If you want a more modern-looking tablet, try Apple’s new iPad Air. It brings many of the same features from the pricier iPad Pro, like slim bezels, no Home button, USB-C for charging, and support for the second-generation Apple Pencil ($125 at Amazon), which magnetically attaches to the slate and wirelessly recharges while stuck there. The Air also adds similar performance thanks to the latest A14 Bionic chip inside (the same processor as in the iPhone 12). That makes it powerful enough to pull off anything, even bulky video- and photo-editing tasks. There’s no Face ID, but Touch ID is integrated into the power buttona first for Apple.
The 10.9-inch LCD screen gives you a slightly larger canvas to work off of compared to the iPad above, and the laminated display offers a more natural drawing experience because there’s less distance between the glass and pixels. There are some complaints about the screen’s backlight bleeding in from the edges of the screen, which is noticeable when watching movies, and it’s something WIRED writer Lauren Goode encountered in her review unit.
The Ultimate iPad: The iPad Pro ($749) is much more expensive, but if you want to splurge, it is a bit nicer than the Air, especially for drawing and other creative tasks. It comes in 11-inch or 12.9-inch sizes, and it is the only iPad with Face ID, Portrait mode selfies, and Animoji/Memoji.