Last year, I told you guys to not buy the new 10.2” iPad, and instead
just buy the previous 9.7” model, since they were very similar and had the same exact
A10 Fusion processor. But 6 months later, the 10.2” ipad got some great updates, so
I made another video giving you guys 3 reasons why that iPad was now a great deal in 2020!
First, it was on sale. Second, it got updated with cursor support for the first time ever!
And number three, it was the first regular ipad to come with the smart connector which
meant compatible keyboards, like Apple’s smart keyboard and logitech’s combo touch,
can get powered directly by the smart connector. This means no batteries, no charging, and
instant connection.
Added cursor and keyboard support with the smart connector, meant this 10.2” iPad could
now replace a laptop, and I recommended everyone go buy it, especially since the 9.7” became
out of stock, and that 10.2” went on sale for the same price as that previous 9.7”,
which was $279.
BUT, there still was that one disappointment about the updated 10.2” iPad, and that was
the performance. Apple decided to use the same A10 processor that was in the iPhone
7, and this processor is noticeably weaker than the rest of the iPads in the lineup.
It actually struggles a lot with more demanding games, like Fortnite, Asphalt 9, Pub G and
call of duty.
When we put it against the iPad mini and iPad air with the A12 Bionic, and the iPad Pro
with the A12Z Bionic processor, the 10.2” iPad performance was embarrassing.
The 10.2” scored 1426 in Geekbench 5 multi-core cpu test, compared to over 2800 on the A12
chip models. This means that the ipad is slower for simple daily tasks like opening apps and
browsing the web but even more noticeable if you want to do things like photo and editing.
To be honest though, for the tasks that most people buy a budget ipad for, the CPU performance
is decent enough; at least at the time you’re buying it, but where things really take a
turn is graphics.
In Geek Benches metal graphics test, it scored 2780, compared to over 4500 for the iPad Air
and Mini, and if you’ve been watching our videos more and more apps are making use of
Metal for acceleration.
It also performed noticeably worse in gaming with Antutu’s gpu test resulting in 77,000
for the budget ipad compared to 180,000 so the gaming performance of the A12 and A12Z
are over twice as powerful as the A10 processor. That’s a massive difference!
When playing pubg, there were times where it would drop frames and be stuttery, especially
in higher texture environments. But when we switched to the iPad mini with the A12, all
the dropped frames went away, and it was able to run pubg perfectly.
Now when I switched over to fortnite, even just in the lobby the texture and graphics
quality was noticeably worse than the rest, and that quality translated over into the
game. I noticed quite a bit of aliasing, and even though the settings were set to 60 FPS,
in game we actually got 40-50 FPS most of the time, with occasional stuttering and drops
to 20 FPS.
In comparison, not only did the iPad mini’s graphics look much nicer but it stayed maxed
out at 60FPS the entire time which makes a noticeable difference in how you can perform.
Because of that, I ended up recommending everyone get the iPad mini instead even if it means
having a smaller display.
But now, this 8th gen 10.2” iPad is now getting updated with the same A12 bionic chip
that performs much better with its 6-core CPU and Quad-core GPU resulting in a huge
performance boost!
Not only that, but it will also be the first budget iPad with a neural engine, which dramatically
speeds up things such as machine learning, camera quality and speed, photo editing and
much more, all while use way less power.
Along with that we have much faster data speeds if you buy an LTE model.
This updated 8th gen iPad is going to be priced at the same $329, and $299 for students, so
it’s a great deal, being cheaper than the Ipad Mini while providing a bigger display
and keyboard support, and much much cheaper than the new Air that now starts at $600.
So Apple kept all the great things about the 10.2” like the low price, big screen with
keyboard and cursor support while fixing the one main complaint we had about it, which
will not only make it run faster and much smoother today, but also years down the line.
If you’re thinning about buying one we would highly recommend it, I’ll leave some links
down in the video description including our recommended keyboard case.
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