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

Get the IPad
He will get more use out of it and will be a great learning tool

And his eyes will light up when he opens it.
 
BeardedOrc said:
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First world problems... :p
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Yes it would suck to have 3rd world problems living in the 1st world wouldn't it?
 
Ipad all the way, both my girls stated playing with my iPhone from the age of about 16 months. Now the eldest who is 4 has her own iPad and has had one since last year an iPad 1. The youngest who is 18 months expresses even more interest in using it and is very able to navigate her self around the iPad. She mainly play sore school adventure. I pod touches are veery limited in use now a days.
 
mrrish said:
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).
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Good points on the portability and engraving. ;)

wrkactjob said:
Why not buy your child hundreds of real books instead?
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Because we already have tons of them. My wife is a Speech Language Pathologist and she has 6 large storage tubs and two three shelf bookshelves full of books. They vary from picture books to pre-teen and teen level books. We also have 10 foot by 7 foot built-in bookshelf filled with adult books.

In addition to all of that, between my wife and I, our iPads are each filled with another hundred books for the Kindle app and iBooks app.

Books are in NO shortage in our house. Thanks for your concern, though. :D

chrono1081 said:
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.
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I just did a research paper on iPads in Special Education, so I am quite aware of the educational advantage for ALL students. I am also taking classes and try to get as many textbooks in digital format as possible.

I do pre-seales engineering work, so to have almost 20 Cisco, Juniper, or any other technology related book near instantaneous is a huge advantage. I'd like to see someone carry that many tech books around in a given day. :eek: :p

jeremiah239 said:
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.
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Well, my initial thought was because he would most likely be taking pictures and videos with it so the extra storage would be beneficial. However, that same argument could be used with the iPad and justification for a larger hard drive in it, too.

I'm glad I have a couple more weeks to decide. :cool:
 
ipad.

thoug the touch is more portable the ipad is easier on the eyes and is more versatile when it comes to productivity
 
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Save a couple bills and get an iPod touch with lower capacity. Prolly a little more durable. I'm sure the kid will love the portability and being able to take it everywhere.
 
vitzr said:
Kudos for being a great parent.

............

Your child is lucky to be trusted and loved by you :)
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:confused::eek:

Silly goose! Don't you know that love ain't measured in dollars and cents, and that iPads in stockings don't make great parents?!

Not knocking the OP. I would suggest iPad over iPod. I think a 10 year old is old enough.
 
Think how many schools/educational institutions have purchased iPads for students vs a Touch?
 
If he is a musician I say go with the iPad. GarageBand is awesome and could definitely help him musically.

There are a ton of education apps that are wonderful on the iPad as well.


The only plus to the Touch is mobility. So get him a low-end touch for his 11th birthday! :)
 
I like your solution however if I were you i would have just given him your ipad 1 and gotten yourself an ipad 2. But thats just my opinion.
 
If he's anywhere close to being a serious musician, get him the iPad. Way more and better music creation programs available for iPad compared to iPod. Also, everything that everyone else mentioned. :)

My 6 year old has been using my iPad 1 since I upgraded to an iPad 2 earlier this year and it's worked out quite well.
 
I vote iPad as well. Particularly for garage band as he is musical and better educational offerings, including drawing apps which would be too small on a touch.
 
I have two in elementary school, 2nd grade and 3rd grade. Both our school district, and even more so our elementary, are somewhat at the front of technology, but not 'bleeding' edge.

Went through this process at our house, both this year and last year at this time. They both have iPod touches (previous generation). iPads are in their future, but not just yet.

Many great points in this thread already....but a couple I've not seen....

--While there are many educational apps in the App Store (and some very good ones), many of the web sites recommended or even required (for home study) by teachers are largely flash based (at least for now). So, at home they 'play' on their iPod touch (or my iPad when I let them), and they research/homework on a Mac Mini (supervised). Their computer lab at school is all desktops, FWIW (Windoze :mad:).

--If you get them a device that has a camera (including video), gps tracking technology, multi player games (and chat/Facebook/Twitter connectivity) via the external network, etc. etc.....be sure to monitor the restrictions settings (and apps) as deemed appropriate for that child. While we see it as a an educational tool, it definitely isn't to those who want to abuse the technology.
 
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!
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My daughter was 3 when the iPad 1 came out, my son 7. They've loved the iPad since day one & know how to use it all on their own. I see no problem with getting him the iPad. There are many educational games & learning apps in general. I have tons of them on there for the kids. It's amazing what they've put out there as far as apps. And of course there are plenty of great regular games out there too when you allow him to play those too.

That being said I think the 16gb would be sufficient. It really can hold a lot for just that. Plus put Netflix &/or Hulu & you have the streaming on it. Also if you're around the house set up the iPad to stream from the content on your computer. I use stream to me on the iPad & the kids can still watch all of their movies that are stored on my MacBook & even my NAS.

Hoped that helps. I did not see what others posted.
 
m3coolpix said:
I have two in elementary school, 2nd grade and 3rd grade. Both our school district, and even more so our elementary, are somewhat at the front of technology, but not 'bleeding' edge.

Went through this process at our house, both this year and last year at this time. They both have iPod touches (previous generation). iPads are in their future, but not just yet.

Many great points in this thread already....but a couple I've not seen....

--While there are many educational apps in the App Store (and some very good ones), many of the web sites recommended or even required (for home study) by teachers are largely flash based (at least for now). So, at home they 'play' on their iPod touch (or my iPad when I let them), and they research/homework on a Mac Mini (supervised). Their computer lab at school is all desktops, FWIW (Windoze :mad:).

--If you get them a device that has a camera (including video), gps tracking technology, multi player games (and chat/Facebook/Twitter connectivity) via the external network, etc. etc.....be sure to monitor the restrictions settings (and apps) as deemed appropriate for that child. While we see it as a an educational tool, it definitely isn't to those who want to abuse the technology.
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My sons school is pretty *****ty, but we are able to access study island that they use at school. As more schools are adopting iPads, we see it on the news all the time, hopefully they will switch from flash. I'm sure within the next year or so that will be the case.

I agree though to set restrictions. Depends on the kid. I actually don't do it for my 4 & 8 yr old. I put all the iPad apps (I call the iPhone stones, the ones you can't delete) in a folder & move it to the last page.
 
Thanks again for everyone's input.

We decided to get our 10 year old the iPad and our 8 year old the iPod Touch.
 
I love our first world problems.

Which luxury device do I buy my child? :)

I think the iPad 1 is a great choice if necessary. Or they could just actually go learn how to play a real instrument. The iPad should be used to augment certain learning learning not replace the real thing like learning an instrument.

Plus it also depends on how spoiled they are already. They may just throw it around after a few weeks. Kids are a tricky bunch.
 
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