To buy DS a refurbished iPad for Christmas

[thealbatross]

I really don't know very much about iPads, but DS would like one and would certainly make good use of it. But they seem quite expensive and I'm really trying to get my savings and flat in order this year. Doesn't help that his birthday is in December!

Is it worth buying a refurbished one? Any positive/negative experiences of that? Or am I better just to bite the bullet and buy new? Refurbished or not, which ones are fairly up to date, and how much memory is needed? He'll only really use it for games, YouTube, and internet, and I'll use it too.

Thanks!

*Apple refurbs FFS!

merry the 5th generation iPad is actually the most recent. The oldest 9.7 inch iPad supported is the air, with minis it's the 2nd generation.

Dont touch a kindle if your 12 year old has already expressed that he'd like an iPad. They are worlds apart.
I bought an ipad 5 years ago and its still going strong. It was new, but an older model. As we just do what you want to, surf, game and you tube there's been no issues. Often it fills the 16gb but a quick delete of some games and we free up space. If the price difference between a 16 and a 32 is massive then I don't think its worth it for your needs. Also, check out the operating system (iso) as all phone/ tablet manufacturers update these regularly and new games won't work on older versions. So while you don't need the latest iso, it shouldn't be more than a couple of versions older than the latest.
Agree a mini is a bit small, but the difference in price quite significant.
Finally, can you make the ipad a joint Xmas and birthday pressie due to the high cost?
Also, Very do a 3 month interest free payment plan.

And to the posts that expresses surprise at Christmas planning in July, the best offers and prices are between now and October, and budgeting and planning now helps spread the cost.

I have a Google Nexus that I much prefer over my iPad. It's big enough to look at websites, watch videos, and I think is a better size for reading ebooks.

With Apple products, after a few years the new updates make the hardware almost unusable, and if you don't update it then you can't download new apps. I would never buy an Apple product ever again.