Apple iPad Air 2020 review: Great tablet, not quite a laptop

Apple's new 4th gen iPad Air borrows the flat edges and USB-C charging port of the iPad Pro, and even packs a powerful A14 processor as well. This is an excellent tablet, and it's compatible with Apple's Pencil 2 stylus and Magic Keyboard , complete with trackpad. With these accessories, Apple is clearly positioning the iPad Air as a laptop replacement, and while the iPadOS software has greatly improved, it's still not quite up to the task. Plus it's expensive, getting the 256GB iPad Air will cost you $750, and the Magic Keyboard is another $300. Still, for folks looking for a powerful and sleek tablet, and Air is a great choice for almost everyone.

Video Transcript

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DANA WOLLMAN: I am the best kind of person to write a review of the new iPad Air. No, not because I'm the editor in chief of Engadget but because I happened to be in the market for a personal computer. I need a machine for emails, browsing, Spotify, Slack, all the basic stuff. But I'm undecided between a pricey notebook and a tablet. Do I really need a $1,300 machine when I already have a work laptop that I use, I don't know, 10 hours a day, five days a week?

Probably not. I don't think. Anyway, as it happens, I've tested iPads before, but I've never actually owned one. Other than my persnickety taste then, I am exactly the kind of person Apple is trying to win over with the new Air.

The Air is slightly larger than the previous Gen at 10.9 inches, and it's a little more expensive too. The performance, Wi-Fi, and optional LTE are all faster as well. Tablet also now supports Apple's second Gen Apple Pencil, which got some useful new tricks in iPadOS 14, which came out recently. With few exceptions then, the Air is now on par with the iPad Pro, the highest end of Apple's three tablets. Speaking of the sort, the design here is pretty similar to the iPad Pro, with flat edges, a smooth uninterrupted backside, and a nearly edge to edge screen that does away with the old school home button.

The touch ID fingerprint sensor that used to live inside the Home button is now in the lock button. There's also now a USB port on the bottom, which is first for the Air line. Some of the color choices are new here too. Though it's available in familiar hues like silver, space gray, rose gold, you can also opt for sky blue-- that's the one I've got here-- or the same mint green offered on the new iPhone 12. It's a pretty lovely screen, similar in quality to what you'll find on the iPad Pro.

This is what Apple calls a, quote, "liquid retina display with 2360 by 1460 resolution or a pixel density of 264 PPI". It also supports the wider P3 color gamut and makes use of Apple's true tone technology, which automatically adjusts the color temperature depending on the ambient light. One thing you won't get on the Air, the iPad Pro's faster refreshing 120 Hertz screen. It's also a little less bright, 500 nits versus 600 on the Pro. Oh, well, got to save something for the top shelf model, right?

I haven't much to complain about after using the Air for nearly a week. I typed, browsed the web, streamed movies, scrolled through my photos. Everything looks sharp and punchy but never oversaturated. The anti-reflective coating also meant I had some wide viewing angles too. If you put up with my nit picking for just a minute, it's really a shame that Apple doesn't use OLED displays on its tablets, not even the iPad Pro. After hours in Google Docs with dark mode enabled, I couldn't help but notice that the Black taking up most of the screen wasn't as dark as what I see even on my three-year-old iPhone 10.

Finishing up our hardware tour, this year's Air has the same camera resolution as before. That would be 12 megapixels on the back and 7 megapixels up front. Spec wise, the rear camera setup now matches what you'll find on the iPad Pro line with the ability to shoot video in 4K and snap stills up to 8 megapixels while shooting. The aperture on the back camera is also significantly improved. It's F 1.8 now compared with F 2.4 on the 2019 model.

The front camera, meanwhile, promises to hold up better in low light. So what's the Air like to use? I want to start by saying Apple has done a really good job over the years perfecting the iPad setup process, especially for people who already own iPhones. I will say that setting up touch ID felt a little clumsy compared to the setup process for touch ID on a Mac. You have to hold your finger over the narrow button on the top edge, but it feels less intuitive than running your finger over a smooth fingerprint sensor.

Honestly, it's a shame that the Air still doesn't have face ID, a feature you'll find on the iPad Pro and that iPhones of course have had for years now. OK, I think I'm done complaining now. Now, here's a long list of good stuff. First up, the new Air was the first Apple device to use the company's new A14 bionic chip. The system on the chip includes a six-core CPU and a four-core GPU that's up to 30% faster than the previous generation.

Lastly, Apple's next generation neural engine is two times faster at machine learning. In practice, it's just a really zippy device that had no problem keeping up with my multitasking and frequent app switching. In writing this review, I had the Google Docs app open at all times but frequently needed to use other apps like Chrome and Slack, either at full screen or split screen view. To give the machine more of a workout, I transcoded a 1.6 gigabyte 4K video to 1080 in Adobe Premiere Rush, and that took about 100 seconds each time.

I also downloaded the game Pascal's Wager and Apple Arcade titles like Redout and Beyond a Steel Sky. Each ran smoothly with the details rendering nicely on that sharp display. Also, as much as I nitpick about the LCDs Black levels compared to an iPhone's OLED panel, the screen is a good match for the vibrant colors in these games, particularly Redout and the trippy Sayonara Wild Hearts. And it's not just performance that's fast.

The new air also steps up to Wi-Fi 6 with 60% faster LTE speeds on cellular models. Normally, I have a love hate relationship with my home Wi-Fi, but I noticed off the bat that the iPad was really quick at downloading the various Apple TV Plus movies I use in my battery testing. Last time I did this, when I tested the MacBook Pro. That same series of downloads took hours. Pretty, pretty good I would say. Throughout, the Air deliver solid battery life.

Apple claims it's capable of up to 10 hours with web browsing or video playback, and up to nine hours on LTE. The same as always basically. I suspect that 10-hour promise is actually on the conservative side, which is often the case with Apple products. After using Chrome and Google Docs unplugged for two and 1/2 hours, I still had around 80%, which is a run rate that would have put me closer to 12 and 1/2 hours. Like I said earlier, the new Air supports the second generation Apple Pencil, whose defining feature is that it latches onto the tablet magnetically for storage and charging.

There's also a smart connector on the device allowing you to use accessories like Apple's excellent Magic Keyboard. As it happens, some of the most exciting new features in iPadOS 14 are specific to the Apple Pencil. The new scribble feature lets you write inside any text field with the pencil. The feature, it works nearly perfectly. Now, my penmanship is naturally messy, and it gets worse when I'm trying to write in small text fields. No matter, the iPad usually knew what I was trying to say.

Another new trick, jot down a phone number or address, underline it, and iPadOS gives you the option to dial that number, look up directions in maps, add the number to contacts, et cetera. You can also sketch shapes into the Notes app, which the software then converts into precise vector drawings, which can be nice if drawing diagrams is a big part of your life. Like last year's Air, the 2020 edition comes with two storage options, 64 gigs at the base level, or 256 gigs.

It's worth noting that's more expensive than last year. The Air used to start at 499, not 599. Those prices are for Wi-Fi-only models by the way. In each case, LTE will add 130 bucks to the price, not including monthly fees of course. From there, you have your choice of accessories, which you'll absolutely want if you intend to use the iPad as a laptop replacement. The Magic Keyboard costs 299, almost as much as one of Apple's basic iPads.

You can also go with the Smart Keyboard Folio, which costs 179 and foregoes the trackpad. Then there's the second gen pencil, which costs $129. Assuming you go with a 256 gigabyte iPad because, really, who wants only 64 gigs of storage for a laptop replacement, you're looking at 1,028 with the keyboard and you still don't have a desktop class cursor or multitasking experience when you need it. That proposition only gets more ridiculous if you consider the iPad Pro, which starts at 799 for the smaller 128 gigabyte 11-inch model and offers many of the same features as the less expensive Air, adding a few amenities like a higher refresh screen, lighter sensor face ID, and a four-speaker audio setup.

To be clear, you don't need any of these accessories to enjoy the iPad for what it is, just a really good tablet. But you do need the keyboard if you want to take Apple at its word that the iPad can be a legit laptop replacement. I'm still not convinced this should be anyone's primary computer if they expect to do a lot of multitasking or cursor work. But as a secondary computer, if you already own a laptop or have access to one, maybe even a work machine, yeah, I can see it.

With so few differences between the iPad Air and the Pro, I'm forced to reconsider who the air is for. Last year, it was the perfect just right tablet. It offered more features in the basic entry level model but was still more attainable than the Premium Pro line. It was the best tablet for most people. This year, I would upgrade the Air to the best tablet for almost everyone. And I'd even argue it's Apple's best high end tablet, at least for now.

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