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. At its current $800 price, it's no longer the steal it once was, especially with the iPad Pro M5 and Surface Pro 11th Edition offering 120Hz screens and more storage for similar money. The 60Hz display remains the main downside, and the value proposition has taken a serious hit.

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.

Stacked against its top competitors, the iPad Air M4 now faces a tougher crowd. The Apple iPad Pro M5 is the obvious elephant in the room, offering a 120Hz ProMotion display, more storage, and even faster performance for not much more money if you shop refurbished or catch a sale. The Microsoft Surface Pro 11th Edition runs full Windows, making it a better choice if you need true desktop software, and its latest iteration has narrowed the battery life gap while keeping that excellent 120Hz screen.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is still 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 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 in the conversation, but the Pro M5 and Surface Pro 11th Edition now make that conversation a lot more complicated. If your workflow is mostly business and you need a laptop replacement, the Surface Pro 11th Edition is the smarter pick. For everyone else who just wants a tablet that's fast, light, and easy to use, the Air is still good, but it's no longer the clear winner it once was.

Pricing for the iPad Air M4 has settled into a steady $800 across most retailers, and that consistency is actually a problem. When this tablet launched, you could hunt around and find it for as little as $467, which made it an absolute steal, basically an M4-powered tablet for less than many midrange Android slates. At $800, the math has flipped. You're now deep in refurbished iPad Pro M5 territory, and the Surface Pro 11th Edition isn't far off either. Both of those offer 120Hz displays and more storage headroom. If you're a student or an artist, the Air is still a capable machine, but the “no-brainer” pricing that made it so easy to recommend is gone. You need to really want the Apple Pencil ecosystem and the lightweight design to justify paying full freight when the competition has closed the gap so aggressively.

The iPad Air M4 sits in an awkward spot in Apple's tablet lineup right now. It borrows the M4 chip that was once reserved for the Pro models, but with the iPad Pro M5 now on shelves and the price of the Air holding firm around $800, the value proposition has shifted dramatically. If you've been searching for a tablet under $800 that can handle everything from drawing and note-taking to light video editing, this one might still be on your shortlist, but you need to look closely at what else that money can buy.

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 bigger problem now is that at $800, you're staring directly at the iPad Pro M5 and the Surface Pro 11th Edition, both of which make a stronger case for your dollar.

Business users who live in spreadsheets or need multiple external monitors should probably look elsewhere. The iPad Air scored just 45/100 overall in our latest 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 M5 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. With the Surface Pro 11th Edition now in the mix, Windows users have a compelling alternative that didn't exist when the Air first launched.

The iPad Air M4 is harder to recommend at $800 than it was when you could find it for under $500. It still nails the essentials: performance, portability, and app selection, but the value has eroded now that the iPad Pro M5 and Surface Pro 11th Edition are breathing down its neck at similar prices. It's the tablet we'd cautiously suggest to students and casual artists who are locked into the Apple ecosystem and prioritize weight above all else, but you should absolutely cross-shop the Pro M5 before pulling the trigger.

The 60Hz display might nag you if you're coming from a 120Hz phone, and at this price point, that compromise stings more than it used to. Unless you're a professional visual artist who needs that buttery smooth ProMotion or a business user who lives in Excel, the Air can still handle most tasks with ease. Just know that the “got away with something” feeling is gone, and you're now paying a fair but unexciting price for a very good tablet in a suddenly crowded field.