iPad Air M3

I started med school with a paper notebook and a MacBook. A classmate showed me her iPad Air setup and I switched immediately. The Apple Pencil Pro on GoodNotes is the best study tool I've ever used — I can annotate PDFs, draw anatomy diagrams, and organize everything better than any paper system. The battery genuinely lasts my full day of classes and labs. I got the 256GB model and it's nearly full after 8 months. The 60Hz display doesn't bother me, but I'd spring for the Pro if you do a lot of drawing — the ProMotion is noticeably smoother.

I came from an iPad Pro M1 with ProMotion and the step down to 60Hz was more jarring than I anticipated. Scrolling through long documents and especially drawing with Apple Pencil feels slightly laggy by comparison — not truly laggy, but the smoothness gap is perceptible. Everything else about this tablet is excellent. The M3 chip is fast for everything I throw at it. The display brightness and color accuracy are very good for an LCD. If you've never had 120Hz, you won't miss it. If you're coming from ProMotion, you will.

I am a small business owner who does graphic design for my Etsy shop. I was going to buy a MacBook but chose the iPad Air M3 instead and I don't regret it at all. Procreate and Adobe Fresco run perfectly and I can sketch product designs anywhere — coffee shops, on the couch, on flights. The M3 chip handles large Procreate canvases without breaking a sweat. I save money and time by having one device that goes with me everywhere. For creative work that doesn't require complex desktop software, this is the best value in Apple's lineup.