iPad ignorance

Desperate+Depressed

Hi there
First of all, I am by no means a computer techi so please excuse my ignorance with the questions!:o

My son has asked for an iPad for his birthday as a joint present from me and his dad, (whether he gets one is a different matter now that I've seen the prices)!!:eek:

What I wanted to know:
1. will he still need his laptop, or can I sell this to put towards the cost of buying the iPad.....no point having both if he doesn't need to?
2. on his laptop I have set the Parent Security thingy-me-bob!lol Can I do this on an iPad?

Any help would be much appreciated.

poppy10_2

Desperate+Depressed wrote: »

What I wanted to know:
1. will he still need his laptop, or can I sell this to put towards the cost of buying the iPad.....no point having both if he doesn't need to?
2. on his laptop I have set the Parent Security thingy-me-bob!lol Can I do this on an iPad?

1 - No, the iPad is just a toy gadget, he will still need his laptop to do any proper work.
2. Yes, the iPad has parental security controls built in, althought the might not be to the same standard as you are used to

KiwiCrazy

Desperate+Depressed wrote: »

Hi there
First of all, I am by no means a computer techi so please excuse my ignorance with the questions!:o

My son has asked for an iPad for his birthday as a joint present from me and his dad, (whether he gets one is a different matter now that I've seen the prices)!!:eek:

What I wanted to know:
1. will he still need his laptop, or can I sell this to put towards the cost of buying the iPad.....no point having both if he doesn't need to?
2. on his laptop I have set the Parent Security thingy-me-bob!lol Can I do this on an iPad?

Any help would be much appreciated.

1) No, the iPad even though it is a nice bit of tech you still NEED a laptop/PC in order to do school/college work etc. It is really just a big toy....
2) Yes you can BUT these wont be as good as the controls on the laptop and he would be able to turn them off.

spadoosh

poppy10 wrote: »

1 - No, the iPad is just a toy gadget, he will still need his laptop to do any proper work.
2. Yes, the iPad has parental security controls built in, althought the might not be to the same standard as you are used to

It really depends what your son uses his laptop for, the ipad has word processing aswell as excel type programmes and yes there not as good as they will be on his laptop but they can still be used.

Dont think its a toy gadget, gadget maybe but not really a toy.

Basically the ipad performs basic functions quite well but would not be good for 'heavy use'

damoderby

You will still need access to a computer to be able to set up and update the iPad.
It all depends on what your son uses his laptop for. Does he do much schoolwork on it or does he just browse , chat and listen to music?

poppy10_2

spadoosh wrote: »

It really depends what your son uses his laptop for, the ipad has word processing aswell as excel type programmes and yes there not as good as they will be on his laptop but they can still be used.

How comfortable do you think it would be to type a 6000 word essay on the iPad's touchscreen keyboard, which takes up half the screen so you can't see what you are typing. Yes, you can buy an external keyboard, but that involves shelling out even more money to Apple.
Plus, if he wants to print out his work, he will be forced to use AirPrint, which restricts him to a choice of about 3 printers, all of them hideously overpriced.

Desperate+Depressed

damoderby wrote: »

You will still need access to a computer to be able to set up and update the iPad.
It all depends on what your son uses his laptop for. Does he do much schoolwork on it or does he just browse , chat and listen to music?

At the moment, he mainly uses his laptop for Youtube, MSN and he did try to set up Skype....but for whatever reason the 2 cameras we bought, just would not display a picture (we did everything the instructions said), so he gave Skype a miss. That was just mainly going to be used for speaking to his dad, so I didn't think it was worth buying a camera anyway!!

I do have my own laptop that he could use for any school work should he need to.

spadoosh

poppy10 wrote: »

Plus, if he wants to print out his work, he will be forced to use AirPrint, which restricts him to a choice of about 3 printers, all of them hideously overpriced.

or he could email it to a school computer and print it there. im 23 and have never owned a printer even through university and college.

There are pros and cons of the ipad, u dont know if the op's son needs to do 6000 word essays

Like i said in original post depends what he uses his laptop for.

Biased apple hater.

spadoosh

Desperate+Depressed wrote: »

At the moment, he mainly uses his laptop for Youtube, MSN and he did try to set up Skype....but for whatever reason the 2 cameras we bought, just would not display a picture (we did everything the instructions said), so he gave Skype a miss. That was just mainly going to be used for speaking to his dad, so I didn't think it was worth buying a camera anyway!!

I do have my own laptop that he could use for any school work should he need to.

On that basis an ipad would work really well for him. the apps apple have for those companies are fantastic

jennyfive

Would he consider another tablet as an alternative (which would likely be considerably cheaper)? Android has many available and as someone with an Android phone, I'd say it's at least as good as Apple (better in terms of cost and flexibility).

Mind you, I know that many kids won't consider anything other than the latest Apple toy, even if another is better, because there's a certain amount of "bragging in the playground" potential with Apple at the moment.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20006770-64.html

http://ewandoo.com/android-tablet-or-apple-ipad-a-review/

poppy10_2

Desperate+Depressed wrote: »

he did try to set up Skype....but for whatever reason the 2 cameras we bought, just would not display a picture (we did everything the instructions said), so he gave Skype a miss. That was just mainly going to be used for speaking to his dad, so I didn't think it was worth buying a camera anyway!!

If he wants it for Skype/Facetime, he should wait for the iPad 2 coming out in early April, as the current iPad doesn't have a camera at all. In fact, wait for the iPad 2 anyway, it is likely to be significantly more powerful than the first one, and will probably be selling at the same price (or cheaper) than the current model.