I have a iPad Pro 9.7 and it's better than the 2018 iPad, which does not have the laminated screen and still runs fast. I personally will never consider the 2018 iPad because of the air gap. Since I use a iPhone 8 which doesn't have an air gap either along with using a Macbook Pro, which also have the same type of display, I think it will bother me. The non-laminated display will give a worse experience once you use the new iPhones, used an iPad Air 2 before or the retina Macbook Pros.
But in general, I don't do much productivity stuff besides typing blog posts in Microsoft Word with the Smart Keyboard and use it for SSH into a VPS. Aside from that, I use it for mobile games, web browsing, watching video and ebooks. They cost around the same as a new 2018 iPad on the used market and the extra features such as True Tone, quad speakers, Apple Pencil support and Smart connector. For the time being, it's good enough until Apple decides to add more features to make these iPads more capable.
But if you want new, iPad Mini, the new iPad Air 3 or a used iPad Pro 10.5 are better choices than the iPad 2018 as they have better processors, slightly more RAM (3/4GB), and support for future updates, unless you are constrained by the budget.
As for 2GB, while apps do reload, it's usually because of I have something heavy running such as a game, but it's not a problem.
