Ah, a new week is here, along with a new opportunity to save some cash on Apple’s new 9.7-inch iPad with Apple Pencil support. Today’s offer comes from Best Buy, which is offering $30 off both the 32GB and 128GB models with Wi-Fi, which brings the prices down to $299.99 and $399.99 respectively (down from $329.99 and $429.99).
In essence, that means you’re getting this tablet for what amounts to Apple’s regular student pricing. It looks exactly like last year’s model, but it’s faster and it supports the Apple Pencil, which formerly was limited to the iPad Pro.
Provided you’re not a professional artist and you don’t need the iPad Pro’s much faster refresh rate (which helps register subtle pen strokes more accurately), this model will suffice in place of a Pro on most occasions. The only catch is that you’ll still have to buy the $99 Apple Pencil separately.
Apple markets this iPad as an ideal device for the classroom, and while that’s true in some respects, such a claim comes with a handful of significant caveats that I outlined in our full review.
Even so, it’s a fantastic tablet, and it’s become my tablet of choice. And with a deal like this, it’s not a bad time to pick one up for yourself.
Author: Leif Johnson, Contributing Writer
Leif is a San Francisco-based tech journalist. He's a big fan of fantasy RPGs, and you can find his previous work on IGN, Rolling Stone, VICE, PC Gamer, Playboy, Mac|Life, TechRadar, and numerous other publications.