So, someone in your life wants an iPad.

Apples iPad is its cheapest.

At $329, it comes in $170 less expensive than the iPad mini.

The iPad has a reputation among tech fans of being a cheap tablet.

Heres the thing, though: For most people, the basic iPad is more than enough tablet.

At just over 10 inches, its a great size for many different use cases.

Plus, this iPad supports the first-generation Apple Pencil (see to it you buy the right one!

), as well as Apples smart keyboard case.

If youdohave a little extra room in your budget, consider bumping up the storage size to 256 GB.

At $479, its still cheaper than the 64 GB iPad mini, and you quadruple your storage.

Theonlyfeature that you really cant get on the iPad is 5G.

However, if youre only looking at wifi iPads, its not even something to think about.

In short, its an iPad.

It cuts corners in areas only a niche audience will really care about.

iPad mini the iPad for e-readers and those on-the-go

TheiPad minihas always been an interesting tablet.

But for a long time, the iPad mini was a bit stale.

It kept the same design for the longest time, which kept power users from taking it seriously.

Apple changed that this year, releasing an iPad mini that basically looks like a mini iPad Air.

Honestly, theycouldhave named this the iPad Air mini and gotten away with it.

This latest iPad mini is fantastic.

It features the A15, the iPhone 13 lineups chipset.

That means itsfast, and it will be supported for a long time.

The iPad minis 8.3-inch screen is excellent, boasting a P3 wide color display.

That means colors are going to pop more on the iPad mini than they do on the iPad 9.

However, you have to remember, theres a nearly two-inch difference in size between the tablets displays.

When it was first released, it was really the iPad to beat.

The base iPad wasnt quite as capable as the current one, and the iPad Pros wereexpensive.

How could you go wrong?

Unfortunately, the 2021 holiday season finds the iPad Air in a strange spot.

It uses the A14 chip, while the iPad mini gets the A15.

It starts at $800, which is obviously expensive.

For what I need an iPad for, I should be buying the iPad 9.

Hell, I could get away with the 64 GB model.

$329 is all I need to get my stuff done on Apples tablet.

And yet …

Apples 12.9-inch iPad Prois a fantastic, expensive, best-of-the-best iPad.

The mini-LED display is the biggest leap forward for iPad displays in a long time.

In short, these zones can light up only the parts of the display that you want active.

The result is the highest contrast display you’re able to find on iPad.

In dark environments, theyll completely disappear so youll only see your movie.

Let me be clear, though: This is not an iPad that most people need.