New 9.7-Inch iPad Hands-On: 'Very Familiar' Update Benefits From Apple Pencil Support and A10 Fusion Chip

[QCassidy352]

It’s a good update to a lower end product. $329 for the power and technology in this iPad is a good price. My 2014 iPad Air 2 is going strong 3.5 years later, and that iPad started at $500. If this one lasts as long (and it should, with its specs), it’s a great deal at $329.

It seems like some of you expected a radically redesigned, revolutionary iPad, but I’m not sure why. This is the low end/education model. It’s exactly what it should be for what it is and who it’s for.

 

[roncron]

In case anyone was wondering what the market thought of today’s announcements:

View attachment 755763

Is the graph about Apple share prices?

Tech stocks as a group fell today, including Netflix and Tesla. Apple's price drop might reflect broader trends rather than investors' feelings about today's announcements.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/27/investing/dow-jones-stocks-tech-nasdaq/index.html

 

[jeremiah256]

Schools shouldn't be buying technology in the first place. There's no proof that it has any value.

Due to my exposure in school to electric typewriters and programming (this was the 1980's), exposure my family could not have afforded to provide me at home, I graduated with skills that many of my peers in the workforce didn't have. It was an equalizer that I've always appreciated and was part of a foundation that I've been able to build upon. My early access to tech proved valuable in my life.

 

[Anony-mouse]

iPad 9.7 with pencil support.
I have a Pr0 9.7 and the specs are very very different.
2 speakers vs 4.
1080 vs 4k video
8M pixel vs 12M Pixel
Display Not Laminated vs Laminated.

Better off finding an old stock 9.7.
I think the prices will be coming down.
I got my Pro 9.7 last year for $429 because Best Buy had a one day sale.

Dang! I have a 9.7" Pro, and it looked like it dropped more than 50% in price for the new iPad 9.7 with pencil support. Some of the 9.7" Pro features I could live without given the huge drop in price. I'd say that this iPad is a great deal except for those of us with 9.7" iPad Pros.

 

[Quu]

$299 for the iPad + $49-$65 for a Bluetooth keyboard with battery + $49 for the Logitech Crayon or $99 for the iPad Pencil.

Quite expensive and incomplete package really isn't it? - You can do some content creation on the iPad but it hurts to do so, it's bloody annoying to create anything on them because it feels like it was designed for consumption of media and not for creation. Just sending files to a windows system is a pain, email? syncing with iTunes? it's a mess.

Like for example lets say these kids do their homework which includes a 3GB video edited on the iPad now they want to back that up to the school server in the child's network share folder, how do you do that? Email it to a proper computer as an attachment over the internet when the server is in the same building?

Apple would be better to just make a low cost plastic laptop for schools like the iBooks and original MacBook's were.

 

[ersan191]

It’s a good update to a lower end product. $329 for the power and technology in this iPad is a good price. My 2014 iPad Air 2 is going strong 3.5 years later, and that iPad started at $500. If this one lasts as long (and it should, with its specs), it’s a great deal at $329.

It seems like some of you expected a radically redesigned, revolutionary iPad, but I’m not sure why. This is the low end/education model. It’s exactly what it should be for what it is and who it’s for.

We expected a lower price than the 2017 iPad, which it does not have.

 

[John.B]

Nope. 2018 iPad is same form factor as 2017 and iPad Air. Note the thickness in the specs and size of battery.

Do we know yet whether the 2018 6th Gen iPads and the 2017 5th Gen iPads share the same case specs?

I know the 5th Gen model had some layout differences to the Air 1 that made their cases incompatible with each other.

 

[rui no onna]

Do we know yet whether the 2018 6th Gen iPads and the 2017 5th Gen iPads share the same case specs?

I know the 5th Gen model had some layout differences to the Air 1 that made their cases incompatible with each other.

Not yet. My iPad Air case was compatible with the 5th gen since it just had a long hole for the volume controls + rotate/mute switch. I expect we'll know soon enough.

 

[Oldfash33]

1st or 2nd Gen Touch ID ?

 

[macmanmass]

I really didn’t know about this air gap back when I had my iPad Air. Main thing I noticed when I upgraded to the 10.5” is the improved blacks resulted from it.


Eh? I knew that by memory as well. Not really that hard to remember...

You all need lives.
[doublepost=1522199790][/doublepost]

Right.. bad joke, lies, go on, and when the actual sales come out and they're fine, retraction, no, you'll slink into darkness like all other detractors.

Wow you have some serious issues.

 

[John.B]

You all need lives.

Says the guy with ~18 posts across three threads on the new iPad today? LOL

 

[unobtainium]

Does it support ProMotion? Isn't that part of what makes Apple Pencil feel so smooth on the iPad Pro?
[doublepost=1522205523][/doublepost]

You all need lives.
[doublepost=1522199790][/doublepost]
Wow you have some serious issues.

Soo do you just sit here all night long attempting to troll users on a Mac forum? Might want to turn those statements around on yourself...

 

[44267547]

You didn't watch the presentation where Tim Cook mentioned using AR.

I will Assume your above statement is an over sighted assumption. However, Apples focus with the entry level iPad is primarily focusing on the education segment coupled with augmented reality as a secondary feature. Also, if you look at Apple’s augmented reality marketing, it’s primarily towards the iPhone. I would say that augmented reality ismore of a tangent for the iPad as a reminder of its capabilities through both iOS devices.

 

[ersan191]

I will Assume your above statement is an over sighted assumption. However, Was Apples focus with the entry level iPad today focusing on augmented reality in any manner given its launch today? (Rhetorical) I would say not. Especially given that they were targeting this iPad in the education sector, I don’t think Augemented reality is much of a focus as it is a feature for a budget iPad.

Also, if you look at Apple’s augmented reality marketing, it’s primarily towards the iPhone. I would say that iPad is secondary.

They talked a fair bit about AR in the keynote, worth noting though that AR is not a new feature for the iPad - it was on the 2017 iPad as well.

 

[44267547]

They talked a fair bit about AR in the keynote, worth noting though that AR is not a new feature for the iPad - it was on the 2017 iPad as well.

My post never indicated Augemented reality was a ‘new’ feature, its just Not the sole focus of what this new iPad was intended for, which is targeting school adoption for education services, iCloud coupled with Pencil support.

 

[ersan191]

My post never indicated Augemented reality was a ‘new’ feature, its just Not the sole focus of what this new iPad was intended for, which is targeting school adoption for education services, iCloud coupled with Pencil support.

Well your point of "the iPad is not marketed with AR" is wrong, because they talked about it quite a bit in the keynote and it's literally the third bullet point on the product page - and the idea that it doesn't have enough RAM for AR is also wrong since a 2GB device has had AR since a year ago, even the iPhone SE has AR support.

 

[44267547]

Well your point of "the iPad is not marketed with AR" is wrong, because they talked about it quite a bit in the keynote and it's literally the third bullet point on the product page -.

Not even close to the point I was making. For clarification, You’re conflating the Keynote and AR marketing as a whole, where as I’m speaking to Apple Hardly markets the iPad for Augmented reality at all through any other media outlets. Look at the majority of their marketing Over the course of six months, it’s all geared towards the iPhone with augmented reality with the iPhone 8/X. I will say it again, Augmented reality for the iPad is a secondary capability for the iPad, that was not the sole reason for the introduction in the education market being Apple wants to get a firmer grip with the school system, which was widely evident after yesterday.

and the idea that it doesn't have enough RAM for AR is also wrong since a 2GB device has had AR since a year ago,.

That’s twice you insinuated two different things that were Never correlated in either of my two past post(s). First, you insinuated augmented reality was ‘new’, when in fact it’s not, nor did I ever interject that was from the start of this discussion. And now you’re insinuating that the “Idea doesn’t have enough RAM for AR”, which was never involved in this discussion from
The start, which has no relevance with my posts.

 

[nt5672]

I bought it right away. I was waiting for a refreshed budget iPad for a few months now and the Pencil support is just an added bonus for me. I'm not yet sure if I'll order the Apple Pencil or wait for the Logitech Crayon.

I was going to do this for the same reason, then I remembered how far Apple's hardware and software quality has fallen and couldn't pull the trigger. I'll wait and see if this was another rushed to market product that takes some months to get right, or its just a minor upgrade with no real problems.

 

[roncron]

$299 for the iPad + $49-$65 for a Bluetooth keyboard with battery + $49 for the Logitech Crayon or $99 for the iPad Pencil.

Quite expensive and incomplete package really isn't it? - You can do some content creation on the iPad but it hurts to do so, it's bloody annoying to create anything on them because it feels like it was designed for consumption of media and not for creation. Just sending files to a windows system is a pain, email? syncing with iTunes? it's a mess.

Like for example lets say these kids do their homework which includes a 3GB video edited on the iPad now they want to back that up to the school server in the child's network share folder, how do you do that? Email it to a proper computer as an attachment over the internet when the server is in the same building?

Apple would be better to just make a low cost plastic laptop for schools like the iBooks and original MacBook's were.

I agree that the iPad is far better for consumption than creation, and inferior to a $400 laptop for content creation (except for people who really need stylus support, which I'm guessing is a minority). Apple's marketing materials that show these amazing documents people have created using the iPad are misleading; replicating documents of that type from scratch on the iPad is very hard - I have tried.

But regarding file sharing: I haven't used the new (to iOS 11) "files" app, but the dropbox app for iPad works very well and provides seamless file sharing between my iPad Pro, Macbook Pro, and Windows laptop. And the MS Office apps for iPad work, for me at least, very well. Between Dropbox and MS Office apps, I can very easily start a spreadsheet, Word doc, or PowerPoint presentation on any of these three devices and continue editing it on a different device. All of this works very well and, therefore, I am very comfortable taking only my iPad Pro (plus keyboard) on business trips in which I need to get work done.

For these reasons, I think the iPad is a viable tool for education. But I'm not convinced it's superior to the less expensive options available to schools. That will partly depend on Apple's educational software. So far, it looks like the software doesn't offer significant advantages over existing products readily available to schools.
[doublepost=1522245560][/doublepost]

We expected a lower price than the 2017 iPad, which it does not have.

True. But it's the same price as the 2017 model yet has a significantly better processor and Apple pencil support--a feature previously available only on the much more expensive iPad Pro. So, you're getting a lot more for your money.

 

[Quu]

But regarding file sharing: I haven't used the new (to iOS 11) "files" app, but the dropbox app for iPad works very well and provides seamless file sharing between my iPad Pro, Macbook Pro, and Windows laptop. And the MS Office apps for iPad work, for me at least, very well. Between Dropbox and MS Office apps, I can very easily start a spreadsheet, Word doc, or PowerPoint presentation on any of these three devices and continue editing it on a different device. All of this works very well and, therefore, I am very comfortable taking only my iPad Pro (plus keyboard) on business trips in which I need to get work done.

For these reasons, I think the iPad is a viable tool for education.

While that sounds great for you as someone that owns all that machinery. Think about kids in a classroom. They need to backup their work, send it to a teacher, share it with other students. They may need to move it to a school desktop computer at some point.

Not one of those things is made easier with Dropbox or iCloud etc - Those are intended for personal machines you own that you want to sync between. The bottleneck to these iPads is sharing what you create, getting drawings into Photoshop on a desktop to finish them off, getting videos into a proper video editor on a proper computer etc - That's where it becomes an annoying thing to use.

iPads don't support AFP shares or SAMBA shares, no basic file sharing support that is needed in a school environment. Sending all your data out over the internet on school WiFi is a joke when you think most schools don't even have 50Mb internet and even slower upload (my kids school is like 10Mb upload for the entire building!).

 

[MistrSynistr]

This whole thread is people moaning that the budget iPad isn't the Pro. lol.

Some of you should take a step back, a day off, come back and read your own posts and how silly you sound whining about the lack of features that make the Pro models Pro models.
[doublepost=1522247630][/doublepost]

Right.. bad joke, lies, go on, and when the actual sales come out and they're fine, retraction, no, you'll slink into darkness like all other detractors.

This poster has an out of context egregious photo of the President trying to put him in a bad light, acting like he's more clever and introspective than anyone else, even with his responses.

And he's not. And has no clue about politics or Apple products. That's really all you need to know.

 

[deckard666]

Totally agree - on the UK page its just about half the price so really quite silly comparing it to the Pro ! Perhaps you could ask Porsche to sell the 911 for Boxster money ?

 

[dampfnudel]

What is mean by "...air gap between the display and cover glass on the new tablet..." Is this good or bad?

It’s bad, maybe not bad enough for some who can live with an inferior display, one which is nearly 5 years old (iPad Air’s display released in 2013) in return for a cheaper price. My nearly 3-year-old iPad mini 4 has a better display! In a few months we’ll get an iPad Pro which will look like the iPhone X, maybe without the notch or a smaller one. I’m also guessing that the price will be about the same as the current one. I think sales of the iPhone X has made it obviously clear to Apple that a price wall does exist for the iPhone and an excessively priced iPad will also result in lackluster sales (as compared to expectations), maybe even more so after the hardcore demand is satisfied in a month or so.

As for me, I’m still hoping we’ll get an iPad mini “iPhone X edition” by next year, but I’m guessing the chances for that happening are slim to say the least. The only hope I have is a iPad Pro 9.7” that comes close in size to my mini 4 after the bezels get the iPhone X treatment.

 

[CarlJ]

Same old, same old. Only Apple would hold an event for lowering the price of an iPad. Other businesses do that all the time. Its called a discount. Ugh I miss Steve.

Yes, you're absolutely right, that was the primary focus of this event, which had nothing to do with addressing the education market. Can't understand why they didn't call it the "Slightly Discounted iPad Event".