M1 chip vs. A13 Bionic chip

The M1 is the newer faster chip only available on iPad Pro. The A13 is the chip originally part of the iPhone 11 from 2 years ago, and now used for the iPad 9th Generation (which is Apple’s entry level and cheapest offering)

Unless you plan on buying the iPad Pro, the M1 chip would not factor in at all.

Look at the features and price of the iPads and decide based on that and not the actual Chip inside as its not really relevant in making a decision unless your work flow and requirements will make use of it, and currently no Apps or processes make full use of the M1 chip.

Apple's M1 chip is Apple's flagship chip found in tge newest Macs, MacBooks/Pro iMacs and iPad Pro.

From there, CPUs in descending order and power.

A15 Bionic

A14 Bionic

A13 Bionic

A12 Bionic