Tablet advice from luddite: Looking to get geeky DH one, which should I choose?

[JoyceDivision]

Ok, Iapologise if my post is shockingly thick, but I am rubbish at computers andstuff, while DH loves reading manuals about learning new programs or whatever they are...

so, its a big birthday for DH mid year, and I will hopefully get a bonus of about £300 from work, so I could look to buy him a tablet for his b'day.

So which one do I get?

Is there one that is well and truly better than the rest?

I don't even know what features I should be looking at, so if you think theres anything I should consider, all help would really be appreciated!

Nexus 7 2012 - £99 at Carphone warehouse at the mo, I picked one up today and it seems excellent so far.

Thanks! Will have a look on carphonewarehouse

The 64 gb I Pad mini is in the clearance section on the John Lewis website. It's the wifi and cellular model and comes with a three year guarantee.

www.johnlewis.com/apple-ipad-mini-apple-a5-ios-6-7-9-wi-fi-cellular-64gb-black/p231800445?navAction=jump

I have a samsung galaxy note 10.1. Its great!

Ooooh... why would the ipad be in the clearance section?

Because the iPad Air has recently come out?

The old iPad mini with A5 processor is being reduced in many places as the iPad mini with retina display has come out.

err.. right, now I amgoing to look totally thick.. whats thedifference bewteen that one in the sale and the new one? just the retina display?

Whats the diff between the mini and the air? are they different tablets?

Samsung Galaxy Tab (?) £100 off at Currys/PCWorld according to an ad yesterday (£229)

No idea if that's a genuine deal...

Re the retina thing, I have last year's mini & it's fabulous

Is the retina display worth the extra or doesnt it make much difference? I dont even understand what 'Air' means

The Air is much lighter than the old one & the retina has more pixels

Depends how much you care about either & how much you could save on an old one

Banana, I'm glad its not just me!!

TheOneWithTheNicestSmile.. re the pixels..is it more pixels for camera andvideo on the retina onethan the old one?

The retina screen is wonderful, it was kinda what convinced me towards the ipad and I did a ton of research.

The air is lighter, faster and has the retina screen.

lol Its not just you Joyce I'm still using a quill and parchment. Thanks all for the patient explanations. This thread is so helpful to those of us who're are baffled.

Joyce, I think the extra pixels are in the display rather than the camera - I have read a few reviews but I am not at all techie

The reviews say retina is better than HD but we have HD TV & I'm still perfectly happy with my older mini's screen display. The £299 one from John Lewis seems like a great deal. I have the 16GB basic one & it was £249

\link{http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/apple/3474847/ipad-mini-2-review/\this review comparing old vs new is good}

It says that side-by-side you appreciate the display difference. I bet you wouldn't otherwise

It's not just the display - it is the processor as well. Some of the features in iOS7 don't work on the iPad2 and the "old" iPad mini. Lots of places recommend iOS6 as the highest version you should put on these older models.

Banana - more pixels are like better quality parchment, so you can draw finer lines with your quill, and so more intricate illuminations on your manuscripts.

We have both a Sony 10" and a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 tablets, both are of course Android based.

I found out last night that Android and Adobe no longer talk to each other, and therefore Flash is not an option, which is indeed a PITA if you want to watch any video clips that require Flash - but luckily, after much searching on the internet, I found that an app called Dolphin Browser allows most if not all Flash type videos to play, so if anyone is having issues with the lack of Flash player, install Dolphin Browser (it's free). I can watch BBC clips now with no problem :)

Agree with PurpleFrog - when the iPad Mini (original) first came out, there was chatter about it being a mini version of the 'old' iPad, as if it had been deliberately downgraded to mean the next year release would be seen as an improvement. As that comparison stated, the iPad Mini 2 with quadruple the pixels, and 64 bit processor, would allow it to run the same apps as the iPad 3 and 4.

Some of my iMacs won't run Chrome, because they don't have the Intel CPU (and personally, I'm not a fan of Safari, so that's a bit annoying), and I know how frustrating it can be when you find some Apple product will only run 75% of the software that your other Apple products can.

(Luckily, 2 of my 5 iMacs are Intel, but they're all still several years old, as I consider buying new Apple gear is often spending to excess - like the depreciation on a new car - the new price is hiked up much too far, in my view).

I have a desktop, a smartphone and an ipad mini. I also have a work laptop which I take home everyday. A tablet is not a desktop replacement at all. It is much better for pick it up web usage. I do mumsnet on my ipad. I look up things on google while watching tv. To be honest I mostly two screen with my ipad while watching tv. I also use the kindle app for reading books. (Can't stand physical books anymore). Laptop is just too clucky for all of these. And phone too small.