iPad Air or iPad Mini?

bod1467

Fightsback wrote: »

Kids need to be able to learn to write by hand and pushing buttons at age six is no substitute; you have to use a pen and paper in an exam.

Exactly. I remember when doing my O Levels we were the first year to be allowed to use calculators in Physics and Chemistry exams. But we weren't allowed to use them in class! Nowadays I think they even get to use calculators in maths!

wba31

Fightsback wrote: »

Avoid the Mini 1 as it's A5 processor and 512MB of RAM performs poorly with IOS 8. The Mini 2 is the A7 processor and has a much better 1gb of RAM. However this is a moot point as I don't give an Ipad much of a lifespan in the hands of a six year old.

My iPad Mini 1 bought on release day and fully upgraded handles iOS8 perfectly fine

Fightsback

wba31 wrote: »

My iPad Mini 1 bought on release day and fully upgraded handles iOS8 perfectly fine

Take it from an Ipad 2 owner, spend the extra £40 and buy the Mini 2


Ipad mini 1 vs Ipad mini 2 benchmarks here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR6pbJkaBsw

sweetdaisy

Thanks for all the comments . I think I will go with the iPad Mini rather than the iPad Air as it appears to me that it will be a little more robust than the Air.

securityguy

Fightsback wrote: »

Kids need to be able to learn to write by hand and pushing buttons at age six is no substitute; you have to use a pen and paper in an exam.

I'd be willing to bet a round of drinks, if ten-year bets were a thing, that by the time a current six year old is sixteen exams will have at the option of typing. There are already substantial exam programmes which can be done online under exam conditions: if you take the US SAT outside the UK it's hand-written, but some/all people who take it in the US do it using a computer, including the writing task.

And that's before we point out that even if final exams are handwritten, the vast majority of work done in universities is now word-processed as a matter of course, as is a large proportion of both formative and summative work at GCSE and A Level. If a child starting school today handwrote 10% of the assessed work they do between then and finishing full-time education I would be surprised.

Big_Graeme

The school wants your child to use an iPad then the bloody school can pay for it.

Fightsback

securityguy wrote: »

I'd be willing to bet a round of drinks, if ten-year bets were a thing, that by the time a current six year old is sixteen exams will have at the option of typing. There are already substantial exam programmes which can be done online under exam conditions: if you take the US SAT outside the UK it's hand-written, but some/all people who take it in the US do it using a computer, including the writing task.

And that's before we point out that even if final exams are handwritten, the vast majority of work done in universities is now word-processed as a matter of course, as is a large proportion of both formative and summative work at GCSE and A Level. If a child starting school today handwrote 10% of the assessed work they do between then and finishing full-time education I would be surprised.

Good luck writing a 3-4 essay question paper at Uni.

mickey54

Big_Graeme wrote: »

The school wants your child to use an iPad then the bloody school can pay for it.

Some schools in Scotland provide I pads to kids...and they are allowed to take them home.

Fightsback

mickey54 wrote: »

Some schools in Scotland provide I pads to kids...and they are allowed to take them home.

Los Angeles have cancelled their program:

http://www.macrumors.com/2014/12/02/la-school-district-ends-ipad-initiative/

wba31

Fightsback wrote: »

Take it from an Ipad 2 owner, spend the extra £40 and buy the Mini 2


Ipad mini 1 vs Ipad mini 2 benchmarks here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR6pbJkaBsw

I'd agree with getting the latest model over previous everytime, my point was just that the mini 1 (in my case) handles the latest OS just fine.