The Best iPad for Illustrators

Tech has advanced so quickly in the past decade, that we all went from working on desktops to laptops to tablets. This platform offered the best of everything from a computer in a form smaller than a laptop but larger than a phone. Tablets have now accompanied everyone from students to working professionals to artists. The choice now comes down to which tablet is best?

The most popular tablet, Apple’s infamous iPad, has a variety of options to choose from with differing variables to consider. From a multitude of sizes, prices, storage, colors and accessories it can be tricky to find the best option for digital Artists and Illustrators at a good price.

In my experience, the key factors for the best iPad is based on price and storage. As digital Creators, Artists and Illustrators, we do a lot of work that takes up a lot of storage space on devices plus no one ever complains about saving money.

From the list of available options, the most cost effective iPad (especially for students or those starting out) is the 10.2 inch iPad and the 1st generation Apple Pencil. This costs as much as some college textbooks, coming in at $329 for the base model 64GB of storage with a $99 1st generation Apple Pencil. 64GB of storage doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s enough to hold plenty of photos, projects, notes and some videos (I have never exceeded that storage on my personal iPad).

$580.00 256 GB

Apples’ base model used to have a 128 GB storage option before the A13 bionic chip release but that seems to be exclusive to the Pro version now. If you are a Creator working mainly in video or a Designer working with massive files, the 256 GB storage option looks to be the best deal for $150 more. Totaling at $580 with 256 GB storage (Apple Pencil included) seems much more reasonable than the iPad Pro with the same specs at $1,028 (Apple Pencil 2 included).

$1028.00 256 GB

Yes, the iPad Pro has a bigger screen, better camera and faster M1 chip but we are talking value for price on a budget (if you have a budget for $1200 or $1400 get the Pro but if your budget is less than $1000 stick to the base model iPad). That base model iPad looks to be the best value at $580 at the high end with the option of $430 at the low end. Choose which one is better for you, do you care about all the extras or can you get by with the minimum?