Apple iPad Air MSRP $599.00 Score Details DT Editors' Choice “Buy the iPad Air 5 with enough storage and it's a hugely powerful tablet suitable for work and play that'll last for years, but there's still a reason to splurge for the iPad Pro if you've got the budget.
You unlock the iPad Air 5 using a Touch ID fingerprint sensor in the power button, and there’s no option for Face ID. The button is slim and set almost flush against the body of the tablet, so it takes a little getting used to. I don’t find it as fast as Face ID on the iPhone or the iPad Pro, and I’d be wary about buying some cases as it could become hard to press if the case has a chunky build.
When I compare the entire “iPad Air experience” directly with my 2020 iPad Pro, everything from unlocking and opening apps to scrolling through text and browsing the web is noticeably smoother on the Pro’s 120Hz ProMotion screen. It’s not only easier on the eyes, but it’s also more pleasurable, with a distinctly high quality feel to using the tablet.
For the way I work, the iPad Air 5 is a true laptop alternative, but as I will come back to later on, that doesn’t mean it’ll be cheaper than a laptop. Previous Next 1 of 6 Even setting up the iPad was incredibly simple, as it pulled all the data from the iCloud backup of my iPad Pro. It took about an hour to complete, and once done, I didn’t need to do much else to make it work as I wanted. It’s all very easy, and this streamlined onboarding process is a big part of the iPad’s appeal.
Battery and charging In the box, Apple provides a 20-watt charging block and a USB Type-C cable. It’ll certainly charge the tablet, but it won’t do it very quickly. It took 30 minutes to reach about 25%, an hour to reach 50%, and 2 hours and 20 minutes to reach 100%. To speed the process up a little, I used an ElecJet X21 GaN Pro charger. It took 30 minutes to reach 35%, an hour to reach about 70%, and hit the full mark in just under two hours.
Before you even get started, it’s probably worth paying for more storage. The cheapest iPad Air 5 comes with 64GB storage and this gets eaten up very quickly, especially as iPadOS takes up 8GB alone. If you play games or download movies, it’s simply not enough. Asphalt 8: Airborne takes up 3.3GB and a single 45-minute high-quality download from Disney+ is 1.6GB, so you can immediately see how fast you’d run out of room.