Discussion My IPad Air 2 ...should I replace?

[Geekbabe]

My iPad Air 2 gets heavy use & I was wondering if I should replace it? The new Airs look tempting but so do the new iMacs. My current computer is a 2014 MacBook Pro & it’s starting to get a bit long in the tooth

 

[Scarpozzi]

I like getting new systems every 5+ years if I can....just trying to keep stuff out of the landfill by buying less frequently.

 

[Eug]

We passed our iPad Air 2s to our young kids, because they needed them, but also because even a couple of years ago I felt the iPad Air 2 was starting to lag. I ended up buying a 2017 iPad Pro 10.5" refurb in 2019 to replace it (when the iPad Air 3 10.5" came out), and my wife got an iPad 7 10.2" (with LTE) also that year.

Then I added an Apple Smart Keyboard for it, and it has dramatically changed how I use the iPad. I also got the keyboard for the wife too. My iPad Pro 10.5" feels noticeably snappier than the iPad Air 2, although truthfully the iPad Air 2 wasn't bad. The quad speakers on the iPad Pro 10.5" are also great.

However, since you still have the iPad Air 2 and likely find it's still quite functional, I would wait until the new Air 4 and/or iPad 8 and/or iPad Pro 11" come out. There is even a rumour that a new iPad could come out in the next 2 months, but that's just a rumour of course. Many believe the next iPad will be in 2021, which is still OK if you're fine using your iPad Air 2 for another 6 months.

I personally won't be buying until they come out with an iPad around that size with mini-LED. I watch a fair bit of video on it, and the thing I dislike the most about current iPads and iPad Pros are the mediocre black levels. Mini-LED should partially fix that.

 

[manly]

I like getting new systems every 5+ years if I can....just trying to keep stuff out of the landfill by buying less frequently.

This is the best thing about iOS vs Android, esp. since Apple SoCs are nearing mainstream x86 CPUs in performance. Going forward, it's just incredibly wasteful to replace devices every 3 years (or even less) just because Android doesn't have a better update regime. I say Android in general because Google's 3 year first party support is no better than for other OEM's "flagship" phones.

But back on topic, it's not about how much you use a device but whether it still gets the job done without any frustration/pain points. The issues Eug brings up are always germane IMO; don't upgrade if you don't have an immediate need or you're approaching Apple's typical fall product release cycle.

As for Mac portables, definitely wait until new products ship with Apple silicon (historically it's best to wait for "rev. B" or a 2.0 product). The "new" iMacs have an ancient design and are thought to be some of the last Macs released with Intel CPUs (presumably Mac Pro will be Xeon-based for a while, but who knows). As such, some would consider iMacs as a dead-end platform, even if Apple will support both Intel x86 and ARM for years to come.

 

[Midwayman]

I'd wait for this fall at least. They're refreshing the lower end ipads. Current base ipad is an a10, which is pretty dang old at this point. If you have to get one today, I'd get an Air. I'm not sure if the air is getting a refresh yet, but moving them to a12 base and a 14 for the air seems plausible.

 

[Geekbabe]

You all make good points, my Air does the things I enjoy most, reading forums, YouTube, Netflix, social media. My iPhone XR is still wonderful & does a lot of my day to day stuff. My Mac is 6 yrs old but gets the least use.

I will wait...see what the new iPads are like

 

[Midwayman]

They leaked the model numbers. Speculation is now ipad, ipad air, ipad mini are all getting updates. Possibly a ipad pro 5g. (there is one odd number)

 

[Eug]

They leaked the model numbers. Speculation is now ipad, ipad air, ipad mini are all getting updates. Possibly a ipad pro 5g. (there is one odd number)

Everything is getting updated... eventually.

Unfortunately, the problem with those model number leaks is they are often several months in advance, sometimes well over half a year.

I do suspect something soon though. The problem with the iPad Air 4 rumours is that the rumoured specs bring it very close to the existing iPad Pro 11". If that's the case, I might expect the iPad Pro 11" to be updated near the same time or even earlier... although the other possibility is that they could just discontinue the iPad Pro 11" completely.

 

[Midwayman]

Everything is getting updated... eventually.

Unfortunately, the problem with those model number leaks is they are often several months in advance, sometimes well over half a year.

I do suspect something soon though. The problem with the iPad Air 4 rumours is that the rumoured specs bring it very close to the existing iPad Pro 11". If that's the case, I might expect the iPad Pro 11" to be updated near the same time or even earlier... although the other possibility is that they could just discontinue the iPad Pro 11" completely.

These model numbers just dropped in the last week. I've also heard rumors that the 11" pro is being discontinued in favor of making the air 4 better. Don't know how much credence to give it, but I think there is a lot of overlap with the air and the pro 11"

 

[ultimatebob]

My iPad Air 2 is getting pretty long in the tooth, where applications don't seem to respond as quickly as they used to now that I've updated to iOS 13.

I guess that shouldn't surprise me, considering that it basically has the same hardware as an iPhone 6S.

If I replaced it, I'd probably replace it with an Android tablet. I'm getting tired of Apple's monopolistic business practices, and I think that I'm going to stop buying stuff from them until allow side loading of applications outside of the App Store and/or stop charging a 30% commission on all App Store purchases.

 

[manly]

My iPad Air 2 is getting pretty long in the tooth, where applications don't seem to respond as quickly as they used to now that I've updated to iOS 13.

I guess that shouldn't surprise me, considering that it basically has the same hardware as an iPhone 6S.

If I replaced it, I'd probably replace it with an Android tablet. I'm getting tired of Apple's monopolistic business practices, and I think that I'm going to stop buying stuff from them until allow side loading of applications outside of the App Store and/or stop charging a 30% commission on all App Store purchases.

I don't follow this super closely, but isn't it largely accepted that Android tablets are something of a dead end purchase? There are some good Samsung tabs, and Amazon has market share at the very low end.

I'm somewhat sympathetic with your argument about the walled garden. I'll need to replace my Samsung smartphone next year; most likely I'll stick with Android but there are pros/cons either way. Apple will never allow sideloading of apps; there's no reason to even bring that up.

I said 10 years ago on these forums that Apple's 30% cut was kind of outrageous for the service they're providing. At the time, most people thought it was reasonable but the mobile app market is significantly larger today with huge economies of scale for both the platform provider and the devs. The easiest evidence that it's excessive is that Apple carved out a special reduced fee of 15% only for certain video services (i.e. Prime Video).

I've seen a lot of comments that Epic Games openly flouted Apple's rules, so they deserve whatever they get. While that may be true legally, there's a fair case to be had that as an app generates more revenue, Apple's cut should taper downward. Someone estimated that Apple has made hundreds of millions $ on Fortnite alone, which begs the question besides creating and hosting a vibrant ecosystem, what is Apple's contribution exactly worth? For Apple Inc., the 30% cut is a scared cow because "services" and wearables are their only growth businesses nowadays.

TLDR: Personally, I'm still buying an iPad when my current one gives up the ghost.

 

[Geekbabe]

I switched to Apple years ago, iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro, my next tablet will be Apple.

As a cancer patient I have gotten so much use out of my iPad, I can’t imagine switching to an android tablet. Heck I think I want an Apple Watch for Christmas

 

[blckgrffn]

We've got an iPad Air 2 (og), iPad Air (og gen 1), ipad Mini 2 (LTE & 128GB!), iPad Mini and iPad Mini 5th gen kicking around here. Which is sort of ridiculous given that there are four people in this house, but at the same time with remote education for my two elementary school age kiddos, I felt zero regret at hoarding this type of tech.

Between that and my Xr, I'd say yeah now that the iPad is now rocking an A12 the "step up" factor to an entry level iPad(8th Gen) is real.

That said, the Air & Air 2 have really nice screens (non gapped, I believe) which is better than the current base iPads.

I got rid of all the non 64 bit iPads before the cutoff happened except the OG mini because it was low value and the go to tablet for my then 4 yo. What is surprising is how many kids apps are still available and work on it.

The stuck on iOS 12 devices are noticeably laggy but at the same time are "fine" - the mini 128GB being my business travel/videos device that is seeing about 0% usage right now - and the other one which is a pinch hitter for education specific apps.

I guess the point I am trying to make is that iPads, although I feel they have low marginal utility as primarily consumption devices, have long service lifetimes. Like Eug, I would get a last gen pro model for closer to the price of the entry level stuff and enjoy all the better features (if not necessarily a faster CPU) than settle for an entry level iPad because it should last for ~5 years+.

I helped my Dad do this for the 12.9" Pros and that was really a solid investment. Years later we sold his first gen for 2/3rds of what he paid for it and upgraded to a newer model which he still uses for hours everyday. It helped him stretch out his iPhone purchases too because he uses his phone as a phone and all his app usage is on his iPad.

ALSO. @Geekbabe

Congrats and good luck on your cancer battles. May you win them all.

 

[ultimatebob]

I switched to Apple years ago, iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro, my next tablet will be Apple.

As a cancer patient I have gotten so much use out of my iPad, I can’t imagine switching to an android tablet. Heck I think I want an Apple Watch for Christmas

Is there anything on your iPad that you use frequently, that doesn't have an Android version? Besides Facetime and iMessage, there aren't many.

 

[Midwayman]

Is there anything on your iPad that you use frequently, that doesn't have an Android version? Besides Facetime and iMessage, there aren't many.

Do android tablets have tablet optimized versions? That was the biggest issue for a long time. Android tablets were basically treated as a large phone. Its been awhile since I looked at them though. Maybe they've improved things.

 

[blckgrffn]

Do android tablets have tablet optimized versions? That was the biggest issue for a long time. Android tablets were basically treated as a large phone. Its been awhile since I looked at them though. Maybe they've improved things.

That's still my understanding. My wife moved from a Nexus 7 to her iPad Mini just this year and is really happy.

Android tablets that have anywhere near the silicon of an iPad cost as much or more and have support lives that are almost non-existent. You end up getting phone CPUs from three years ago that were already first sold in sub $200 devices and are probably slower than the A8X or paying a real premium for a device that may never get a major operating system update. What you do get it some OLED screens that are frankly pretty awesome, but the Air/Pro screens are pretty solid too.

Android tablets never really got momentum. I feel like Google really pivoted away from them (shocker! they never abandon anything!) and really went all in on the Chromebook concept.

 

[TheStu]

Is there anything on your iPad that you use frequently, that doesn't have an Android version? Besides Facetime and iMessage, there aren't many.

Ferrite. It's an audio recording and editing app for music and voice. Support multi-track editing and recording, and a small handful of codec options (the most widely supported stuff). That's really the big one for me, other than that, certain games probably but I honestly don't game on my iPad Pro all that much. I still haven't found a 3d modeling app where I grok the interaction model, and I have no idea what that market looks like on Android.

 

[Geekbabe]

After looking over Apple’s newest offerings I think I want the new iPad Air. I think the screen will be wonderful and I don’t want to deal with the gap issue in the entry level iPad. I considered a Pro but think it’s too big for me. The 10.9 inch screen of the new Air seems perfect & I bet it will be snappy fast

 

[Geekbabe]

Is there anything on your iPad that you use frequently, that doesn't have an Android version? Besides Facetime and iMessage, there aren't many.

I am currently firmly planted in the Apple ecosystem, iphone, MacBook Pro, iPad. If I get another tablet it will be Apple.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Apple will never allow sideloading of apps; there's no reason to even bring that up.

I will say, "Closed platforms are dead to me". No Apple products, ever, for me. (Not since the Apple ][e's I used in school.)

That said, @Geekbabe , see the thread in the security forum, about Apple's "T2" security chip being "broken", and "unfixable". You might want to hold off on the purchase of new Apple gear that contains one of those T2 security chips (pretty-much all of their new gear), until they get either a fixed version of the chip that's not "hackable", or drop the whole idea entirely. (Edit: I meant Apple dropping the whole idea of their "system protector" chip the T2, not that you should drop the idea entirely of getting a new tablet.) Also see the thread about T2 chip being required to watch 4K Netflix on Apple products. Screwed either way with Apple. (If you want to watch 4K Netflix, currently, you're stuck buying an using an Apple product with a literally-unfixable hardware flaw/exploit path in it.)

 

[VirtualLarry]

ALSO. @Geekbabe

Congrats and good luck on your cancer battles. May you win them all.

This too!

 

[Geekbabe]

Just wanted to say this is not a thread to debate Android tablets versus iPad. I want an iPad, all my other devices are Apple & I am happy with them.

 

[Xolt]

My iPad Air 2 gets heavy use & I was wondering if I should replace it?

That depends. Are there features in the newest iPad generation that would improve your use case(s)? If so and if you have the means to do it financially, why not? You could sell your current iPad for a reasonable price to even help pay for a newer model.

My current computer is a 2014 MacBook Pro & it’s starting to get a bit long in the tooth

What is meant by this? Is performance starting to slow down, etc?

 

[manly]

One bad thing about the new iPad Air is the MSRP is now $599, which is what the 2016 iPad Pro was listed at.

Currently $559:

64GB 10.9" Apple iPad Air Wi-Fi Tablet Pre-Order (Latest Model, Green) $559 + Free S&H

Walmart also has 64GB 10.9" Apple iPad Air Wi-Fi Tablet (Latest Model, Green, MYFR2LL/A) on pre-order for $559. Shipping is free. Thanks Keith1212 & EdWrap Note, This item will be rele ...

slickdeals.net

I suspect around $540 is what a Black Friday sale price will look like. Apple products are occasionally discounted (a bit) throughout the year.

 

[Commodus]

One bad thing about the new iPad Air is the MSRP is now $599, which is what the 2016 iPad Pro was listed at.

Currently $559:

64GB 10.9" Apple iPad Air Wi-Fi Tablet Pre-Order (Latest Model, Green) $559 + Free S&H

Walmart also has 64GB 10.9" Apple iPad Air Wi-Fi Tablet (Latest Model, Green, MYFR2LL/A) on pre-order for $559. Shipping is free. Thanks Keith1212 & EdWrap Note, This item will be rele ...

slickdeals.net

I suspect around $540 is what a Black Friday sale price will look like. Apple products are occasionally discounted (a bit) throughout the year.

It's actually on sale for $559 at Amazon right now (in green, anyway)! Not quite the discount you might hope for, but probably worth it unless you really need to save $20.