Deals: Not Upgrading to the New iPad Air? Get the 4th Gen Tablet for Record Low of $469.99 ($129 Off)

I can understand people wanting the form factor for the lowest possible price, but otherwise I think it'd be silly to choose the old model. The new model has literally twice the headroom in terms of performance (CPU performance cores, GPU cores, and RAM). This may not make a huge difference to most people on day 1, but as iPads continue to add software features and possibly even open up to some form of MacOS (I know they say it'll never happen but still it's undeniable the platforms are beginning to merge in many ways), this headroom is going to be crucial.

This is all assuming you keep the device for a while, of course. However even if you upgrade every year or two, the resale/trade-in value of this should make it worth considering still.

Really though, think about any other Apple product offering this much future-proofing (literally twice the performance capability), and it only costing you an extra $100. If this were an iPhone people would be laughing at the value proposition of the old model, yet iOS is even more hampered than iPadOS.

There is no such thing as "future-proofing".

I have never found it financially wise to make purchase decisions based on the possibilities of the future. In this case, the idea that some form of MacOS will be available for an iPad is merely a fantasy at this moment. Should that actually happen, there is no guarantee that such a mythical MacOS system would run on an Air 5.

For people who simply want to use the device (rather than run benchmarks to compare performance numbers), the Air 4 will easily handle iPadOS for the effective life of the device. This is a great deal, especially during these days of supply chain issues and other scarcities.

The new Air has double the RAM but still the Air 4 at $470 is a good buy. Should be supported for many years.

I can understand people wanting the form factor for the lowest possible price, but otherwise I think it'd be silly to choose the old model. The new model has literally twice the headroom in terms of performance (CPU performance cores, GPU cores, and RAM). This may not make a huge difference to most people on day 1, but as iPads continue to add software features and possibly even open up to some form of MacOS (I know they say it'll never happen but still it's undeniable the platforms are beginning to merge in many ways), this headroom is going to be crucial.

This is all assuming you keep the device for a while, of course. However even if you upgrade every year or two, the resale/trade-in value of this should make it worth considering still.

Really though, think about any other Apple product offering this much future-proofing (literally twice the performance capability), and it only costing you an extra $100. If this were an iPhone people would be laughing at the value proposition of the old model, yet iOS is even more hampered than iPadOS.

For people who use an iPad to browse the web, read email, maybe use Amazon or social media, or play a few games, performance headroom is unlikely to be a factor. I could be wrong, but I suspect that covers the overwhelming majority of users.

Basically, imo, talking about performance headroom on an iPad is either preaching to the choir — who aren’t seriously considering this as a primary device anyway — or talking to people for whom it’s not an issue.

I’d rather get a 2018 iPad Pro 11 and/or 12.9 for the same price. It’s easy to find great condition ones out there for similar prices.

Not a bad deal. I’m happy with my 5th gen Air, but I think for deal hunters it would be a good buy. The A14 should run about as long as the M1, but it might lose a year or two. However, Apple has been supporting devices for a while, so any of the iPads would be a win (expect for the iPad gen 6 or 7).

I know A14 and M1 have many similarities, but the double RAM alone should give it several more years of viability than the 4th gen if I had to guess.

I can understand people wanting the form factor for the lowest possible price, but otherwise I think it'd be silly to choose the old model. The new model has literally twice the headroom in terms of performance (CPU performance cores, GPU cores, and RAM). This may not make a huge difference to most people on day 1, but as iPads continue to add software features and possibly even open up to some form of MacOS (I know they say it'll never happen but still it's undeniable the platforms are beginning to merge in many ways), this headroom is going to be crucial.

This is all assuming you keep the device for a while, of course. However even if you upgrade every year or two, the resale/trade-in value of this should make it worth considering still.

Really though, think about any other Apple product offering this much future-proofing (literally twice the performance capability), and it only costing you an extra $100. If this were an iPhone people would be laughing at the value proposition of the old model, yet iOS is even more hampered than iPadOS.

I agree, but I think it's probably the difference in RAM (4GB vs 8GB if I remember correctly) is going to be the ultimate decider for long term support and performance.