To be finding this so hard!

[LovingLife0]

I want to buy my sons an iPad each - but I can't work out where to buy them from, which one, what features etc!

All their friends have one and I can't believe their parents have spent the prices I'm seeing online?! Am I just tight or am I missing a trick and looking in the wrong places? They want to use Procreate so would need an iPad pen. And I want them to have very good (and easy to use) filters and time limits.

Please help!

Apple Store is the only place I buy any Apple product from, all my phones has only been iPhones and I always buy them outright, I’d never have a phone contract

You are not wrong. I was surprised to- got my DD one for Xmas with a pen from Amazon. iPad was the 2025 one at £300 odd. They are just really expensive I’m afraid. Tried to get a refurbished one but that cost as much as a new one at Xmas? Really odd as usually you can get good refurbished iPhones pretty easily

Yeah, they’re super expensive, even secondhand can be. We bought my son one for Xmas from backmarket, think it was £200.

Thats not what ops asking.....

OP unfortunately they are pricey. Have you got an iPhone? Could you upgrade to include an ipad? Otherwise look at apple alternatives.

Amazon kids fire tablet is pretty decent tbf and they have them from 70 quid to 200 quid. Depends on your kids age as well as to what u want them to have access to or not.

Thanks for the advice. Yes I've thought about getting an Apple alternative but part of me thinks it's better to splash out and get the best that will last and do everything they want. Well, that's before I saw how much they are!

Are Amazon fire's good? I've read mixed reviews. Can they get procreate on them?

Have a look on eBay for refurbished or “opened” items.. got iPhones/iPads numerous times this way

@LovingLife0 do you specifically want an Ipad (an Apple product) or a tablet?
Non Apple tablets are much cheaper.
Go to a branch of Currys with a list of what you want the iPad/tablet for and they should be able to help.

If you’re used to iPad they’re bit more difficult to use

no Procreate on them sadly

No, we've had several between us and they don't last long. My last one developed a bug and kept saying it didn't have any storage. They are limited as to what apps you can put on them. So I wouldn't recommend

I use procreate a lot and bought an iPad for it. One of the best things I ever bought as I love drawing, I use a meta pen though. Way cheaper than a apple pencil and works the same. I don't have a pro but wish I had splashed out on one now.

I bought mine from John Lewis online. 3 interest free payments helped.

She stated her children wants iPads and can’t work out where to get them from!!

A friend advised me, but I can’t vouch…
John Lewis - in store want to sell only the latest version of IPad
But - if you order from JL online, you can get the older /last model - but cheaper.
(They don’t want to display them in store)

Probably similar with other suppliers too (eg Argos?)

A friend advised me, but I can’t vouch…
John Lewis - in store want to sell only the latest version of IPad
But - if you order from JL online, you can get the older /last model - but cheaper.
(They don’t want to display them in store)

Probably similar with other suppliers too (eg Argos?)

No! We got ds a kindle fire table a couple of years ago! Hardly got used, very slow & not user friendly for him or us!!

got him a refurbished iPad for Christmas this year & so far so good!! No complaints! He loves it & so much easier to use parental controls, timers etc!

CeX is amazing - they have refurbished ones that come with a longer guarantee (5yrs) than you get buying direct and brand new from Apple. We’ve only had to use the guarantee once despite having bought several items over the years, and they were brilliant about it - tried to fix it and provided a replacement when it wasn’t possible, all with a great turnaround time. They have both online and brick and mortar stores - maybe go into one of these if you can; I’ve always found their employees to be helpful and they will listen to what you need instead of trying to upsell. Even if they don’t have a product in stock, they can usually order it as there’s a huge network of stores.

Back market is good - I got my refrub iPhone. You get a years warranty but also payment can choose 3mth PayPal or klarna so helps ease the cost a bit

No. Procreate is an Apple product, so iPad only. If they want to use Procreate to draw etc, an Amazon Fire tablet won’t do the things your kids are asking for.

New iPads start at around £300 for the A16. But you could get refurbished ones cheaper than that.

If they use Procreate, they will need something to draw with but it doesn’t necessarily need to be an actual Apple Pencil. There are loads of much, much cheaper versions of the Apple Pencil - I bought a dupe for the Apple Pencil from Amazon for about £18.

I was having the same issue as DD wanted a new iPad for Christmas. I looked at all of the places recommended and as she uses it for drawing the non apple options aren’t as good.
Ended up buying one on my phone account from Sky which is £10 a month.
Fully expect shock and horror at this for the MN demographic but I don’t notice it each month and can upgrade on the contract which is a better longer term plan.

Sorry I don't know what procreate is. But my kids have them and they never broken and they are able to do what they want on them.