All iPads Did I make a mistake buying 16G iPads?

[ScottNWDW]

I started with the first iPad, I bought a 32GB WiFi version. I was doing just fine with it. I had a lot of stuff on it and it was great. A year or 2 later I won an iPad 3 WiFi from work, but it was just 16GB. Based on my usage of the original iPad I thought I could get by with 16GB. I deleted a lot of the non essential items and since I didn't use the music that much stripped out the music files. I had some apps that kind of duplicated one another since I couldn't decide which I liked better and I also deleted a lot of photos since I also realized that I didn't need to cary around that many photos. I also stored most of my Kindle and iBooks in the cloud. 16GB worked just fine for me, but I also to watch what I was doing because storage space was tight. I couldn't just keep a movie on it, I watched it and deleted it. Netflix or renting movies works better for this. Take what you need and leave the rest behind

For what the original poster said his wife and daughter would be using the iPad for, 16GB should be enough, but they may find as they use the iPad more and more they may start to need more space. It all depends on how they use it. Everyone can sit here and say 16GB is not enough space, but for a large number of people it is.

This past summer though, I took advantage of AT&T's next program and graduated to an iPad4 with 64GB of storage and WiFi + Cellular. It is working great for me. Part of the reason for getting the newer iPad was because of the storage limitation of the iPad 3 that I had. I was growing out of the 16GB, plus I had bought an iPad mini with 64GB and was used to having the larger amount of storage. I wanted both iPads (the mini and the regular size) to pretty much have the same things as far as apps go.

 

[justind.clark]

Multiple factors. It depends on what devices they already own, what they use them for, where they currently keep most of their stuff, and where they plan to keep it all later.

Anecdotally, I have both a Mac and an iPhone in addition to a 32GB iPad Air. I also have a 100GB Dropbox account. I keep a few gigs of music and podcasts synced to my iPad along with a handful of videos, games, and reading material. I'm a heavy iPad user, but since I don't keep a lot of video and thanks to services like Dropbox, iTunes Match, and Rdio; I find the sweet spot between my annoyance at having to push/pull my stuff to and from the cloud and price lands on the 32GB model. YMMV

 

[ZipZap]

I started with the first iPad, I bought a 32GB WiFi version. I was doing just fine with it. I had a lot of stuff on it and it was great. A year or 2 later I won an iPad 3 WiFi from work, but it was just 16GB. Based on my usage of the original iPad I thought I could get by with 16GB. I deleted a lot of the non essential items and since I didn't use the music that much stripped out the music files. I had some apps that kind of duplicated one another since I couldn't decide which I liked better and I also deleted a lot of photos since I also realized that I didn't need to cary around that many photos. I also stored most of my Kindle and iBooks in the cloud. 16GB worked just fine for me, but I also to watch what I was doing because storage space was tight. I couldn't just keep a movie on it, I watched it and deleted it. Netflix or renting movies works better for this. Take what you need and leave the rest behind

For what the original poster said his wife and daughter would be using the iPad for, 16GB should be enough, but they may find as they use the iPad more and more they may start to need more space. It all depends on how they use it. Everyone can sit here and say 16GB is not enough space, but for a large number of people it is.

This past summer though, I took advantage of AT&T's next program and graduated to an iPad4 with 64GB of storage and WiFi + Cellular. It is working great for me. Part of the reason for getting the newer iPad was because of the storage limitation of the iPad 3 that I had. I was growing out of the 16GB, plus I had bought an iPad mini with 64GB and was used to having the larger amount of storage. I wanted both iPads (the mini and the regular size) to pretty much have the same things as far as apps go.

You said this better this I did. Being frugal is a pain. 16 GB is always a mistake.

 

[Zmanbaseball2]

This is what I would do if I had 2 iPad rminis 16gb:

-Return the 2 iPad rminis 16gb and all the accessories you bought with them. The accessories are very expensive at the apple store.

-Buy 2 32gb iPad rminis

For one thing, buy all accessories on amazon.
-Buy this case in the colors you want:
Poetic Slimline Case for Apple iPad Mini 2 with Retina Display Black (3 Year Manufacturer Warranty From Poetic)
http://amzn.com/B00FNX0GOE

Makes your family happy with their new iPad rminis 32gb with a nice slimline case

This is what I would do.

 

[cinematicme]

32GB+ is more in line for phones since those will hold the majority of music, pictures etc

For a tablet 16GB is sufficient, as long as they aren't loading 10GB of music on to it. Properly encoded a 1080p movie even a 2hr one shouldn't hit more than ~2GB (that's .mp4 AAC audio with proper scaling for the device)

You should be fine. I finished a 4 year bachelors in film and video production on a 16GB WIFI iPad 3

 

[Tiger8]

Thought I would beat the Christmas rush and purchased two 16G iPad mini's with Retina display for both my wife and college age daughter for Christmas but now I'm seconding guessing myself on if they might be to small at only 16G. For the most part they will be using them 90% for surfing the internet and watching a movie here and there on a plane. Photos would be the only other big use I'm guessing.

Having spent almost $1,000 including smart covers, I hate the thought of having to return them for a 32G model at $200. more. Any thoughts or advise?

I bought a 32 GB iPad and it was a mistake. Unlike my phone which is constantly running out of space due to the camera and video, my iPad is sitting comfortably with plenty of storage. 13 GB usable space is plenty for say a dozen games (many popular games are in the sub-100MB size, a few are over 1 GB), a couple of movies, loads of books, and of course plenty of space for Safari and other productivity apps if any.

You get the most bang for your money with the 16 GB model, and since you picked two, I don't think it's worth the upgrade.

Don't forget there are dozens of third party solutiosn to add storage, especially if iPads are mostly used at home.

 

[Yahooligan]

I originally bought a 32GB Air and started setting it up, installing apps, downloading a couple of podcasts...and without adding any additional music or videos I was already using 10GB. Ok, so that leaves 22GB left, right?

I really have no desire to make compromises on space, I don't want to have to shuffle things around. It's a pain and an inconvenience, so if I'm going to spend the money then it needs to feel right for my wants/needs. So I exchanged it for a 128GB.

I'm currently using 48.3GB, 24GB of that is from 9 movies (Digital copies of movies I've bought) and I have no say in their encoding/compression. I haven't copied my music over as I generally listen to podcasts or streaming music, but if I did copy it over then that would be another 30GB or so, taking me up to 78GB.

Pictures aren't even a concern. I do have some apps that to use quite a bit of storage, they range from 1-2GB mainly.

My point is, it really depends on what the user wants to do or get out of the device. For a lot of users I don't see why 16GB wouldn't be just fine, for others they'd be useless because they're too small.

Since you're buying them as gifts then stick with the 16GB, there's no reason that you should be stuck trying to guess how much space someone else is going to need and end up spending more money because you're making an assumption that may not be spot-on. Your job is simply to get them hooked, if they want more then they can deal with it.

 

[CandyNJ66]

I bought the 16GB Retina Mini tonight but have until Jan 15 to exchange it for a 32GB model. I didn't quite have enough $$ this month, but the BB people told me I can upgrade just fine by Jan 15.

So far, the 16GB seem fine. I use it mostly for Netflix, streaming movies/tv on the xfinity2go app, reading, surfing the net, YouTube, Facebook etc and some games. I know 32GB will be better since I do want to download video podcasts and movies. For now, 16gb is fine

 

[Capt T]

A few questions for the OP.

How much music does either listen to? Do they have a separate iPod? Do they use their Phone for music? Or do they just listen to the radio or one of the streaming services?

Do you have a lot of movies on your computer at home already? What about TV shows? Does your family subscribe to Netflix or prime or other steaming service?


If you can assess some if that usage it might help you decide if 16gb is enough.

 

[Tony78228]

you should be fine, but look at file size of any app you download. I had a 16gb ipad 3 once, and the first app I downloaded was a car racing app, when I plugged the iPad into my PC to see the space I had, the first thing I thought was "16gb was a mistake"

 

[CandyNJ66]

I am happy to say, I upgraded early thanks to my bro and was able to exchange my 16GB R Mini for a 32GB tonight!! Very very glad I did because 16GB is too small.

I realized my retina mini made me fall in love with an iPad again! The tons of apps, some of which have very large file sizes made me thankful I could upgrade to the 32GB model.

If you have a doubt, I highly recommend buying a 32 or 64 if you can afford it.

 

[kyriostrife]

I am happy to say, I upgraded early thanks to my bro and was able to exchange my 16GB R Mini for a 32GB tonight!! Very very glad I did because 16GB is too small.

I realized my retina mini made me fall in love with an iPad again! The tons of apps, some of which have very large file sizes made me thankful I could upgrade to the 32GB model.

If you have a doubt, I highly recommend buying a 32 or 64 if you can afford it.

I am debating on exchanging my rMini 16gb wifi for either a 32gb Wifi or 16gb cellular/wifi (32gb cellular is too much for me).

I had an iPad 1 with 16gb and was downloading loads of apps, games, and movies just to store for the heck of it. Ran out of space. When I upgraded to an iPad 3, I made sure to get a 32gb. Did the same thing... loads of apps, games, and movies. Then I realized I never watched the movies, I played maybe 2 games and rarely at that (stuff like where's my water... which are really small games), never watched any movies... always preferred to watch on my 15" Macbook pro.

When travelling, I would load up a few tv shows since a 20 or 40 minute show was easier to watch and for me I had no care to watch 1080p tv shows. I would store music on it and never listen to it because I would always have more stored on my iPhone which is my primary music source (and same goes for music). My only real downloads were ebooks and pdfs in which all of them were stored in the cloud anyway. I used content creation apps for design but everything was always transferred out.

I realized I never used the space but because I had the space available I was just filling it up with useless stuff that I wasn't going to use. I would end up deleting tons of pointless apps. Even now I have the same issue on my iPhone because it's 32gb, but I definitely prefer 32gb because of music, videos, and photos.

Like everyone has said, it depends on your family's content consumption.

If your wife and daughter are media junkies and want to store their entire music and movie collection, 32gb probably wouldn't even suffice, let alone 16gb. If you don't want to spend the money then don't think twice about it. In my case I'm debating on upgrading my 16gb rMini for a 32gb rMini simply because I do have the money to spend, but at the same time I feel as though I'd get more value out of a 16gb cellular/wifi. Again, depends on their needs. I know if I bought my mother an iPad i'd get her a 16gb without hesitation.