- All right, so you're
thinking of buying an iPad and you realize that there
are a lot of great options but also some things that
you need to watch out for. If that's super confusing, don't worry, you're not alone. And spoiler alert, I'm actually gonna add
one iPad to this list, which I think a lot of
people are overlooking and they're making a huge mistake. So let's talk about the
important differences. This way you can have all
the information you need to choose the right iPad for you. I'm also going to go over
the configuration options to help you narrow it down. Starting out, we have the iPad that got the most significant
changes in this lineup, the iPad 10. In the US it sells for 449, and if you're familiar with
the iPad 8 or the iPad 9 you'll immediately notice the new design. We no longer have the larger bezel on the top and the bottom and we're getting rounded
corners and squared off edges and it comes in some more fun colors. I absolutely love this pink it's exactly how I hoped
it would look in real life. We're getting four speaker grills but only two speakers, one on each side. And this is a major improvement
over the previous models which only had speakers on one side. With this new design, if you hold the iPad 10 in landscape mode, you're getting audio from both sides which is great for watching movies and when you're playing games
where you need to detect where sounds are coming from. For biometric authentication we're getting a fingerprint sensor that's built right into the power button. The charging port was upgraded to USB-C so we have support for
more powerful accessories. But when it comes to the
Apple Pencil compatibility it's still only compatible with
the first generation pencil which charges via lightning. So now you need a USB-C
to lightning adapter in order to charge and
pair the Apple Pencil and you can't store the pencil
on the side of the iPad. Speaking of accessories Apple developed a magic keyboard folio specifically for the iPad 10. It has excellent keys,
they're great to type on and the track pad is right up there with the regular magic keyboard as the best track pads
on any keyboard case. And I love the fact that
you can remove the keyboard while still protecting the back if you want to use the
iPad in tablet mode, or you can flip the keyboard
and then reattach it so that when you fold it behind a display you're not pressing the keys. Keep in mind that there's no protection for the sides or the corners, and it sells for $249 which is kind of an expensive accessory for an entry level iPad. The iPad 10 provides plenty of performance with the A14 bionic chip
and 4 gigabytes of RAM. We're seeing impressive
single and multicourse scores as well as improved GPU performance when compared with the previous model. And even with this entry level iPad I've been able to play
all of my typical games even the most demanding ones. As far as productivity you're getting pretty much
every available iPad OS feature with split-view slide-over windows and all the new multitasking
features in iPad OS. It works with Sidecar, Universal Control and really the only thing
missing is Stage Manager which I don't really find to be a big deal except for one reason, which
I'll get to in a minute. The display was also upgraded to a 10.9 inch liquid retina sRGB display. It's very good for the price range but it's not fully laminated, and we'll see how it compares
with the rest of the model in just a moment. The iPad 10 supports WiFi 6 and like all the other four current models the cellular version supports 5G. Finally, I'll talk about the cameras towards the end of the video because it's easier to
look at them side by side. The one thing that I wanna mention now is that this is the only iPad where the front facing
camera is on the long edge. So this way you're perfectly centered when you're on a video call and you're using a stand or a case. With the rest of the iPads the camera is on the short edge and it looks like you're
way off to the side and you're looking off screen. As far as configuration, we're looking at either 64 gigabytes or 256 gigabytes which is kind of frustrating in 2023. 64 gigs can work if you don't
play a lot of big games, you don't store image and
video files on your device and you mostly use it to surf the web, go on social media sites
and stream content. Keep in mind that iPad OS and system data currently
take up 12 gigs on my iPad. If you want to go to 256
gigs, that's another $150 which is quite a jump. Next we have the smallest
iPad, the iPad Mini 6, which starts out at 499 bucks. It has a similar design to the iPad 10 so again, we're getting
four speaker grills but two speakers, one on each side. There's a USB-C for
charging and accessories and this iPad is compatible with the second generation Apple Pencil which pairs and charges
on the side of the iPad. In terms of user experience, I definitely prefer the
second generation pencil to the first. And if you wanna learn more about that check out this video. Now, of course, when you're writing or drawing on the iPad Mini 6, you're working with a much smaller canvas so keep that in mind. The screen is 8.3 inches,
again, it's liquid retina, but instead of sRGB it's a P3 display which is a wider color gamut and it's more color accurate. It also has an anti-reflective
coating, which is nice if you plan on using this iPad outside or in areas where you have
to deal with bright lights. Now, unlike the iPad 10, this display is fully laminated so there's no air gap and the display, the touch
layer and the cover glass are fused into a single display assembly. This means that the image looks like it's right on top of the glass, and when you're using the Apple Pencil the tip of the pencil will
look like it's touching the content that's being created. With the iPad 10, for example you'll be able to see separation especially if you look at an angle. We have touch ID incorporated
into the power button and as far as performance, we're getting a bump over the
iPad 10 with the A15 bionic but still 4 gigs of RAM. The single and multi-core
performance improvements are not really something
that the majority of users are going to notice, but it's always great to have additional performance headroom as the device gets older. And in terms of handling, I
absolutely love this device. It's super fun to game on, especially if you have small hands and it's incredibly portable. As far as configuration options, we have the same choices
that we have with the iPad 10 so that's 64 or 256 gigs. When it comes to typing there's really no great keyboard
case for the iPad Mini 6 because the keyboard would be too small so you're pretty much looking
at an external keyboard. Now, regardless of which iPad you get I absolutely recommend that
you protect it with a case. Now this year, CASETiFY sent over their 360, all round protection
for iPads and MacBooks. You might think of CASETiFY
as a phone case company because of their super popular phone cases but now they protect your other devices. For the iPad, the Ultra Impact Folio case has eco shock together with
an all new corner designed to help the iPad withstand
drops from up to four feet. Super important. The entire iPad is covered so there are no exposed sides or corners. The case also features an
adjustable horizontal stance so you can easily adjust
your viewing angle and to round things off, it has a durable and thin
tempered glass screen protector to prevent cracks and scratches while maintaining a sleek and slim design. If you own a MacBook,
the Impact MacBook case has a super protective hard shell an impact-resistant corner design with eco shock absorption
tech on the bracket lining and rubberized anti-slip
grips to ensure stability and a good typing experience. The removable and reusable
MacBook Screen Protector not only protects your display, it also filters our blue light waves to prevent digital eye strain and it protects your privacy
when viewed from the side. So if you want peace of
mind knowing that your iPad and MacBooks are safe, go to
CASETiFY.com/techgeartalk, you'll automatically get
15% off your purchase. And thank you to CASETiFY for sponsoring this portion of the video. All right, so now we're
getting to the higher end iPads and this is where there can
be some confusing overlap. So first we have the iPad
Air 5, which sells for 599 for the 64 gigabytes
version, or 749 for 256. We're getting a 10.9 inch display, which is essentially the
same size as the iPad 10 but it's a P3 display with an anti-reflective
coating like the iPad Mini 6 and it's also fully laminated. Once again, we're getting
four speaker grills but two speakers, and
these are noticeably better than the iPad 10 and the iPad Mini 6. We're seeing a more powerful USB-C port with support for higher
data transfer speeds and more powerful displays. And just like the previous
two iPads on this lineup it has touch ID incorporated
into the power button. For accessories, the
iPad Air 5 is compatible with the newer second
generation Apple Pencil, and it's also compatible with
the smaller magic keyboard. This keyboard has fantastic keys and excellent track pad and it offers a USB-C port
for charging the iPad Air which leaves your iPad port
free for other accessories. Now looking at performance, we're getting another
significant improvement with the M1 chip and 8 gigabytes of RAM This is the same powerful chip that we saw on the M1 MacBook Air,
MacBook Pro and Mac Mini so that's really impressive for a tablet. You have all the multitasking features of the previous iPads, but you also have center stage. Now, I don't really use the majority of the features in center
stage on the iPad itself but it lets you mirror your
iPad to an external display without black bars on
the left and the right. That's something that's not possible on the previously mentioned iPads. You can also extend your display and use the external
display as a second monitor so you can actually move apps and windows and then get a true two-display set up which helps you be more productive. And that brings me to
the two iPad Pro models which have some similarities but they also have some
really important differences. So on the smaller version,
we're getting an 11 inch display which is slightly larger than the iPad 10 and the iPad Air 5, but more important,
it's a promotion display which is Apple's adaptive refresh rate. The other iPads on this list other than the 12.9 inch iPad Pro have a constant 60 hertz refresh rate but the iPad Pro automatically
adjusts in real time based on what you're doing. So if you're reading or
looking at static content then it can reduce the
refresh rate to 24 hertz and save on battery life. But if you're opening or closing apps, if you're scrolling through a website or gaming or performing any other tasks where smoother motion would
improve the user experience, then the display can bump the
refresh rate up to 120 hertz. Now around the edge, we
see four speaker grills but now we're actually
getting four speakers. In addition to sounding fuller and having more presence
than the previous models, they also respond to the
orientation of the iPad and they provide much more
of a surround sound field. The USB-C port is now Thunderbolt/USB4 with even faster data transfer speeds which can be useful if you're
transferring large video or photo files. We've got second generation
Apple Pencil compatibility with the new hover functionality which gives you an indicator
of the position of the pencil when it's hovering over the display and it also interacts with
different UI elements. The 11 Inch iPad Pro uses
the same magic keyboard as the iPad Air 5 which
comes in white and black. For biometric authentication, instead of touch ID we have face ID with a true depth front facing camera and I really like the fact that
I can just pick up my iPad, swipe up and start using it. Now as far as configuration,
we're seeing a lot more options and it starts out at 128 gigabytes for 799 then goes all the way up to 2 terabytes. Now I really like the 128 gig option especially for users who are
considering the iPad Air 5 and just need a bit
more than 64 gigabytes. This way you're getting all
the upgrades of the iPad Pro for only $50 more. As far as performance, you're getting the most powerful
chip in any tablet, the M2 and every model up to
512 gigabytes of storage comes with 8 gigs of RAM while the 1 and 2 terabyte
versions come with 16 gigs. In addition to the improved camera system we're also getting a LiDAR scanner. So if that's something that
you need for your workflow it's absolutely a reason
to get an iPad Pro. And that brings us to the biggest iPad, the 12.9 inch iPad Pro. It doesn't just have the largest display it has the absolute best
display on any iPad. So Liquid Retina XDR display,
which is powered by many LEDs. And this is not just a distinction that you're gonna see in the spec sheet, you will absolutely
notice it when you use it especially when viewing HDR content. It's the brightest iPad
for SDR content at 600 nits and for HDR, we're looking at a thousand nits max full screen brightness and 1,600 nits peak brightness. Again, we're getting four speakers and these are the best
speakers on any iPad. So if you actually plan on using them and you're looking for the best quality, this is the way to go. Of course, it uses the second
generation Apple Pencil, it is compatible with a
larger magic keyboard. And as with all the iPads there are great options from
third party manufacturers. Again, we're getting the powerful M2 chip with either 8 or 16 gigs of RAM and we have the same configuration options starting with 128 gigs for 1,099. Now, before I get to the iPad
that a lot of people skip let's quickly talk about
the camera systems. So all the current iPads
have a 12 megapixel ultra wide, front facing
camera with center stage. That's a feature that uses AI to identify and track a subject as it moves through the frame and it really gives your video
calls a more dynamic feel. As far as the rear facing cameras I mostly use those
cameras to scan documents because I always have my phone with me to take pictures and shoot video. So while the iPad Pro absolutely has the most advanced camera system, that isn't really a
reason for me to upgrade. Now, if you plan on
creating content with it or as I mentioned earlier if you need a LiDAR scanner,
that's another story. But now I want to talk about the iPad 9. It's true that it doesn't have
all the bells and whistles of the more expensive iPads
but let's look at value. On the Apple Store, it's listed for 329, but just like the rest of the iPads, you'll find better prices by using the links in the description. You can usually find this
one for under 270 bucks. If we're comparing it with the iPad 10 we're getting a slightly smaller display with larger bezels on
the top and the bottom, the old style home button with touch ID versus
the new implementation, both speakers are on one side but you do get a 3.5
millimeter headphone jack which no other iPad on this list has. The port is lightning,
which actually matches up with the first generation Apple Pencil and the chip is the A13 bionic which is one generation older. It's still able to power
my more demanding games, and like every iPad on this list you can pair a controller, stream games and essentially use the iPad as a display. So if you're buying a first iPad for a kid or you just need something
around the kitchen for watching videos or
for looking up recipes I think that the iPad 9
is an excellent option. Now, you should check out this comparison. Click on my face to subscribe. You know what I always say,
buy it nice or buy it twice. Good luck and see you.
