IPAD AIR

The iPad Air is no longer Apple's top-end tablet, thanks to the release of new iPad Air 2. The original Air may not be top dog but the price has been sliced by £80 down to £319, pretty good for a device that's only a year old and still attracts attention for its slender design. In fact at this price we're even more impressed with the Air than we were when it launched 12 months ago.

With a free update to iOS 8 not slowing it down a bit, it's every bit worth your consideration now that a successor has arrived. Build quality Adopting the Air moniker used by the company's super-light laptops really makes sense here, as the iPad Air is staggeringly light. At just 469g (Wi-Fi version) it's 183g lighter than the 652g iPad 4. That's a staggering 28 per cent lighter, which is even more impressive given the iPad Air has the same size screen.

The new iPad Air 2 is lighter still admittedly, down to 437g, but the 32g drop isn't anywhere like as radical - you'll barely notice the difference once you've slipped it into a rucksack or satchel. In order to get the weight down, Apple had to make iPad Air smaller and thinner than its predecessor.

In simple terms, the Air takes its design cues from the iPad Mini with its thinner bezel and slimmer case. It shouldn't be underestimated how much work this takes, as Apple's managed to make the iPad Air a lot smaller than the outgoing iPad 4, reducing width from 188mm to 169.5mm (a 10 per cent reduction) and depth from 9mm to 7.5mm (a 16 per cent reduction), while height remains roughly the same.

The newer model slims down again to just 6.1mm, but the other dimensions remain the same. The bezels are significantly thinner than before, but Apple's excellent thumb rejection means you can grip the tablet from the side and not interfere with the touchscreen - even if your hand slips off the bezel and onto the display.