My old iPad is fine for me, and probably for you too (Image: Apple)
… there’s one device in my life that I don’t see a reason to upgrade, and that’s my three year-old iPad
As a technology journalist I am lucky enough to be able to use a lot of the very latest consumer gadgets before or just after their launch, from the newest Samsung Galaxy foldable phones to premium Bluetooth speakers, high-end headphones and even smart rings. But there’s one device in my life that I don’t see a reason to upgrade, and that’s my three year-old iPad – and it’s the cheapest one you can buy. I’ll probably still be using it three years from now. I don’t think most people need an iPad Pro or even an iPad Air.
I was quite jealous when my colleague got to review the shiny new iPad Pro recently. It is incredibly thin – thinner than any iPod nano, apparently – and the display is absolutely incredible, the best screen I’ve ever seen on a tablet. You can get a keyboard for it too, which Apple also sells, to create what the company says is a laptop replacement-style workstation on the go with 5G compatibility and the immense power of the new M4 chipset.
A couple of weeks after that iPad Pro came out, I saw a fellow traveller using one at London City Airport. He had the new tablet attached to the new Magic Keyboard, and Apple’s AirPods Max headphones connected. He was watching a film on Netflix.
This is the iPad fallacy in a nutshell. The cheap one can do that.
The iPad Pro is thinner than an Apple Pencil but it costs £999 (Image: Apple)
Maybe the man was also an artist who also used the Pro later on his flight to sketch some new print designs before showing them to his client in Milan, or maybe he did some editing on the 4K footage he had backed up to a USB-C drive before touching down for a board meeting in New York. But I imagine he would have just finished watching his film.
I see a lot of executives (and tech journalists) using the iPad Pro and the slightly-cheaper-but-not-actually-cheap iPad Air (from £599). Great if you can afford it – I’d love one. But I keep coming back to the fact I have a perfectly functional ninth-generation iPad, a plain old regular iPad from 2021 that looks comparatively ancient to tech aficionados. It has a Home Button (remember those?) and big bezels at the top and bottom. Apple doesn’t sell it any more, but you can still get it easily enough.
… my cheap iPad is great. It does everything I want it to do, which is look at web pages, read emails, and write articles.
It has a Lightning port, not USB-C like newer iPads, and the display is unlaminated, which means when you use the first-gen (oldest) Apple Pencil to draw or take notes on it, there’s a visible gap between the layer of glass you’re touching and the display underneath. Pricier iPads have laminated screens like your phone probably has.
But my cheap iPad is great. It does everything I want it to do, which is look at web pages, read emails, and write articles. I am writing this very article right now on my iPad using the Logitech Combo Touch keyboard accessory. It costs £159.99, which isn’t exacrtly budget, but I’ve seen it on sale for £99.99 from Currys and it’s better than Apple’s Smart Keyboard folio. The keys are a little cramped due to its mini size and it’s all far too chunky, but it does the job for not much dosh.
The Logitech Combo Touch is a bit chunky but transforms my humble iPad (Image: Logitech)
The iPad clips into a study protective case and there’s a detachable keyboard with backlit lights that pairs via the iPad’s Smart Connector, so there’s no need for batteries or Bluetooth. With a slot for my Apple Pencil, it makes my humble iPad a great all-in-one mini laptop. You can pick up this iPad for about £300 in the UK now, so all-in about £400 with this keyboard. The setup is far more capable than most £400 laptops.
The new, cheapest iPad Pro on its own with no accessories costs £999. The compatible Magic Keyboard is £299.
I simply do not need that much tablet. Sure, I want one. But I don’t need it, and can’t get remotely close to justifying the expense. To be fair to Apple, the firm doesn’t explicitly say the iPad Pro is the one everyone should buy, but its marketing and pricing structure is designed to nudge you to pay over the odds for an iPad that’s too powerful for what you want it for. The iPad Pro’s screen is incredible, and compared to my iPad it’s streets ahead. If you buy the cheapest iPad you’ll probably only get 64GB storage, which encourages you to pay more. Ooh, maybe I need an iPad Air…
The iPad is best in this state, the one in which it exists in thousands of homes up and down the country – the portable screen the watching telly on
But no! When I’m lying in bed watching Disney+, my screen is just fine, thanks. I am not left pining for a Tandem OLED display with deeper black colours and a peak brightness that can match the surface of the sun.
My wife thinks the Logitech cover makes my iPad much too bulky and heavy. She’s right, but it doesn’t stop her nicking it to stream her favourite shows or catch up on news almost every day. The iPad is best in this state, the one in which it exists in thousands of homes up and down the country – a portable screen for watching telly on. Don’t overspend if that’s what you want one for.
You can buy the 2021 iPad for less than £300 at the time of writing from Amazon UK and Currys.
