A year later, that iPad is still more than good enough for that job, so we didn’t think we’d get an update for it this soon, but here we are, with the iPad 9.7 (as Apple now refers to it).

Apple introduced the first 9.7-inch iPad in January 2010 as an intermediary device between the Mac and the iPhone. While there was a time when iPads were used just to quieten children throwing ...