What's the Best iPad for You?

Apple’s entry-level model, known simply as the “iPad,” provides the most bang for your buck, especially when you take into account the number of high-quality apps and services available for the iPad operating system. 

The model in our ratings has a 10.2-inch display and 64GB of storage (you can pay for more), and it records HD video (though the cameras don’t score quite as well as those on other iPads). In our web-browsing test, the device delivered 11.3 hours of battery life.

The newly released model has a larger, 10.9-inch display, a refreshed design that resembles that of the higher-end iPad Air, and the wider color palette. It opens at 64GB of storage, like the earlier model, but the starting price is now $449, up from $330.

That’s still a good value relative to other iPads, but if you’re simply looking for a tablet that lets you roam the web and watch the occasional Netflix show, it might make sense to consider other tablets, most notably Amazon’s Kindle Fire line, where $150 will get you the 10-inch Amazon Fire HD 10. An 8-inch model costs less than $100.

If you want an iPad because you kind of just want an iPad (we don’t blame you), the entry-level model is probably the way to go. If you can find the older model on sale this holiday season, it might be the smarter buy, but you can’t go wrong either way.

Both the model in our ratings and the just-released model offer optional 5G wireless internet connectivity for a small premium ($60 in the older model’s case, $150 in the newer one).

The iPad Pro, available in 11- and 12.9-inch sizes, is a machine for power users, and it delivers the level of performance you’d expect from a high-end laptop. If you’re the type of person who’s automatically drawn to the latest and greatest, the iPad Pro may be the tablet for you. Before you shell out to buy it though, you should compare it with the iPad Air, described below.

The 2021 iPad Pro, which uses Apple’s M1 processor, outpaces all other tablets in our ratings, and we expect much the same of the newly released M2 iPad Pro once we’ve completed our tests.

The 12.9-inch Pro’s display uses a technology called Mini LED, also present in some high-end TVs, that produces more vibrant images and better contrast than what’s possible with traditional LCD tech. It also has a lightning-fast refresh rate, which makes the animations in everything from video games to simply scrolling around iPadOS look smoother. 

Add an exceptional camera and very good battery life of around 14 hours while browsing the web and you’re looking at the tablet to beat.

The 11-inch model doesn’t use Mini LED (though it does have the same high refresh rate, which Apple calls ProMotion), but it still scored well in our display quality tests.

The newly released model uses Apple’s M2 processor and similarly uses Mini LED for the 12.9-inch model and a more traditional LCD for the 11-inch model.

The Pro also supports Apple’s Smart Keyboard cover (allowing you to use a physical keyboard without needing to charge or pair it via Bluetooth) and the Magic Keyboard, which features a cantilevered design that lets you raise and lower the screen to get a better viewing angle.

Both the 2021 and 2022 iPad Pro are available with optional 5G wireless internet connectivity for an added premium.

With the recent release of the new entry-level iPad and iPad Pros, the iPad Air is in a somewhat interesting position.

Like the 2021 iPad Pros (but not the 2022 models), the iPad Air is powered by Apple’s M1 processor. That means very good performance for even the most demanding tasks (like, say, editing video in apps like iMovie), though it’s perhaps overkill if you’re merely watching “Ted Lasso.” It has a fully laminated LCD display, producing clearer images than the entry-level iPad but not as whiz-bang wow as the Mini LED display of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro (nor does it have the ProMotion high refresh rate). Battery life of around 7 hours while browsing the web is less than what you’d find on both the entry-level and Pro models.

So how do you decide between the Air and the Pro?

The iPad Air here in late 2022 feels like the right iPad for someone who wants a better display than the entry-level iPad but doesn’t want to pay iPad Pro prices for the privilege. There’s still a pretty big gap of around $500 between the Air and the 12.9-inch Pro, which may be reason enough to pick the Air over the Pro.

Apple’s 2021 iPad Mini is our top pick if you want the ideal traveling companion. (If you don’t mind an Android tablet, the Kindle Fire is a good choice if you’re looking to save money.)

The 8.3-inch iPad has a bright, sharp display with a large viewing angle, meaning you don’t need to hold it dead center in front of your face to see it clearly. The new A15 Bionic chip is blazing fast, so web browsing and watching movies seem smooth and stutter-free. The battery life is impressive, too. Our testers clocked it at 10.7 hours for web browsing and 12.4 hours for movie playback. Other updates include a USB-C port, upgraded cameras, and optional 5G compatibility.

The iPad mini is very light as well. The smaller size and lighter weight (just 0.6 pound vs. 1 pound for the iPad Air and the 11-inch iPad Pro, and 1.1 pounds for the regular iPad) make the tablet easier to hold for extended periods than its larger brethren.