The main improvement of this tablet is the larger screen. The 13-inch LCD screen is slightly brighter than its predecessor and its 11-inch counterpart, with a resolution of 2732 x 2048 pixels and the ability to reach 600 nits of maximum brightness in standard dynamic range (which is the same amount as the previous iPad). Pro with M2).
This screen gets bright for the most part. When I wasn’t working, I usually kept the brightness at 20 to 30 percent, especially while watching TV before going to sleep. Since my desk is near the edge of a window, I usually keep it at 50 percent or slightly higher on sunnier days. But it has problems in direct sunlight. I realized this on a recent trip to Seattle. I was sitting on my bed in my hotel room catching up on an episode of Vanderpump Rules and, since the light came completely through the window, I had to increase the brightness to see the content comfortably.
Photography: Brenda Stolyar
Right now, I wish Apple had swapped out the Liquid Retina panel for a mini-LED panel from the previous generation iPad Pro. The backlight technology would allow for a brighter display. And, when combined with deeper, crisper tones, the overall viewing experience will be much better. I would like to remind you that this is an $800 tablet with an LCD screen and a 60Hz refresh rate; most other high-end tablets feature OLED with 120Hz displays. Improved display technology would help justify the extra $200 on the 13-inch iPad Air over the smaller size.
Still, it’s still much more fun to use than the 10.9-inch screen I relied on every day. The 13-inch size is more convenient as a secondary display next to my MacBook. Between browser windows, tabs, and apps, I didn’t feel like I was cluttering things up on the screen. The same applies to entertainment: if I’m enjoying a show, I carry the iPad around the house to continue watching it. I never got tired of looking at this screen.
Reliable and versatile
The iPad Air is powered by the M2 chip (the same silicon included in the 2022 MacBook Air), which includes an 8-core GPU and a 10-core GPU. It’s two years old, but Apple claims the chip is almost 50 percent faster than the M1 and three times faster than the iPad Air with the A12 Bionic chip. Apple also doubled the base storage option from 64 gigabytes to 128 gigabytes.
Coming from the iPad Air M1, I didn’t notice much difference in performance. If you’re coming from an older A-series chip, it’ll probably be easier to understand. Still, the M2 felt fast and smooth. On a typical workday, you’d have between 10 and 15 tabs open across multiple windows (in both Chrome and Safari), not to mention additional apps like Gmail, iMessage, Slack, Telegram, YouTube, and Zoom running simultaneously. The iPad Air never felt slow.