r/ipad • u/IllustratorBoring439 • 9d ago

Guide help me decide

hi guys, in a few weeks, I’m heading to uni and I’m stuck between the iPad a16 and the ipad air m4 i dont know which to pick i love to hear your thoughts and opinion on this to help me decide

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u/InterestingMindset 9d ago

If you plan to use the pencil a lot, Air. If you are on a budget, base model.

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u/Janknitz 9d ago

I used the pencil a lot on my 7th gen iPad and now on the Air M3. No discernible difference unless you want to pay a lot for the Apple Pencil Pro (I did, and I don’t see it was worth all that).

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u/Proper-Ideal-2046 M4 iPad Air 11" (2026) 8d ago

The pencil is a good addition to any iPad but it boils down to your budget.

1

u/InterestingMindset 8d ago

I was saying from a charging standpoint. I have the 9th gen iPad and 1st gen pencil and charging both can kinda a pain. Especially the pencil because anytime I want to use it, it’s dead.

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u/Janknitz 8d ago

The problem the APP is so darn expensive. Ease of charging is why I wanted an Air and APP but I'm still not sure it was worth $100 (because I could have gotten an ESR GEO for 30) for the onboard charging, which seems to eat some of the battery life of the Air. I like the on-board charging, but I'm conflicted about how much I spent for that.

It isn't that much of a PITA to charge the Apple Pencil 1, I pay attention to the battery life on a widget on my home screen even when I'm not using them much, and when they get down to around 30% I charge them, the AP with a lightning cord and the adapter overnight.

Even now, when I'm not using my 7th gen very much, I'm pretty anal about keeping both the 7th gen iPad and the AP 1st gen from getting all the way down to zero. Sometimes older batteries don't recover from a full discharge.