Apple iPad Air 11" M4 Space Grey 2024

The Apple iPad Air M4 is a lightweight tablet with an M4 chip that absolutely flies, 10-hour battery, and a sharp 11-inch display. It's the best overall tablet for most people, especially if you find it at the lower end of its wild $467 to $1425 price range. The only real downside is the 60Hz screen, but that won't matter unless you're spoiled by ProMotion.

The iPad Air M4 sits right in the sweet spot of Apple's tablet lineup. It's a step up from the base iPad with a much faster processor and better display, and it borrows the M4 chip that was once reserved for the Pro models. If you've been searching for a tablet under $800 that can handle everything from drawing and note-taking to light video editing, this is probably the one on your shortlist.

The 11-inch Liquid Retina screen is crisp and bright enough for outdoor use at 500 nits, and the whole package weighs just 465g, which makes it feel almost weightless in a backpack or purse. It supports the Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard, so creative workflows and productivity are right at home here. Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 future-proof the connectivity, and USB-C means you can ditch yet another proprietary cable. Watch a few reviews online and one thing comes up again and again: the 60Hz refresh rate. Yep, it's still 60Hz. For anyone used to ProMotion on an iPhone Pro or a 120Hz Android tablet, the scrolling and animations can feel a little choppy. But for most people reading, streaming, or sketching with the Pencil, it's not a dealbreaker, just a spec sheet disappointment.

The M4 chip in this tablet is a beast, landing in the 94th percentile for CPU performance in our database. That means it's faster than almost every other tablet we've tested, including many Windows 2-in-1s with laptop-class processors. Apps open instantly, and multitasking with Split View or Stage Manager doesn't stutter. The 8-core GPU also scores in the 92nd percentile, so graphic-heavy apps like Procreate or LumaFusion run smoothly, even with multiple layers.

Battery life is a highlight too, hitting the 96th percentile. In practical terms, you can easily get through a full workday of note-taking, web browsing, and video streaming on a single charge. We consistently saw around 10 hours of screen-on time, which is best-in-class for tablets. The 12GB of RAM (well above average) keeps apps in memory longer than you'd expect, though the base 128GB of storage is pretty tight if you plan to keep a lot of movies or large games downloaded. That storage puts the Air in just the 65th percentile, so it's one area where you might feel the pinch sooner than later.

Pricing for the iPad Air M4 is a bit of a rollercoaster. Across online retailers, we've seen it selling anywhere from $467 to $1425 for what's essentially the same Wi-Fi 128GB model. That's a $958 spread, so you absolutely need to shop around. The low end makes it an incredible deal, basically an M4-powered tablet for less than many midrange Android slates. But at the higher end, you're flirting with refurbished iPad Pro territory, which might make more sense if you crave a 120Hz display and more storage. If you're a student or an artist, grabbing it at the sub-$500 price we've spotted at some retailers is a no-brainer. How Apple justifies the MSRP and the wildly fluctuating street price is anyone's guess, but for now, the deal is hot if you're patient.

Stacked against its top competitors, the iPad Air M4 carves out a clear niche. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is a bigger, flashier tablet with an insane 120Hz AMOLED screen and a pen in the box, but it's often pricier and Samsung's app ecosystem can't touch iPadOS for creative apps. The Microsoft Surface Pro 11 runs full Windows, making it a better choice if you need true desktop software, but it's heavier, less polished as a pure tablet, and its battery life lags behind.

The Xiaomi Pad 7 Pro and Lenovo Idea Tab Pro are strong Android contenders that undercut the Air in price, especially the Xiaomi with its 144Hz display, but neither matches the M4's raw power or the seamless software updates you get from Apple. For artists and students, the Apple Pencil experience alone keeps the Air ahead. If your workflow is mostly business and you need a laptop replacement, the Surface Pro 11 is the smarter pick. For everyone else who just wants a tablet that's fast, light, and easy to use, the Air beats them all.

Business users who live in spreadsheets or need multiple external monitors should probably look elsewhere. The iPad Air scored just 77/100 for business in our testing, and iPadOS multitasking, while improved, still feels constrained compared to a proper laptop. If you're a professional photographer or video editor who demands a ProMotion display for color-critical work, the iPad Pro remains the better investment. And if your budget is tight and you don't need the M4's power, a base iPad or a discounted last-gen Air is still a solid tablet that will handle streaming, browsing, and casual games without complaint.

Yes, you should probably buy this if you're looking for a premium tablet and you don't need the absolute best screen tech on the market. The iPad Air M4 nails the essentials: performance, portability, and app selection, at a price that can be surprisingly low if you catch a sale. It's the tablet we'd recommend to students, casual artists, and anyone who wants a future-proof device that'll stay fast for years.

The 60Hz display might nag you if you're coming from a 120Hz phone, but in everyday use, it's a minor quibble compared to the sheer speed and battery life. Unless you're a professional visual artist who needs that buttery smooth ProMotion or a business user who lives in Excel, there's very little this tablet can't handle. Grab it at a discount and you'll feel like you got away with something.