If you're in the market for an iPad in 2021, there are five options to choose from, we've got the iPad mini, the iPad budget line, the 11 inch iPad Pro, the 12.9 inch iPad Pro and iPad Air.

To understand which iPad is appropriate for you, we'll talk about the performance, the value for money and the fun factor for using those particular traits for each of the options.

iPad Mini

Let's start with the iPad Mini. I probably wouldn't recommend the iPad Mini for anyone, it hasn't been updated in a while, it doesn't give you the full experience of using an iPad.

If you need a little device to read, a Kindle or your phone should be perfect for that.

Budget iPad

Next, we come to the genuinely good budget iPad. It is by far the best value for money iPad you can get. Students or anyone who has budget constraints, this is the iPad I would recommend going for.

In terms of performance, the budget iPad has the A12 chip in it, which is very good. The new iPads have the M one chip in them, but honestly, you won't notice a difference in performance between the $329 iPad and the $1300 M1 iPad Pro.

So, for Students, this is the iPad I would recommend. I would recommend paying a little bit extra and going for the 128GB model [$429] otherwise you will face storage issues very soon and that's annoying.

iPad Air

The iPad Air is interesting. It's sort of like the middle of the lineup starts at $600 and it comes in all these fancy colours. In terms of performance, the iPad Air is reasonable, it's the A14 chip so it's a bit better than the A12 that we have on the budget iPad, and it's not quite as good as the M1 Chip that we've got on the iPad Pros.

When it comes to performance on an iPad, you probably won't notice it again unless you're really into it.

iPad Pro

Ever since the M1 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air came out, I haven't seen much required to use the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. If you have a 13-inch laptop that works better than an iPad pro in most situations, in that case, this will be a redundant device for you. Also, in terms of price, this is costlier than a 13-inch MacBook Pro/Air, considering the magic keyboard and apple pencil 2nd generation.

It's a pleasure to use, it's super nice, and the screen is side by side, a little bit nicer than you would get in an 11-inch iPad pro.

Summary

If you're on a budget and you want an iPad, then the budget iPad is absolutely the way forward. It will get the job done.

If however, you have more money to burn, then the iPad Pro 11-inch would be my recommendation. It's great with an M1 chip and in most cases, it's too powerful to complete any task instantly. Lastly, that pro-motion display is super awesome to consume any video content

It's very hard to recommend the iPad Air because of the price and value associated with it. I cannot recommend the iPad mini as well because of the size and performance. Unless you want the iPad to be the only device that you carry with you, in such a case, 12.9 is quite nice and better to have because it just gives you more screen than 11-inch, which is always better.