Apple iPad Air 13" Purple Review

The iPad Air M4 has a laptop-class chip in a tablet, scoring in the 90th percentile for CPU and GPU. But its 128GB storage is a major bottleneck at this price. Get it for pro creative work on iPadOS, skip it if you need space or a desktop OS.

The 13-inch iPad Air with the M4 chip is a weirdly powerful tablet. It's got a CPU in the 91st percentile and a GPU in the 90th, which are numbers you'd expect from a high-end laptop, not a mid-tier slate. That M4, paired with 12GB of RAM, pushes its overall score to an 88.6/100, making it a top-tier device for creative work and business tasks. But it's not a perfect package. The 128GB of storage lands in the 55th percentile, which is tight for a pro device, and the battery life sits at a mediocre 48th percentile. You're getting laptop-level power in a tablet body, but with some classic iPad compromises.

Let's talk about that M4. A 91st percentile CPU score means this thing absolutely flies through tasks. It's not just fast for a tablet; it's fast, period. The 9-core GPU, scoring in the 90th percentile, handles demanding apps and games without breaking a sweat. The 13-inch Liquid Retina display is another highlight, sitting in the 92nd percentile. At 2732x2048 and 600 nits, it's sharp, bright, and perfect for drawing or editing photos. Where it stumbles a bit is in the basics: that 128GB storage is a bottleneck for anyone working with large files, and the battery life is just okay, not great.

At $949, you're paying a premium for that M4 chip and the Apple ecosystem. The raw performance per dollar is high, but you have to want a tablet. Compared to a similarly priced thin-and-light laptop, you get a better screen and more portable design, but you lose out on storage and the flexibility of a full desktop OS. It's a great value if your workflow lives in iPadOS and you need that pencil-and-keyboard combo. If you just need a fast computer, a MacBook Air or Windows ultrabook might give you more for your money.

The obvious rival is the iPad Pro. For several hundred dollars more, the Pro gives you a better 120Hz screen, more storage options, and a slightly more powerful M4 configuration. This Air gets you 90% of the Pro's performance for less cash. Against Android, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+, you get a much more powerful chip (the M4 vs. a mobile Snapdragon) and better app optimization, but you lose the flexibility of a desktop-like interface. The Microsoft Surface Pro is the hybrid alternative; it runs full Windows, so it's better for real multitasking and legacy software, but its ARM chip isn't as powerful as the M4 for pure speed.

Skip this iPad Air if you're a digital packrat or work heavily offline. The 128GB storage (55th percentile) will fill up fast with projects. Also, if your primary use is reading books or watching videos, its 79.3 score in that category is its weakest point; a cheaper tablet or an e-reader would serve you better. And if you need a true laptop replacement for complex multitasking or specific desktop software, iPadOS, even with this beastly chip, will still feel limiting.

We recommend the 13-inch iPad Air if you're an artist, designer, or mobile professional who already lives in the Apple ecosystem and uses apps like Procreate or LumaFusion. The M4 and 12GB RAM make it a powerhouse for those tasks. We can't recommend it if you need lots of local storage or if your main use is reading and media consumption, where its score dips. It's a specialist tool with pro-grade internals hobbled by entry-level storage.