iPad Air Review – MacRumors

6 hours ago

3 minutes read

The first reviews of the iPad Air with the M4 chip have been shared by selected publications and YouTube channels, ahead of the device’s launch this Wednesday.

The new iPad Air has an M4 chip, 12GB of memory, an N1 wireless chip for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity, and Apple’s C1X modem for cellular models. Everything else remains unchanged compared to last year’s M3 model.

Many reviews have noted the slim, compact M4 iPad Air over last year’s M3 model, with many features such as the design, 60Hz Liquid Retina display, and Touch ID button remaining unchanged from 2020. Tom’s guide he said:

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the Air’s design is doomed, but if you go back a few generations, you’ll see little has changed from year to year. The M4 Air has the same design as the Air Apple released in 2020. To be sure, it looks great – thin, light, with a nice thin bezel all around.

The main improvement is the move to the M4 chip, which reviewers agreed is significantly faster than last year’s M3 model, even if it doesn’t significantly change what can be achieved with the device.

Now powered by the M4 chip, the iPad Air is modestly faster than last year’s iPad Air M3. In our benchmark tests, it scored very fast, both in single- and multicore, as well as in frame rate tests. The most noticeable difference you will see if you go back a few generations; the M4 iPad scored nearly twice as well as the M1 Air in our Geekbench test.

Mashable highlighted the new chip’s better optimization for AI functions:

I tried to test its AI capabilities using apps like Final Cut Pro’s automatic captioning, Voice Memo transcription features, and CollaNote’s AI image generation. Even with WiFi and mobile data turned off, these processes happened almost immediately, and without major errors.

In CollaNote, a popular note-taking app, you can use the Magic Pen to circle a doodle and turn it into a real illustration. Record a note or an interview with Voice Memos, and you’ll get accurate transcription at the push of a button. In Pixelmator, you can enlarge images and remove background from images instantly.

I also feel like I haven’t scratched the surface of what you can do with the iPad Air’s Neural Engine, especially when it comes to using Apple Shortcuts and open source models.

Gizmodo noted that while the new iPad Air benefits from the M4 chip, it still lacks the M4 version used in other devices such as the MacBook Air:

The iPad Air is not powered by the same M4 chip in the M4 MacBook Air. The tablet’s chip is a constrained version, which means it contains fewer cores than the max-out 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU. Apple has prepared the M4 iPad Air version with an 8-core CPU and a 9-core GPU. Basically, you won’t see the same performance as you would on the M4 MacBook Air. It’s also slow for tasks that require precision, such as 3D modeling.

What might help the M4 iPad Air is an upgrade to 12GB of integrated memory. That’s 4GB more than the M3 iPad Air. This will increase the speed if you have many applications open at the same time. It will also increase overall performance.

Reviewers also looked at the new communication chips in the device, noting strong performance with no noticeable obstacles to moving to Apple’s custom hardware. Engadget you write:

Another big change is Apple’s in-house networking chips are on board here. The N1 includes Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread, while the C1X handles cellular connectivity if you buy a 5G-capable model. Again, this doesn’t change the experience of using the iPad Air in any major way, but having the new Wi-Fi and Bluetooth protocol on board is good for future use, regardless of who built the chip. In my testing, the C1X on Verizon’s 5G network was very fast in the Boston suburbs and didn’t seem any slower (or faster) than other devices I use on the same carrier. That’s fine, since other Apple devices I’ve tried with the C1X (like the iPad Pro) are solid and reliable, which is very important.