I Pad - Is it worth it? advice please

Simon7685

My daughter who starts secondary school in September has asked for an I Pad for Christmas. She has said even if it means she doesn't get anything else she doesn't mind as she "desperately" wants one!

Now I do not know a thing about them, so thought some of you more knowledgable people may be able to advise me with this.

Are they worth the money and would she be able to use it outside of the home, if so how would that work? Does it have a sim card or something like a mobile phone? As I said I haven't got a clue:o.

She already has a laptop and a blackberry on PAYG. Will an I Pad mean she can do anything different to what she already has on these?

I know a couple of her freinds have them but I don't want to spend all this money on something, for it not be of much use to her in the long run. If someone could advise me on what exactly they do and whether it is worth having one it would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

prowla

iPads are available in (a) WiFi and (b) WiFi + 3G (or is it 4G now); the second "(b)" adds mobile broadband over a mobile phone provider's data network (via a SIM card).

I really want one too, but I just can't figure out why or want I want to do with it. The best I can do is that I could browse the interweb quickly rather than having to boot a PC.

In essence, the iPad is an iPhone with a very large screen.

I think that the data could be expensive.

michelle2008

The advantage for me of an iPads it Is on instantly - it is great for internet browsing and fiddling about with apps etc.

It is very much a luxury - particularly if your daughter already has a laptop. I just have wifi and really only use it at home. I couldn't be bothered with a monthly subscription for 4g and antway it's a very expensive toy to risk taking out and about.

McKneff

michelle2008 wrote: »

The advantage for me of an iPads it Is on instantly - it is great for internet browsing and fiddling about with apps etc.

It is very much a luxury - particularly if your daughter already has a laptop. I just have wifi and really only use it at home. I couldn't be bothered with a monthly subscription for 4g and antway it's a very expensive toy to risk taking out and about.

I really wouldnt let her be going out and about with it, to be honest,

System

They are great for browsing, reading books, watching videos, skype calls etc. Not too useful for real work though, if that was your intent (you mentioned school), typing anything of length is just too slow compared to a keyboard. You can get docking keyboards for them, but then whats the point vs a pc?

Apple devices are a magnet for thieves too, going out and about with one isn't something I'd do.

Simon7685

Thanks for the advice all. So to summarise an I Pad is basically a large sized smartphone/I phone.

For her to connect outside the home would mean additional cost through a service provider, which I assume would mean a contract.

Does that sound about right? Oh and it wouldn't benefit her from a school point of view anymore than her laptop will.

Humphrey10

Simon7685 wrote: »

So to summarise an I Pad is basically a large sized smartphone/I phone.

Exactly. But being larger does make a big difference - reading things on the internet is a lot more pleasant on an iPad than on an iPhone.

Simon7685 wrote: »

For her to connect outside the home would mean additional cost through a service provider, which I assume would mean a contract.

Yes it would mean additional cost, no need for a contract though. There are various pre-pay/PAYG options available.

Simon7685 wrote: »

Oh and it wouldn't benefit her from a school point of view anymore than her laptop will.

It won't be as useful as a laptop for word processing and spreadsheet work certainly. But there are lots of apps that, depending on how she learns, might be as good as or better than textbooks or similar programs on the computer.

Personally, since getting an iPad, I haven't used my laptop very much at all, and the few times I have used it have been just to update the operating system on my iPad and iPhone. I wouldn't want to use it for office work though.

googler

Simon7685 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice all. So to summarise an I Pad is basically a large sized smartphone/I phone.

For her to connect outside the home would mean additional cost through a service provider, which I assume would mean a contract.

Does that sound about right? Oh and it wouldn't benefit her from a school point of view anymore than her laptop will.

..without the Phone functionality. You can't make calls to/from it, unless you load a Skype application.

If she is within range of a WiFi hotspot or open network, she can connect outside the home. If you're a BT customer, you can get BTFON to increase the available number of hotspots. If she's likely to be away from WiFi, she'd need a 3G iPad and a Data Plan from a mobile provider. Of course, applications which don't need internet access will work anywhere.

The benefits over the laptop, as far as I can see;

Lighter
Longer Battery Life
Lighter Mains Adaptor(s)
Can recharge from a PC where mains adaptor not available
Little or no boot-up time
No moving parts, so can be dropped without damage (within reason, of course)
Touch screen far quicker/easier than mouse/mousepad etc
Can zoom in to things that can't be zoomed on a laptop easily
Certain applications built into iPad OS that aren't on typical Windoze laptop - YouTube, Maps, GPS, for a start
iPad has a camera, and sending photos from iPad via email is a far more direct process than with a camera and laptop (Open camera app, take photo. Browse Photos, click Send on photo, email app then opens with photo in email already. Enter address, send,)
I like the keyboard on the Pad because it's adaptive, and changes according to the context of where you're typing. For instance, when typing a URL, the keyboard changes to include a .com key.
It's more usable as a portable music player than a laptop.

The one thing it isn't good at is moving files about in the way that you'd maybe copy/paste or cut/paste a Word Doc or Excel Sheet from My Documents to Shared Documents, etc. With the spreadsheet app, the sheets are within the app, and to move one elsewhere, you have to mail it, or connect to iTunes.

Does this help?

coolagarry

As the posts above have indicated she probably doesn't need an ipad and if she gets one she will not be able to do anything that she cannot do with what she has. However, that's not the point with youngsters.
My grandson has just been given an ipad and he is over the moon with it... simply because it's an ipad. He doesn't have the 4G one but they have Sky so he uses the wifi at home and 'My Cloud' at local hotspots. I have no love for Apple (or sky for that matter) but it have to admit that it is a lovely slick piece of kit and I have little doubt that if you get her one, you will be asking to borrow it.
As mentioned above they are not really suitable to be used outside the house, unless you are a commuter or similar, as they are a bit large.
Obviously it is not a practical purchase but then again neither is a Blackberry for a primary school youngster but it's your money and your choice.
Buying it will get you serious brownie points with your daughter.

duchy

I quite fancied an Ipad as "a nice bit of kit" but thought it was a luxury I can't currently afford............and then I won one in a competition !

I love it-I'm not lugging my laptop here there and everywhere all the time -I use it not just for browsing but as a radio and as a kindle. My son is hopefully off to university and I'm trying to get the money together for one for him for his birthday as I think for uni it'd be very useful for notetaking etc as well as the other features but I honestly don't think it would be as important at high school.

The versions with 3/4G (so you can connect from anywhere via a mobile phone provider) are approx £100 more than the Wi-fi only version. Like the previous poster I use Sky's (free to their BB customers) wireless hotspots when out and about -for me it's not worth the extra £100 plus monthly data charges to add a mobile connection.

Honestly I don't think it has any educational value over a laptop - as a gadget it's a somewhat useful but essentially luxury gadget. If she really wants one as an only present -and is capable of looking after it (you'll know more about how safe she can keep things at her new school once she has started and settled in) I'd consider the wi-fi model (assuming her school has wi-fi available to students) which is currently £399

albionrovers

Agree, luxury gadget, mine gathers dust whilst I'm constantly on my laptop. Although Ipad is good for musicians I hear, many bands use them on stage ... kinda niche market there though...