2020 iPad 10.2" Review - The Budget Laptop KILLER! By Max Tech

Yes, you read that title correctly. Rest in peace budget laptops.. because Apple has finally added the final piece of the puzzle to their 10.2” iPad, and they’ve crafted the absolute perfect budget laptop replacement. Whether you’re trying to work from home for your job or you need something for your kids to use for doing school work from home, this newly updated iPad is the perfect solution that beats virtually every chromebook option out there and even a lot of budget laptops. So in this video, I’m gonna explain what changed this year for Apple’s 10.2” iPad and why it’s such a big deal in terms of being such a great laptop replacement, and then I’m gonna get into all of the advantages compared to just buying a cheap laptop or chromebook. This new iPad is Apple’s 8th generation iPad, and for the last two years, ever since the 6th gen model, it came packed with the A10 Fusion chip, which was pretty decent, but the lack of performance was visible in many different areas.

First off, you could tell that apps loaded a bit slower and navigation was sometimes a bit glitchy, with the processor lagging slightly behind in terms of what you want to do with your tablet. Web browsing would be noticeably slower compared to higher-end iPads and for apps that require a bit more performance, this iPad just wouldn’t cut it. Kids love iPads because of the massive iOS app store that’s filled with every type of game out there, from casual games to ones that teenagers would enjoy like call of duty, for example, but for those more demanding games, the basic iPad just didn’t have enough power. But now, Apple has finally given us what we wanted, and they’ve upgraded the processor to the A12 chip, which is much more powerful in terms of both processor performance and graphics performance, as you can see in these benchmark tests. So now, everything from the highest-end games we could find and performance apps like photo or video editing apps, all the way to web browsing and the apps you would use for working from home, like Word, Excel, Zoom or business apps, they all work perfectly on the new 2020 budget iPad thanks to that new A12 chip.

As far as everything else like the display and design, it really hasn’t changed since last year, but it’s honestly not too bad for a budget tablet, and the only thing it really lacked was better performance, which it now finally has. So you’re probably thinking, that’s awesome, that’s great, but it still can’t replace a laptop or chromebook.. But I’m here to tell you that it can, and it works even better than you think.. Here’s why! Earlier this year, Apple released the long-awaited cursor support feature for the iPad, and shortly after that, Logitech came out with the Combo Touch keyboard case for the iPad, so let me explain why it’s a game changer. It comes with a very solid case which gives it incredible drop protection so you don’t have to worry about your kids cracking the display.

But there’s also the bottom portion that connects magnetically to the iPad’s smart connector, which basically creates a hardwired connection that powers the keyboard and the trackpad, so there are absolutely no batteries or dealing with a bluetooth connection. And by the way, Logitech is the only third-party company that supports the smart connector, and it’s the main reason why I recommend this keyboard case over any other option you could on amazon. The reason for that is because it gives you a very reliable typing experience without any lag. Every keystroke is registered perfectly, unlike some bluetooth keyboards. It also makes the trackpad experience excellent with every swipe getting registered, just like you’d expect on a laptop.

Not only that, but this keyboard case is the only one for the iPad that supports all of the same gestures that you get with an actual Macbook. So you can swipe up with three fingers to go to the home page. Swipe left and right to quickly switch between apps, and do things like zoom into a photo or excel spreadsheet by pinching with two fingers. You’re basically getting a $1000 MacBook Air experience with a $329 iPad combined with the $150 Logitech Combo Touch keyboard case, and the crazy part is that this iPad is now more powerful than the MacBook Air in terms of processor performance. And on top of that, the new MacBook Air is known for having overheating issues and very loud fan noise, even while doing things like browsing the web.

The iPad doesn’t even have a fan at all and it manages to stay perfectly cool thanks to the efficient A12 mobile chip. So you can quite literally surf the web, use common apps and do most of the things you can do with a Macbook Air on this budget iPad thanks to that keyboard case. But getting back to the main point of this video, let’s talk about budget laptops and chromebooks and why it just doesn’t make sense to buy one of them compared to buying this iPad. So let’s say you walk into your local Best Buy and you tell them you need a computer for your child to do school work from home.. And you have a budget of around $600.

They’re either gonna point you to a chromebook, which relies on the web browser to get work done since actual app support is incredibly limited. Or they’ll point you to a cheap Windows laptop which has fairly low specs and very often doesn’t have great build quality. Both of those options are gonna work just fine, and you’ll be able to surf the web, join in on Zoom calls for school or business, and other things like that. Now we already covered how the iPad can do that stuff very well thanks to the keyboard case with excellent trackpad support, but the iPad has some a couple of very important advantages. First off all, it’s much more portable than those laptops and chromebooks, especially since you can take the keyboard portion off and use it as a tablet.

So when your work is done, you can relax on the couch and watch some youtube or netflix with a small and lightweight tablet instead of a full laptop. On top of that, the iPad gets Apple Pencil support, which has the reputation of being one of the best note taking and drawing experiences you can get on any tablet. And then if you’re getting an iPad for your kids, they have access to the massive iOS app store full of every type of game, which all run perfectly well thanks to the new chip and the very optimized iPadOS software. That’s something you can’t say for budget laptops, since you need much more performance to get a decent gaming experience for Windows games, and the game selection for chromebooks is basically nonexistent compared to Apple’s iOS app store. Now if you don’t care about games, Apple also has a massive library of every app you can think of, whether it’s for business or anything else.

There’s even the squarespace website building app that works very well! On top of that, Apple’s iPads are known for running very reliably for years, not slowing down like other cheap tablets do, and they don’t suffer from crashes and error messages like a lot of cheap Windows laptops do. And the best part about iPads is that they get software update support for years. Apple’s latest iPadOS 14 was just released, and it supports every iPad since the iPad Air 2 which was released all the way back in 2014, so that’s gonna be 7 full years of updates before it loses support next year in September. And that’s part of the reason why iPads hold their value so well, in fact, I just opened up the facebook marketplace and I found two iPad Air 2’s selling for $225-250, and those are from 2014! You won’t find an android tablet or a budget windows laptop from 2014 that still gets software updates and still runs decently well.. It just doesn’t happen.. And they lose their value like crazy.

iPads hold their value so well because they run reliably for many many years. For example, I still have an old iPad Mini 2 from 2013, and even though it doesn’t support the latest iPadOS 14 or even last year’s iPadOS 13, it still runs fine for basic things like browsing the web and watching Youtube videos, which is really impressive! The point I’m trying to make is that if you choose the iPad route, you know you’re gonna get reliable performance AND new software updates for many years, and the Logitech Combo keyboard case turns it into a laptop that can achieve basically everything a budget laptop or chromebook can. And thanks to the new chip, the 10.2” iPad can run basically any app or game on the massive iOS app store without any issues, and you can even do some video or photo editing, which you can’t really do that well on any budget laptop, which also have the reputation of slowing down drastically within a few years. Now there are some advantages of going with the budget laptop, like having a more open OS that allows for better multitasking and easier file transferring than on the iPad, but those two positives aren’t enough to beat the overall better experience and value of the iPad. So with all of that said, I can say with absolute certainty that the 10.2” iPad is now the best bang for the buck iPad we’ve ever seen thanks to Apple adding that incredibly powerful A12 chip. And thanks to the new Logitech Combo Keyboard case, I can also say that for the first time ever, the iPad is now by far, a much better choice than any budget laptop or chromebook out there for working from home or for school work, thanks to the excellent long-term reliability and all of the extra tablet features you get with it.

So to finish off this review, good job Apple for finally giving the budget iPad a very powerful chip and adding cursor support. Because of those two things, you’ve FINALLY reached your goal of the iPad becoming an excellent laptop replacement at a very reasonable price. And it couldn’t have happened at a more perfect time, now that more people are in need of personal computers for working and doing schoolwork for home. So if you’re as convinced as I am that the iPad is a better choice compared to buying a cheap laptop, you’ll find links to the new 10.2” iPad and that Logitech keyboard case down in the description below, and if this review was helpful, go ahead and click that circle above for more videos like this one coming soon! Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you in the next video!.

Source : Max Tech