New iPad announced - A10 Fusion SoC, Apple Pencil support, $299 for students

[Levent]

3 minutes ago, ScratchCat said:

The lowest end 7th Gen Core M3 has a tray price of $281 while a mid end Atom x5-Z8300 is sold at $21 - over a 1000% increase for Core cores rather than Atom cores.

https://ark.intel.com/products/95449/Intel-Core-m3-7Y30-Processor-4M-Cache-2_60-GHz-

https://ark.intel.com/products/87383/Intel-Atom-x5-Z8300-Processor-2M-Cache-up-to-1_84-GHz

 

You can get a keyboard - only another $159 on your $289 product.

Robustness is also a major concern. On the one hand you have the thin, glass-covered iPad and on the other you have a plastic/metal cased laptop - which would be better suited for a student who has to drag one around in a bag full of heavy books?

I have been carrying a completely plastic piece of shit lenovo laptop for the past 4 years, I dropped it numerous times and I must say plastic is not that bad when it comes to durability, AND you can get almost 3 hp streams with the price of an ipad and keyboard. 

[Drak3]

21 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

$300 this is the best tablet you can buy as a student, period

As a school system that needs basics.

 

Beyond that, there are better options.

34 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Apple Pencile support opens up the iPad to more artists who love the quality of the Apple Pencil

Not at that screen size. It's too small for any semi serious artist. The quality of the Apple Pencil is also not up to par to either the Wacom or NTrig solutions. No eraser, short battery life, ass backwards charging solution, and in the real world, tracking and parallax isn't better.

 

Only a few diehard Apple would use this for art.

1 hour ago, DrMacintosh said:

This is how you become the only company with profitable tablet sales. 

Apple is the only on in the ARM tabley market, and even then, their sales are declining.

56 minutes ago, Levent said:

I dont know what kind of students they are aiming for, for my usage anything that has a keyboard makes more sense, TO me something like hp's stream 14 or even 11 makes a lot more sense than this ipad does.

Fanboys and schools, regarding the pencil support. Otherwise, it's just another general use tablet that fewer and fewer people are wanting.

[EPENEX]

$300 is an okay price, I wouldn't get the Apple Pen though. I went to a high school for 2 years that gave every student iPads, I personally didn't like it too much. Only real upside was not having to carry around textbooks. For that reason I think iPads are a better choice than chromebooks since it's more comfortable to read a book on an iPad than a chromebook.

[Commodus]

2 hours ago, TehStranger said:

Not an android fanboy or anything, but why would a student use an iPad for productivity reasons? I used to own an iPhone 4 and have used the latest iPhones and they are so basic they're almost like a toy. Why choose that over an android tablet?

To elaborate on what was said earlier: it's because, like it or not, iPads kick the ass of Android tablets in terms of functionality.  And I'm not even being hyperbolic.

 

A lot of it has to do with the app ecosystem, as mentioned earlier.  Like it or not, Apple is much, much more supportive of tablet-native apps and has hundreds of thousands of apps that are genuinely optimized for larger screens.  Google still thinks Android tablet support amounts to throwing a few lines of code in an app to shuffle the view a bit, and there's still no way to browse the Play Store for tablet-specific apps.  There's much less support among developers, and more often than not you really will have to make do with a stretched-out phone app.

 

Also, iOS is actually getting to the point where it's better on tablets than you see on Android.  You can do the usual split screen, or float apps on top of others; there's an app tray that lets you multitask without losing your view; you can drag objects from one app to another (including multiple objects).  There are some areas where vendors like Samsung might have an edge, but Android is starting to lag behind as Google and its partners continue to focus on phones at the expense of everything else.

 

Then there's the hardware.  Simply speaking, Apple is one of the few remaining tablet makers that actually gives a damn about frequent upgrades and high-end features.  Most Android vendors have either exited the market or are participating the same race to the bottom that you saw in the PC world, where the obsession over price led to a whole lot of crap.  There aren't many good $300 Android tablets, let alone premium $500-plus models -- you're more likely to find a $100 device that's basically a glorified Netflix viewer.  And that doesn't usually cut it in education.

 

Don't get me wrong, iOS isn't as flexible as Android in some respects.  But if you want an analogy, Android tablets are to Conor McGregor as the iPad is to Floyd Mayweather.  It's the outsider expecting dominance in one arena to translate to another, only to have their ego checked by the master who's been there all along.

[Mr.Meerkat]

2 hours ago, Eduard the weeb said:

As a students note are much easier on a laptop then a tablets 

 

" But eduard you can get the keyyyboardd with it "

 

doesn't matter even a laptop will pretty much always be better for notes then a Tablet with a keyboard

You see, the problem with that is not all notes can be taken on a laptop such as drawing a quick diagram or example of something. Granted you could just draw it on piece of paper or just take a photo of it (if possible) however if it were up to me, I'd much rather have all of my notes in one place without me having to awkwardly place in a "copy" of it. 

[Eduard the weeb]

2 minutes ago, Mr.Meerkat said:

You see, the problem with that is not all notes can be taken on a laptop such as drawing a quick diagram or example of something. Granted you could just draw it on piece of paper or just take a photo of it (if possible) however if it were up to me, I'd much rather have all of my notes in one place without me having to awkwardly place in a "copy" of it. 

I take photos and just import them with google photos, granted you would have to use a google product then

[DrMacintosh]

26 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Not at that screen size. It's too small for any semi serious artist. The quality of the Apple Pencil is also not up to par to either the Wacom or NTrig solutions. No eraser, short battery life, ass backwards charging solution, and in the real world, tracking and parallax isn't better.

 

Only a few diehard Apple would use this for art.

It is the best stylus for a tablet and that’s a fact. We aren’t Wacom “tablets” and many artists use the Apple Pencil for their art. Not diehard fans. 

 

They don’t need an eraser, the digital options in the software are far superior. The battery life lasts quite a while as that thing is like 90% battery. Charging can be done through the iPad or with the adapter included in the box to connect it to the wall. There are also cradles. 

 

33 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Apple is the only on in the ARM tabley market, and even then, their sales are declining.

Their sales are rising, not falling. That’s a fact. 

[GoodBytes]

2 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Their sales are rising, not falling. That’s a fact. 

I agree. The only thing that is fallen, is the school using iPads.

This is because previously they were expensive, and lack apps. And the program to try and get educational apps on it with book publishers was a disaster. When Google entered the seen,  school switch to it, and then Microsoft entered the scene fighting against Chromebooks to try and regain most of it lost before. Apple is being aggressive now. And I think they go even further if needed, by including the pen with the device, but they are keeping that playing card for now.

 

[Drak3]

13 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

It is the best stylus for a tablet and that’s a fact. We aren’t Wacom “tablets” and many artists use the Apple Pencil for their art. Not diehard fans. 

The pencil is the best stylus for the iPad. Overall, it's not that good a stylus. Few artists use it, and only as a basoc sketchbook.

13 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

 

They don’t need an eraser, the digital options in the software are far superior.

You're obviously not an artist. Software erasers are clumbersome to any semi serious workflow.

 

 (Because the text editor is a fucking shitshow on mobile, the next reply comes before the quote, and somehow G Bytes got quoted.)

12 hours is significantly less that the Surface Pen and Wacom Bamboo's 6 months, and the undefinite usage of Wacom's other pens. Charging on the pencil is ass backwards as it still uses the fragile Lightning connector and renders the pencil usuable.

 

 

13 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

The battery life lasts quite a while as that thing is like 90% battery. Charging can be done through the iPad or with the adapter included in the box to connect it to the wall. There are also cradles.

7 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

 

[GoodBytes]

Actually, what Apple should do, as a next step, is make a rack on wheels system for the iPads. Where they can safely slide in iPads in, and the pen, and it charges everything. Like this you always have iPads ready for schools who don't give student units to take home. And maybe a small units for pen only that can be inserted for extra pens ready in the case a student battery empties and can replace it on the spot.

 

I think that would help a lot of schools in ensuring that everything is ready, all the time, and is easy to work with. The school don't have to worry about issues like, having a student plugging in the pen on the device to charge it and gets bumped in some fashion and brakes the pen (or, potentially, the port if its been one to many times this happens on that particular device)

[DrMacintosh]

15 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

12 hours is significantly less that the Surface Pen

The Surface Pen is not even in the same league as the Apple Pencil in terms of sensors and input lag. 

 

15 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Wacom Bamboo's

You are grossing product categories. Stay on topic. 

 

15 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Charging on the pencil is ass backwards as it still uses the fragile Lightning connector and renders the pencil usuable.

The lighting connector is substantially stronger than MicroUSB and comes with a small plug in the box to turn the male port into a female one. 

 

 

[Bigbootyjudy]

3 hours ago, hey_yo_ said:

Not to mention that the A10 Fusion chip may not be as fast as the current A11 Bionic but it's still very fast. I think schools are better off with deploying iPads to elementary and K-12 students than a Windows 10S device regardless if it's ARM or Intel. School admins can easily lock down an iPad to either a single app with Guide Access or just restrict changes and enable parental controls with Restrictions and parental controls are very easy to set up.

 

We have Chromebooks at our school and I must say that the amount of customization to security and such is crazy. Its chrome os so we cant just simply install a separate program to get past blocked media. They also blocked the downloading of extensions and google apps. I must say that I think that Chromebooks are a bit better than Ipads in my opinion. Especially with a clickier keyboard than those snap on, thin ipad keyboards

[Drak3]

11 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

The Surface Pen is not even in the same league as the Apple Pencil in terms of sensors and input lag. 

Having used both extensively, I can tell you, without hesitation or doubt, that the only differences in usability boil down to the thickness, the buttons, and the eraser. Everything else is just marketting for idiots.

12 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

You are grossing product categories. Stay on topic

Wacom's Bamboo pen is a $60 Surface Pen alternative.

 

14 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

The lighting connector is substantially stronger than MicroUSB and comes with a small plug in the box to turn the male port into a female one

It's pretty fucking weak, especially when the male end is attached to a long lever.

[DrMacintosh]

12 minutes ago, Bigbootyjudy said:

I must say that I think that Chromebooks are a bit better than Ipads in my opinion. Especially with a clickier keyboard than those snap on, thin ipad keyboards

Well they are better in that they have a keyabord built in, but they are less powerful than the iPad, and have the limitation of the trackpad being it’s main interface for most models unless the school gives you a crappy mouse. 

 

The iPad has the advantage of being more portable and have better interface options. 

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, Drak3 said:

Everything else is just marketting for idiots.

Marketing for idiots < Empirical evidence

 

The Apple Pencil is significantly better than the Surface Pen. 

 

3 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

It's pretty fucking weak, especially when the male end is attached to a long lever.

It’s really not, I already told you. 

 

The Pencil charges very quickly when going through an iPad. When hooked up to the wall it charges equally as fast. You don’t have to charge through the iPad. I keep telling you that but you ignore it and just say that one of the strongest connectors is existence is weak....

[mr moose]

2 hours ago, Levent said:

I dont know what kind of students they are aiming for, for my usage anything that has a keyboard makes more sense, TO me something like hp's stream 14 or even 11 makes a lot more sense than this ipad does.

The school my boys attend started out with Ipads, but they are transitioning to laptops like the thinkpad and yoga.  It was a fairly  long program but it seems it just wasn't working out as well as they hoped.   Especially in the art departments. They strongly recommend a yoga over an ipad for art.

 

4 hours ago, VegetableStu said:

mmm... do the parents in LTT forums manage an iCloud account for your kid? (creating one and letting them go nuts go nuts vaguely counts)

 

 

I did, and then handed the account over top them when they get older and can manage it themselves (my kids are autistic and can be easily lead by mischivous other students). However I believe most other students just have normal accounts attached to their own private email.

[Drak3]

4 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Apple Pencil is significantly better than the Surface Pen. 

No, it isn't.

 

5 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

The Pencil charges very quickly when going through an iPad. When hooked up to the wall it charges equally as fast. You don’t have to charge through the iPad. I keep telling you that but you ignore it and just say that one of the strongest connectors is existence is weak....

Fast charge times do not make up for shit charge implementations or bad battery lives.

[Sauron]

If it came with the pencil it would actually be decent value, but alas...

2 hours ago, Levent said:

I dont know what kind of students they are aiming for, for my usage anything that has a keyboard makes more sense, TO me something like hp's stream 14 or even 11 makes a lot more sense than this ipad does.

They want you to buy the 180$ keyboard for it

[Dabombinable]

The pencil isn't stored (and charged) inside the tablet, there is still no method to easily get all documents off it, and you can get larger Samsung tablets with an s-pen included for less. And those have expandable storage. My Mum's a teacher and she found the last iPad mini to be useless compared to her Galaxy Tab A (S-Pen model)

[RotoCoreOne]

Now can they release a new apple pen with a softer nub and erase feature? Would be nice. For a company that prides itself in design, the apple pen is one of the most clunky designed item ever. You have a cap that goes over the charging port, however, you need to get a third party accessory to keep the cap attached to the pen so you don't lose it when charging. Why?

[79wjd]

5 hours ago, TehStranger said:

Not an android fanboy or anything, but why would a student use an iPad for productivity reasons? I used to own an iPhone 4 and have used the latest iPhones and they are so basic they're almost like a toy. Why choose that over an android tablet?

Because all Android tablets are pretty much crap these days. 

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, djdwosk97 said:

Because all Android tablets are pretty much crap these days. 

All three of them.

[AlTech]

If I didn't have a surface then I'd buy one instantly .

 

I really want one damnit . I just can't find a real world use for it .

[79wjd]

In all honesty, I would buy it if I still needed to write things. I used a SP3 for a couple years and played around with a 9.7" iPad Pro for a month and preferred the iPad mostly across the board for my use case (writing notes/light web browsing in class). I was actively trying to sell the Surface in order to replace it with an iPad Pro; funnily enough I sold it the very day before I left school for the final time, and so now I don't have a writing need, but if I did, this would be my first choice.

[vanished]

Did they finally fix the problem where it sticks out the side when you plug the "pencil" into the tablet to charge?  I hope so... although if they have fixed it, people will have to find a new way to instantly and irreparably look like a total idiot.