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Had mine for a few weeks now and its been terrific. Faster than I expected and really makes it easy to forget about my Air 1. My goodness.... that thing was getting sloooooooooow! My 6th gen feels like a rocketship compared to the Air 1.

Its nice to have the "base" model be such a competent performer. I DONT feel any buyers remorse about not getting the pro. Saved me a ton of cash too. :D
 
my dad ordered one for my mum...arrives Monday

Will certainly test it out to my pro when I help her set it up lol
 
New iPad looks the cats whiskers! I’m tempted as over here I’ve found one new for £287!
 
I watched some YouTube vids and not much difference in speed between 17 and 18 models, picked up a 3 month old 17 32gb 4g cheap to try out, what a dog of a iPad after having the 10.5.

edit, had it set up wrong. It's not bad a bit slower obviously but for the $230AUD i paid not bad, will keep till see whats on offer later in year, although its probably all i need.
 
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I watched some YouTube vids and not much difference in speed between 17 and 18 models, picked up a 3 month old 17 32gb 4g cheap to try out, what a dog of a iPad after having the 10.5.

edit, had it set up wrong. It's not bad a bit slower obviously but for the $230AUD i paid not bad, will keep till see whats on offer later in year, although its probably all i need.

I was wondering about your earlier comment. My 2017 is very fast and expect it to continue that way for the next few years. Good to see you corrected your setup as it’s a great performer. The 2018 as well, albeit more so.
 
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Is anyone else suffering from display uniformity issues? I mean those who look display critically and know how to test uniformity properly? I'm already on second unit and I'm still not 100% happy with it.

First one suffered from book spine issue, uneven tint and slight backlight bleed. Second one does not noticeable suffer from book spine, only some backlight bleed and uniformity is better/different (tinted placed are elsewhere and less noticeable unless viewed critically).

I post couple pictures. Please comment what you think about uniformity?
Is it acceptable for such low cost device or should I be able to expect to get 100% uniform display in this model too? I have had iPad Air and 2017 before. Air did have slight uniformity issue and backlight bleed but 2017 was unrealistically perfect and had absolutely no issues no matter how hard I tried to find something.
Full white image is taken with 100% backlight and another is with brightness I normally use maybe 30% or so (home button on the right side both photos).

1.jpg
2.jpg
 
Should of kept the 2017 no difference from my testing last few days (except pencil support).

Both mine don't have a screen like that.
 
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Not sure I got your post right but in my opinion performance difference between 2017 and 2018 models is noticeable.
I see that in everyday use all the time, it is just so much snappier, more responsive and no stutter. Just like my iPhone 7. I always felt that 2017 was nowhere near fluidity of my iPhone. You really cannot see much difference in launching app times, it is when using it. I guess much from app launching times simply comes from speed of the memory and not just CPU. Is it just like comparing 5-10 years old computer with ssd to brand new fast machine with ordinary slow spinning hdd where the old one feels faster at loading apps or operating system.

But that aside, I must admit that display in 2017 was just so much more uniform and perfect in every way. It also had cooler colour temperature and that might possibly explain part of that (also my AIR had very cool display, even cooler than 2017). In both 2018 models display has been very warm. In the photos above my camera seem to exaggerate overall redness (especially on the top photo looks like middle is cooler and all other parts red) of the image because IRL one side and more precisely just one corner appears disturbingly reddish. I understood that our eyes are less sensitive to blue colour. I often see peoples mentioning that cooler screens are more uniform.

Have you checked different level full screen gray or full white images? Or open empty notes screen, that background with paper like texture brings variations up very obviously. When checking the screen, take your time when looking at those screens because uniformity issues don't always show up at quick glance unless they are huge. Like mine, I cannot detect anything when my wife is using it and I'm peeking over her shoulder but when I sat down using it myself I start to see them after few minutes.
 
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Not sure I got your post right but in my opinion performance difference between 2017 and 2018 models is noticeable.
I see that in everyday use all the time, it is just so much snappier, more responsive and no stutter. Just like my iPhone 7. I always felt that 2017 was nowhere near fluidity of my iPhone. You really cannot see much difference in launching app times, it is when using it. I guess much from app launching times simply comes from speed of the memory and not just CPU. Is it just like comparing 5-10 years old computer with ssd to brand new fast machine with ordinary slow spinning hdd where the old one feels faster at loading apps or operating system.

But that aside, I must admit that display in 2017 was just so much more uniform and perfect in every way. It also had cooler colour temperature and that might possibly explain part of that (also my AIR had very cool display, even cooler than 2017). In both 2018 models display has been very warm. In the photos above my camera seem to exaggerate overall redness (especially on the top photo looks like middle is cooler and all other parts red) of the image because IRL one side and more precisely just one corner appears disturbingly reddish. I understood that our eyes are less sensitive to blue colour. I often see peoples mentioning that cooler screens are more uniform.

Have you checked different level full screen gray or full white images? Or open empty notes screen, that background with paper like texture brings variations up very obviously. When checking the screen, take your time when looking at those screens because uniformity issues don't always show up at quick glance unless they are huge. Like mine, I cannot detect anything when my wife is using it and I'm peeking over her shoulder but when I sat down using it myself I start to see them after few minutes.
Yes, I've done those things to test the screen on my 2018 iPad. Mine does not have the issues that you've observed with yours.
 
Is anyone else suffering from display uniformity issues? I mean those who look display critically and know how to test uniformity properly? I'm already on second unit and I'm still not 100% happy with it.

First one suffered from book spine issue, uneven tint and slight backlight bleed. Second one does not noticeable suffer from book spine, only some backlight bleed and uniformity is better/different (tinted placed are elsewhere and less noticeable unless viewed critically).

I post couple pictures. Please comment what you think about uniformity?
Is it acceptable for such low cost device or should I be able to expect to get 100% uniform display in this model too? I have had iPad Air and 2017 before. Air did have slight uniformity issue and backlight bleed but 2017 was unrealistically perfect and had absolutely no issues no matter how hard I tried to find something.
Full white image is taken with 100% backlight and another is with brightness I normally use maybe 30% or so (home button on the right side both photos).

View attachment 762458 View attachment 762459

I checked my 5th gen under these conditions and don’t see any uniformity display issues at all. I also don’t notice any stuttering or lack of snappiness, although maybe the websites I visit or files I use aren’t that complex. But I think the A9 is still very much up to the task, and for a while yet too.

I actually don’t think there’s much of a uniformity issue with your 6th gen from the photos. Maybe just a little darkness on the right side near the home button. But I probably wouldn't have noticed any such slight differences in everyday use.

My iPad 3 was really awful in uniformity, and especially in having an intensely annoying yellow tint. Glad to have traded that model in (among other reasons).
 
I actually don’t think there’s much of a uniformity issue with your 6th gen from the photos. Maybe just a little darkness on the right side near the home button. But I probably wouldn't have noticed any such slight differences in everyday use.

I did quickly and roughly measure 9 different areas of the display with colorimeter and the results are interesting. I edited measurements into one of the photo I posted earlier. There you can see colour temp in kelvins and brightness in nits taken from full white picture. Don't pay too much attention to colour temp showing around under 6000k (it is from the colorimeter not optimized for LED backlights and in reality it is possibly more close to 6500k) but colour temp difference between the different parts of the display which it can measure accurately.

Those corner measurements are not takes as near the bezel as possible because it is hard to place colorimeter so near without taking accidently measurement from the bezel and usually displays are not meant to be measured those places anyway. I just quickly measured the visibly worst corner right next the bezel and it was about 150K warmer what the numbers edited on the photo are.

It looks like that visibly reddish corner is only reddish at very close from the bezel but even then based on the measurement not so bad. The biggest variation is in brightness but even that is about 13% in worst corner (not the corner where I see the problem) and about 10% in the visibly problematic area. I'm not sure if Apple has any guidelines how much colour temp or brightness is allowed to vary from different areas of the screen but generally those values I measured aren't that bad. But despite of the results it is quite puzzling to me how come that is noticeable to me with naked eye. I admit that I'm pretty picky when it comes to display devices and I tend to notice even slightest faults that most peoples don't notice unless I point them specifically and even then some says OK I see that but I would have never noticed it myself.

Long story short, do you think by trying to exchange more units I would end up much better display? I still could return this to dealer but I also realize that there is a huge risk of ending up with worse unit. This one I now have has excellent battery (has not practically lost any capacity in over three weeks I have had it, like the another 2018 unit I had before this and which lost a lot of capacity in couple of weeks and it also had issues with display even worse than this one I now have has).

1_ct.jpg
 
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I did quickly and roughly measure 9 different areas of the display with colorimeter and the results are interesting. I edited measurements into one of the photo I posted earlier. There you can see colour temp in kelvins and brightness in nits taken from full white picture. Don't pay too much attention to colour temp showing around under 6000k (it is from the colorimeter not optimized for LED backlights and in reality it is possibly more close to 6500k) but colour temp difference between the different parts of the display which it can measure accurately.

Those corner measurements are not takes as near the bezel as possible because it is hard to place colorimeter so near without taking accidently measurement from the bezel and usually displays are not meant to be measured those places anyway. I just quickly measured the visibly worst corner right next the bezel and it was about 150K warmer what the numbers edited on the photo are.

It looks like that visibly reddish corner is only reddish at very close from the bezel but even then based on the measurement not so bad. The biggest variation is in brightness but even that is about 13% in worst corner (not the corner where I see the problem) and about 10% in the visibly problematic area. I'm not sure if Apple has any guidelines how much colour temp or brightness is allowed to vary from different areas of the screen but generally those values I measured aren't that bad. But despite of the results it is quite puzzling to me how come that is noticeable to me with naked eye. I admit that I'm pretty picky when it comes to display devices and I tend to notice even slightest faults that most peoples don't notice unless I point them specifically and even then some says OK I see that but I would have never noticed it myself.

Long story short, do you think by trying to exchange more units I would end up much better display? I still could return this to dealer but I also realize that there is a huge risk of ending up with worse unit. This one I now have has excellent battery (has not practically lost any capacity in over three weeks I have had it, like the another 2018 unit I had before this and which lost a lot of capacity in couple of weeks and it also had issues with display even worse than this one I now have has).

View attachment 762878

Nice and interesting detailed analysis. I also see those uniformity issues especially the reddish darker tint in the upper right corner and right side. 10-13% differences isn’t all that insignificant. My 5th generation does’t show these issues at all.

Like you, I’m also pretty picky. Since this would always be at the back of your mind if you kept it, I would probably do a return or exchange. I doubt a new exchanged unit would be worse in display or battery quality, as other 6th generation owners here reported having perfect displays and no battery issues. Chances are the same with a new one.

At the least, you could stop by an Apple Store and compare with their display models as well as get their opinion. But exchanging would give peace of mind. IPP owners here do it all the time at the slightest issue if they think theirs is not perfect. Probably worth doing here too, in my opinion.
 
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I also see those uniformity issues especially the reddish darker tint in the upper right corner and right side. 10-13% differences isn’t all that insignificant. My 5th generation does’t show these issues at all.
Surely 10-13% is high in my personal opinion too but unfortunately displays nowdays tend to be like that and you can see that even 20% difference in corners is considered acceptable. Also as can be seen in my measurements there is a hot spot in the middle and if that is considered the other parts are not that far away from each other in that case. I believe hot spot is quite common with displays, especially nowdays.

My 5th was also perfect, unrealistically good. But who knows what display they use in this year model? Maybe different vendor or do they even use several vendors?

Since this would always be at the back of your mind if you kept it, I would probably do a return or exchange. I doubt a new exchanged unit would be worse in display or battery quality, as other 6th generation owners here reported having perfect displays and no battery issues. Chances are the same with a new one.
I know it may never stop bugging me. It seems nobody else is complaining about displays but battery health thread votes show that over half of them is suffering capacity loss. Mine first 2018 started suffer from it within first days and my prevous 2017 right out of the box had battery wear and it kept increasing. So the one I have here now is good in that department but with my luck next one will be like two other before this one. Also first 2018 I returned had even more visible display problems than this one I now have. I also made sure that this unit was not manufactured same week, I even selected different color to be sure.

At the least, you could stop by an Apple Store and compare with their display models as well as get their opinion. But exchanging would give peace of mind. IPP owners here do it all the time at the slightest issue if they think theirs is not perfect. Probably worth doing here too, in my opinion.
I did not buy from Apple Store, it was just an authorized reseller but they have rather good return policy. I checked their demo units but it is very hard to judge anything in bright store enviroment and who knows how well selected units their demo models are. Problem is that I already returned my first 2018 and 2017 which I shortly had before this years models. I’m a bit afraid that they may black list me for consecutive returns. Of course I could instead of return try to report them this fault but I’m prettty sure they cannot just replace unit with new one but they must follow Apple protocol and I guess they determine whether it is within specs or faulty and if it is the latter then issue refurbished replacement unit but I rather not want to exchange brand new unit to refurbished one.

It definitely looks like IPP owners are looking their displays harder and often some of them notice display issues but I guess that pro model prices give you good right to demand problem free display. 2018 is different thing, shall we say budget device and its price even went down this year at least here in Europe, so I don’t know are we clients allowed to demand fully problem free displays in budget machine.
 
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It definitely looks like IPP owners are looking their displays harder and often some of them notice display issues but I guess that pro model prices give you good right to demand problem free display. 2018 is different thing, shall we say budget device and its price even went down this year at least here in Europe, so I don’t know are we clients allowed to demand fully problem free displays in budget machine.

I’d say any Apple product is equally valuable no matter how expensive it is, and shouldn’t be discriminated against based on cost in terms of eligibility to return if not satisfied. I wouldn’t classify the 5th or 6th generations as budget, as these are high quality tablets (which I prefer over IPP). For many, it’s still quite an expense and deserves equal status in expectation of high quality and close to perfection as possible.

It shouldn't matter where you purchased it as Apple will always do a check and see if there’s any defect or doesn’t meet spec. So if you’re still questioning the display quality, I’d still take it to them for their opinion. It is their product. Then you can decide what to do.
 
It shouldn't matter where you purchased it as Apple will always do a check and see if there’s any defect or doesn’t meet spec. So if you’re still questioning the display quality, I’d still take it to them for their opinion. It is their product. Then you can decide what to do.
OK. That was news to me. I may need consider that but do they issue you a brand new device if your 3 weeks old is found defective? I have underdtood that policy is to give refurbished replacement.
 
OK. That was news to me. I may need consider that but do they issue you a brand new device if your 3 weeks old is found defective? I have underdtood that policy is to give refurbished replacement.

I think that’s right. If Apple determines the iPad is defective (within one year period), they can exchange it and it might be a refurbished one (no matter where you bought it). Whether new or refurbished was never clear to me, but I understand it could be either.

But if still within the return period from your store, that would guarantee brand new, obviously. But what I’m really saying is Apple could tell you if it’s defective or not, and if within spec. Then decide what to do.
 
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