Apple Launches New 9.7-Inch iPad With Apple Pencil Support, $299 for Schools and $329 for Consumers

[BarracksSi]

I see this as a step in the direction of electronic worksheets/workbooks. It is astounding how much schools spend on photocopying and workbooks. Teachers also have to manage all those sheets of paper. Finally, the student has a way of looking up if a worksheet has/hasn’t been turned in.

This is what I'd really like to know about, mostly because I've never run a classroom (the closest I've gotten is running some marching band rehearsals) and would think it'd be a nightmare to still be stuck with mountains of paper just like forty years ago.

I'll watch the presentation later today or tomorrow to see what the new classroom-oriented apps are about. I also wonder if there are out-of-the-box equivalents installed on Chromebooks (since they appear to be the main competition, if this thread discussion is accurate).

 

[eyeseeyou]

I was curious about how Apple was going to implement this. But 32 gb? Seriously? And they're going to pre-load them with iWork, which will consume about 2 gb of that. I guess the 200 gb of cloud storage helps, but Apple choice will make these iPads obsolete a lot quicker.

What other large files will have to be stored on the actual iPad besides the apps? I feel like they’re going with google model where everything is stored in the cloud. 200gbs is overkill imo for storing documents

 

[HailstormX]

I’m struggling to see where this would fit in with a sea of chrome books dominating the EDU market as it is. Honestly I don’t think any one was asking for this in school. I would be way more excited if they had a 199 MacBook Air for EDU and solid administration for it. But then again Apple is no Google when it comes to services.

Its great the 299 price point but a 199 mini or 149 mini would be more helpful for schools if they were going down that path. Plus considering you still need a keyboard and a 89 pencil to finish the edu dream apple is trying to sell here.

Our school has a ton of iPad mini’s when iPads were the Buzz word in the EDU Market. I questioned the purchase from the beginning. Was purchased for middle school and now they are all in pre-K - 2 grade.

If anything we need to get the kids regular #2 pencils and teach them how to write and spell.

 

[BarracksSi]

Trailing behind the $329 Google Acer ChromeOS tablet, ~$270 Galaxy Tab A with Pen and ~$150 2017 Amazon Fire HD 10. Biggest cons of iPad is the toyish iOS, no mouse support, no full IDE for coding and no Crouton Linux mode for getting students prepared for the real world.

pfffff... heh... Yeah, my niece has been badgering me for not working with Crouton... /////SARCASM

 

[fiddysent]

difference between this and the 9.7 inch iPad pro I just bought?

 

[thekeyring]

Doubt it, considering iPad doesn't run desktop versions of Adobe software. An actual Wacom tablet would be more useful to someone who's doing graphic design in creating content than an iPad with a stylus.

A graphic designer wouldn't use iPad for any kind of primary work, because it's simply underpowered for it, no matter how much smoke Apple tries to blow up everyone's butts.

You don't know what you're talking about. Plenty of graphic designers use iPad Pros with Apple Pencils. I was surprised to see that this is the case, but there you are.

A 10.5" iPad Pro + Apple Pencil is actually cheaper than nearly all Cintiq setups. Plus with iPad, you're not tethered to a desk.

 

[eroyce]

There are useful apps that utilize GPS without LTE such as offline maps navigation. GPS exclusion on WIFI models is just another way for Apple to profit from stripping features.

Or it is Apple's way of reducing cost by removing limited use features. This iPad was released at an education event and the 3rd graders that I know have minimal use for offline map navigation.

In fact, tying GPS to a device marketed towards children is probably more of a security risk than it is than a useful learning tool.

 

[eyeseeyou]

So I have an iPad Air 2. It still works great. I do use my iPhone 8+ with 256GB more. This doesn't excite me to upgrade really.

Are you a student?

 

[yaxomoxay]

I’m struggling to see where this would fit in with a sea of chrome books dominating the EDU market as it is. Honestly I don’t think any one was asking for this in school. I would be way more excited if they had a 199 MacBook Air for EDU and solid administration for it. But then again Apple is no Google when it comes to services.

Its great the 299 price point but a 199 mini or 149 mini would be more helpful for schools if they were going down that path. Plus considering you still need a keyboard and a 89 pencil to finish the edu dream apple is trying to sell here.

Our school has a ton of iPad mini’s when iPads were the Buzz word in the EDU Market. I questioned the purchase from the beginning. Was purchased for middle school and now they are all in pre-K - 2 grade.

If anything we need to get the kids regular #2 pencils and teach them how to write and spell.

Apple had to go for a $299 Macbook with iCloud Storage and Classroom. Then it would be back in the edu business and able to push cheap iPads as extra devices for stuff like AR, art etc.

 

[deaglecat]

Ok. Todays prices in the UK apple refurb store & employee discount store

Refurb 32G IPad 2017 £239
Refurb 32G Air2 £259
New 32G IPad 2018 £313

Which is the best value ?

 

[satchmo]

This sucks for owners like me who just bought an iPad this past Christmas.

This new one is more powerful, Pencil support and costs about the same.

Thanks Apple

 

[turbineseaplane]

I see the new jointly announced Logitech case and stylus...

Oh. my. god.

Apple. Just make a freakin' touch screen MacBook.
Good god..

How many variations of "it's not a touchscreen laptop, but it is, kind of" are we going to dance around with here?

 

[eyeseeyou]

difference between this and the 9.7 inch iPad pro I just bought?

Smart Keyboard connector?

 

[zhaoxin]

iPad (2018) wins in speed, price, battery capacity, Pencil support, and ARKit support. The display is also much brighter.

I said the screen in iPad 2018 is worse than iPad Air 2 because iPad Air 2 and iPad Pro use "Fully laminated display", which makes the device thinner and screen much near to the user. That is also why the device is lighter.

Also, the battery capacity is irrelevant as all iPads promised the same using time length. The pencil support is also irrelevant as all upgradable iPads support that. It is the same thing with ARKit.

 

[BarracksSi]

Or it is Apple's way of reducing cost by removing limited use features. This iPad was released at an education event and the 3rd graders that I know have minimal use for offline map navigation.

In fact, tying GPS to a device marketed towards children is probably more of a security risk than it is than a useful learning tool.

+100, and this vid clip came back up lately (mostly in wake of the FB/Cambridge Analytica news):

 

[eyeseeyou]

I see the new jointly announced Logitech case and stylus...

Oh. my. god.

Apple. Just make a freakin' touch screen MacBook.
Good god..

How many variations of "it's not a touchscreen laptop, but it is, kind of" are we going to dance around with here?

Lol.

That looks just like the BLOK line of iPad keyboards they put out that is on sale at a heavily discounted price.

Looks heavy.

 

[Mr. Heckles]

including the A10 Fusion actually surprised me, I thought it would retain the A9 at a lower price point.

The previous one had the A9, so why would they keep using the same one as last year?

 

[harriska2]

Good points you’ve brought up.

That being said you can take notes with much lower cost stylus’ on any iPad.

No, the other styli are crappy - they skip, are slow, and make anything other than large scribbles or big handwriting impossible.

 

[Glideslope]

Should have been $299 with a pencil for schools. Too expensive for districts that don’t by 500 at a time to receive the Magical Discount.

 

[mi7chy]

pfffff... heh... Yeah, my niece has been badgering me for not working with Crouton... /////SARCASM

That's the difference between working for SpaceX, Tesla, etc. vs McDonald's.

 

[coolfactor]

A weak hardware update in the larger scheme of things, but follows Apple's habit of steady baby-steps forward.

I'm very surprised by the lack of TrueTone support and laminated display, as it would make sense that Apple would align their products on the best tech available. Maybe it was too costly? I sure hope it wasn't just to create a difference between product lines.

And for the new iPad to not work with the Smart Keyboard? Design flaw with the keyboard, or another decision to give the Pro a distinct advantage?

 

[iSee]

That said, why did they bother releasing the previous $329 iPad with no Pencil support, a relatively short while ago, if they were going to go this direction anyway?

That was a full year ago.

 

[manu chao]

A new iPad mini would be better for schools

Given that the iPad mini costs more than this new iPad (and has a less useful because smaller screen), I don't know why schools would prefer it. I highly doubt that the size and weight of this iPad is a big issue for anyone beyond elementary school level.

 

[coolfactor]

Doubt it, considering iPad doesn't run desktop versions of Adobe software. An actual Wacom tablet would be more useful to someone who's doing graphic design in creating content than an iPad with a stylus.

A graphic designer wouldn't use iPad for any kind of primary work, because it's simply underpowered for it, no matter how much smoke Apple tries to blow up everyone's butts. At best, it can be used with some non-industry standard apps to sketch some stuff, but that's about it. It would probably do better job using non-graphic design apps for some other "on the side" work.

Adobe software is no longer the end-all-be-all. There are several worthy alternatives these days. Welcome to the greener pasture.

 

[Glmnet1]

Does A10 Fusion = A10X Fusion? Or is there a difference...
Curious if leaving out the "X" means the chip will be any different from the iPad Pros.
Thoughts?

Yes, the A10 is 4 cores vs 6 cores in the A10X, it's a bit slower, less graphics etc. It's currently used in the iPhone 7. Still quite good for a budget iPad.