iPad iPad 2018 first impression

[LovingTeddy]

OK... I have admit that I indeed brought an iPad 2018 while I thought it is just a regular iPad update and decided not buy. However, I canceled my iPad 2017 128GB LTE iPad (refurbished) order and went to buy the new iPad 2018 at Apple Store (Traded in one of the 2017 iPad).

The new iPad has exactly same design as 5 years old iPad Air, which is really unremarkable at this point. It has same dimension as iPad Air 1, it has same processor as 2 years old iPhone 7 and it has 6 years old camera. This iPad is bacially a iPad with lots of old parts that put together. And this is exactly the reason that Apple can sell this at 429CAD (or 329USD).

The Apple A10 processor is very fast. It can be compared with some Intel Mobile Processors. It is a very powerful tablet in the market at this price range, nothing close to this iPad and nothing will match iPad at this price range. This iPad is very powerful and iOS 11 runs very smoothly.

How does this really compare with pervious generation iPad?

Well.. A10 chips is lot powerful than A9 chips. A9 chip until now is almost 3 years old, while A10 is almost 2 years old now.

CPU Benchmark shows 6020 vs 4460 (A10 vs A9 Multicore) and 3547 vs 2539 (A10 vs A9, single core). A10 is about 35% faster than A9. This would translate to real application performance. If you are going to run lots of CPU intensive application, then A10 will handle the tasks faster.

Now, what about day to day performance? Actually, i can’t really tell the difference. Opening apps are in split second difference, video playblack are pretty much similar, web browsing are pretty much on par.

Unless you really need hammer down the processor, you probably can’t tell much difference between this generation iPad and pervious generation.

One of the biggest feature for this generation iPad is Apple Pencil support. But I think Apple Pencil support is much of after thought. The reason is that display.

The display is not laminated, there is big air gap between the display digitizer and the actual screen. The problem with this display is when you tape on the screen, the noise is actually audible. It is pretty loud when you compare with laminated display. If you have iPad 2018 and iPad Pro side by side and just tap both display, you will know. When you using Apple Pencil with the display, you will constantly poking the display with that pencil, you will continuously hear the noise. It is pretty annoying.

Apple Pencil is designed to work with iPad Pros display. iPad Pro’s ProMotion technology makes writing on iPad with Apple Pencil feel smooth. The 120Hz display is the trick. How, writing on iPad 2018, you will feel the latency when you write on the iPad.

In the conclusion, iPad 2018 is really a annual spec upgrade for iPad with Apple Pencil support. It has 2 years old CPU, 5 years old design and 6 years old camera. It is fast and responsive, it out perform anything in this price range. It is good iPad at 429 Canadian Dollars. You cannot ask more for this price.

However, the down side for this iPad is very clear. The biggest draw back for this iPad is the display. Apple Pencil support to me is more of after thought.

In general, if you have iPad 2017, there is no reason for you to upgrade. A9 still performs remarkably good and since iOS 12 will be focus on performance rather than features, 2017 iPad will still hold on for at least 2 more years. If you are come from iPad Air 2 earlier, then i would say the upgrade is worth your hard earned money.

If you want the pencil support, i would suggest you pick up iPad Pro (either refurbished iPad 9.7 or currently iPad 10.5). If you really tight on budget, then iPad 2018 would be your choice.

 

[Richard8655]

Very helpful and informative review. I went full steam last fall and bought 2 gen 5’s at significant discount, and do not regret not waiting for this year’s 6th gen. But if I hadn’t, this year’s would be the one as best value and performance for the money in the market.

 

[kazmac]

@LovingTeddy thanks for the comprehensive review. I was expecting as much with the Pencil and display (the noise, gap and no promotion, laggy latency would drive me nuts).

Enjoy it.

 

[LovingTeddy]

@LovingTeddy thanks for the comprehensive review. I was expecting as much with the Pencil and display (the noise, gap and no promotion, laggy latency would drive me nuts).

Enjoy it.

I made a short video about the display. I didn't use Apple Pencil, because I do not have one. I am suing Walcom stylus as demonstration. You can clearly hear noise when you poking stylus on the display, the difference is significant.

 

[hajime]

OK... I have admit that I indeed brought an iPad 2018 while I thought it is just a regular iPad update and decided not buy. However, I canceled my iPad 2017 128GB LTE iPad (refurbished) order and went to buy the new iPad 2018 at Apple Store (Traded in one of the 2017 iPad).

The new iPad has exactly same design as 5 years old iPad Air, which is really unremarkable at this point. It has same dimension as iPad Air 1, it has same processor as 2 years old iPhone 7 and it has 6 years old camera. This iPad is bacially a iPad with lots of old parts that put together. And this is exactly the reason that Apple can sell this at 429CAD (or 329USD).

The Apple A10 processor is very fast. It can be compared with some Intel Mobile Processors. It is a very powerful tablet in the market at this price range, nothing close to this iPad and nothing will match iPad at this price range. This iPad is very powerful and iOS 11 runs very smoothly.

How does this really compare with pervious generation iPad?

Well.. A10 chips is lot powerful than A9 chips. A9 chip until now is almost 3 years old, while A10 is almost 2 years old now.

CPU Benchmark shows 6020 vs 4460 (A10 vs A9 Multicore) and 3547 vs 2539 (A10 vs A9, single core). A10 is about 35% faster than A9. This would translate to real application performance. If you are going to run lots of CPU intensive application, then A10 will handle the tasks faster.

Now, what about day to day performance? Actually, i can’t really tell the difference. Opening apps are in split second difference, video playblack are pretty much similar, web browsing are pretty much on par.

Unless you really need hammer down the processor, you probably can’t tell much difference between this generation iPad and pervious generation.

One of the biggest feature for this generation iPad is Apple Pencil support. But I think Apple Pencil support is much of after thought. The reason is that display.

The display is not laminated, there is big air gap between the display digitizer and the actual screen. The problem with this display is when you tape on the screen, the noise is actually audible. It is pretty loud when you compare with laminated display. If you have iPad 2018 and iPad Pro side by side and just tap both display, you will know. When you using Apple Pencil with the display, you will constantly poking the display with that pencil, you will continuously hear the noise. It is pretty annoying.

Apple Pencil is designed to work with iPad Pros display. iPad Pro’s ProMotion technology makes writing on iPad with Apple Pencil feel smooth. The 120Hz display is the trick. How, writing on iPad 2018, you will feel the latency when you write on the iPad.

In the conclusion, iPad 2018 is really a annual spec upgrade for iPad with Apple Pencil support. It has 2 years old CPU, 5 years old design and 6 years old camera. It is fast and responsive, it out perform anything in this price range. It is good iPad at 429 Canadian Dollars. You cannot ask more for this price.

However, the down side for this iPad is very clear. The biggest draw back for this iPad is the display. Apple Pencil support to me is more of after thought.

In general, if you have iPad 2017, there is no reason for you to upgrade. A9 still performs remarkably good and since iOS 12 will be focus on performance rather than features, 2017 iPad will still hold on for at least 2 more years. If you are come from iPad Air 2 earlier, then i would say the upgrade is worth your hard earned money.

If you want the pencil support, i would suggest you pick up iPad Pro (either refurbished iPad 9.7 or currently iPad 10.5). If you really tight on budget, then iPad 2018 would be your choice.

Thanks for the report. So, basically Apple got lots of old components in stock all these years. They decided to put in an A10 and added Apple Pencil support to repackage into something cheap for the mass market. Probably they are doing the same thing to the laptop area now.
[doublepost=1522382377][/doublepost]

@LovingTeddy thanks for the comprehensive review. I was expecting as much with the Pencil and display (the noise, gap and no promotion, laggy latency would drive me nuts).

Enjoy it.

I guess the noise could be a "fun feature" for the children.
[doublepost=1522383117][/doublepost]

I made a short video about the display. I didn't use Apple Pencil, because I do not have one. I am suing Walcom stylus as demonstration. You can clearly hear noise when you poking stylus on the display, the difference is significant.

I like your voice!

I hope that from now on, I won't hear these tapping noises in the libraries, in classes and in meetings. These places were very quiet over 30 years ago. Then, instead of writing notes quietly, students take their laptops to these places typing loudly. Sometimes I could not hear what the speakers said because people sitting next to me were hammering the keyboards. I guess from now on, we also hear these annoying tapping noises in supposed to be quiet places.

 

[maflynn]

I guess the noise could be a "fun feature" for the children.

No, I don't think that will becoming a game or a feature.

In general, if you have iPad 2017, there is no reason for you to upgrade. A9 still performs remarkably good and since iOS 12 will be focus on performance rather than features, 2017 iPad will still hold on for at least 2 more years. If you are come from iPad Air 2 earlier, then i would say the upgrade is worth your hard earned money

That seems typical for Apple products, small updates that don't seem to make sense for people who own the prior model.
Nice review and thanks for the details.

 

[hajime]

No, I don't think that will becoming a game or a feature.


That seems typical for Apple products, small updates that don't seem to make sense for people who own the prior model.
Nice review and thanks for the details.

I am afraid this is true and it seems to be getting more and more ridiculous. For the rMBP, upgdates are more like downgrade.

It looks like this is a game that we Apple fans won't win in this era. I don't know about the rest of you but in my case. I did not have to check rumors all the time 20-30 years ago. I just bought Apple products and enjoyed as Apple gave customers the best and the latest possible when new products were announced. These days, each announcement brings to disappointment. I haven't done any work the past few days. Just spending almost all the time checking when the iPP 12.9" 2018 will be out. There is no guarantee that it will be out in June. Could be longer...

 

[joeblow7777]

That seems typical for Apple products, small updates that don't seem to make sense for people who own the prior model.
Nice review and thanks for the details.

That’s technology in general. Once a platform matures, you can’t expect a groundbreaking advancement every single year.

 

[maflynn]

That’s technology in general. Once a platform matures, you can’t expect a groundbreaking advancement every single year.

Yep, we go through tiny updates regardless if we're talking MBPs, iPhones, or iPads.

 

[linkgx1]

I figured as much. The 2017 iPad is my first iPad and it's still hella fast. I will probably upgrade once an OLED Pro arrives but until then i'm good.

 

[LovingTeddy]

No, I don't think that will becoming a game or a feature.


That seems typical for Apple products, small updates that don't seem to make sense for people who own the prior model.
Nice review and thanks for the details.

It is good. Saves me money.
[doublepost=1522422372][/doublepost]

That’s technology in general. Once a platform matures, you can’t expect a groundbreaking advancement every single year.

Cannot wait next technological break through...Whether it from Apple or others.

 

[coolbreeze]

The display is not laminated, there is big air gap between the display digitizer and the actual screen.

Pass. Hard pass.

 

[LovingTeddy]

Just ran bunch of banchmarks, comparing A9, A9X, A10, and A10X.

This is iPad 2017 CPU Benchmark (A9)

This is iPad 2018 CPU Benchmark (A10)

A9 GPU Benchmark

A10 GPU Benchmark

A10X CPU Performance

iPad Pro 10.5 (A10X) GUP

You can see, the A10X is almost double the performance of A9 Processor and 50% faster than A10 processor. The A10X’s GPU is 1.7X powerful than A9 and 1.2X powerful than A10.

If you compare with A9 with A9X, the CPU performance is about 24% difference. The A10 compare withA9X is about 12% difference. The actual performance gap is not significant at all.

Geenkbench is one thing. iPad 2017 never felt slow in beginning with. Everyday tasking actually makesno visible difference. This entire post was editing on iPad 2017.

 

[NZBred]

OK... I have admit that I indeed brought an iPad 2018 while I thought it is just a regular iPad update and decided not buy. However, I canceled my iPad 2017 128GB LTE iPad (refurbished) order and went to buy the new iPad 2018 at Apple Store (Traded in one of the 2017 iPad).

The new iPad has exactly same design as 5 years old iPad Air, which is really unremarkable at this point. It has same dimension as iPad Air 1, it has same processor as 2 years old iPhone 7 and it has 6 years old camera. This iPad is bacially a iPad with lots of old parts that put together. And this is exactly the reason that Apple can sell this at 429CAD (or 329USD).

The Apple A10 processor is very fast. It can be compared with some Intel Mobile Processors. It is a very powerful tablet in the market at this price range, nothing close to this iPad and nothing will match iPad at this price range. This iPad is very powerful and iOS 11 runs very smoothly.

How does this really compare with pervious generation iPad?

Well.. A10 chips is lot powerful than A9 chips. A9 chip until now is almost 3 years old, while A10 is almost 2 years old now.

CPU Benchmark shows 6020 vs 4460 (A10 vs A9 Multicore) and 3547 vs 2539 (A10 vs A9, single core). A10 is about 35% faster than A9. This would translate to real application performance. If you are going to run lots of CPU intensive application, then A10 will handle the tasks faster.

Now, what about day to day performance? Actually, i can’t really tell the difference. Opening apps are in split second difference, video playblack are pretty much similar, web browsing are pretty much on par.

Unless you really need hammer down the processor, you probably can’t tell much difference between this generation iPad and pervious generation.

One of the biggest feature for this generation iPad is Apple Pencil support. But I think Apple Pencil support is much of after thought. The reason is that display.

The display is not laminated, there is big air gap between the display digitizer and the actual screen. The problem with this display is when you tape on the screen, the noise is actually audible. It is pretty loud when you compare with laminated display. If you have iPad 2018 and iPad Pro side by side and just tap both display, you will know. When you using Apple Pencil with the display, you will constantly poking the display with that pencil, you will continuously hear the noise. It is pretty annoying.

Apple Pencil is designed to work with iPad Pros display. iPad Pro’s ProMotion technology makes writing on iPad with Apple Pencil feel smooth. The 120Hz display is the trick. How, writing on iPad 2018, you will feel the latency when you write on the iPad.

In the conclusion, iPad 2018 is really a annual spec upgrade for iPad with Apple Pencil support. It has 2 years old CPU, 5 years old design and 6 years old camera. It is fast and responsive, it out perform anything in this price range. It is good iPad at 429 Canadian Dollars. You cannot ask more for this price.

However, the down side for this iPad is very clear. The biggest draw back for this iPad is the display. Apple Pencil support to me is more of after thought.

In general, if you have iPad 2017, there is no reason for you to upgrade. A9 still performs remarkably good and since iOS 12 will be focus on performance rather than features, 2017 iPad will still hold on for at least 2 more years. If you are come from iPad Air 2 earlier, then i would say the upgrade is worth your hard earned money.

If you want the pencil support, i would suggest you pick up iPad Pro (either refurbished iPad 9.7 or currently iPad 10.5). If you really tight on budget, then iPad 2018 would be your choice.

As the previous owner of two 12.9" models, I was 75% sure I was going with the smaller 11" version 3rd time around. That was until I saw the new 12.9. Yes, it's still big; but easier to hold, lighter and smaller. Made me realize how unwieldy the last model was. The larger size is more suited to my work.

I love the new iPad. The screen is amazing. The pen is awesome. The new keyboard is more responsive.

Three things I don't like:
1. In portrait mode, I keep knocking the pen off. Though strong magnet, landscape better.
2. I keep covering the camera with my left hand. This stops FaceID working. Found it better to turn the iPad 180degrees but then the pen is at the bottom. It's not a big issue, more just adapting as small bezels and big hands not ideal and
3. OMG, Hate this. The home button doesn't disappear in most apps. If watching movies at night on VLC or others, there is this bright white line at the bottom of the screen. I believe apps developers can write code to ensure the line disappears. Seems like a MAJOR oversight.

I can't stress enough to check out any 3rd party apps you use i.e. VLC, PlayerX, etc and whether it will bother you when watching movies or working at night. Strangely enough, it disappears in YouTube. At least this is something. Still, very annoying that you have this issue on a VERY expensive tablet. Call out to a developer to write an app that removes the home button line.