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Christmas gift for 10 year old -- 16GB iPad or 64GB iPod Touch?

Hammie

Hammie

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 17, 2009
1,550
76
Wash, DC Metro
My wife and I are debating on two things...

1.) Is a 10 year old too young to "own" an iPad?
2.) Should we get him a 16GB iPad or the 64GB iPod Touch?

What are all of your thoughts on this subject?

Thanks!
 
I would recommend an iPad over an iPod touch (for education), only because their are more possibilities to learn and interact with on the larger display.
 
I'd say go with the iPad as well and skip the Touch.
Both my kids have an iPad and they take very good care of them.
My kids are 5 & 6 and have an iPad each for about 1yr now.
 
Thanks! We'll take these comments into consideration.

He takes great care of his possessions. He is an avid musician and owns both an Alto Sax and a full sized digital piano. Although his room can be a mess most of the time, his "expensive" stuff is always in great shape.

I think the iPad is the better choice, but my wife feels the iPod is better and less obnoxious. :shrug:
 
What has he said he is more interested in?

The iPad has more potential and may go really well with some apps for music. If he uses it for school there are some apps like pages, for word processing, good reader for PDFs, various note taking apps.

The iPod will hold more music and media (since you said you would get him a larger capacity iPod). It will fit in his pocket.

But really it is about which one would be a better fit for what he wants to do with it. If you feel he is responsible enough to own either, then my suggestion is to talk to him about it and let him choose.
 
My 10 year old daughter has my iPad 1 and an iTouch. The iPad gets used 10 times more then the iTouch. iTouch is only used when we go out and allow her to bring the iTouch. The web surfing is better, can watch movies easier on it.

I guess they are breakable, but I have a friend whose 5 year old son has severe Autism, they purchased the iPad 2 for him and have had no issues with dropping or anything else. Even for our daughter I hold on to it when she is not using it and I think that also helps somewhat.
 
Get him the both, but make it the iPod first. Then for the next holiday give him the iPad, it will be a great upgrade vs. doing it the other way around, plus the iPad 3 will be out then
 
Hammie said:
My wife and I are debating on two things...

1.) Is a 10 year old too young to "own" an iPad?
2.) Should we get him a 16GB iPad or the 64GB iPod Touch?

What are all of your thoughts on this subject?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I would get him an 8GB iPod touch. Those gifts you suggested are way too expensive for a 10 year old to appreciate. Shouldn't spoil him.
 
Kudos for being a great parent.

The iPad gets my vote hands down. Too many reasons to list. The bottom line is of the parents I know in your position, considering these two choices, the one's who've chosen the iPads have been the happiest with their choice.

Your child is lucky to be trusted and loved by you :)
 
After discussing this with my wife again this morning and sharing all your ideas. She came up with an option sort of based on Shadyriley.

We should get the iPod Touch for him. When the iPad 3 gets released, I buy it for myself and let him use/have my iPad 1. It's a win-win for everyone then. ;)

Thanks again for everyone taking time to give their input. :cool:
 
Hammie said:
After discussing this with my wife again this morning and sharing all your ideas. She came up with an option sort of based on Shadyriley.

We should get the iPod Touch for him. When the iPad 3 gets released, I buy it for myself and let him use/have my iPad 1. It's a win-win for everyone then. ;)

Thanks again for everyone taking time to give their input. :cool:
Click to expand...

I would do it the other way around. Honestly, I'm the type of dude that if I can get it now....get it now. Nobody is promise tomorrow. Why wait? Chances are, he will be excited with the iPad over the touch. I'm getting both my kids (8 and 12) the iPad 2 or Kindle fire (Which ever one I decide on). I love this time of the year.....putting smiles on the 3 people most important people in the world.....is enough to last me a life time:)
 
I think the portability of the touch is more in tune with lifestyle of a kid. Going to the grocery store with mom, sitting in the car, etc. The child can put it in their pocket instead having to carry it around in a case (what 10-year-old walks with a 10" pouch everywhere he goes?). Not to mention the increased liability with something that must be carried by hand; increases the chances of it getting left behind somewhere (this happens to kids AND adults).

As a music player again, it makes more sense to have something small and portable instead of an iPad. It comes with earbuds which are nice. When I was a kid, I loved making movies and the iPod touch can record movies really well. Of course, this can also be done with an iPad but the portability is what I am getting at here.

Perhaps when he gets older, the iPad will make sense.

P.S. Make sure you engrave his name on it (for security purposes, unless you plan on selling it).
 
Last edited:
I would recommend the iPad as well. My 10 year old nephew has one, and he barely puts it down. He plays games, reads book, knows how to get them from the library. I think the iPad is a far better tool as an educational device, and the popularity of it is growing. I am surprised at the number of schools around me that are now offering e-books as an option for text books. I think if I were to gift him an iPod Touch after he has had an iPad, the reaction would likely be .. meh.
 
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First world problems... :p
 
saving107 said:
I would recommend an iPad over an iPod touch (for education), only because their are more possibilities to learn and interact with on the larger display.
Click to expand...

This. Along with the other poster who said that if he respects his possessions to get him one.

Many people disagree about technology for children but its that day and age where technology is king so why not expose kids to it, they will be using it throughout their lives.

There is a lot of good education apps on the app store and its a great eBook reader. All of my college books were on my iPad. Its a fantastic device.
 
Hammie said:
My wife and I are debating on two things...

1.) Is a 10 year old too young to "own" an iPad?
2.) Should we get him a 16GB iPad or the 64GB iPod Touch?

What are all of your thoughts on this subject?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

My 11year old sister is getting an iPad 2 16Gb for Christmas so I don't think its to young at all.

And if you do decide to get him the iPod Touch why get the 64GB? How many songs, movies, and apps would he have?

I only ask becaus I have a 32gb iPad, iPod Touch, and soon to be iPhone 4S and I have a ton of apps, 8 movies, 35 tv shows, and 2,543 songs and I still have a lot of free space.
 
Here's how I would do it:

Get him an iPad because it's got much more educational value (put Garage Band on it) in addition to the games he might want, where an iPod Touch would probably just be more focused about games and isn't as functional with things like Garage Band or other creatively useful apps.

If he needs (or, um, could use) something more portable for music, give him the lowest end iPod Nano as well.

Also, get him an iPhone when he's 12 or 13 -- probably not the newest model. That takes care of the portable aspect in a couple of years.

(I'm speaking from the perspective of being an uncle though. From a parent's perspective, this may or may not seem like a bit much.)
 
I think an iPod touch would be great, if he didn't treat his items very well, but as you've said he does take care of them, so I would definitely 100% get him an iPad. I think he will find it much more beneficial and useful. Then maybe for music on the go just get him an iPod shuffle? Something relatively inexpensive
 
chrono1081 said:
Many people disagree about technology for children but its that day and age where technology is king so why not expose kids to it, they will be using it throughout their lives.
Click to expand...

These devices are the future for kids.

I have two nephews (ages 3 and 4) who love to use my iPad, and they do have their own iPod touch as well (my brother bought them on Craigslist real cheap), touch screen is their future. I have several interactive books, apps that teach you to trace letters, sound out words, teach you colors etc...

The responsiveness of the touch screen makes it more intuitive to teach, learn and interact with. Teaching my nephew to use an iDevice was like teaching a fish to swim, but teaching my nephew to use my iMac with a mouse, now that was a challenge.

Regarding apps, I hate and will not install apps that contain ads (even if paid apps) that will take my nephew out of the app into the App Store or Safari Browser.
 
gdeputy said:
Does he respect his possessions? If the kids good and takes care of his belongings sure why not
Click to expand...

Er, nice answer:confused:

Go with the ipad. Think about Christmas morning. He opens up his present and there's an ipad. He'll go berko like the Nintendo 64 kid on youtube.
 
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