hey guys i'm tom of techchap and in
front of me here i have
every new ipad you can buy from the
smallest ipad mini
uh to actually the cheapest ipad which
is just called the ipad which starts at
329 pounds
uh then we have the air and then the two
brand
spanking new pro models complete with
the m1 chip
and also on the 12.9 the mini led screen
so which is best which should you buy
well it's a tough question because the
price is
there's quite a big range we go from the
329 ipad up to
over two and a half grand for a top spec
pro 12.9
and if you do enjoy the video and want
to see more from me a cheeky little like
and subscribe
would be very much appreciated and i've
also left links to all of these
in the description below okay first
question why actually buy
an ipad well for me whichever one you go
for i reckon the ipad
is still the best tablet you can buy for
a couple of reasons but the big one
really
is the app store it's the sheer number
and also importantly the quality
of ipad optimize apps that i think sets
this apart
from rivals you can still have a great
experience on something like the galaxy
tab
from samsung but if i was going to go
out and buy a new tablet
i would pick one of these but it's also
not just about watching netflix or
browsing the web these are great tools
for kids for students
for productivity and work and obviously
you can pair it with something like the
apple pencil if you fancy doing some
doodling or drawing or a keyboard i
really really love the magic keyboard it
is quite expensive actually
but if you can stretch your budget and
you're buying an air or a pro
i highly recommend this we'll talk more
about it in a second and with these you
can turn your ipad into a proper
almost laptop replacement i say almost
because
obviously now we do have ipad os 15.
it's in beta right now i've got it
installed in the
sort of preview modes here although it
won't be coming out till september
properly but unfortunately
as a lot of us had hoped we're not
seeing any proper sort of desktop
applications coming to the ipads
it was a bit of a reach i guess but
since the new pros do come with the m1
chip which is in
the new macbooks and the imac it wasn't
that much of a stretch maybe to think
that we'd have some more
professional level applications on here
but sadly not
so first of all the ipad now gets proper
iphone style widgets
on the home screen and not just in this
sidebar
like before this is still running the
older software just for comparison
we also get this new app library which
is permanently docked at the bottom
and this automatically categorizes your
apps into easy to access folders which
you can then access
from the dock there's also a new
multitasking menu that helps you
uh split apps more easily and generally
it's just a bit of a sort of quality of
life improvement rather than anything
revolutionary
there are a few other tweaks and changes
but so this video isn't like an hour
long
let's move on and actually talk about
the differences between the ipads and
then
eventually which one you should actually
buy so right now there's five
different new models of ipad to choose
from and they all come in various colors
storage sizes and also connectivity with
wi-fi and also lte options
with the two latest pros also offering
5g as opposed to just 4g
lte but let's start with this guy i know
this is the smallest and it kind of
makes sense as we're going along
uh here but this is the standard ipad
the 8th gen
ipad and this is actually a bit of a
bargain because you're getting that
fantastic
ipad experience that's less than half
the price
of the cheapest pro and also next to the
air and the pro models it does look a
little bit dated
in terms of the design particularly the
chunky bezels although it does mean
there's room for this
physical home button so we've got the
touch id rather than a sort of face id
and actually some people do still prefer
there's a physical button you can press
which brings you back to the home screen
you're not going to get lost not that
you would anyway but you know if an
older person or a kid is using this
that might be useful and you've got your
fingerprint in there as well
slightly annoyingly though we do have
the lightning port rather than the usbc
which we get on the other ipads
now as you might be able to tell from
some of the apps installed this isn't my
personal ipad
my little nephew oliver is using this to
play games and uh
use some sort of educational apps
so for that because it's a little bit
thicker a little bit cheaper as well
you don't mind quite as much if he drops
it although i still recommend putting a
big
rugged case on it because he's gonna
smash against something
but this is great for kids as well i did
chat chat
i'll tell you what though whichever
tablet phone laptop or pc you're using
there's an app for surf shark vpn who
are very kindly sponsoring today's video
now i work with these guys a lot and you
may have even seen my face
on their website but they're genuinely
the only vpn that my wife and i use
whether we're at home accessing us
netflix or hulu or something
or i'm out and about and i want to keep
my browsing safe and secure as it helps
to block ads
tracking malware and other nasty things
it's also the simplest and easiest to
use vpn i've ever tried so i definitely
recommend
giving surfsharkvpn a go and if you do
click the link below
you get a whopping 83 off and also three
months extra for free
plus there's a money back guarantee if
you're not super duper happy with it
so why not give surf shark vpn a try and
stay safe online
you can also pair the standard ipad with
a keyboard not the magic keyboard but
you can get one of these
and also the first generation apple
pencil which isn't quite as responsive
and also you charge by plugging into the
lightning port on the bottom which is a
bit stupid and i still think one of the
worst designs apple's ever come up with
and while the retina ips display
is sharp and bright and quite colourful
it's not as good
as the pricier models and also unlike
every other ipad
this base one doesn't have a laminated
screen which means there's a small air
gap between the glass and the screen
itself most people probably wouldn't
even notice but you don't get quite the
same feeling
of sort of directly touching the screen
as you do with the other ones it's just
a small thing but
you might notice it but i think the
biggest compromise with the base ipad
is the storage because the cheapest one
the entry level only comes with 32 gigs
i paid the extra 100 or so to get 128
which i would definitely recommend
but i wouldn't pay 560 pounds for the
128 gig
plus lte model of this which actually i
do have here because
well everyone's use case is a bit
different but i just don't know why you
wouldn't either use wi-fi
or hotspot from your phone and uh save
the money on the sim plan and also
paying the extra
for the compatibility maybe if this is
your work tablet
and the business is paying then go nuts
but for most of us i wouldn't really
bother with the lte
and last but definitely least the
cameras
we get an eight megapixel single lens on
the back and a one megapixel facetime
selfie up front
that's kind of weird but i think with
video calling becoming more and more
important these days
that could be a reason to maybe pay a
bit more and go for one of the better
models
there is a chance though that we may see
an updated ipad
a 9th gen version maybe in september
time so keep an eye out for that there's
nothing confirmed yet
so don't hold me to it but there could
be new models of this and the mini
coming in a few months
maybe so that's the base ipad but let's
move on to the ipad mini
which as you can see is clearly the
smallest and the cutest
and the most portable and it's basically
the same as the standard ipad
uh but in a smaller form factor we have
this 7.9 inch screen
and also somehow it's actually more
expensive than the standard ipad as well
although in fairness if i jump to the
settings and then go to storage
you'll see that the base model is
actually 64 gigs rather than 32
which does make a big difference and
therefore kind of evens the pricing out
a little bit you are getting more for
your money
plus we're getting this slightly higher
quality laminated screen which the
standard one
still lacks i really do quite like the
mini but the problem is we have this
quite dated design
and because it does have this smaller
screen size arguably next to
a big iphone this is the 12 mac so it's
the biggest one you can get right now
you could argue that there's not that
much need for a tablet this size
but then again if you're going to use
this as an e-reader or if maybe you have
an older iphone that's a lot smaller
which you probably do
then this could still be worth
considering we still have these chunky
bezels
as well as the home button with touch id
the single camera lens on the back
and the same facetime camera up top here
as you can see the black borders cut
into the screen a little bit so
you're not really getting that much of a
immersive
tablet experience unlike the other ones
here
so while the techie nerd in me thinks oh
well it's not big enough and it doesn't
have this or that
you can't get away from the fact that
this is the only ipad you can hold
one-handed
and it really is just a lovely portable
tablet which
really is what tablets were meant to be
not necessarily big
honking very expensive laptop
replacements so if you're just browsing
the web maybe watching a few videos or
reading perhaps with the kindle app
then i do still highly recommend the
mini five
okay this is where things start to get a
little bit more interesting because this
is the ipad air the 4th gen air
and in my opinion this is the best
overall ipad
you can buy and think of it more like a
ipad pro
light than a deluxe standard ipad
because the air actually shares the same
design
pretty much as the 11 inch pro as you
can see
also we're getting pretty much the same
11 inch liquid retina display
although well technically this is 11
inches this is 10.9 and also it's only
60 hertz
rather than 120 which we get on the pro
models which does make a difference
but really there's not a whole lot in it
and i just think the area is kind of
like the best
all-rounder it looks great especially in
this new sky blue color
and actually if i bring up the standard
ipad next to it you can see it's a
similar size overall
but we're getting a 0.7 inch bigger
screen because they've trimmed those
bezels
it does mean we've lost the home button
on the bottom and the touch id
fingerprint reader is now built into the
power button at the top
and we also get usb-c now instead of
lightning which makes this just a lot
easier in terms of connectivity
and plugging in peripherals but it's
also not just a pretty face because on
the inside
we have apple's a14 bionic processor
which isn't as quick as the ludicrously
powerful m1 chips in the pro
but it's still seriously fast but if we
look at some benchmarks it's no surprise
that the a12 chips
in the ipad 8th gen and the ipad mini 5
get similar results
but the a14 in the air really impresses
being about 50
faster across single and multi-core
speeds and in my 3dmark
wildlife extreme gaming test it was a
third
faster the extra performance in this
will definitely make it more
future-proof
and as more apps are developed for the
higher-end ipads
this will last you longer than these two
quick side note and when it comes to the
air or the pros for that matter
it's the accessories that really make it
stand out not only do we get the gen
2 apple pencil which has this much more
seamless connection it just magnetically
attaches to the side and also charges
wirelessly plus we're getting a faster
response time with it so it feels a bit
more like a real pen
it's the first model along with the pros
to support
the magic keyboard this also shares the
same
12 megapixel camera with the ipad pro
although it doesn't have the ultra wide
lens or the lidar
and we also get a seven megapixel selfie
camera up front
but coming up from these two the camera
on the air is a big step
up but so is the price this is about 250
pounds more
than the standard ipad so really i think
this is more for enthusiast users if
you're going to use this a lot
my only issue with this is the storage
it still starts with 64 gigs which is
pretty stingy actually
and also the worst bit is the model up
from this if you want more storage
is 256. there's no 128 which then
puts it at just 30 pounds less than the
pro apple
know what they're doing uh they're
basically restricting this a little bit
to tempt you up to the pro because for
most people
this would be all you need but despite
that i think most people could still get
away with 64 gigs
at the moment i still think the ipad air
is the best all-round ipad
you can buy right now it's kind of funny
because everything i've talked to you
about so far
everything i've said i also said back in
november when i made my last ipad buying
guide these
three haven't changed what has changed
and the reason why i'm making this new
buying guide
is because of these two new pros
the 11 and the 12.9 these have just been
refreshed
for mid 2021 and the big news is that
they both come with apple's
incredible m1 processor that's the same
chip
that they use in their macbooks and
imacs
all be a slightly lower power version
but these are insanely
fast and together with slightly more ram
and more storage
as well as a mini led screen on this
12.9
these pros have had quite a big upgrade
but aside from the size obviously the
mini led screen and also the price
these two pro models are essentially
identical
and actually i just finished my big
review of the new 11 and 12.9 pros
which you can watch by clicking this
little pop-out thing somewhere over
there
hopefully and also at the end of the
video i'll link it but essentially we
get the same
sleek aluminium design as we've had for
the last couple of years
the 120 hertz refresh rate for a
smoother slicker feeling
and also the same punchy quad speakers
face id in the camera up here
and also the same camera hardware as the
previous pro with the main
and the ultrawide lens as well as that
lidar sensor which helps with augmented
reality
although mainly i just use it for
measuring stuff but the 2021 pros
also now get 8 or 16 gigs of ram
depending on the storage option
which is up from 6 on the older pros as
well as a faster usb
4 port that supports thunderbolt 3 and
the 5g option not just 4g lte
the image signal processor in the m1
chip also improves
the white balance and the noise of the
cameras and we also get this new
facetime camera it's a 12 megapixel
ultra wide
with center stage which uses the extra
resolution wider field of view
to crop in and track your face as you
move around
it actually does work really well
although you can turn it off if you find
it a little bit jarring
however none of this comes cheap because
the 11 inch
pro will cost you 750 pounds
rising to a thousand pounds for the 12.9
that is an awful lot of money and
actually just like this in its base
configuration
this costs the same as the macbook air
but of course this doesn't come with a
keyboard and once you tack on the
keyboard and maybe upgrade the storage
as well
then these become very expensive and in
the same ballpark as your macbook pro
and other premium laptops
so despite the fact that we do get the
same m1 chip
as the macbooks and the imac this still
isn't in my opinion a proper
laptop replacement although in some ways
you do get more functionality from this
because we have the touchscreen and it's
a tablet
but jumping back to the m1 chip and
these are as i say just spectacularly
fast especially in benchmarks
so we essentially have three tiers of
performance we've got the a12
chip in the mini 5 and the ipad 8th gen
the a14 in the ipad air and the m1
in the pros except for maybe rendering
video or if you're editing lots of
super high resolution raw photos it can
be kind of tricky to actually
really see that benefit of the extra
performance with the higher end models
these still feel very fast to me so if
you have watched or read any reviews of
the new pros including mine perhaps
you'll know that the big issue is just
the untapped potential we have all this
horsepower with the m1
you have to kind of get creative to
really see any difference
however everyone's use case is different
more apps will be developed to take
advantage of it so over time
in the next couple of years we may see
some real tangible benefit to the m1 but
right now
it's not essential which is why i still
think the air
is the go-to option however a more
visible
upgrade with the pros and exclusive to
the 12.9
is this new mini led screen and side by
side with the 11 inch pro which has the
same
led lcd blacks just look kind of like a
washed out gray
now importantly for non-hdr apps and
content the difference really isn't that
obvious
except for that difference in contrast
as both peak at the same
600 nits of briners however jumping into
some hdr video
and you get 1 000 nits on the mini led
with areas of peak brightness up to 1600
nits
it's a big difference although the
downside is that there is some quite
obvious blooming around bright objects
which is made even more obvious thanks
to the fact that we have the much darker
areas
because of the higher contrast so
whether mini led and the larger size is
worth an extra 250 pounds
over the 11 really comes down to how you
use it if you want the best ipad movie
watching experience or need a better
screen for work
then yes it makes sense but for most of
us i don't think it's essential
i saw a comment on my last ipad buying
guide saying the best one
is the one you can afford and that is
absolutely true because let's face it
the ipad is a bit of a luxury item no
one
needs an ipad although they are very
nice to use so i would definitely
recommend looking at older or
refurbished models as well
you can get them from apple officially
although they're quite expensive so it's
worth
shopping around okay let's wrap up and
i've got a few
kind of key takeaways the first one
being storage because
chances are whatever ipad you buy you're
probably going gonna hang on to it for
three
four five years so think about whether
it's worth paying a bit more
to up the storage particularly on the
standard ipad
uh maybe even with the air up to 256 it
is kind of painfully expensive sometimes
but you don't want to be constantly
uninstalling apps or deleting videos
because you've filled it out
in the first six months so consider the
storage
secondly i don't think most of us really
need to buy
the pros they are very nice and they
have a few advantages
but the m1 chip doesn't make that much
of a difference right now
i think the main reason to consider it
is the higher 120 hertz refresh rate
particularly
if you are gonna do lots of drawing or
doodling because it makes the pen a bit
more responsive
but i still think the ipad air is kind
of all you need and thirdly i still
don't think ipads can fully replace your
laptop they're not supposed to
there's just lots of options to kind of
make them seem that way particularly
with a magic keyboard
but they're still restricted and limited
by the ipad os software they are still
essentially
big iphones rather than small macbooks
so enough of me waffling which one
should you buy well i think you can
probably guess because i've said it a
few times during the video
but i would recommend the ipad air for
most
people if you're gonna give this to your
kid or your mum or you don't really care
about any bells and whistles
go with a standard ipad or the mini five
if you prefer the smaller form factor
and then the pro if you just want the
best camera the best performance
the most future proofing if you will but
obviously it does still run
the same ipad apps that any of them do
so
fundamentally aside from some
accessories and a few extra bells and
whistles like the lidar
i don't think the pros are essential
although this is certainly the best ipad
there's
no arguments there and breathe we made
it you got to the end of the video thank
you so much for sticking
with me throughout i appreciate that was
quite a long one i think my voice is
getting a bit horsey
i will leave links to all these below
and if you've got any questions
at all i read every single one of your
comments so let me know
below and if you did enjoy the video and
you're not sick to death of me just yet
then hit that subscribe button ding that
bell
and you'll be the first to see when i
post a new video thank you so much for
watching and i'll catch you next time
right here on the tech chat
subscribe oh and don't forget to give
surf shark vpn a try
83 off and three months extra free with
my code tech chat or by clicking the
link below