Skipping Nano-Texture Display on iPad — Why?

After spending half an hour in the Apple Store comparing iPads with and without the nano-texture display, I came to the conclusion to skip the nano-texture display and here are the reasons why:

  1. The display doesn’t provide a paper-like sensation when using the Apple Pencil.

  2. There is a subtle difference in image sharpness.

  3. The blacks are less complete blacks, which cancels the OLED screen advantage.

  4. The contrast seems to be a little bit lower on the nano-texture display.

The corollary of this decision is:

a) I’m saving some money.

b) Since I’m settling on the 512GB of storage, I’ll get only 8GB of system memory.

c) This iPad is a little bit less future-proof.

So, that’s it for the decision about this display finish!

Finally

Finally got the new iPad Pro: 11-inch, 512GB of storage, which means “only” 8GB of system RAM and no nano-texture display. I made the decision after spending 45 minutes testing the new iPad. The nano-texture display is super nice to the touch, but it does reduce image crispiness. With the Apple Pencil, that texture doesn’t really reproduce a paper-like feeling. That, I could add that later with Paperlike for iPad when it becomes available. Plus, I saved a lot of money. There is a limit to what I can and wish to spend on Apple hardware. 🤷🏻‍♂️ More details, like a mini-review, soon.

To those who reviewed the new iPads and concluded that the hardware is great but iPadOS is the limiting factor: it is becoming tiring. The iPad is not and probably will never be a Mac. If you wanted utter flexibility, it’s the Mac. Why is it so hard? Can you just move on to something else? Thanks.

I hate the way Apple is showing the new iPad Pro with a dark wallpaper we ain’t see the actual device! Is it on purpose so that we can’t compare bezels between old and new Pros?

Were these iPad announcements worth a press release or a keynote? For me, a press release would have been more than enough. I’m happy to see these powerful new iPad but since I’m coming from a 2018 iPad Pro, it’s not indicative of the current general mood.

The M4 on the new iPad Pro triggers a need-to-upgrade narrative more than any iPadOS-only feature could. Sad but true. A macOS virtual machine could have been this “software-only” story that Apple chose not to be told.