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Apple M3 iPad Air (2025) Review: Can it convert a stubborn Mac user?
Mar 19, 2025
Article on Cult of Mac: https://www.cultofmac.com/reviews/m3-ipad-air-review More Apple news: http://www.cultofmac.com Produced by Extra Ordinary for Cult of Mac Music composed by Will Davenport, arranged by D. Griffin Jones The #Apple M3 #iPad Air can do it all, as I found while testing Apple’s midrange tablet for this review. At its core, the thin, lightweight device proves perfect for living room reading, watching and browsing. Add the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil, and you can get some serious work done. The #iPadAir is fast, powerful and remarkably capable. Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:43 What I ordered 1:32 Design 3:14 Magic Keyboard 5:11 Apple Pencil 7:07 Multitasking on iPadOS 9:42 Productivity 12:20 Miscellaneous & Conclusion Follow us! Threads: https://www.threads.net/@cultofmac
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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
0:46
for
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
2:27
costing only $599
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
with it
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
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