So al that for a $1500 to $1700 mobile device, rather than a full OS with way more productive UI like windowing, cursor control and file management.
iPad is media consumption for me so I guess I better look at what the Air series looks like whenever it gets 5G. Hmm no Pro Motion for the Air series either.
The iPad and a full fat MacOS box are targetting different markets... So different segments (although it appears Apple thinks they're equivalent in value or so).
If it's media consumption and you're not necessarily locked into the iOS ecosystem, maybe consider Samsung? Screen sizes are approaching similar aspects and depending on model, you could probably save quite a bit. I've been using Galaxy Tabs for a while and they work fine for me. I don't get the top of the line (eg, S7 is the current top, I'd pick up the upcoming S7 Lite since I don't need it for anything task heavy). I generally just purchase the basic unit and install a micro SD card to expand the storage and away I go.