The performance is the same as last year's iPad Pro, and also the MacBook Air and Mini with the entry M1 processor. That feeling extends to my thoughts on the M1 processor here. But for most people, the basic iPad, while unexciting, is still nearly as versatile and also less expensive. If you're really interested in an iPad that can feel a bit nicer and more laptoplike, and you want that second-gen Pencil that can snap to the side easily to charge, this is your upgrade. They're slowly sharing more in common, and iPads can work well with keyboards and mice and trackpads, but an iPad is just not the same thing as a Mac or PC. This is the thing: Just like last year's iPad Pro, which also got this same M1 chip, Apple hasn't flipped the switch on making iPadOS and MacOS merge. Scott Stein/CNET So, hey, it's not really a laptop, though The Magic Keyboard is great, but iPadOS is still limited in how flexible it can be. No other iPad right now is any different, and all current models have that zooming Center Stage camera tech. It kills me to do video calls on this iPad, with its excellent camera, and see my face off-center. Putting the camera along the longer edge would be the correct placement: the Studio Display monitor added Apple's Center Stage zooming camera, but there, it's in the right place. Apple insists on its iPads having cameras in the same portrait orientation layout as iPhones, instead of putting them on the longer edge so it would be centered in keyboard-attached "laptop" mode. The one thing I do miss, though? The front camera being off to the side. The display looks great, even if it's not Mini LED, and lacks that faster refresh 120Hz that the latest iPhone Pro and iPad Pro have. Small enough to be portable, big enough for browsing and typing, a decent canvas for sketching and two-app multitasking works pretty well, if you play with the limited split-view options. At 10.9 inches, this is a perfect iPad screen size. I can try to miss those things, but those extras are way too niche for most people. Living with this iPad Air for part of the last week, I just don't miss anything that the iPad Pro has. Scott Stein/CNET What's missing? Not much, except for the camera placement
Sometimes it's hard to see the differences. IPad (left), iPad Air (middle), iPad Pro (right).
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