Are iPads worth the extra £?
- Thread starter garnett
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Associate
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For the price of an iPad you could have gaming laptops. Haha
The
If we are only talking about 1 tablet and you already have a perfectly good Fire then getting another makes a lot of sense as it's consistent for the kids.
iPad is a great tablet but if it breaks then expensive to replace, you could buy 3 more Fire tablets for the price of one iPad.
The simple interface of the iPad might be good though. I did find the Amazon tablets a bit messy unless you get rid of a lot of the stock stuff.
Also, is accessibility an issue, does Apple offer anything additional over the Fire which makes it worthwhile?
If we are only talking about 1 tablet and you already have a perfectly good Fire then getting another makes a lot of sense as it's consistent for the kids.
iPad is a great tablet but if it breaks then expensive to replace, you could buy 3 more Fire tablets for the price of one iPad.
The simple interface of the iPad might be good though. I did find the Amazon tablets a bit messy unless you get rid of a lot of the stock stuff.
Also, is accessibility an issue, does Apple offer anything additional over the Fire which makes it worthwhile?
Exactly, which is also has something to do with why I no longer have an iPhone nor an iPad. I won't buy Apple again after those tactics.
It's called hyperbole.
The point being they are not fit for purpose and exceptionally poor value for money compared to other devices, primarily entertainment. A few movies and it's full. Want to take photos or view them on an iPad? The previews of my images won't even fit onto a 32GB iPad, whereas the full files will easily fit on a £30 SD card.
My phone from 5 years ago is more capable for these common use cases than the 32GB 2020 iPad for gods sake, even 128GB is pushing it when we are seeing competitors with 512GB and larger options. Have you see the size of a 2TB nvme flash stick? No technical reason for such an absurd limitation. In my last place of work even the social workers constantly had problems with them getting filled with data doing everyday work tasks.
It may be the perfect device for a kid, it's still £400 for a toy though.
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It really depends on how you plan to use the tablet.
If it’s just a Netflix box then don’t bother.
If your serious about using it as an educational product then there’s nothing better out there as an all in one product*
Photo something, add to a document instantly and mark up over the top in Pages with diagrams , annotations etc
instantly scan pages from a book, annotate digitally and save a PDF to files (with additional iCloud storage - better as you get a file structure) or Books.
Create music in Garage Band using live loops (..
Or an actual instrument down the line) and add it into a movie in iMovie.
etc
people are so hung up on “office” but you get a great suite of apps included in the price in Pages, Keynote, Numbers (.. less so numbers but still).. iMovie and Garage Band
It’s best used as a creative device .. if your just watching Netflix and typing the odd traditional document get a chrome book or something
If it’s just a Netflix box then don’t bother.
If your serious about using it as an educational product then there’s nothing better out there as an all in one product*
Photo something, add to a document instantly and mark up over the top in Pages with diagrams , annotations etc
instantly scan pages from a book, annotate digitally and save a PDF to files (with additional iCloud storage - better as you get a file structure) or Books.
Create music in Garage Band using live loops (..
Or an actual instrument down the line) and add it into a movie in iMovie.
etc
people are so hung up on “office” but you get a great suite of apps included in the price in Pages, Keynote, Numbers (.. less so numbers but still).. iMovie and Garage Band
It’s best used as a creative device .. if your just watching Netflix and typing the odd traditional document get a chrome book or something
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Permabanned
Ipads/Apple are quite good for children, child like interface, limited control, cant really mess them up.
Your really offended that Apple have the only tablet on the market worth buying aren’t you?
Oh, I didn't realise I'd ventured into the Mac section of the forum, may explain the fanboy attitude.
Apple's tablets are limited to the lower end of the performance spectrum while being more premium in terms of price, they aren't even an option for many tablet users such as myself.
Explain to me how the "only tablet worth buying" with it's 2016 smartphone era specifications is going to replace the tablet I have which has a 12" screen, 512GB storage, 16GB RAM, and an Intel Quad core cpu?
Associate
The question from the original poster was for a school age child are Ipad's worth the extra money. Several people have replied to say they think for that use case they think they are due to the breadth and quality of apps available and the ease of use.
Other people have replied that for that use case they think Fire tablets are perfectly good considering the significantly lower cost.
Others, including you, seem to have suggested that for the Enterprise and serious creatives the lack of storage and quad core capabilities makes them expensive......
In other news learning to drive in a Ferrari is also considered a bad idea.
No I said the limited storage made them poor as entertainment devices when compared to the cost of similar devices.
Someone then went on to state Apple tablets were the only tablet product ever worth buying.
Soldato
School age is quite a broad range. 4 - 18? My 6 year old daughter loves her Mi Pad 4. It has all the Peppa Pig apps, BBC Bitesize, Lego apps and Youtube Kids. If I handed her an iPad instead, with the same apps installed, I'd be surprised if she really noticed or cared.
As kids get older, the available apps might come more into consideration. However, all three tablet OS's have a version of the typical application suites available to them.
As kids get older, the available apps might come more into consideration. However, all three tablet OS's have a version of the typical application suites available to them.
Soldato
This is an interesting question and I'm going to try and answer it from the point of view of someone with experience of the three primary tablet providers and a general dislike of Apple. Firstly, I'm nearly 50 and have worked in IT for 33 years, I've used many operating systems and device types and I've used both (and swapped between over time) both Android and Apple devices - I preferred the openness of Android phones and the capacity to install custom apps when Apple was behind in functionality and I like the ability to change the battery and upgrade the SDCard storage in my Samsung Galaxy S4 when the iPhone couldn't do that.
Later Samsung phones took away those capabilities and the Apple software got *much* better. I had a Samsung 10" tablet and found the iPad to be a bit 'childish' (poor choice of wording I know, but I couldn't think of a clearer description) but found myself playing with iPads more and eventually when my work gave me an iPhone 6 I found myself preferring that to my SGS5 and when it came to upgrade time I move my personal device from Samsung to Apple and I consider this a key pivot point in my device preference.
I was at this time using a Samsung Tablet and an Apple phone and the experience wasn't great so I picked up a cheap iPad and eventually sold off the Samsung. The integration between the iPhone and iPad was *really* good and has only got better over time.
I had to learn OSX for work so got a Mac Mini (bought from the Members Market here) so then had three Apple devices. I bought an Apple watch when I has some spare cash a couple of years later, and sold the Mac Mini and bought a Mac Book Air.
But I am NOT an Apple Fanboy!
Current state of play - I have a Windows Laptop, a Surface Pro 6, a Macbook Air, an iPad, an iPhone 8 plus and an Apple Watch. We have two other iPads in the house and two Samsung tablets for the kids - which they never use anymore as the iPad experience is just better.
Everyone in my house started on Android and moved to Apple over time. Apple just provides an all round better experience and device to device integration - and I hate them for it. I hate the Apple money grabbing practices, but I can't deny they are damned good at what they do.
Later Samsung phones took away those capabilities and the Apple software got *much* better. I had a Samsung 10" tablet and found the iPad to be a bit 'childish' (poor choice of wording I know, but I couldn't think of a clearer description) but found myself playing with iPads more and eventually when my work gave me an iPhone 6 I found myself preferring that to my SGS5 and when it came to upgrade time I move my personal device from Samsung to Apple and I consider this a key pivot point in my device preference.
I was at this time using a Samsung Tablet and an Apple phone and the experience wasn't great so I picked up a cheap iPad and eventually sold off the Samsung. The integration between the iPhone and iPad was *really* good and has only got better over time.
I had to learn OSX for work so got a Mac Mini (bought from the Members Market here) so then had three Apple devices. I bought an Apple watch when I has some spare cash a couple of years later, and sold the Mac Mini and bought a Mac Book Air.
But I am NOT an Apple Fanboy!
Current state of play - I have a Windows Laptop, a Surface Pro 6, a Macbook Air, an iPad, an iPhone 8 plus and an Apple Watch. We have two other iPads in the house and two Samsung tablets for the kids - which they never use anymore as the iPad experience is just better.
Everyone in my house started on Android and moved to Apple over time. Apple just provides an all round better experience and device to device integration - and I hate them for it. I hate the Apple money grabbing practices, but I can't deny they are damned good at what they do.
With how well the ultrabook type tablets like the Surface are selling what I don't understand is why as of yet Apple haven't released a product to compete with them, there is this strange gap in their product line where there is no tablet based OSX solution so professional artists and similar content creators have no choice but to use the Windows platform if they want a touchscreen mobile device.
Soldato
Isn't that what the iPad Pro was for?
Associate
I could have written pretty much all of that to match my own experience. Only difference being I had an even earlier Android tablet (remember the Xoom?) and have gone even more over the dark side (Windows laptop replaced by Macbook - instead of as well; and onto my second Ipad)
The Ipad Pro is not a full blown laptop OS yet but is getting there. I think the multitasking and trackpad support needs to improve before it will be a true laptop replacement. However as a walkabout device I think it is fantastic.
Like most here, I've been involved in IT for some time (it's also my career), so had a lot of experience with various devices, but would also echo what Moley has said to a degree.
When you learn to appreciate design, ergonomics, accessibility and experience over raw specs and feature lists, you can start to appreciate what makes Apple devices so good. I moved to iPhone with iPhone 6 after being a very die hard Android fan with Nexus devices etc. Whilst I lost a lot of features and openness in the OS for tweaking etc., I gained a device that was beautifully engineered and constructed versus the average android handset. The same is still true for iPads as well.
I recently also bought a Mac Mini second hand to try out the full Mac OS experience, and whilst it's not very upgradable versus a PC, it's a nice compact design and the OS works very nicely compared to a typical Windows PC. I liked it so much I picked up a second hand MacBook Pro as I know it'll get used more than the Mini (I still have a gaming PC at my desk). The devices hold their value amazingly well and even an old MacBook Pro from 2012 will still function relatively well today. Can't say that equivalent laptop or PC would age as well. My old iPad Air (original) is still going OK.
Again, not a fanboy at all, but as I've got older and started to appreciate different aspects, I've come to appreciate the Apple products a lot more. You do pay a premium, and whilst I can justify this with a phone, it's a bigger pill to swallow with tablets and computers (hence going second hand on these). They do last and work for longer I would say, plus hold their value, so if you plan to sell, total cost of ownership may actually be better than an Android equivalent.
This is around normal and/or professional type use cases. For children, I can't imagine the value proposition for Apple is quite the same with the use cases and chance of damage etc.
When you learn to appreciate design, ergonomics, accessibility and experience over raw specs and feature lists, you can start to appreciate what makes Apple devices so good. I moved to iPhone with iPhone 6 after being a very die hard Android fan with Nexus devices etc. Whilst I lost a lot of features and openness in the OS for tweaking etc., I gained a device that was beautifully engineered and constructed versus the average android handset. The same is still true for iPads as well.
I recently also bought a Mac Mini second hand to try out the full Mac OS experience, and whilst it's not very upgradable versus a PC, it's a nice compact design and the OS works very nicely compared to a typical Windows PC. I liked it so much I picked up a second hand MacBook Pro as I know it'll get used more than the Mini (I still have a gaming PC at my desk). The devices hold their value amazingly well and even an old MacBook Pro from 2012 will still function relatively well today. Can't say that equivalent laptop or PC would age as well. My old iPad Air (original) is still going OK.
Again, not a fanboy at all, but as I've got older and started to appreciate different aspects, I've come to appreciate the Apple products a lot more. You do pay a premium, and whilst I can justify this with a phone, it's a bigger pill to swallow with tablets and computers (hence going second hand on these). They do last and work for longer I would say, plus hold their value, so if you plan to sell, total cost of ownership may actually be better than an Android equivalent.
This is around normal and/or professional type use cases. For children, I can't imagine the value proposition for Apple is quite the same with the use cases and chance of damage etc.
Soldato
The Apple ecosystem, in my opinion, has one major strength over anything that Android can ever hope to produce in that it has a unified design. OK, apps fall slightly outside that. But, Android is different on every single phone. That could be seen as an advantage, but Apple has spend years perfected their iOS and it shows. It's flawless and beautifully polished. It's simple to use and the complicated decisions are taken from your hands. That along makes it so much more user friendly than an android device.
I would much rather have an iPad than any tablet not running it, but I can see why oyu might decide otherwise given the price tag.
I would much rather have an iPad than any tablet not running it, but I can see why oyu might decide otherwise given the price tag.
It's a totally different type of device really. The iPad pro does not use macOS, it is not an x86 machine and as such the standard applications that professionals use like Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premier Pro can't run on the device, there have been some attempts at creating apps to try and bridge the gap between the two platforms such as Adobe Premier Rush, but it's not a fully integrated system and the iPad pro does not have anywhere near the processing power of a Surface type device so it can't be used to replace a MacBook.