I tried to replace my MacBook Pro with the M3 iPad Air – then the reality of iPadOS struck me

ZDNET’s key takeaways

The 2025 iPad Air is available in an 11-inch model starting at $600 and a 13-inch model starting at $800.
The latest iPad Air features Apple Intelligence, an M3 processor, and some of the best performance I’ve seen on an iPad to date.
But the iPad Air gets expensive quickly, with the 13-inch model selling for as much as $1,300.

more buying choices

I’ve grown rather attached to my work MacBook Pro. I use it every day, take it with me when I need to work on the go, and rely on its outstanding battery life to stay as far away from outlets as possible. I’ve tried using an iPad instead of the MacBook Pro before but have yet to find one that strikes the right balance of portability, value, and performance — until the M3 iPad Air showed up at my door.

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The latest iPad Air is Apple’s most capable tablet after the iPad Pro. It features the M3 Silicon chip, which is leaps and bounds ahead of my M1 MacBook Pro in performance, speed, and power, and supports Apple Intelligence. At this point, here’s how the Apple iPad lineup stands in performance, from weakest to strongest: iPad 11th Gen, iPad Mini 7, iPad Air, and iPad Pro. So the question is, who should buy the Air?

Admittedly, there are no significant differences between the 2024 iPad Air and the 2025 model, as was made evident in my testing. This year’s iPad Air is an iterative upgrade that takes the device from the M2 processor to the M3, with no new display capabilities or camera features. That’s not a bad thing, per se.

Having tested last year’s model, I focused on how the new iPad Air and the new Magic Keyboard for iPad Air could perform together in a work setting.

Geekbench 6 scores	Single-Core CPU Benchmark	Multi-Core CPU Benchmark	GPU benchmark
iPad Air (M3)	3,098	11,689	44,406
iPad Air (M2)	2,622	10,007	41,771

The latest iPad Air’s performance is noticeably better than last year’s M2 model, with about 17% gains in CPU improvements on benchmark tests (above). These improvements are most noticeable in better app performance, multitasking, and rendering speeds. While the GPU boosts are more modest compared to the M2, the M3 processor features improved efficiency and memory optimization. Altogether, you’re looking at a tablet that runs smoother and faster, a benefit you won’t necessarily notice but exists.

Replacing my MacBook Pro for work

Apple markets the iPad Air and iPad Pro for their ability to replace a laptop for many consumers, from students to power users — but this has long been a point of contention, specifically among the latter group.

I’m not sure I’d consider myself a power user, but I do much more than write and use word-processing apps on my MacBook Pro. I use Adobe Photoshop several times a day for photo editing and graphic design and edit videos on Premiere, so I need a laptop to keep up.

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When the latest iPad Air with the M3 processor and the new Magic Keyboard arrived, I began by downloading the necessary apps on the tablet and trying to incorporate Apple Intelligence into my daily use. The tablet pairing was much easier to transport from one place to another than the heavier 16-inch MacBook Pro. It’s lighter, smaller, and easy to open and close when I need to move quickly. It helps that the improved Magic Keyboard gives you more flexible viewing angles, which comes in handy when you’re on a flight or confined in space.

I’ve admittedly been one of the skeptics when it comes to replacing a laptop with an iPad, and I unfortunately remain one after using the iPad Air for about a week for work. This has nothing to do with the iPad’s intrinsic performance capabilities and more with how limited iPadOS applications are.

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While I could keep my workflow constant when working on the iPad Air, I was constantly bogged down by mobile site errors and application limitations. A mobile site doesn’t behave the way it’s meant to behave on your desktop, but this can be easily remediated with some browser settings. However, mobile application limitations aren’t as easy to circumvent, especially when you rely on them for work.

For example, photo and video editing applications like Photoshop and Premiere have mobile versions, PS Express and Rush, respectively. These applications feature a drastically different user experience than their desktop counterparts, from the lack of certain editing tools to the user interface.

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Many users won’t mind the differences, but I prefer a streamlined experience to maintain as similar of a workflow as possible on my laptop and tablet. That simply isn’t possible right now.

Apple Intelligence on the iPad Air

Apple Intelligence on the iPad Air includes Writing Tools to generate text, like summaries, emails, or messages, Genmoji to create custom emojis (which you can then use on other non-Apple Intelligence compatible devices linked to your Apple ID), Image Playground to generate images in different applications, and a smarter Siri that you can type queries to and leverages ChatGPT for more in-depth responses.

While the Apple Intelligence features aren’t as groundbreaking as the company’s marketing has made them out to be, they are fairly helpful at times, especially for fun, lighthearted projects. One thing I love about Apple Intelligence is how intrinsic its features are woven into the user experience. Unlike other AI applications I’ve tested on other tablets, Apple Intelligence has a more burdenless approach, with shortcuts and access points that blend into iPadOS.

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However, the AI tools are still relatively limited in functionality, with much room for improvement, as evidenced by how hard it is to remove an unwanted object from a photo. Current Apple Intelligence features are dispensable, with companies like Google and Samsung having added similar AI features to their devices long ago, which makes Apple’s inexperience in the AI space glaring.

Apple Intelligence is enabled by default on the latest iPadOS 18.3.2 update, so those who prefer not to use it must toggle it off in their Settings.

ZDNET’s buying advice

After using the iPad Air with the M3 processor for work and entertainment this past week, I can attest to the tablet’s strong performance and capability to support a creator’s workflow. The caveat is that you must be willing to compromise on the applications you use and likely set up your browser to pull up desktop versions of your most frequently visited websites.

The iPad Air configuration I’m testing isn’t cheap. The 13-inch model with 1TB of storage costs $1,299. Add a $269 Magic Keyboard and a $129 Apple Pencil Pro, and you’re looking at a $1,697 tablet setup. That’s why I mostly recommend the iPad Air if you don’t need the highest storage configuration, considering the 11-inch model starts at a lesser $599 and the 13-inch model at $799 with 128GB.

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If you’re willing to pay more for the most capable, thin, and lightweight iPad, I’d recommend an iPad Pro. The iPad Pro, starting at $999 for the 11-inch model and $1,299 for the 13-inch variant, features a more vibrant and punchy Tandem OLED screen and the latest Apple M4 processor, which is a step up from the current iPad Air with M3. It also has a faster 120Hz display that makes visuals smoother to the eyes.

Original Source: zdnet

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