ipad 2 good christmas gift for a 12 year old ??

ayeshasi

He will love it....my kids use mine ( was gifted it for my 30th from my parents)....even my 3 year old loves it. If you can afford it, get it! Worth the money

[Deleted User]

tiamai_d wrote: »

PC world has the original iPad, the £700 one down to £399 right now.

Me, I think they are worth the money so long as you get a good quality case, such as the griffin that ringo linked too.

ETA, and really, its not that much more than an xbox but can do so much more.

Be careful - cases are version specific - an ipad case will not properly fit and ipad2

Also.. what the OP wants to spend in their kids is entirely their business. To spin an MSE aspect to it - you can get 4% cashback if you buy from the Apple store via Quidco.

If you wanted to go budget, you could buy an old model ipad for £289 - http://store.apple.com/uk/product/FB293B/A?mco=MjEzNzczMjM

The main difference is the lack of cameras.. so you wouldn't be able to use it for Skype/facetime video calls, or as a camera. Also, the performance of some games (only a few) would be a bit slower.

tessie_bear

thank u all...very illuminating...lots for us to think about

mookie

Why do people judge and make people feel like they have to justify their spending?! Its up the op what they choose to buy for their child.

Our 4 year old has an ipad, after a year of owning it I can honestly say they are a worthwhile investment. She can watch whatever tv programme she is into on iplayer, or films that we have downloaded, we have loads of learning games apps for colours, words and numbers. We have spent a fortune on the latest fad toys and gadgets that companies bring out to be like mummy and daddy's phones, laptops etc over the last few years when the child still would rather play the real thing and they end up in the toy box never used.

As the others have said a case is an essential. And a good set of headphones are handy for times when they want to sit in the same room watching their own films.

If your son wants an ipad and you can afford to buy him one, then do it, he will be over the moon on xmas day

Curvey_Kate

Interesting reading, I am also in the same position, I would love to buy him a iPad but maybe £400 plus will be out of my reach, are there any similar products by another make that will do the job just as well (or nearly good as) and how would I find a decent one?

Any help would be much appreciated, thank you

Sui_Generis

Curvey_Kate wrote: »

Interesting reading, I am also in the same position, I would love to buy him a iPad but maybe £400 plus will be out of my reach, are there any similar products by another make that will do the job just as well (or nearly good as) and how would I find a decent one?

Any help would be much appreciated, thank you

In essence you can find cheap tablets but its the iPad's appstore that is the defining measure (100,000 and over 400k iPad and iPhone & rising). You won't find anywhere near the number of apps available for any other tablet.

But you don't have to spend £400, the Apple refurb store is selling first generation ones for £289. They lack the camera but will play ALL the apps that are iPad specific - there is no differentiation between the 1G and 2G aside from the camera of the 2G.

ChrisPNE

Sui_Generis wrote: »

In essence you can find cheap tablets but its the iPad's appstore that is the defining measure (100,000 and over 400k iPad and iPhone & rising). You won't find anywhere near the number of apps available for any other tablet.

But you don't have to spend £400, the Apple refurb store is selling first generation ones for £289. They lack the camera but will play ALL the apps that are iPad specific - there is no differentiation between the 1G and 2G aside from the camera of the 2G.

The Android Market had 250,000 apps as of July 2011, no doubt that figure is even higher now. Android tablets are a real alternative to an iPad.

System

we looked into this for our dd but there's no where for a memory stick so she can download her writing [budding author] it has to be done via WiFi which isn't any good for her.. there's lots of ways to put stuff on but only one way to take it off !

Sui_Generis

ChrisPNE wrote: »

The Android Market had 250,000 apps as of July 2011, no doubt that figure is even higher now. Android tablets are a real alternative to an iPad.

They may be when they finally ship a fully baked tablet OS (Honeycomb) but none come close to the battery life or the utility of the iPad as yet.

Ally to that all the scares about developers collecting data from the users of their apps and it's a very unsatisfactory situation. It's true anyone can write for it but without some curation from vendors eg. Amazon, problems with the apps keep coming up every month.

Also it's a numbers thing, the iPad is about 90% of the installed Tablet base (it suits market research firms to say it's about 70% of shipped tablets but the truth as we see with both HP Touchpad and other Android tablets the number actually sold and not returned is almost insignificant).

I don't want this to sound anti-Android as in the next few years when they ship tablets with appropriate tablet OS's it may change but for the next couple of years it's iPad in the ascendancy all the way.

Sui_Generis

CHRISSYG wrote: »

we looked into this for our dd but there's no where for a memory stick so she can download her writing [budding author] it has to be done via WiFi which isn't any good for her.. theres lots of ways to put stugg on but only one way to take it off !

What do you mean download? I tend to share mine via Dropbox but most people move data via iTunes, no need for wifi if you use a cable. Also you can now print directly to lots of printers.

Perhaps you can also 'download' to an SD card via the camera connection kit adaptor as you can certainly upload from it?