In my last video, I talked about the Apple Education Event and the expectations that we could see at that Apple Education Event. It was less exciting than I thought it would be. We only got one brand new product and a few new accessories. And that new product is, of course, the Apple iPad 9.7-inch 6th generation or simply the iPad 6th Gen. The price stays the same if you are just a normal person, at $329. If you’re a student and you want to buy an iPad for yourself, it’s $309. And if you’re an educator (teacher or school district), $299. There are a couple of exclusive accessories you can actually purchase that are currently not available to the public and probably won’t be available to the public, like the Logitech Crayon; which is the new Apple Pencil, kind of like the baby brother that Logitech has produced to work exclusively for the iPad. But you can still buy the Apple Pencil and still make it work on the iPad 6th Gen. We now have Apple Pencil support on this new and improved iPad.

So generally, this is just basically a spec up from the last generation iPad 9.7-inch. We have an A10 Fusion processor (not the A10X that we have on the iPad Pro), 2GB of RAM, slightly improved camera-- that’s basically about it, a slightly smaller battery. But because of the more Fusion processor, the same ten hour battery life, same resolution. But we do have a slight new color, which is the brand new gold. It’s kind of like the same gold on the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. But it’s now on the first iPad, the first iPad with this color.

So here it is, basically the same. The camera is still recess so it’s not like the iPad Pros with the kind of weird camera. This is the brand new iPad. The unboxing experience is pretty much the same. It’s in clear plastic, unlike the iPad Pro’s frosted plastic. In the box, you get your stand on the mill stuff: a lightning connector, a Quick Start Guide and Apple stickers, and then your normal 12-watt charging brick (in the US).

So here is the iPad. In terms of size, here is an iPad Pro 10.5-inch to give you a size comparison. So you can see it’s definitely smaller footprint. The bezels are still a bit smaller on the iPad Pro. Still the same downsides with the new iPad 9.7-inch, which is basically the non-laminated display which means there’s a slight air gap between the glass and the actual LCD unit beneath the glass. You’ll notice it for sure if you look at it compared to the iPad Pro. The other con with the iPad 9.7-inch display is that you’re not going to get ProMotion or that 100GHz refresh rate that you get on the iPad Pro. But that’s about it.

In terms of specs, you do get less RAM, slightly less fast processors (it’s a Quad-Core compared to a Six-Core processor on the A10X Fusion chip). But other than that, there’s really not a whole lot different between the iPads and the iPad Pros in terms of pure performance. You still get iOS 11-- multi-tasking and all the split view stuff, it’s just a slightly different size (the normal iPad size), the normal resolution of 2048x1536 compared to a slightly bigger resolution on the iPad Pro because obviously it’s a bigger display. But in terms of pixel density and Retina quality, it’s the same. You do get the slightly better color gamut and accuracy on the iPad Pros obviously-- it’s a P3 panel, this is not. But before P3, we always regarded the iPads to have the best displays. This is still a very good display in the grand scheme of things. Compared to a lot of other tablets, this is still a kick-ass display. The iPad Pro just has a slightly better display than this iPad.

So let’s go ahead and get it set up so we can do a quick rundown on what I think of it so far. After setting up the device, I’m ready to give you kind of a quick rundown of my thoughts and feelings of this brand new iPad. In general, this is the best bang for buck iPad you can buy. Period. You can’t touch the price per performance Dollar of this iPad. Even if you go to the iPad Pros, you get marginally better specs but in terms of the best performance in the less amount of money, this is where it’s at: iPad 9.7-inch at $329 (or $309 if you’re a student), you can’t beat this for a 32GB iPad or 128GB for $100 more. You can also get cellular but you don’t get that integrated SIM card that the iPad Pros have if you get the cellular option and you also get the ugly black thing instead of that integrated antenna band thing on the iPad Pros. You don’t get that on this.

The displays, in terms of ProMotion, that’s like my biggest thing. It doesn’t have ProMotion. I totally get that. If you use an iPad Pro, you’re going to miss it a lot when you go to this iPad. The lamination, honestly, you kind of forget about it-- kind of like the notch on the iPhone X, not a huge deal if you’ve never used an iPad Pro. But again, if you’re coming from an iPad Pro, you’re not going to notice. The display is still the beautiful, rich color accurate display. You don’t get the P3 but it’s not a big deal.

Specs, again, A10 Fusion chip, 2GB of RAM, good storage options-- you honestly can’t touch the iPad (again) with specs in terms of this price range. You do get a 1.2MP camera in front, it’s not great but it’s not bad. You get an 8MP camera on the back or it’s the same camera on the iPhone 6. But generally again, this is the best iPad.

The downsides that I think that really lack on this iPad is Apple Pencil support, which is now solved. You can use the Apple Pencil, or if you’re an educator, you can use the Logitech Crayon for $49. And you still don’t have smart connector options, which still sucks. I mean, there is a Bluetooth keyboard that you can use but there’s something about having that physical, non-battery reliant connection of the smart connector on the iPad Pro, which actually makes it a pretty good laptop replacement because you never have to remember to charge up two things instead of one. Just charge up your iPad. You don’t have to worry about a keyboard having a battery.

Also, it still does not support fast charging. It’s not the USB-3 connection so you’re still going to be charging at 12-watts max. You can’t plug it into a super turbo charger and have it charge up in no time, which is still a downside. But most people won’t really fret too much about it.

So again, in terms of price, this is the best iPad you can buy. In terms of specs for price, this is the best iPad you can buy. If you want the best iPad, well you probably should wait for the new iPad Pros that are coming out later this year. But if you’re tight on time, the iPad Pro is definitely the way to go. But for 99% of the people now, there’s nothing wrong with this iPad. It uses Apple Pencil, you can still do all of your stuff, and it’s just a great device. This is the best Apple product for the money, I think, that they currently sell regardless. It’s really capable, has iOS 11 which has its ups and downs. For me, it does a lot, especially now with folder integration and a whole lot of other stuff on here. This really does make it a compelling product to replace your everyday Joe’s computer or laptop. Someone who’s not going to be doing hardcore editing or media production, then maybe an iPad does make sense. But for the rest of the people, probably still need a dedicated computer to do most of your tasks. If you draw, the iPad is the way to go-- you’ll love the Apple Pencil.