40
spontaneously you can freely take it off
4:43
or put it back on when you have the iPad
4:45
alone it won't have any sort of
4:47
protection at all but I was surprised to
4:50
find out that you can buy a case that
4:53
covers most of the iPad although it
4:56
leaves one of the long edges exposed and
4:59
it ALS Al has to be very thin in order
5:01
to still fit inside the magic keyboard
5:04
closed but something is better than
5:07
nothing and hopefully these cases are
5:09
updated to work with the newest models
5:11
all iPads that Apple currently sells are
5:13
compatible with both the cheaper apple
5:15
pencil with USBC and the more expensive
5:18
apple pencil Pro you just pick whichever
5:21
one you want but for the people who
5:23
still have older iPads Apple still sells
5:26
the older Apple pencils which is where
5:29
things get messy the USBC apple pencil
5:32
skips pressure sensitivity rotation
5:35
haptic feedback and the squeeze gestures
5:38
it also has to be plugged in to charge
5:41
although it still attaches magnetically
5:43
for convenience the sort of graphic
5:45
design work I do for cul of Mac doesn't
5:47
require hand drawing things with a
5:49
tablet so I was somewhat out of practice
5:52
but I had fun creating a few odd
5:53
sketches the slide out cap on the end
5:56
that reveals the USBC Port is so fun to
6:00
fidget and play with there's a slight
6:02
magnetic snap when you open it and close
6:05
it with a super satisfying sound while
6:08
it's an objective advantage that the
6:10
apple pencil Pro charges when it's
6:12
attached magnetically and thus doesn't
6:14
need USBC Port the sliding cover is
6:17
definitely something I would miss you
6:19
can find some utility in the apple
6:20
pencil even if you have no intention of
6:23
using it for any drawing or note taking
6:26
it's a Precision cursor for navigating
6:28
complex web apps when you're using the
6:31
iPad handheld without a mouse or
6:34
trackpad I picked up the apple pencil
6:36
anytime my hands were sweaty or clammy
6:39
and I didn't want to smudge my screen
6:42
you can also use its handwriting
6:43
recognition anywhere you can input text
6:47
although in practice attempting this
6:49
inside complex web apps like WordPress
6:52
or Google Docs ranges from frustrating
6:55
at best to the seventh circle of hell at
6:58
worst poorly designed web apps that are
7:00
built on hundreds of megabytes of
7:02
complex JavaScript refuse to play nicely
7:05
with pen input I was excited to enter
7:08
the longstanding debate of iPad
7:11
multitasking you can treat the iPad like
7:13
a big iPhone where you only have one app
7:15
on the screen at a time split view puts
7:19
two apps side by side to enter split
7:21
view you can drag an icon up from the
7:24
dock to the left or right half of the
7:26
screen or tap the three dots at the top
7:28
of the screen or combine any two apps
7:31
from the multitasking view stage manager
7:34
lets you freely arrange windows on the
7:36
screen it's not quite as open-ended as
7:39
Mac OS you can only have four on screen
7:41
at once and you arrange them in groups
7:44
that you can switch between I decided
7:46
pretty quickly that on the 11-in iPad
7:48
display I prefer split view to Stage
7:51
manager split view doesn't leave any
7:54
white space the apps entirely fill the
7:57
screen it also doesn't move things
7:59
around for me it does exactly what I
8:02
tell it to do however split view seems
8:04
to aggressively kill apps running in the
8:07
background I can't tell you how many
8:09
times over the course of writing this
8:11
review I switched back to my WordPress
8:13
tab in Safari only to wait for it to
8:16
reload and then cross my fingers and
8:19
hope that it didn't lose the last thing
8:21
I wrote a bunch of apps also refuse to
8:24
play nicely with split view whenever I
8:27
encounter one like Amazon immediately
8:30
uninstall the app and use it in Safari
8:33
instead stage manager lets you juggle
8:35
between more apps at once but I don't
8:38
think the 11-in display is big enough
8:41
nor is the user interface dense enough
8:43
to make four overlapping Windows very
8:46
useful surprisingly though you can get
8:48
the best of both worlds split view on
8:51
the iPad screen with Stage manager on an
8:55
external display every blogger with an
8:58
iPad thinks they know better than Apple
9:01
how to fix iPad multitasking once and
9:03
for all and now that I've owned an iPad
9:06
for almost an entire week I have my
9:09
unsolicited solution as well with iPad
9:13
OS 19 Apple should force every app to be
9:17
freely resizable having apps that can
9:20
only be resized between a few fixed
9:22
sizes with some not being resizable at
9:25
all feels very weird with that in place
9:30
split view should allow for more Dynamic
9:33
splits there's no reason why you
9:35
shouldn't be able to have three four or
9:38
even five apps in split view on screen
9:41
at once as a writer podcaster video
9:43
producer and graphic designer I juggle
9:46
through loads of apps every single week
9:48
I try to stay in the most Apple friendly
9:50
workflow of Final Cut Pro logic pro
9:54
pixel Mater Pro and Mars edit for the
9:57
bulk of my work thanks to tail scale I
10:00
was able to easily access the contents
10:02
of my Mac directly from the files app of
10:05
my iPad I could copy any files I needed
10:08
onto the iPad and save my work directly
10:11
to my Mac's hard drive pixel Mater Pro
10:14
isn't available on iPad only pixel Mater
10:18
it has most of the same features but
10:20
hasn't been redesigned in a while to
10:21
take full advantage of the iPad's
10:23
display I wasn't able to record the
10:25
cultcast using the iPad because only one
10:28
app is allowed to have access to your
10:30
microphone at a time but I was able to
10:33
edit an episode after I recorded using
10:36
Logic Pro for iPad there were a few
10:38
setup panes in getting my template
10:40
project to open and importing the audio
10:42
tracks and the interface is
10:44
understandably very different I wasn't
10:47
as fast as on my Mac but I figured it
10:49
out by the end a few features I Ed were
10:51
either missing or too buried for me to
10:54
figure out the normalized audio function
10:57
track grouping and renaming chapter
10:59
markers because of chapter markers I
11:01
still had to finish the work on my Mac
11:04
but it was fun editing an episode using
11:07
a pen on my couch instead of sitting in
11:10
my chair in my office next I tried out
11:12
video editing Apple doesn't officially
11:14
let you open a Final Cut Pro library on
11:16
your iPad if it was created first on
11:19
your Mac and I thought this was a dead
11:21
end until I found transfer toolbox it
11:25
took several tries but I eventually was
11:28
able to open a full video timeline when
11:30
I tried replacing a few missing titles
11:32
and poke around it started crashing
11:36
constantly so this may have mixed
11:39
results Final Cut Pro for iPad is better
11:41
suited to Creation using Final Cut
11:45
camera I didn't have multiple human
11:47
actors to film with at 10:30 on a
11:51
Saturday night but I did have multiple
11:54
computers I set up a chess match between
11:57
an iBook G3 and a Pentium based Doss PC
12:01
filming each side with an iPhone using
12:04
Final Cut camera afterwards I was able
12:06
to edit footage of the match on the iPad
12:09
swapping between each camera adding in
12:11
effects and making a truly polished
12:14
video unfortunately the chess match
12:16
itself ended in an anticlimactic tie the
12:20
speed is incredible it has an M3 chip
12:24
which is only surprising or weird to
12:26
those of us who follow Apple closely and
12:29
know that the M4 is the current
12:31
generation nobody's work on iPad OS is
12:34
impaired on an M3 instead of an M4 the
12:37
M3 can handle everything the battery
12:40
life was pretty average I was spoiled by
12:44
reviewing this simultaneously with the
12:46
M4 MacBook Air which I just cannot
12:49
possibly imagine draining from 100 to
12:51
zero in a single day but the MacBook Air
12:54
has room for a battery that's twice as
12:56
big as the iPad Air so I probably
12:59
shouldn't have been surprised but the
13:01
iPad Air has a battery that's twice as
13:03
big as my iPhone so I suppose I was
13:05
expecting more the rear camera is fine I
13:09
think it's hilarious that Apple removed
13:11
the ultra wide camera from the M4 iPad
13:13
Pro and literally nobody cared you're
13:16
only going to use the front faing camera
13:18
anyways which is also fine the speakers
13:21
can fill a room surprisingly well so
13:24
long as it's an otherwise quiet room I
13:27
had it across the kitchen for me and I
13:29
could still hear it all loud and clear
13:31
but it was overpowered by my stov top
13:34
fan the M3 iPad Air is a remarkable
13:37
device it's a fantastic tablet it's
13:40
because it's so great and powerful as a
13:42
tablet that people want to push it even
13:46
further and the magic keyboard is truly
13:49
transformative well I couldn't do all of
13:52
my work on the iPad I think a lot of
13:54
people would be surprised just how far
13:56
it can take them so much work is done on
13:59
the web these days where all you need is
14:02
a keyboard and a Precision pointing
14:04
device for many people not needing a
14:07
proper computer is a relief and a weight
14:10
off the shoulders the relative
14:12
Simplicity of the iPad is the whole
14:16
point I'm driffin Jones with Cult of Mac