iPads in 2018

The 2017 + Ipad Pros have the best processor and in my opinion, the best bang for the buck is the 10.5" with 256GB.

It may be out of your budget but look for open box sales or just pay the extra $50 and you will be set as far as memory.

With the USB3 I/O, you can transfer digital media to multiple devices.

I use my Ipad Pro 10.5" specifically for audio and video engineering and it is perfect, just the right difference between 9.7 and 12" models. Actually, the Pro 9.7" has the older processor so more reasoning to go with the 10.5"

Actually, I meant to add that IF you got the 128GB model, you could always invest in a few different options for external storage but I would not suggest 64GB especially if you will be using a lot of different media types. The only stipulation is that with most opions, you can only transfer pictures and video, not so much for general external storage.

The pencil coupled with the Pro 10.5 is beyond perfect for all your intricate photo touch up, video editing and of course creating art with the multitude of graphic apps available on IOS. Apple incorporated the 120Hz display, which made the responsiveness between the pencil and Ipad as realistic as possible.

I use Affinity Photo for image editing and effects, Auria Pro for full audio recording, midi and editing capabilities and so far without any issues.

That's all I have, don't think about, just go get it and be done with it.

You might want to check Apple’s online refurbished store for some discounted product.

Apple treats all of their refurb products as new with all of the same warranties.

Available refurb products change daily, so you need to keep an eye on refurb store.

https://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/ipad

Good Luck to You!

I agree with Waterbound.

Spend the extra $50 to jump up to a 256 GBs storage, 10.5 inch screen iPad Pro and be done with.

Also, do forget to consider purchasing two-year extended AppleCare, either at your time of purchase or within 60 days of your purchase, as this will extend out warranty service of your iPad Pro for a full two years and covers two accidental/incidental damage ( one incident per year ) and if Apple decides to issue you a replacement iPad, there is a small $49 U.S.D. fee for the replacement instead of the usual “out of warranty” cost of 60% of original price of the iPad.

Good Luck to You!

That is entirely up to you.

If you think you can wait it out and keep using your iPad Air. Wait.

If you need an iPad now, then purchase one now.

New technology is always coming every six months to a year.

If you keep waiting for the next greatest thing, you’ll never purchase anything.

BTW,

What is exactly wrong with your 1st gen iPad Air that you feel you need a new iPad?

Why do you think your 1st gen iPad Air is “dying”?

What Bluetooth stylus are you using?

I use a Adonit Pixel with my 2015 iPad Pro and it is still working great for me in 2018!

My Adonit Pixel stylus is no longer “officially” supported on Procreate, either, but I contacted the developers of Procreate about the newer updates and they informed me that the previous version compatible stylus drivers are still installed should still work as they did before and “lo and behold” they were right and my Adonit Pixel stylus is still working well with Procreate, both pressure and palm rejection are still working.

Tayasui Sketches updated their stylus drivers a few updates, ago, also, and that app is working well for me, also.

ArtRage and Tayasui Sketches and Concepts drawing apps are my favorite and all STILL support my nearly two year old stylus

And Procreate and AutoDesk Sketchbook are still working with my two year old stylus, too!

Another thing I now use to draw is one of those non-electrical conducting lycra drawing gloves.

This helps with palm rejection issues a lot and if you use this type of glove, you can use ANY stylus with any drawing or notes app that doesn't support other smart Bluetooth stylii and do not have any palm rejection features.

The drawing glove allows you to rest you hand/palm on the screen while you draw or write and it won't leave any stray markings in these apps.

Some performance tips and advice to help your 1st gen iPad Air out.

Have you tried a hard reset of your iPad by holding down both the Home and sleep/wake buttons until your iPad goes to black and restarts with Apple logo, then release the buttons?

How much free data storage space is left on your iPad?

iDevices need to maintain, at least, 3 GBs, OR GREATER, of free data storage space.

If you need to free up free data storage space on an iPad/iDevice, you need to start by backing up your iPad to either Apple's iCloud or by connecting your iDevice to a computer running the latest iTunes.

Then delete any installed apps that you no longer use or use infrequently enough that they aren't missed (you can always reinstalled any purchased or free apps at some time later, as you need them).

Thin out/delete any music/videos/movies/TV shows/images/eBooks/eMagazine/iBooks/audio books/Documents/PDFs, etc.

Delete any old saved emails that maybe saved to your iPad.

To permanently delete photos/images off of your iDevice go into the Photos app and find the Recently Deleted folder/album and permanently delete any photos/images stored in that folder/album.

Also, you can check to see what stuff is eating up all your valuable data storage space by going into the Settings App,,General Settings Panel, in the right hand column, tap Storage & iCloud usage panel, in the top Storage Panel, tap the Manage Storage panel, wait for a list of apps to generate that will tell you how much space each app is taking up on your iDevice.

In Settings app, General settings panel, turn OFF Background App Refresh for any apps you feel do not need constant data updating/Internet updating in the background when not using the an app OR turn OFF Background App Refresh entirely/globally for the entire device.

In Settings app, under General settings, Reset panel, at the right bottom of the list, Reset All Settings.

In Settings app (NOT from the iOS Control Panel) turn OFF Bluetooth when not using any Bluetooth devices.

Also, in general, if you want a faster IDevice, on all of my iDevices, I turn off most of the iOS motion graphics eye candy, by simply turning ON Reduce Motion in Settings app, General, Accessibilty settings.

Make sure you aren't running scads and scads of background apps in the iOS 11 Control Panel/App Switcher.

If you are, you need to quit the bulk of these background running apps by tap and hold a finger on an app window in the switcher and slide your finger upwards to quit an app. You should be able to use more than one finger to quit more than one app window simultaneously.

Also, make sure you don’t have scads and scads of active website tabs running in the web browser.

If you do, greatly reduce the amount of active website tabs your web browser.

Some minority of user have been turning ON and leaving ON iCloud backups continuously backing up on a constant and daily basis.

If you are one of these users, turn off iCloud backup and only turn this on to do daily backups either when you are not using your iPad for a prolonged period of time (like when you are sleeping), then turn iCloud backups OFF when actually using your iPad

OR

only perform your backups on a lesser time schedule.( like twice a week, once a week, once every two weeks, once a month, etc.)

Tap on the link below to my iDevice/iOS performance/optimisation user tips link.

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-10344

I mention some of my tips in this post, already, but there are many other things to try, as well.

Try all of these tips and leave each tip active together. Do not simply try every tip individually, expecting just one tip to be a performance “cure all”.

Many of these tips are designed to work together to improve overall iOS/iDevice performance.

Good Luck to you!

I just got the IPAD 6 (128g)and love it. In fact just typed this with the pencil.