KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — The base iPad model has been the safe, basic choice of the iPad line-up for a while now. Don’t need to do much or want to spend much? Here’s the iPad for you.
So the redesign of the 10th-gen iPad is a welcome one as it no longer sticks out as the boring choice.
However that new look also comes with a new, higher price. It now starts at RM2,099 while the old 9th-gen model is still available for RM1,599.
It gets even trickier to choose as the base model comes with just 64GB of storage and you’ll have to pay RM2,849 for the 256GB model.
Still, value is not exactly part of the standard Apple proposition. Is it worth paying extra for the Apple tablet experience this time?
So pretty
Apple highlights the fact that the new iPad comes in blue, pink, silver and yellow.
Are colours enough reason to buy a tablet? Well, one of the pulls of Apple products is being able to customise and dress them up.
Colours sell — as Apple can tell you when it comes to their phone models.
My review unit comes in pink and while it’s not a colour I often incorporate into my personal palette, this tablet shade is gorgeous.
It’s not a soft pastel but a strong, deep magenta that looks good in different lights.
The new smooth tablet edges similar to the iPad Air and Pro designs also adds to the tablet’s visual appeal.
Practical magic
What powers this? Well, Apple is a big believer in recycling so you’ll see the same 2020 A14 Bionic chip that was in the iPad Air.
It’s a way of keeping costs down but it also means really decent performance, making it able to handle current popular mobile games such as Genshin Impact and Apex Legends.
The only time you might feel limited by the iPad is if you’re a Procreate user because the less RAM you have, the less layers you can create. But that would mean you’re probably a Pro user and this iPad is not for you.
The 4GB memory on this makes it suitable for most tasks except for more power hungry apps such as Procreate and that other iPad favourite Clip Studio Paint.
However it does make the tablet zippy enough for everything else, whether video streaming, or light editing and work using Apple’s own free apps such as Garageband, Pages and iMovie.
You actually get an upgraded camera too — 12MP in front and back, with the back camera being able to record 4K video.
As for battery life, I find that I can stretch my use to nearly eight hours without fiddling with the settings for battery optimisation — pretty acceptable considering the battery needs to power that 10.9-inch display.
While it’s no ProMotion display like the iPad Pro, the Liquid Retina screen is the quality you expect from iPad displays — bright and vibrant.
Nice extras
Apple decided to give the iPad its own redesigned keyboard case in the Magic Keyboard Folio. It won’t work on other devices due to the placement of the magnetic strip that helps attach the cover to the iPad.
Instead of relying on a hinge, the cover instead separates into two parts, with the back cover having a flap that you can use as a stand.
I wish that Apple was not so enamoured with white cases as they are a challenge to keep clean though Apple makes this particular white case reversible — so you can put the keyboard on the outside, while the back cover faces inside.
Typing on it was fairly decent and it actually has a usable and rather large trackpad.
Who would use this? Probably someone who wanted an alternative to using a laptop but still needed a touchpad, and didn’t want to have to bring a mouse around.
It’s the little things
Apple has again retained the iPad’s compatibility with the first-gen Apple Pencil instead of making the iPad compatible with the newer second-gen that can charge via USB-C.
Perhaps it’s because they couldn’t engineer a way to make that possible with this model but it makes it so you can’t charge the Pencil by sticking the back portion of the Pencil into the iPad — the Pencil has a lightning port but the new iPad uses USB-C for charging.
Instead Apple sells a separate dongle for those reusing an older Apple Pencil but if you buy the first-gen Pencil now, it comes with a charging dongle for the Pencil.
I’ve always found the dongle a better way to charge the Pencil than sticking it into the iPad port — it always looked awkward and took up way too much space so it’s not a terrible design decision but it is slightly less convenient.
To buy or not to buy
If you’re in the market for a basic iPad and want it to last at least three years or more, the new iPad is probably a better investment.
Last year’s model is cheaper certainly but the slowness of the processor in comparison will give it less utility over the years.
The problem is, however, the big price difference between the 64GB and 256GB models — with the larger capacity iPad being the same price as a base model iPad Air.
Still, the USB port offers the possibility of just using external storage and that would offer more utility with other devices as well as accessories.
If you’re still a big fan of wired headphones alas, the new iPad also does away with the headphone jack though of course there’s the option of buying a USB-C to 3.5mm headphone dongle.
It’s a nice little iPad that I really did enjoy using — slim, nice to look at, easy to carry and very light and was easy enough to use for basic word processing, media consumption and my usual mobile games.
The new iPad also has a lot of TikTok fans and it’s easy to see why. Functional and pretty, it’s hard to find much to complain about unless you are a pro user which makes this iPad not for you.
You can pick up the new one either online at the official Apple webstore or in person at an official retailer near you.
