Talk to me about buying iPads

[WelshMoth]

My DParents want to buy an iPad each for my DD's. We don't have one in the house at all. I don't know where to start!

I think the budget is about £600 each. I don't know what to buy and don't know where from. Are there deals to be had? Am I likely to get a tiny discount because I'm buying 2?! Grateful for any advice you can give me.

We bought iPads for our two about 3 years ago for good school reports, but they were only about £400 each (I think) from John Lewis. £600 seems ott unless you're going for pro versions or huge storage.

You could buy a couple of iPads from Apple for under £600 each with a large amount of space - mini or standard with insurance. John Lewis have them slightly cheaper- or Amazon and get separate insurance. I'm suggesting insurance as I've had a couple of accidents recently....

I would ditch the ipad brand and get a cheaper tablet for the kids as they are only going to be using it for straightforward things like surfing the net.

I have a v v expensive mac book for work which I need, but for non work stuff I got a Huawei tablet for £165 and it's brilliant for games, movies and surfing.

Can also add storage to the Huawei tablets by inserting in sd cards which you can't do with the ipad. I would absolutely recommend for a non-Apple tablet.

I’m not a huge expert, but we have just bought both barclaycard have really DC (8,11) iPads for schoolwork.

Get them from Apple or John Lewis (if you have a branch nearby if any future problems), who both have good in store customer support in my experience. I have had rubbish service from Tesco with a Samsung tablet in the past, and Curry’s/PC world in general.

There are never deals! (Long term Apple afficionados here). You can sometimes get refurbed models from the Apple website.

The most recent model (Air 3) will be the most future proof (DH has an older iPad which he can no longer update the apps or iOS). Memory space is up to you, but we have just got both DC Air 3s with 64Mg memory for longevity.

Get protective cases! Otterbox are the market leader, are £50! We found some excellent ones on Amazon for £15 ish.,

An external blue tooth keyboard is useful, but far from essential. We have 1 which DH, DS and DD share.

I bought a base-model iPad 3.5 years ago, I think it cost £329, and I bought from JL to take advantage of their extended warranty. In my view, they are a no-brainier for electrical goods for this reason.

I use it every day, it does everything I need, and it still works faultlessly. Worth every penny.

I have an iPad Air2. Think it cost 300 odd quid. Never have run out of memory, works faultlessly with synching with Microsoft apps on my pc. I have a Bluetooth keyboard which also acts as a case because I (used to!) use it to write presentations on the train.

Buy from John Lewis.

Just make sure you get good quality cases. I skimped on it for DS2's school tablet and regretted it when the screen smashed. The £60 replacement screen was useless and I ended up buying a new ipad and a much more expensive case . Urban Armour Gear was what I ended up with. "Other cases are available".

We have these, really happy with them
www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/tablets-and-ereaders/tablets/apple-10-2-ipad-2019-32-gb-gold-10199111-pdt.html

I bought an iPad a year ago as a backup to my Macbook and I love it. You can turn it into a laptop by using an external keyboard. (See YouTube). I also have a Kindle Fire and never use it anymore. I think mine cost about 399.

Thanks everyone.
Given that I'm a total tablet ignoramaus, I think I was hoping that buying 2 would get me a BOGO20% discount or something.

I shall continue to dream.

I will however, head to JL and buy there. Some of these tablets are nearly 2k!!! Out of interest, what the hell do they do?! The spec is so full of jargon that I don't understand.

What kind of phone do you have? If it's an iPhone then you might want iPad, but you really don't need to spend £600. If you use android on your phone then I would recommend a samsung

You can get refurbished iPads for around half the price? I got dd one for Xmas and it's been fantastic. They have gone up a bit I've noticed ( supply and demand since lock down? ) but still much more affordable.

Apple sell refurbished ones with a full (1 year) warranty. They're excellent value and are exactly like new ones cosmetically etc.

www.apple.com/uk/shop/refurbished/ipad

How will they use them? All iPads can connect to WiFi. If they're going to want to use them out and about where there is no WiFi, the more expensive cellular ones use a SIM card and connect to 4G but will need a contract or use a pay as you go SIM card from a mobile provider (like O2 / EE / Vodafone). For most, I'd have thought WiFi only would be fine.

Will they be using them as a main device or do they have a laptop for typing school work etc.? If they are secondary age and will be doing most of their school work on them then the iPad Pro might be a better option, with a keyboard.

Overpriced tat. I have an iPad for work and it's nothing at all to write home about. I have a Samsung tablet at a quarter of the price for myself and it beats the iPad on absolutely everything.

There's no need to spend a small fortune on ipads, when other perfectly good tablet brands are available.

Type 'tablet review' into Google for some research.

I've got an ipad pro with the keyboard and pencil. It's absolutely brilliant. I write and index all of my notes on it and use it as an effective laptop. It's excellent for taking notes. I use it for work though (and had a windfall that allowed me to buy it), probably way too pricey for secondary school though. I also got mine insured to cover the inevitable cracked screen.

There are lots of videos on the apple website if you want more info on the ipads.

Agree with others, John Lewis all the way.

Yes there are other brands of tablets out there, I've used them and owned they but my iPad has always been my favourite. Probably because I'm crap with technology and quite lazy but I like that fact that my phone and tablet work the same as my children's. Everything is synced and very straightforward. I find the parental control aspects on an iPad brilliant too.

We got a refurbed one from Apple. We use it with a cheap Bluetooth keyboard and it’s great.

I find apple easy to use and they are good for aftercare. But if you’re not an iPhone user it probably won’t make much difference to look at other brands.

We're all iPhone users - I have been for years and I'm not invested enough to learn about other products. I understand the parental controls for Apple. Both DD's phones are refurbs so I think I'll suggest that to my parents.

They have an old laptop each for schoolwork and I don't think they'll be taking them out of the house except for perhaps when we go camping?

I can imagine that they'll start using them for school work - teams video calls, online learning etc.

Either that or JL. My parents bought a mini iPad from JL a few years ago that encountered a few issues and their aftercare was amazing.