A Guide to the Apple iPad Lineup

The iPad may get overshadowed by the iPhone, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a successful product. What started as a blown-up smartphone has evolved into what Apple clearly believes is the future of computing. Depending on your needs, it’s entirely possible to use an iPad as your main computer.

There are many iPad models out in the wild, but only a small number of iPads that are actually for sale from Apple itself. The focus here is on the latest models at the time of writing and which sort of user each is best suited for.

iPad (7th Generation 2019)

The first iPad was simply called “iPad”, and since then Apple has been pretty confusing in terms of its naming conventions. The plain “iPad” of today isn’t the flagship device anymore. Instead, it’s the entry-level mainstream unit. Reportedly, it’s known internally as the iPad “educational” and fits into Apple’s significant presence in education institutions around the world. Still, anyone can buy one, and so we must discuss whether you should be going for the entry-level iPad or not.

This iPad, despite having a spacious 10.2″ screen, is actually less expensive than the iPad Mini. That’s because this model is based on the older, less-powerful A10 system-on-a-chip. While the Mini and other iPads get the latest A12 Bionic hardware, you’ll have to make do with the flagship chip of yesteryear.

The thing is, the A10 is still plenty fast. It has more performance under the hood than most users need. In day-to-day computing, most people won’t notice anything but snappy performance. Even if you like to play intensive games or other more heavy apps, they should work at an acceptable level. Remember, there are fairly recent premium iPads and iPhones still running hardware at the same level as the new budget model. So apps still have to accommodate them.

One big cut is in the screen quality. This is still a Retina display with an IPS LCD panel, but it lacks the laminated display, anti-reflective coating, wide color gamut, and True Tone technology of more expensive models.

Does it look like garbage? No! This is still one of the nicest screens you’ll find on any tablet – it’s just not at the top of the iPad range. No sane person would call its screen anything but lovely.

It’s important to note that this base iPad also works with the first-generation Apple Pencil, which is great for both students and artists on a budget. If you aren’t editing 4K video or you don’t absolutely need one of the exclusive features of the more expensive iPads, then this is a perfectly good machine to buy for most people. You’re still getting the core iPad experience at a price never before seen.

11 inch iPad Pro (2018)

My first iPad Pro from 2016 is still going strong today. There doesn’t seem to be any app it can’t run, and it powers through games, productivity, and media with aplomb. It’s completely understandable for someone with that tablet to feel no pressure to upgrade, yet if you look at what the latest iPad Pro offers, there’s a lot to make the price of a new machine feel almost painless.

This iPad sports the most modern design, doing away with the face button and switching over to Face ID technology instead. The bezels are now incredibly thin, allowing for an 11″ screen in a body that’s the same size as lower models. This iPad comes with the A12X chip, which is (right now) the most powerful mobile chip in any device of this type. It overlaps with laptop chips that produce way more heat and have shorter battery lives. Whether you want to play games, edit videos professionally, or do any other heavy tasks, this tablet can pretty much do it all. It’s a proper laptop replacement.

Storage options up to a staggering 1 TB is available, but the best feature is perhaps the shift to USB-C, which is becoming the global standard. That means you can only use the second-gen Apple Pencil with this iPad, but it also makes it very easy to find and use accessories.

The screen on the iPad Pro 11 is something very special indeed. It’s quite a bit brighter than the screen on the Air and has all of the improvements you find in that tablet. On top of this, it has a much higher refresh rate, marketed as “ProMotion” technology. This gives the tablet display incredible smoothness and responsiveness. This is one of the biggest user experience improvements I’ve seen on iPad, and it really makes a huge difference. You have to experience ProMotion in person to really understand how well it works. Since, of course, watching a 30 or 60 frames-per-second video won’t tell you anything!

This is also where the iPad cameras begin to become something that you’d actually want to use. With a 4K sensor and the latest Apple camera features, you can record, edit, and publish rather professional-looking content using just this tablet. Another feature I personally can no longer live without is the quad-speaker design of the iPad Pros. With one speaker on each corner, bass and mid-highs each get their own speaker, providing a drastically louder and clearer playback experience. If you like using your iPad as a portable TV, that alone is a major selling point.

If you are serious about using an iPad as your one and only computer, this is one of two models that make it possible. I don’t think this is the best iPad Pro for using the pencil as a serious design tool though – that falls to the bigger brother.

Older iPads

At the time of writing the above, iPad models are current and for sale, but you can still buy older models from third-parties, and even from Apple in some regions, for a real discount. Should you?

iPads have a much longer lifespan than iPhones, which means an iPad that’s two years old is still perfectly relevant. If a given iPad is fast enough and runs the latest iOS version, you can totally consider it if the price is too good to refuse. However, if at all possible, it’s best to buy the latest model and then upgrade every four years or so.