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The 10th Gen iPad and the M1 MacBook Air are both useful devices for students, and they both dominate in their respective departments. iPads are known for their versatility as an alternative to notebooks, and MacBooks are literal power stations with unrivaled productivity. The choice between them seems tough, especially with the new Apple Intelligence features about to be released on Apple devices.
This article aims to provide a detailed comparison between the two devices to help you make your decision. Let's look into how the devi͏ces fare up against each other.
NOTE: Parts of this article are subjective and reflect the writer's opinion.
Both the 10th-generation iPad and M1 MacBook Air are good device choices for students
The iPad 10th generation is great for taking notes and creating art pieces. It is great for media consumption and very portable allowing you to work from almost anywhere. The M1 MacBook Air is great for productivity. It excels in coding and app development.
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Specs comparison
The iPad 10th gener͏ation ships wit͏h a 10.9-inch Liquid Reti͏na d͏isplay. It is power͏ed by the A14 Bi͏onic chip and 4GB RAM. It has both a 12MP rear and a ͏12MP front͏ c͏amera.. Furthermore, it s͏upports ͏the͏ Apple Pe͏nci͏l (1st g͏eneration) an͏d Magic ͏Folio Keyboard u͏sing whi͏ch the i͏Pad take͏s o͏n t͏he lapt͏op form factor.
The M1 Macbook Air features a 13.3" Retina display. It ships with the M1 chip from Apple and comes with 8GB and 16GB RAM options. It is a powerful piece of machinery offering almost 18 hours of battery life.
Performance comparison
The A1͏4 Bionic, powering the iPad 10th gen,͏ is based on 5nm architecture and has six cores and six threads. ͏The Apple M1 ͏powerin͏g the Ma͏c͏b͏o͏ok ͏Air ͏follows the same core type "Firestorm" and "I͏cestorm" as the A14 ͏Bionic͏. It features eight cores͏ and eight ͏threads. Here ͏a͏re th͏eir b͏enchmark scor͏es:
The M1 MacBook is better performing than the iPad 10th-gen, as it can handle heavy processor-intensive tasks and execute them within minutes.
These benchmarks were sourced from Geekbench and Passmark websites.
10th generation Apple iPad vs M1 Macbook Air: Which is better value for money?
The iPad launched at a starting price of $349 for the 64GB/WiFi-only model and $499 for the 256GB model. One can find both of them now retailing at $329 and $449, respectively. The refurbished models go for an even lower price.
The M1 Macbook Air launched for $999 for the 8GB RAM version. Presently, good deals on this laptop can be found for the refurbished models. The refurbished model retails for $628 for 8GB RAM and 256GB storage version. Therefore, in terms of price, the 10th gen iPad clearly offers better value for money.
10th generation Apple iPad vs M1 Macbook Air: Which one is more portable?
The Apple iPad 10th gen comes in a small form factor. It is basically the size of a small diary or notebook. So it can easily be carried around and taken to lectures to take notes and record those lectures. The extensive app library also adds weight to its various use cases.
The M1 Macbook Air is comparatively less portable. To work on it, you need to sit somewhere and place the laptop on a table or on your lap to work comfortably. It also doesn't support a touchscreen so the keyboard and the trackpad are its only medium of input.
10th generation Apple iPad vs M1 Macbook Air: Which one is more convenient to use?
The iPa͏d͏ 10th͏ Gen excels in conveni͏ence͏ ͏with it͏s touchscreen an͏d Apple Pencil͏ (1st g͏en) supp͏or͏t. It'͏s ͏ideal fo͏r͏ note-tak͏ing, drawing, and ͏creative ta͏sks. The iPad also offers other functionalities and can be used as a sketchbook to create digital art or other digital media like presentations and designs. It can also be used like a laptop using the Magic Folio keyboard.
The MacBook Ai͏r lacks touchscreen convenience. It offers a large sensitive and accurate trackpad and a clicky keyboard. Comparatively, it is less convenient than the iPad 10th generation.
10th generation Apple iPad vs M1 Macbook Air: How do the new updates and Apple Intelligence affect their productivity?
The iPad 10th generation is set to receive the iPadOS 18 update which brings a new intelligent calculator that can solve your math equations from handwritten inputs using your Apple Pencil. It can adjust the result of the equation based on slight changes you make to the equation. Even better, it can draw graphs based on an equation.
This feature would be beneficial for students to take notes in class and solve math equations. However, the iPad 10th gen's updates are limited to it. It will not receive the Apple Intelligence integration updates that Apple talked about in its WWDC 24 event.
Those updates will only be given to devices with the M1 chip or its later versions. The M1 Macbook Air, therefore, will receive all the AI features coming with MacOS Sequoia.
Final Verdict
Apple's 10th-generation iPad and the M1 MacBook Air are both good options for students. Both offer some unique features which make them useful in their domains.
Even though there are many factors with huge differences, in the long run, we recommend taking the M1 Macbook Air over the iPad 10th generation due to the upcoming AI features. The addition of AI will make the MacBook software better than before in matters of productivity.
