March 27 Event

Unless I’ve missed it, nobody’s started a thread. No Live Stream, though unless they’re hiding something exciting this sounds to be about as exciting as when Apple made a big deal about The Beatles finally come to the itunes store and all of us said “whatever”. Maybe we’ll get something cool but somehow I doubt it. Anyway, discuss now or when it’s over with. Presumably we’ll get iOS 11.3 along with this as well.

It will be software focused.
Maybe a cheaper non pro iPad,
Nothing else.

I do not understand why Apple doesn’t sell a low priced, fully integrated system for the classroom, that all just works out of the box, or cart in this case.

And for the love of god it isn’t ipads. Even for something as simple as using word and excel at the same time. It should not be having to learn a work around.

The new Apple Pencil will be the highlight of the event. 1 gram lighter and boasting an impressive 3 minutes additional battery life. It’s the most revolutionary smart pencil yet and Apple think you’re going to love it.

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I’ll go out of a limb and say a new Mac Mini, it’s been a very long time in coming and would be a good (read cheap) way of trying to get Macs back in to schools where Google and ChromeBooks are taking over.

This would be unexpected, and awesome. Sadly I have zero confidence. I wonder what the hell Apple are doing in that shiny new building they’ve got because it doesn’t seem like very much. Imagine a Mac Mini with upgradeable RAM and HDD/SSD slots. We can dream.

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Apparently walking into the giant big windows.

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I expect this to be very Edu focussed. I heard rumblings about something called “ClassKit” - perhaps they will release a new iLife style app to create courseware or the like (like Apple of old, with class leading (pun intended) in house apps! We can dream right?

Oh, and maybe an Edu only iPad SKU - perhaps effectively a Pro 9.7-inch in a thicker more rugged case, perhaps wth a KB?

The million to one guess would be an eMate like iOS device. Man how I loved my eMate during my first few years of Uni. The perfect companion device to a PowerMac G3/G4 at home.

Wow. An ipad. Yep.

Haven’t read through any of the live blogs yet, but it seemed like a really short event.

I guess I wasn’t really expecting much more than that anyway, given Apple had pre-announced the education focus.

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What were you expecting? It was an education-centred event, and that’s what was delivered.

Some fantastic education focused announcements and I’m also pleased I held of on updating (our long overdue for an update) iPad2 as the new 9.7" iPad looks just the ticket

While I am writing this on an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil, if I was in the market now it would be that iPad to buy. Price / Performance is too hard to beat.

I hate the way Apple place the various sizes, but I suppose it’s all part of driving people to more expensive units.

We recently bought a 256GB 10.5" iPad Pro, given the choice today, the new 128GB 9.7" non Pro. It’s half the price for the WiFi and not far off that for the celluar one.

Given I don’t see people buying the iPad for a camera and unless you really want the keyboard… well why would you buy the Pro? What’s the 10.5" Pro really got going for it over the 9.7" now?

New ipad… not for me. I’m still using my ancient Air2, Logitech Type+ keyboard, and Adonit Jot stylus. So far its not suffering, and nor am I.

I’m still using an Air 2 also, it’s still adequate for my needs.

I just don’t get why they had an event at all. Frankly all this stuff doesn’t really deserve an event, well at least IMHO.

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I have no inside information about it, but I’d say the point was to say “we still care” to education. For what that’s worth.

Thats a great combination Kyte. I had the same, but upgraded to the 10.5” ipad pro with apple pencil and smart keyboard. The pencil’s battery life is not as good at the jot. The smart keyboard is much lighter than the type + (no battery in the keyboard), but the type plus was better for me and had some useful extra keys. I had to buy the 256GB version when I only wanted 128GB, but they don’t do that size.

I do still prefer the iPad Pro given some of the multitasking I do, but it hardly seemed like good value.

In response to The_Hawk, benefits of the Pro may include:
Better display
True Tone
ProMotion
Better sound system
More RAM
A10X chip rather than A10

Not sure about the above. It all needs more research

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Hawk, I have the same iPad Pro. Love it. the iPad pro is faster, better graphics, more speakers, more ram, and a much superior, bigger screen. So if those things are important, it is worth more than the 6th gen Ipad.
That said in comparison, now the iPad Pro isn’t worth the amount more as it is, so if I was buying one now I would get the new one.

The new iPad is a lot slower than the pro and has half the ram. It’s not going to last that long with 2gb of ram. 2gb is the minimum for a tolerable experience these days. The pro has the A10x and 4gb of ram vs the new iPad 9.7 which is essentially a scaled up iPhone 7 running more intense applications and pushing far more pixels.

The iPad Pro has a laminated screen where as the new 9.7 has the old fashioned display from the 2013 iPad Air 1, which is essentially the same screen as the iPad 3 from 2012. In addition to that the colours on the pro are much better, it has the amazing Pro motion technology which looks fantastic, plus makes the Apple Pencil work better, and also True Tone. The extra bit of screen realestate is also great.

The speakers on the pro are better ( 4 vs 2). I think the pro has better battery life and faster USB transfer speeds. Touch ID 2 is a bonus and the front and rear cameras plus flash are much improved ( the camera actually is a great document scanner).

The iPad Pro is a very steep price hike but I think worth it, though maybe not at the moment given it’s probably not long off a refresh.