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If you opt for the more expensive MacBook Air, it’s still $149 less than the 12.9-inch iPad Pro with a Smart Keyboard Folio and the same amount of storage space.īut to make things confusing, Macs can run iPadOS apps, but iPads can’t run some macOS apps. Oh, and either version obviously gets you a keyboard (and it's Apple's Magic Keyboard, to boot). The MacBook Air has two configurations: a $999 version that nets you an 8-core CPU and 7-core GPU, 8GB RAM, and 256GB SSD storage, and a $1,249 version that adds a core to the GPU and doubles storage. Doubling the SSD storage from 128GB to 256GB adds another $100 regardless of whether you opt for the 11-inch or 12.9-inch model. You’ll get a better display with this screen size, but you get nothing in the way of more storage. If you go with the Smart Keyboard Folio instead, the total cost comes to $20 less than the MacBook Air, which is better, but still not a great value.īump up the iPad Pro screen size to 12.9-inches and now you’ll have to pay $1,099. If you add Apple’s Magic Keyboard, tack on another $299 to the total price-now suddenly you have a lower-specced machine that costs $99 more than a 13-inch MacBook Air. The base iPad Pro configuration, with an 11-inch screen, 8GB RAM, 128GB of storage, and no cellular connectivity starts at $799. Companies like Logitech make a wide array of iPad keyboards, and of course, Apple has its own Magic Keyboard, but depending on the brand you could find yourself spending anywhere between $20 to upwards of $300 for an iPad keyboard. If you want the iPad Pro to double as a laptop, you’ll need to buy a keyboard-ideally one you fold over your iPad to take it with you wherever you go. However, there can only be one Apple product to rule them all in this comparison, so let’s dive in.īut the Apple MacBook Air Form factor and configuration Both the iPad Pro and MacBook Air are excellent productivity companions, but if you need a new computing device for more complicated tasks than checking emails or don’t want to fuss with a keyboard, one is naturally going to suit your needs over the other. They run on different operating systems, have different cameras, screen resolutions, cellular connectivity-the list goes on. Both are also lightweight, portable, and priced very similarly.īut that’s where the similarities end: After all, one is a tablet and the other is a laptop. This means you can expect roughly the same performance out of both devices. Apple’s latest iPad Pro (2021) and MacBook Air (2020) share some of the same specifications: Apple’s impressive M1 chip with an 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, up to 16GB of RAM, and 2TB of storage space.