iPad Air M4 11 vs 13 Inch: Don't Buy the Wrong One — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00On paper, choosing between the 11-in and
2. 0:0213-in M4 iPad Air might sound like a
3. 0:04pretty simple and harmless decision. You
4. 0:06pay a little bit more money and you get
5. 0:08a little bit bigger screen. But, after
6. 0:09using both of these for the last few
7. 0:10months, I can tell you this choice is
8. 0:12not just about screen size. It
9. 0:14completely changes what the iPad
10. 0:16actually is. In this video, we're going
11. 0:18to skip dry benchmarks and spec sheets
12. 0:19and we're going to talk real-world
13. 0:20usage, the subtle aspect ratio
14. 0:22differences of the screens, using these
15. 0:24on a couch, and the exact physical
16. 0:26experience of the two devices so you
17. 0:29don't buy the wrong one. And if you're
18. 0:30looking to pick one up, do not pay the
19. 0:32full price at Apple. I've tracked down
20. 0:33the best live deals and discount links
21. 0:35and placed them in the description below
22. 0:37to save you some cash. I find that the
23. 0:3911-in really gives you that true tablet
24. 0:41feel. It weighs just over a pound and
25. 0:43it's perfect for tossing around. So,
26. 0:44whether you want to use this for couch
27. 0:46scrolling or reading or if you want to
28. 0:48hold this in portrait mode one-handed,
29. 0:49this works really well. Also, in
30. 0:51portrait mode, it's very easy to access
31. 0:53the keyboard on the screen. Your thumbs
32. 0:55are able to reach over just fine. And
33. 0:57even in landscape mode, the stretch gets
34. 0:58a little bit farther, but it's still
35. 1:00usable with the full screen typing
36. 1:02keyboard on it. The 13-in size, to me,
37. 1:04doesn't balance quite as well as the 11
38. 1:07if you want to hold it in portrait mode.
39. 1:08It just doesn't feel as good to use
40. 1:10one-handed. To me, it's also a little
41. 1:11bit too tall to comfortably read in
42. 1:13portrait mode. Just holding it up for a
43. 1:15while gets uncomfortable even with two
44. 1:17hands and the top makes it want to pull
45. 1:18down a little bit. If you try to hold
46. 1:20this with one hand, then your wrist is
47. 1:22going to fatigue in minutes. You can
48. 1:23also use this in landscape mode and it
49. 1:25gets a little bit easier to handhold,
50. 1:27but you're going to have to be moving
51. 1:28your hand around quite a bit if you want
52. 1:30to type with it. So, to me, if you get
53. 1:32the 13-in, unless you really need to
54. 1:33have the large screen that you're just
55. 1:35interacting with, then the Magic
56. 1:37Keyboard is absolutely a must for being
57. 1:39able to type comfortably. Both of these
58. 1:41have a standard Liquid Retina LCD
59. 1:43display, which is very nice, very high
60. 1:46quality, but it's not OLED like the Pro.
61. 1:47And both of these models are stuck at
62. 1:49the 60 Hz refresh rate, which means it
63. 1:51feels like it has a little bit of
64. 1:53stutter compared to ProMotion on iPhones
65. 1:55or the iPad Pro or the MacBook Pro. The
66. 1:58big difference in the screens of these
67. 2:00is actually in the aspect ratio. The
68. 2:0211-in has a 16 by 11 aspect ratio, so a
69. 2:06little bit more of a rectangular shape.
70. 2:08The 13-in has a resolution of 2732 by
71. 2:102048, which gives you a 4 by 3 aspect
72. 2:13ratio, which is a little bit boxier,
73. 2:16closer to being a square. The 13-in
74. 2:17doesn't just stretch the 11-in and make
75. 2:19it larger, it completely alters the app
76. 2:22layout because of that extra vertical
77. 2:23height that it has. This means for
78. 2:25watching widescreen movies on the 13-in,
79. 2:28you have massive black letterbox bars on
80. 2:30it. And the actual video on a 13-in
81. 2:33isn't going to be all that much larger
82. 2:35than it is on a 11-in. I will say for
83. 2:37creative work though, the 13-in display
84. 2:39is amazing. If you're using something
85. 2:41like Lightroom, DaVinci, LumaFusion,
86. 2:43then you've got a lot more space for
87. 2:44panels and menus cuz these get crowded
88. 2:47really fast on the 11-in. So with the
89. 2:4913-in, you've got actual breathing room
90. 2:51for timelines, settings, and for file
91. 2:54browsers all within it. For gaming, the
92. 2:5613-in one feels a lot more immersive. It
93. 2:59feels more like a portable monitor
94. 3:00compared to the 11-in. I will say though
95. 3:02with the 13-in, hand controls can be
96. 3:05quite a bit more fatiguing because of
97. 3:07having to access a larger area of the
98. 3:09screen. So again, with the 13-in, I
99. 3:11would say a controller is absolutely a
100. 3:14necessity and also a stand for this. I'm
101. 3:16going to have links for my favorite iPad
102. 3:17stand in the description below as well.
103. 3:19For note-taking, the 13-in 4 by 3 aspect
104. 3:22ratio is going to be a lot closer to the
105. 3:24standard paper size if you want to use
106. 3:26this with the Apple Pencil Pro. But
107. 3:28again, for hand-holding, it can be kind
108. 3:30of uncomfortable to hold it for a long
109. 3:31period of time, so you're really going
110. 3:33to want to use this on a desk with the
111. 3:35Apple Pencil. The 11-in is still totally
112. 3:38fine for using with the Apple Pencil,
113. 3:40you're just going to have to move around
114. 3:41the screen a little bit more often
115. 3:42because of the smaller amount of real
116. 3:44estate you have with it. For
117. 3:45multitasking on the 11-in, split view
118. 3:47feels pretty crammed on it. It really
119. 3:49gives you the the layout sizes of
120. 3:51applications. The 13-in it almost feels
121. 3:53like having two 11-in iPads side by
122. 3:56side, which makes this a lot better for
123. 3:58researching or if you want to have
124. 3:59multiple apps or even if you want to
125. 4:01open a video window up in a corner while
126. 4:03doing some sort of reading at the same
127. 4:05time. There's a couple of other
128. 4:06interesting things about the screens,
129. 4:08namely the fact that the 11-in screen
130. 4:10maxes out at 500 nits of brightness and
131. 4:12the 13-in actually gives it a bump up to
132. 4:15600 nits of brightness, which just means
133. 4:17in harsher sunlight this one's going to
134. 4:19be able to cut through a little bit
135. 4:20better. I also found that the colors on
136. 4:22the 13-in were just a little bit more
137. 4:24vivid and it feels like the display has
138. 4:26an extra depth to it that is missing
139. 4:28compared to the 11-in and I'm really not
140. 4:30sure why that is because even at the
141. 4:32same brightness I definitely notice
142. 4:34that. Whether you get the portable 11-in
143. 4:36or the extra bright 13-in Tomtoc has the
144. 4:38excellent Essence series of sleeves,
145. 4:41which are very high quality and provide
146. 4:42excellent coverage all the way around
147. 4:45the iPad. These use high quality YKK
148. 4:47zippers that work very easily and
149. 4:49there's also an extra pouch on the front
150. 4:51of the Essence case, which is perfect
151. 4:53for keeping the iPad charger and cable
152. 4:55or your AirPods all stowed away. There's
153. 4:57also a nice convenient little carry
154. 4:58handle on the top. These sleeves provide
155. 5:00a snug and secure fit and they have that
156. 5:03amazing corner armor times four
157. 5:04protection, which is designed
158. 5:05specifically to absorb impact and shock
159. 5:08in the corners where the iPad is the
160. 5:10most vulnerable. When you squeeze the
161. 5:11outer edge and you feel the back of
162. 5:12these, you can actually feel it
163. 5:14expanding with the slow rebound from the
164. 5:16shock-absorbing material. I really like
165. 5:18both the B34 and the B35 and these are
166. 5:20available for both the 11 and the 13-in
167. 5:22iPad. Whether you want to get this for
168. 5:23work, your daily commute, throwing in a
169. 5:25backpack, or just carrying it around,
170. 5:27Tomtoc has you covered. So, be sure to
171. 5:29check out the link in the description
172. 5:30below to see the Essence B34 and the B35
173. 5:33and give your iPad Air the protection it
174. 5:35deserves. And again, a huge shout out to
175. 5:37Tomtoc for sponsoring this video. Next,
176. 5:39let's talk accessories. Both of these
177. 5:40work with either the USB-C Apple Pencil
178. 5:42or the Apple Pencil Pro. I definitely
179. 5:44recommend the Apple Pencil Pro though
180. 5:46because it has magnetic charging and
181. 5:48magnetic pairing. They also both have
182. 5:50their own Magic Keyboard case that you
183. 5:51can get in either black or white. These
184. 5:53are nice because they don't use
185. 5:54Bluetooth, they have the smart connector
186. 5:55on them, so you just attach the iPad,
187. 5:57and then you have a full keyboard. They
188. 5:59add the trackpad, which gives you a
189. 6:01cursor that you can move around the iPad
190. 6:03screen. It's very intuitive to use.
191. 6:04Also, you got a full function row on it,
192. 6:06and the typing performance on it feels
193. 6:08just like using a MacBook. Depending on
194. 6:10which size you get, the 11-in the keys
195. 6:12are a little bit smaller and they're
196. 6:14more cramped. Also, the keys like caps
197. 6:15lock and shift, they're not quite as
198. 6:17long as they are on the 13-in model.
199. 6:20With the 13-in model, the keys are the
200. 6:22exact same size as a MacBook Air or
201. 6:25MacBook Pro. So, this is going to feel
202. 6:26more like using a laptop to you. I will
203. 6:29say with the 11-in even though it's
204. 6:30cramped, after using it for a long time,
205. 6:33I've gotten really used to it, and this
206. 6:34is my favorite device for just typing,
207. 6:37sending emails, sending messages, and
208. 6:39doing writing. The biggest problem with
209. 6:40the Magic Keyboard is by the time you
210. 6:42add a Magic Keyboard to the price that
211. 6:44either iPads cost, you're really going
212. 6:46to be pushing the price in the MacBook
213. 6:47Air territory, and the MacBook Air is
214. 6:50more stable to use on a couch, it's got
215. 6:52macOS, and the keyboard is even nicer
216. 6:55than that that comes with either of
217. 6:56these. Both the 11-in and the 13-in M4
218. 6:58iPad Air start with just 128 GB of
219. 7:02storage, which really isn't enough in
220. 7:042026. By the time you start to put
221. 7:05applications on these, and you use the
222. 7:07great Apple ecosystem features like
223. 7:09iMessage and your iCloud photos, you're
224. 7:11going to very quickly fill up that space
225. 7:13on them. So, I'm really bummed that
226. 7:14Apple hasn't raised the level of storage
227. 7:17on the base model of these. That being
228. 7:19said, if you get the 11-in this one
229. 7:20starts at $600, the 13-in starts at
230. 7:23$800, and then you're going to spend an
231. 7:25additional $270 to $300
232. 7:28to add a Magic Keyboard to this. So,
233. 7:31with the iPad Air, the price of it
234. 7:33definitely can add up fast. If you're
235. 7:35trying to decide which of these you
236. 7:36should get, I would say the 11-in is
237. 7:39going to be the best choice for most
238. 7:40people, especially if you just want to
239. 7:42have that tablet feel. If you're looking
240. 7:43for something to complement an existing
241. 7:45laptop, something you can read on or
242. 7:48take to coffee shops, or easily hold in
243. 7:50one hand, this is the best balance of
244. 7:52price, portability, and the true tablet
245. 7:55feel. If you're looking for an iPad Air
246. 7:57to be your primary device and you're a
247. 7:58digital artist who needs every single
248. 8:00millimeter of drawing space, or if
249. 8:02you're a student and you need the
250. 8:03side-by-side multitasking for hours of
251. 8:05lectures and note-taking, that's where
252. 8:08the 13-in is a better option.
253. 8:10But you're losing that lightweight
254. 8:12handheld tablet magic that to me makes
255. 8:14the iPad really special.
256. 8:16And you basically start dealing with a
257. 8:18device that really wants to live on a
258. 8:20desk. So which would you choose? The
259. 8:2111-in portable size, or the 13-in for
260. 8:24maximum workspace? If you've enjoyed
261. 8:27this video, leave a like and a sub, and
262. 8:28also be sure to check links in the
263. 8:30description below for the best deals on
264. 8:32the iPad Air.