I bought a bottom-line iPad at the same time as my 13" MacBook Pro, primarily to use it for Sidecar. Seemed like a very cheap way to extend my desktop. Already had a 12" iPad Pro. I haven't got that any more as I sold it and kept the smaller one. Gives me everything I need and made me realise that for most things I was doing, the Pro was overkill anyway.
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iPad The entry level iPad doesn't get enough credit.
- Thread starter joeblow7777
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Apart from reloads, low RAM actually does cause some slowdowns for me.
Usually happens when switching back to Safari after it's been on background for a while. A lot of the pages I visit are semi-static: e.g. forums and fanfics where content changes but the server generates static pages and would require manual/browser reload to refresh content. Safari just freezes for maybe a minute or so while it's recovering the saved state. Admittedly, I have at least 20+ tabs open at any given time and often go up to 100+.
The A12 was the reason we decided to get our kids the Air 3 for Christmas that year over the base model still using the A10. We wanted it to be more future proof and the bionic series chips were definitely a big step up.
You can definitely tell the difference now after a couple years between the A10 and the A12. My wife still uses a 6th gen iPad, still runs decent but not nearly as snappy as the airs
I have had these kind of freezes with 2GB devices, but not with 3GB or more devices... But I don't keep those many tabs open, I tend to keep 2-3 (and up to 5-6) in 3 and 4GB devices and 6-7 (and up to 8-9) in my 6GB pro 11. In the past I used to keep many more, but I have since changed my attitude precisely in order to avoid too many reloads... The day I get a 16GB iPad (I will at some point, but I am not getting a new iPad for 3-4 years at least, unless a larger than 12.9 iPad arrives, that would be an instant purchase at any price...) I'll leave many more tabs open just as I do on my Windows devices (currently writing from my desktop with 73 tabs open... man, I just counted them, I didn't think they were that many.... ? , but with 32GB RAM I don't close tabs very often...)
It's always been the way I browsed. On desktop, I even had multiple browser windows open but those are harder to keep track of on iPad. I've found the new Safari tab groups to be a great alternative to multiple windows. Alas, not interested in updating my older devices to iOS 15 at the moment.
Unless there's a compelling reason to do so, I expect devices to accommodate my usage instead of me accommodating the device. Iirc, before iOS 9/10, that usually meant I'd just switch to a computer for web browsing. Besides, most of the time I don't mind reloads especially if it's a tab from a couple days ago. It's just when I'm actively working on forms or copying text/data between apps/tabs or they occur too frequently (e.g. every 1-2 tabs) that I get really annoyed.
Doesn’t get enough credit? Isn’t it the one most people out there buy?
It’s fantastic value for money and my wife bought one recently. She’s not bothered that it has the classic design and we are considering getting a couple for the kids to replace their 2017 iPads. I bought an Air 4 earlier this year and to be honest, I only bought it because it looked newer. For what I use it for I could easily use the entry iPad. I only browse the internet, watch YouTube really.
It’s fantastic value for money and my wife bought one recently. She’s not bothered that it has the classic design and we are considering getting a couple for the kids to replace their 2017 iPads. I bought an Air 4 earlier this year and to be honest, I only bought it because it looked newer. For what I use it for I could easily use the entry iPad. I only browse the internet, watch YouTube really.
It's continuously praised and recommended on these forums, and by reviewers as being the essential iPad experience at an absolute bargain price. If you mean sometimes people might recommend an Air or Pro over it when money isn't a consideration, well yeah, those devices also have their merits if you're willing to pay for them. If they didn't Apple wouldn't be able to sell any. Any excitement over new features is of course going to centre on the Pros, because that's where they're first added before trickling down. It doesn't, and I've never seen anyone try to say, that it takes away from the iPad as an excellent rounded tablet in itself.
Longevity. Durability. Performance.
Why do you think the iPad has literally crushed the competitor tablet market? (That’s rhetorical BTW.) You can’t even break these things. Heck, I know people with the iPad Air 2 that are still running efficiently, and that the device is over five years old.
With trade-ins, and overall a higher resale value for those who are looking to upgrade, the iPads ‘credit’ speaks for itself.
Why do you think the iPad has literally crushed the competitor tablet market? (That’s rhetorical BTW.) You can’t even break these things. Heck, I know people with the iPad Air 2 that are still running efficiently, and that the device is over five years old.
With trade-ins, and overall a higher resale value for those who are looking to upgrade, the iPads ‘credit’ speaks for itself.
Same, before IOS 11 I barely used the iPad to browse and until iPadOS I didn't use it often since I had to constantly request the desktop version for YouTube, gmail etc. and it not always worked. Since desktop safari I have transferred much more use to the iPad.
More like: it's not overhyped on forums and YouTube as the other iPads tend to be (especially in the weeks after launch), by it's by far the most popular iPad and generally sells more than all other iPads combined
A lot pf YouTubers didn’t even bother making a video about the 9th generation iPad and those that did couldn’t have sounded more bored.
There’s quite a lot of elitism amongst tech reviewers and tech enthusiasts I’ve found. It’s quite prominent on this site too. I think it’s frustrating for consumers who aren’t interested in buying the absolute most expensive iPad and want real world advice and feedback, rather than performance brags. There’s definitely markets for both types of reviews I think.
It's a good point that will not land well on this particular forum.
I have a family member who chose a 10.5" iPadPro over a newer Air when given the choice after trying them both. He simply preferred how it looked and felt in hand -- and enjoyed (still does to this day) the area for his hands to rest easily without touching the screen in Landscape.
I've always been a fan of the flat edged, iPhone 4 style, aesthetic, but more so on the phones honestly. I don't think it's as clear of a win on the much physically larger iPads. It's very subjective for sure.
..and of course -- the entry level iPad still has that original iPad aesthetic and it's obviously not hurting its popularity.
Tried and true -- proven -- classic.
I'm glad Apple keeps it going.
I can assure you a lot of people here aren’t interested in the latest and greatest. Not all of us buy the Pro devices but enjoy the technology Apple puts into the mid tier and entry level devices. This forum is an Apple centric forum and not confined to just certain products.
I agree. But I‘m a newbie here so perhaps not typical. Long time PC user. Got a 1st gen iPad at work and when it died I bought a basic 5th gen in 2017. It’s my most used device most days (outside of my work PC) and I still can’t believe this thing just keeps working. But I really just use this iPad for entertainment via low tech games, surfing, etc. next iPad will be the base model as well…when this one dies.
That’s a given. For example, if you look at the forum posts, you’d think the iPhone XR was some niche device instead of the model with the greatest number of users worldwide.
I believe you without looking it up, because everyone I know has had entry level iPad at one point.
Yup, that was my first intro to the iPad, the 6th gen, still have it in the family. Introduced my mom to them with the 5th gen, she uses that as her only computer
But still, we don’t want to promote this forum as only catering for people who simply buy the high end stuff. There are still a lot of tech enthusiasts with older tech or latest mid tier tech as seen in all the forums currently.