All iPads Buying Advice iPad Pro, Mini and Standard

[macduke]

Asking now so this doesn't get buried when the new iPads come out.

So I've suddenly found myself in an interesting situation. My wife's iPad Mini 2 is now to the point where it's giving her fits. She never complains about technology so when she starts complaining I know it's time to upgrade. She doesn't care about having the latest device as long as it works. She has problems with it slowing down and freezing up sometimes. She said it's a little better since I had her upgrade to iOS 12 but she still seems like she's ready to upgrade.

The issue at hand is my plan was to get a standard iPad for my daughter either for Christmas or her 5th birthday a couple months later. I wanted to get her that Logitech kid's drawing pen thing too. She has been using an old iPad Mini on iOS 9 and it barely functions for her and can't run many apps. It doesn't support iOS 12 screen time controls, though we physically limit her screen time now, but it would be nice to control which apps she uses and perhaps increase an allotment for educational time. I also hadn't planned on upgrading my 10.5" iPad Pro since it's still pretty good for what I need. But the idea of an iPad Pro 12.9" that is lighter with a smaller footprint sounds compelling, and I'm interested to see what is possible with the USB-C port. But I also wanted to skip this cycle because I thought maybe OLED would be in the iPad after this new one. Does anyone think that's likely or will it likely remain too expensive at that size for another generation? I typically upgrade my iPad every 3 years.

So what should I do? Upgrade to the new Pro, give my wife the 10.5" Pro, and give my daughter the old iPad Mini 2 which will hopefully last her another year to spread out the cost and then I can get her the one with the pencil support? The Mini 2 is still worlds better than her original Mini. Or should I get my wife a Mini 4, which is kinda outdated, and get my daughter the regular iPad so she can draw on it? Or maybe get my wife the regular iPad, and get my daughter the Mini 4? Or maybe find one on Craigslist? What would you guys do?

 

[flur]

I would get the new Pro and pass the others down. It will likely not cost more (or at least not much more) than buying two new devices, your wife gets a better iPad, and your daughter will do just fine with the mini.

I don't know when they're going to move to OLED, but I honestly think it's at least a few years away, maybe 2021 or 2022, especially at the 12.9" size. The cost to produce those screens, and the massive price jump the consumer would see, just seems like a hurdle they're not going to want to jump unless they have to. And I'm not sure we'll see it in the iPads before we see it in Macbooks.

FWIW, the pass-down is what we do in my house, so I might be biased because it works for us. My husband gets my old iPad when I get a new one (I'm a daily user who uses it for work, he's an occasional user). He's gotten cranky lately that his iPad 4 isn't holding a charge, so it's time for me to upgrade from my Air 2.

 

[macduke]

I would get the new Pro and pass the others down. It will likely not cost more (or at least not much more) than buying two new devices, your wife gets a better iPad, and your daughter will do just fine with the mini.

I don't know when they're going to move to OLED, but I honestly think it's at least a few years away, maybe 2021 or 2022, especially at the 12.9" size. The cost to produce those screens, and the massive price jump the consumer would see, just seems like a hurdle they're not going to want to jump unless they have to. And I'm not sure we'll see it in the iPads before we see it in Macbooks.

FWIW, the pass-down is what we do in my house, so I might be biased because it works for us. My husband gets my old iPad when I get a new one (I'm a daily user who uses it for work, he's an occasional user). He's gotten cranky lately that his iPad 4 isn't holding a charge, so it's time for me to upgrade from my Air 2.

Yeah I didn't think about the 12.9" OLED. I bought a 4K display recently after giving the boot to my 2008 display and was doing a lot of research and I remember there was only one monitor that uses OLED and it's from Dell and costs $5000. So that makes me think that it's probably at least three years away unless Apple can do something crazy with mLED and skip OLED in their larger devices altogether. That is even less mature tech, but might have a chance to scale better than OLED. The other problem with using OLED in bigger displays, from what I've read, is burn in. There are really expensive OLED TVs from LG but TV displays don't have as much in the way of static UI components and also use screensavers. Phones are similar. Tablets shouldn't have too much either, but Macs and things like that have always persistent menu bars and docks—though the latter can be set to hide, and for that reason they might wait until mLED is ready to put it into bigger devices. I think the reason the iPhone XR has that LCD is because they knew they were going to have to do that for the iPad anyway so it's a good way to save some money and still have a newer look to it.

 

[JPack]

The issue with OLED isn't cost or production capacity. Samsung had enough capacity to produce over one billion iPhone X sized panels last year.

OLED suffers from significant color shift when viewed off angle. For an iPad Pro, this is unacceptable.

The Dell monitor you're referring to was priced at $3,500 two years ago. Once again, it was canned because of "image quality issues, specifically color drift when the monitor was viewed off-center."

In short, you won't see an OLED iPad for a while, not until OLED matures.

 

[darkarn]

I dont think OLED is something you should factor in for now; need to see if larger OLED panels affects the touchscreen responsiveness of the iPad too. Maybe Apple needs more time with this technology?

How about refurbs from Apple Store? It may help you get a better overall setup with a specific budget

 

[sracer]

hardware foodchain ftw!

Lots of angles to consider in your scenario. I recommend getting your daughter the 2018 iPad with the Logitech Crayon. That would be a great combination for her at her age.

As for your wife, how important is it to her to have a 7.9" iPad? If the 2018 iPad size would be acceptable, get one for her too. And you keep the 10.5 for another year or so.

I'm a big fan of the 2018 iPad... so much so that I gave my wife my 12.9 iPad Pro and bought one for myself. I think it is the best value of all of the iPads. Paired with an Apple Pencil, it has replaced all of my notebooks and ereaders. (and I'm able to do everything with it that I had been doing with the 12.9 Pro)

I make these recommendations based on my personal belief that there will not be an iPad Mini 5, and that the iPad Pros won't see the radical updates until March 2019. If these turn out not to be true, I might recommend something different.

 

[macduke]

I think I'm going to go with the iPad Pro X Max. I just hope they don't name it that. That rumor today about it being thinner with a smaller footprint of 8.5 x 11" like a standard letter sized piece of paper is making me think that the reduced weight and dimension will make it a worthwhile upgrade over my smaller 10.5". Then my wife gets the 10.5" Pro and my daughter gets the Mini 2.

We're still kind of on a trial with my daughter. We've tried to introduce the iPad a few times and each time it has failed and we wait six months and try again. She is a well behaved kid but that thing would turn her into a monster once it was time to put away. Only in the last couple months when we tried again was it successful, partially because I came up with a really clear system of how it works and partially because she now believes us when we say we'll take it away for a long time if she doesn't calmly give it back when her time is done. With iOS 12 on the Mini 2, I'll be able to setup screen time and expand her ability to use the device on a per-app basis so that she has more time to use education and drawing apps vs. games and PBS kids. I'll also be able to install more apps on there since many don't work on iOS 9 on her original Mini. I doubt the Mini 2 will get iOS 13 so this could be a good extension of the trial period, and then we could upgrade her device in Spring 2020 for her birthday, or maybe find a deal on a 2019 iPad for Christmas next year.

I make these recommendations based on my personal belief that there will not be an iPad Mini 5, and that the iPad Pros won't see the radical updates until March 2019. If these turn out not to be true, I might recommend something different.

I agree about the Mini but the iPad Pros should be getting updated here in a few weeks. There is a rumored event, it's in the source code for iOS 12.1, and there are leaks coming out often now about the new hardware and dimensions.