Apple iPad Air Apple 2019 iPad Air (10.5-inch, WiFi, 64GB) - Review

The 2019 iPad Air is a budget-friendly way to get a premium iPad experience. Its standout feature is accessory support for the Apple Pencil and keyboards. Performance is slow compared to modern tablets, but fine for light tasks. At $169 to $272 refurbished, it's a great value for students and casual users, but a poor choice for anyone needing power.

The 2019 iPad Air is a bit of a paradox. It's an older Apple tablet that's still selling like hotcakes, especially in the refurbished market. For someone who just needs a reliable, premium-feeling screen for reading, taking notes, or sketching, it's a surprisingly compelling option. The thing that makes it interesting is its price. At under $300, you're getting that classic iPad build quality and a great screen, but you're also buying into a platform that's five years old.

This tablet is for the budget-conscious student, the casual reader, or the hobbyist artist who doesn't need cutting-edge power. It's not for the power user who wants to edit videos or run complex apps. Think of it as a really nice digital notebook or a portable TV. The feature score in our database is in the top tier, which tells us the core iPad experience—the smooth software, the accessory support—still holds up remarkably well.

And honestly, the renewed market is where this thing really shines. You can snag one for as low as $169, which puts it in a weird spot where it's competing with brand-new budget Android tablets. It's like buying a gently used luxury sedan instead of a new economy car. You get the nicer ride, but you're inheriting some older tech.

Let's talk about what those percentile rankings mean in real life. The CPU and GPU scores are low, sitting in the bottom 10% of tablets we track. That means this iPad Air, with its A12 Bionic chip from 2018, will feel sluggish if you push it. Opening heavy PDFs or working with large art files might take a beat. For everyday stuff like browsing, streaming, and light apps, it's perfectly fine. But if you're planning on any serious multitasking or gaming, you'll notice it's not as snappy as newer models.

The screen, however, is about average. The 10.5-inch Retina display at 2224x1668 is crisp and bright enough for most tasks. It's not the best on the market, but it's a solid, reliable panel. The 4GB of RAM is also mediocre, which explains why it can struggle with keeping many apps open at once. The performance story here is simple: it's adequate for its intended light-duty use, but it's definitely not a speed demon.

The price is the main attraction here. We see it ranging from $169 to $272 across different refurbished sellers. That $169 price is a steal for anyone who wants an iPad experience without the iPad cost. At the higher end, around $272, you start getting close to the price of some new mid-range Android tablets, so the value proposition gets a bit murky. For the best deal, shop around for sellers offering it near the bottom of that range.

Price-to-performance is a tricky calculation. You're not getting great performance, but you're getting great features and that intangible Apple polish. If those things matter to you more than raw speed, then the value is high. If you need a fast tablet, you'd be better off spending a bit more on a newer model or a competing Android device.

If you're looking at this iPad Air, you're probably also considering the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ or the Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus. The Samsung is a beast with a much faster chip, more RAM, and a bigger, likely better screen. But it'll cost you a lot more, even brand new. The Lenovo offers a unique design with a kickstand and often better speakers, plus more storage, for a similar price to a new mid-range tablet. The trade-off is you lose the iPadOS ecosystem.

Then there's the newer iPad Pro with the M5 chip. That's the performance king, but it's a completely different price bracket. Comparing this Air to a Pro is like comparing a commuter bike to a racing bike. They're both iPads, but one is for getting around town and the other is for winning races. For most people shopping in this $200 range, the real competition is between this older, refined Apple product and newer, less polished Android alternatives.

Business professionals should skip this iPad Air. Our data ranks it as weak for business use, likely due to its limited processing power, lack of cellular connectivity, and smaller storage. It's not built for heavy spreadsheet work, video conferencing while multitasking, or as a primary work machine. They should look at newer iPad Pros or Windows tablets like the Microsoft Surface Pro.

Serious gamers and users who need their tablet to be a primary computing device should also avoid it. The CPU and GPU performance lags behind most modern tablets, and the 4GB of RAM isn't enough for demanding tasks. If speed is your priority, a newer iPad Air, a Samsung Galaxy Tab S series, or even a laptop would be a much better fit.

We'd recommend this 2019 iPad Air to students who need a device for note-taking, reading textbooks, and light research. The Apple Pencil support is a huge win here. We'd also recommend it to casual users who just want a nice tablet for watching videos, browsing the web, and checking email. The iPadOS simplicity and app quality are worth the trade-off in speed for these folks.

But we'd steer power users, digital artists working with complex files, or anyone who needs their tablet to be a primary computer away from this. The weak CPU and limited RAM will become bottlenecks. Those users should look at the newer iPad Air models or the Android competitors we mentioned. For business use, our data shows this is its weakest area, so professionals should skip it entirely.