Because I use an iPad as my main computer, I have developed a somewhat negative reputation among my coworkers. Attached to a large curved screen and connected to a good speaker, my iPad Pro functions as a complete workspace. However, since Apple started incorporating desktop-tier M-series processors into its tablets, I have used the base 10th generation iPad more than any of the Pro or Air series iPads.
What you can get out of a $1,200 iPad Pro is drastically different from what the entry-level $349 iPad can accomplish. However, the base approach has worked well for me in terms of my research and writing tasks. Apple has given the iPad a “modest refresh” this year, as is customary. It’s interesting that the price hasn’t changed, but the improvements are more significant than the usual Apple product.
The most recent iPad appears to be an odd and somewhat contradictory gadget. It adds more RAM, switches to a new chip, and doubles the original model’s storage, but it also places it in a special software scenario. Not the good sort, either. Here is a thorough analysis of the benefits and drawbacks of the 11th generation iPad.
A well-known style that exudes industrial charm
In this case, it’s more than acceptable that Apple hasn’t made any notable exterior changes. Considering its asking price, the iPad’s sleek appearance has always been one of its most alluring features. Once more, you get a slate that comes in four different colors and is housed in a well-made, unibody chassis made entirely of recycled aluminum.
The device’s general physical dimensions and footprint are unchanged, even if the screen real estate has slightly increased from 10.9 to a full 11 inches. The value proposition of owning this tablet is nearly paradoxical. With the quality of craftsmanship on this one, no Android tablet under $400 can compare to what Apple offers.
The iPad, which weighs only one pound, is a good mix of portability and substantiality. Even weight distribution and a comfortable grip are provided by the gently curved edges. The iPad’s weight profile is a perk in and of itself, whether you’re holding it for attention or lounging on a sofa while binge-watching Netflix. The metallic chassis’s surface treatment provides the ideal amount of surface-level traction without being slippery.
The peculiar keyboard circumstance
The iPad accessories from Apple are, well, okay. They perform their duties well. However, their cost is significantly more than that of third-party choices. Furthermore, the difference in sticker price just does not provide an equally discriminating experience. This isn’t really a qualitative Ferrari versus. Kia debate.
For instance, the iPad’s Magic Keyboard Folio case. I adore it even more than the iPad Pro’s floating Magic Keyboard. First, the kickstand support keeps it from wobbling. Second, without sacrificing typing experience, the folio keyboard is thinner and has a full-row function key.
It enables more flexibility in altering the tablet’s tilt, which not only makes viewing more comfortable and helps with reflecting glare, but it also makes sketching and drawing easier.
At $249, the Magic Keyboard Folio for the standard iPad is only 33% less expensive than the tablet itself. Even though it has a great keyboard, I can’t see someone buying Apple’s cheapest tablet justifying the purchase.
Conversely, there are companies like Logitech, which sells the amazing combo touch keyboard for just $149 in their web site. Additionally, compared to the all-white Apple keyboard case, it doesn’t get nearly as dirty and yellowed out.
Functionally speaking, it has a pencil holder, bumper protection on both sides, and—above all—a backlit keyboard. For about one-fourth of the iPad’s price, ESR’s Ascend keyboard has a recognizable design, a lighted keyboard, and a sturdy construction.
A screen that completes the task
The eleventh-generation iPad’s display is essentially the same as the one that came before it. It won’t establish any new standards for quality, and it looks somewhat unimpressive to those who have seen the visual brilliance of an OLED panel. However, there aren’t many issues given the price of the iPad.
An 11-inch Liquid Retina LCD display greets your eyes with a reasonable pixel density of 264 pixels per inch, a resolution of 2360 x 1640 pixels, and a typical 60Hz refresh rate. The top layer is adorned with the well-known fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating, and the peak brightness also stays steady at a useful 500 nits.
The panel provides good viewing angles and is sharp and vivid. With a max output of 500 nits, which is comparable to the more expensive iPad Air, I seldom ever felt that it wasn’t sharp enough or bright enough to work in a sunny cafe or outside. Similarly, I enjoyed the visual output while watching Netflix series or spending some free time at the Apple Arcade gallery.
I even made some minor adjustments to short video clips and edited a considerable amount of images without seeing any noticeable color difference, indicating a respectable degree of color fidelity for routine creative chores. The eleventh-generation iPad offers a perfectly functional and entertaining visual canvas for its target audience, who will mostly purchase it for content consumption or video watching capabilities.
Lovely display, strange warnings
However, the iPad’s LCD panel has a number of issues of its own. The issue of glare is present once more. Additionally, this panel is readily smeared and very shiny. The stylus support issue is also a little confusing. Only the original Apple Pencil and the model with the USB-C connector covered by a cap are compatible with this screen.
You so lose out on the more sophisticated capabilities of the more recent versions, such barrel roll capability, pressure sensitivity subtleties, and hover detection. The iPad has a non-laminated panel once more. That indicates a space between the top glass layer and the display unit underneath on a hardware level. The drawing experience seems to lack the smoothness of brush strokes on laminated panels, and tapping with the pen tip creates a rather hollow sound.
Although a non-laminated screen isn’t a complete catastrophe or immediately noticeable, people used to laminated panels can instantly see how it affects the stylus experience. It won’t interfere with your ability to take notes or draw. That assurance comes from the fact that my girlfriend has made substantial use of a tenth-generation iPad for her fashion design and clothing sketching work.
For iPad buyers, the stylus issue is once more an expensive prospect. The Apple Pencil, despite its age, is over a third of the tablet’s price and doesn’t necessarily have better functionality than the competition. The ESR Geo Digital Stylus, which costs only $30 and has Find My support, is something I recently tried. Additionally, it provides a safe magnetic attachment, a multi-function physical button, and a dependable sketching output.
As dependable as it comes
The A16, the same semiconductor used to power the iPhone 14 series, is the foundation of Apple’s most recent low-cost tablet. With a few exceptions that show up when the gadget is used beyond its intended scope, the performance expectations are mostly fulfilled. The tablet functions with a remarkable sense of fluidity for daily chores including web browsing, social media feed navigation, HD video streaming, and simple media editing.
The default Photos app makes photo editing seamless, and I seldom had any noticeable lag or stuttering when using more demanding programs like Photoshop Express and Filmora. But the limits start to show as soon as you try to use the iPad as a more traditional computer replacement by connecting Apple’s optional Magic Keyboard.
Applications don’t crash or the user interface freezes, but the seamless response you anticipate from iPadOS is a little short when split-screen multitasking with a moderate number of apps running simultaneously in the background. It didn’t feel quite as quick as the new iPad mini, and I could notice little but noticeable lags while switching between apps that were open.
I frequently used resource-intensive technologies like Teams and Slack, task management applications like Asana and Trello, two browser windows, and Spotify to give you an idea of how much work I do. Although the iPad was able to stay up, it did so at the expense of sophisticated iPadOS capabilities like Apple Intelligence and Stage Manager. However, the 11th generation iPad is more than capable for the majority of users.
Benchmarks tell a strange tale.
In addition to a processor update, Apple left out another interesting improvement for the 2025 iPad. The 4GB of RAM has been replaced with 6GB. Even though the 11th generation processor had one fewer CPU core than its predecessor, it still performed substantially better, especially when compared to much more potent rivals. This astonished me more than anything else.
Going on to the benchmark tables, the eleventh-generation iPad on Geekbench performed roughly 37% better on multi-core tasks and 47% better on single-core workloads. The generation-over-generation performance boost in the rigorous 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Stress Test is only 11%. The outstanding stability score of 87.7% attained throughout the stress test was what truly caught my attention.
For 20 loops in a row, this test replicates a persistent, taxing graphics burden. Following three separate runs of the test, I saw a very slight performance throttling of about 9% following the first loop, and outstanding consistency for the next 19 rounds.
In comparison, Qualcomm’s most recent Snapdragon 8 Elite chip might manage a stability score just above the 50–60% level. I observed that the Qualcomm processor within the Samsung Galaxy S25 dropped below 50% of its maximum value when I conducted the CPU throttling test independently across 15- and 60-minute periods.
To sum up, Apple’s optimization of the A16 chip in the iPad is excellent. If it can manage the start, it will chug through the rest of the load without any problems.
Yes, it is capable of handling games.
Naturally, benchmarks are never an accurate representation of a device’s actual power. I thus conducted numerous practical tests. For a friend’s social media account, I started making quick vertical films. I used a few transitions, filter overlays, frame rearranging, and animated text effects in the Inshot video editor to edit a 4K 60fps video that was captured with an iPhone. With a file size of more than 650MB, the video was exported in just over five minutes.
To put it simply, the 11th generation iPad can easily manage your videos and expectations if you’re into casual video editing. Just be careful not to get ahead of yourself and start color repair with something as bad as DaVinci Resolve. Remember, this tablet costs $350. Everything I did with Photoshop Express for photo editing proceeded without a hitch. But I was genuinely astounded by the beautiful gaming performance.
I started playing “Warframe,” one of the most graphically demanding mobile games, after browsing through the Apple Arcade library and some of Netflix’s best titles. Despite pushing the graphics settings into the “High” area, there were no noticeable performance issues or visual stutters, and the gameplay was remarkably seamless.
The finest aspect? Even after 20 to 30 minute sessions, the iPad didn’t get hot. Additionally, my experience with “Diablo Immortal,” “Call of Duty: Mobile,” and “Devil May Cry” was quite easy. If you attempt to use the iPad beyond the high/HD combo, be aware that it rapidly reaches its maximum system load.
Battery endurance is not surprising.
There are no appreciable improvements in battery life or charging speed with the 2025 iPhone. However, it provides a consistent 9–10 hours of media viewing time. My use was mostly limited to recreational pursuits like reading digital comics, watching videos, and reading research papers on the days when I didn’t try to make it my main tool for work. I regularly went two or three days in a row without looking for the charging brick using that technique.
The device’s idle battery drain is incredibly low, and the low-power mode only raises efficiency numbers without significantly degrading performance. My best per-charge battery life, when using the Magic Keyboard for productivity tasks and subjected to an intense workload, was approximately six hours at high brightness levels.
Depending on the particular games played, battery life during gaming varies greatly. Playing graphically demanding games on the highest graphics settings caused a notable drain on the battery, using up about 20–30% of its capacity in about 40–45 minutes.
Conversely, casual games with lower demands might be played for up to five hours at a time on a single charge. Fortunately, Apple included a slow charging brick in the box. A low battery takes more than two hours to fully recharge. Overall, you won’t have to worry about charging the iPad every day if you’re using it for note-taking or entertainment purposes.
You’ll adore the iPad. Or endure it
This is iPadOS, also known as an elongated iOS. You are well aware of what you are getting into. Excellent performance optimization, fluid animations, well-designed apps, and a ton of restrictions. The iPadOS experience becomes more cost-conscious in 2025. Once again absent is the fantastic Stage Manager system, which transforms your iPad into a desktop computer with external display capabilities and offers a workflow similar to macOS.
Split-screen multitasking is frustratingly constrained, and Apple’s approach to program window resizing is still awful. I found it difficult to promote the iPad as a daily workhorse after moving from the OnePlus Canvas and Samsung tablets’ superb DeX system. You’re in for a seamless experience if you don’t mind split-screen operations and your main use cases are gaming, sketching, or Netflix.
From the iPad’s Control Center to the Lock Screen, Google’s Gemini will take the place of Apple AI. All things considered, iPadOS 18 follows a well-known model that will work perfectly for the majority of users. All I can hope is that Apple considers the competition and makes an effort to slightly reinvent itself.
Conclusion: An obvious tablet deal
For the price, this tablet is excellent. Without raising the sticker price, Apple went above and beyond its frugal practices by doubling the storage and significantly increasing the RAM capacity. Both the sharp screen and the build quality are excellent. It will perform admirably when it comes to your video streaming tasks. And just like me, your desires will be satisfied without any jitters or visual catastrophes if you put in too much effort in games and boldly bounce from lobby to lobby in the hopes of a rare success.
The basic iPad will meet your needs if you are primarily looking for a tablet for content consumption and simple online or app-based chores. At this price point, there isn’t much competition on the Android side of the ecosystem, for better or worse. Additionally, unless you are obsessed with purchasing Apple’s high-end accessories, be sure to budget your money by considering third-party options like keyboard attachments, protective cases, or the basic stylus.
All things considered, the iPad is the greatest tablet that Apple has produced as of 2025. It even outperforms its Pro and Air siblings in terms of weight. And as long as it remains intact, this slate will last you a long time because of the liberal update policy (and absence of an AI burden). The iPad (2025) is now available for $349 at the Apple Store.