It’s time for an iPad Pro 2024 vs. M3 MacBook Air face-off.
In the last couple of years, Apple’s been strongly positioning its most powerful tablet as a capable laptop replacement. Now that the new iPad Pros are here, it’s time to once again take a closer look into the inevitable comparison: iPad Pro or MacBook Air?
Before we begin, we need to set the stage a little bit. Yes, the iPad Pro is primarily a tablet, and by default, it comes without a mechanical keyboard. But Apple’s Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro is getting better (more on that in a bit), and the iPad does have a touchscreen and Pencil, whereas the MacBook Air does not, which makes it a little more powerful in certain workflows.
Finally, the iPad Pro comes with Apple’s new M4 chip, making it more powerful (in theory) than the MacBook Air.
Big caveat here: Until we thoroughly test the new iPad Pro, we won’t know exactly how well it behaves as a laptop replacement. Keep in mind that this article merely compares specs based on publicly available data.
Regardless, the last iteration of the iPad Pro wasn’t a good replacement for the MacBook Air, due to price, minor bugs, and numerous workflow issues. Has this changed with the new iPad Pro? Let’s dive in.
iPad Pro 2024 vs. M3 MacBook Air: Price
The MacBook Air is considerably cheaper than the new iPad Pro. It starts at $1,099, while the 13-inch iPad Pro starts at $1,299. The iPad comes without a keyboard, and for a fair comparison, we must add the Magic Keyboard, which costs an additional $299, bringing the total costs for the iPad Pro to $1,598. A pretty big win for the MacBook Air.
iPad Pro 2024 vs. M3 MacBook Air: Specs
Here’s where it becomes complicated. No matter what Apple or anyone else says, the MacBook Air is probably more suited for laptop tasks. But when it comes to pure processing power and display prowess, it’s lagging behind.
Credit: Apple
This is because the MacBook Air comes with Apple’s M3 chip, whereas the new iPad Pro has Apple’s latest and greatest M4 chip. We can’t be sure how it performs, though. Spec for spec, the M4 is more powerful. The 13-inch iPad Pro with 256 GB of storage (starting model) has an M4 chip with a 9-core CPU, with 3 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores, a 10-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural engine. The starting MacBook Air comes with an M3 chip with an 8-core CPU (with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores), an 8-Core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine. Starting storage is the same for both models, at 256GB.
The display on the MacBook Air is also a distant second here. The Air has a 13.6-inch IPS LED display with a 2,560×1,664 pixel resolution and 500 nits of brightness. The iPad Pro’s display blows it away: It’s a Tandem OLED display with a 2,752×2,064 pixel display and 1,000 nits of max brightness (1,600 nits when watching HDR content).
iPad Pro 2024 vs. M3 MacBook Air: Design
Well, one is a tablet, the other one is a laptop. Easy, no?
In reality, if you deck the iPad with Apple’s new Magic Keyboard, it’s quite laptop-like. And here is where we have to give an advantage to the iPad Pro, which can be turned into a beautiful, uninterrupted slab of…well, content. It can also be had in Apple’s cool new Space Black color, though MacBook Air does have a wider option of colors, with four on offer – Midnight, Starlight, Space Gray, and Silver.
Credit: Apple
If we dove into functionality, we’d probably get very different opinions from users: Some would prefer the iPad’s versatility, while others (me included) like the fact that the MacBook is just a laptop that cannot be turned into anything else.
Still, based purely on aesthetics, we must give this one to the iPad Pro.
Oh, and you should also take into account just how lighter the iPad Pro is than the MacBook Air: 0.98 pounds vs. 2.7 pounds. We don’t know the exact weight of the Magic Keyboard, which you must add to the weight of the iPad, but we’re pretty sure it doesn’t weigh 1.7 pounds.
iPad Pro 2024 vs. M3 MacBook Air: Features
We’re sorry, Mac lovers, but the iPad Pro wins this one, too. It has a touchscreen display, Apple Pencil Pro support, and a 12-megapixel camera on the back. The MacBook Air has…well, it has an attached keyboard.
iPad Pro 2024 vs. M3 MacBook Air: Battery life
We don’t have real-life figures for the iPad Pro, so we won’t stray further than Apple’s official figures: Up to 15 hours of wireless web browsing for the MacBook Air, and up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi or watching video for the iPad Pro.
iPad Pro 2024 vs. M3 MacBook Air: Which is best for you?
We’d like to give you a definitive answer, but for that we’d need to test the iPad Pro (we will), and we’d have to know what kind of user you are. If you need the touchscreen and if you like to jot things down with a Pencil, you should consider the iPad Pro (if you don’t mind the additional cost).
Credit: Apple
Based on specs, design, and features alone, the iPad Pro is a pretty clear winner here: It has a more powerful chip, more features, a far more advanced display, and is just overall a cooler device to have.
The elephant in the room when it comes to comparisons like these is always the software. So far, Apple’s iPadOS isn’t as good for most work-related tasks as the macOS. Maybe, just maybe Apple will change that with the next iteration of iPadOS…but we’ll have to wait until June and Apple WWDC to find out.
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Stan Schroeder
