iPad Pro M1 2021 vs Macbook Air M1: which one to buy?

• The iPad Pro is very cool
• The Macbook Air M1 is very powerful
• If you have to work avoid the iPad like the plague
• I got them both, search for Apple Sidecar on Google <3

The Question of the Century: Better iPad or Macbook?

Today I will try to answer this difficult question, which I asked myself for a long time and which, spoilers, I solved it like this: I bought both iPad Pro M1 which MacBook Air M1 hahahahah.

But let's be honest, as they would say in Rome, Who is born tuna Nun Po' Morì Quadro.

Obviously the Differences between iPad Pro and Macbook Air There are all right and, considering that I have owned both for some time already, the time has come to sum up.

Let's go step by step.

Same engine, different body

In 2020 Apple introduced the brand new Apple M1 processors - or chips - which, in short, are an alternative to the “old” Intels mounted on Macbooks until 2019.

The M1 chip is a SoC (System on a chip), a single block that contains all the important components: CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, I/O and much more on a single, very small circuit. This way the connections are faster and, thanks to the architecture initially developed for iPhones, the Mac is able to achieve exceptional performance while maintaining very low energy consumption.

But what does all this' theory 'have to do with our comparison?

Well, since 2021 both the iPad Pro and the Macbook share, essentially, the same architecture and in fact, theiPad Pro 2021 (from 11" and from 12.9") and the MacBook Air 2020 They are equipped with the same Apple M1 chip, sharing its performance in all its entirety.

They are two shards, two mines, absurd and very powerful.

The peculiarity of the M1, unlike the old processors, is that they allow these machines to reach exceptional performance with endless battery life; trivially with both you do it calmly 12 hours of Netflix.

But, if they have the same M1 chip at the base, what are the substantial differences?

Here are the main ones, in my opinion:

• Design and accessories
• Operating system
• Applications

And that's it, for the rest they do the same things.

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I know you're in a hurry, two lines on the design and let's get right to the heart of the situation.

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Design and accessories, everything changes with the pen

Let's be clear, there is no need for a poem to say that, from a purely aesthetic point of view, we are talking about completely different machines.

The first, thePad, comes with a fantastic screen incorporated with thin frames and the aluminum chassis, which we have come to love, of the Pro models.

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What makes theiPad Pro unique - and that makes it a valid alternative to MacBook Air M1 - it is the small rear connector that allows you to expand functionality by magnetically attaching external accessories such as, to give the best of examples, the Magic Keyboard that transforms the iPad, for all intents and purposes, into a laptop.

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On the other side we have the fantastic MacBook Air M1 which looks, in terms of design, like a very normal Air of recent years; in short, nothing new or exceptional.

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Long story short, what is the real difference in design and, of course, in use?

La modularity some accessories.

The Macbook Air is solid, mature and - at the end of the day - a normal laptop with keyboard and trackpad.

THEIs iPad Pro modular. It's a tablet, perfect for playing games and watching movies and TV series and, if necessary, Can it become a laptop by connecting the keyboard magnetically. Really fantastic.

But the most important thing, and one that totally changes the user experience, is the presence of the pen in the iPad Pro.

La Apple Pencil opens the door to everything that, with a normal laptop, cannot be done:

• Sign documents, with Adobe Fill & Sign you can sign literally in 3 seconds straight
• Take notes by hand, Notability docet
• draw illustrations, with Procreate you can achieve absurd results with a very high quality
• model in 3D, NomadSculpt and Sharpr 3D are very valid alternatives to desktop apps and allow you to achieve crazy results with a UX (user experience) designed to the maximum for the Apple Pencil
• Edit photos, the pen is perfect for photo editing and precise stain removal on Adobe Lightroom

Obviously That glitters isn't all gold, in fact, in none of the above examples is the word”vocational”.

We understand why.

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iPad OS and applications, a disaster

Although the iPad Pro and Macbook Air both have the Apple M1 chip, there is a difference not to be underestimated between the two: The operating system.

The MacBook Air comes with the now well-established, and timeless, Mac OS that we have all come to love.

THEiPad Pro Instead, unfortunately, it mounts theUnripe iPad OS which stands out for its software limitations that make that 'Pro' suffix something too much and almost undeserved:

• Multitasking is terrible
• file management is terrible
• You cannot extend the screen via HDMI on an external monitor but, yes, it can only be duplicated without adjusting the aspect ratio
• Apps use a few GB of RAM although 16 can be configured
• last but not least, there are no professional applications.

The main problem with iPad OS, and iPad Pro, what does it do in fact Foolish All the enthusiasm for this fantastic machine is precisely the absence of a truly PRO app.

Let's be clear, Is there Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Luma Fusion, Acrobat, NomadSculpt etc. but these are only some “light” versions that are heavily confronted with the limitations, listed above, of iPadOS.

The Macbook Air M1, on the other hand, allows you to install - and exploit at full power - all the applications that a professional needs.

The iPad version of Photoshop is not even a shadow of its desktop version.

And the much acclaimed Luma Fusion for video editing? There's no story against Final Cut, Premiere, or Da Vinci.

What about web development? VS Code has its own web version but it is very limited. Not to mention the No browser support for builders like Wordpress, Shopify or Webflow, are terrible to use on the iPad.

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All this, having understood the real potential of a product like the 2021 iPad Pro, is really frustrating and demeaning for those who, like me, were looking for and are still looking for a compromise between laptop and tablet.

And, unfortunately for us, that compromise It's not iPad Pro 2021 with M1 chip, or at least for now.

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But hey! Cheer up, You can't work and that's enough with the PC hahahahah.

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Recommended Use Cases and Final Thoughts

We understood two things after all this rant:

iPad Pro is cool, very cool, with pen and Magic Keyboard rocks but is professionally limited by the OS

Is MacBook Air reliableand, powerful and does everything a laptop should do - including coffee.

But let's take a look at the use cases I recommend for both devices.

For the iPad Pro, a lifetime:

• Mild use, to read, write and enjoy multimedia content; daje de Netflix
• It's a bomb to study, with Notability, taking and editing notes becomes a breeze
• editing and photo editing On the Go, with the pen you retouch like God on Lightroom
• recommended for artists, whether 2D or 3D, between Procreate for illustrations and Nomad for modeling, there is something to go wild

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The Macbook Air, on the other hand, for a lifetime:

• For those who are always around, it has an infinite battery - I do 8 hours of work very well - and it is powerful enough to manage any work workflow
• at a professional level, it supports all desktop applications and with the M1 chip the performance is crazy, for example Final Cut Pro holds up very well beautiful long timelines with files ProRes Of the iPhone 13 Pro
• Obviously it's super even for mild use, it's small and light but at this point the iPad is better if it's used only for browsing
• to use it like... a PC, does everything other laptops have been doing for decades xD

{{2020-apple-macbook-air-with-chip-apple-M1}}

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In short, they are two excellent cars What are going on, however, evaluated according to your needs.

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My Two Cents:

If you are really curious and yearn for them both, do as I do:

• Use the MacBook Air As the main PC and theiPad as an external monitor through Sidecar
• If necessary, unsheathe the Apple Pencil and use it as a graphic tablet

It's the best compromise ever.

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Stop looking at Internet users.