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iPad Help me find a good setup for my 11 year old who is obsessed with drawing

T

tonybarnaby

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Original poster
Dec 3, 2017
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My daughter is looking for an iPad that supports apple pencil and a wireless keyboard. She doesn't want a keyboard that attaches to the iPad itself. I'm looking for 128gb if possible, as 64 is too small.

Should I get the new 10.2" or the 9.6" previous model, both with 128gb. Do they both support as many keyboards plus have pencil support? Sorry for the noob questions, but I don't know anything about these devices or all the peripherals.

Thanks!
 
All iPads support Bluetooth keyboards. Yes, both 2018 9.7” and 2019 10.2” models have Pencil support.

With holiday sales, I think your daughter is better off getting the 2019 model. It has more RAM and should do better at multitasking. The 10.2” 128GB Wi-Fi is expected to be on sale for $330.
 
rui no onna said:
All iPads support Bluetooth keyboards. Yes, both 2018 9.7” and 2019 10.2” models have Pencil support.

With holiday sales, I think your daughter is better off getting the 2019 model. It has more RAM and should do better at multitasking. The 10.2” 128GB Wi-Fi is expected to be on sale for $330.
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Thanks! Any idea where this sale will be? I prefer to buy from Apple directly, but best buy is also fine.
 
Buy her my iPad pro 12.9 :). I rarely touched it and looking to sell it. Its literally like new!

Message me if you'd like the link to my posting on here.
 
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audirs5 said:
Buy her my iPad pro 12.9 :). I rarely touched it and looking to sell it. Its literally like new!

Message me if you'd like the link to my posting on here.
Click to expand...
It's a nice deal, but way overkill for my kid. Thanks!
 
Air 3 is the sweet spot. look at amazons price and have Best Buy price match it.
 
for drawing and sketching, the bigger the screen real estate the bigger the canvas, i have the 10.5 and 12.9, for sketch designs the extra real estate makes it much easier to complete task, a year old 12.9 used might not be as expensive as you think. unless ofcourse your daughter is just doodling around, in that case may i suggest paper and crayon? haha.
 
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VertPin said:
Air 3 is the sweet spot. look at amazons price and have Best Buy price match it.
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What makes the air 3 better than the 10.2” iPad in terms of drawing? I know it’s slightly bigger and has a better processor, but does it support the Apple Pencil in the same way?
 
tonybarnaby said:
What makes the air 3 better than the 10.2” iPad in terms of drawing? I know it’s slightly bigger and has a better processor, but does it support the Apple Pencil in the same way?
Click to expand...
It supports the pencil, yes. But what makes it better than the 10.2 is that there is no air gap between the screen and input. It feels better to draw on and looks less distorted imo. However, your 11 year old highly likely would not notice that!
 
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VertPin said:
It supports the pencil, yes. But what makes it better than the 10.2 is that there is no air gap between the screen and input. It feels better to draw on and looks less distorted imo. However, your 11 year old highly likely would not notice that!
Click to expand...

I, as an adult, switch regularly between an ipad 2018 and a mini 5 and rarely notice that.

And when I say switch, I mean put down and and pick up the other. This is made possible by using the Logitech Crayon instead of apple pencil. No pressure sensitivity, but infinitely less fiddly to connect. Charges with a female lightning port, and you jsut turn it on and it works with whatever newish ipad (2018 or 2019, air 3, mini 5, ipad pro 2018) you put underneath it.
 
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nicho said:
I, as an adult, switch regularly between an ipad 2018 and a mini 5 and rarely notice that.

And when I say switch, I mean put down and and pick up the other. This is made possible by using the Logitech Crayon instead of apple pencil. No pressure sensitivity, but infinitely less fiddly to connect. Charges with a female lightning port, and you jsut turn it on and it works with whatever newish ipad (2018 or 2019, air 3, mini 5, ipad pro 2018) you put underneath it.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the mini-review. I'm considering buying the crayon and I've been trying to research how it works in a multi-iPad situation and have sadly come up empty.
 
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rui no onna said:
Thanks for the mini-review. I'm considering buying the crayon and I've been trying to research how it works in a multi-iPad situation and have sadly come up empty.
Click to expand...

I have three ipads (had my personal 2018 first, which i used with apple pencil). started a new job and was given an ipad 2018 to use there (bought a logitech crayon to use there, as i was worried about breaking the pencil and had a lot of annotating of documents to do). when I got the ipad mini 5 as well I ditched the apple pencil entirely (a gift to my mother) and just bought a second crayon - one for work, one in an elastic loop on the back of my mini's case.

If it's powered on it works on any ipad. I've used it across all three simultaneously. I've also had both crayons powered on and picked up one then the other, without issues of any kind.

Now that it's available in the new space grey colour, I dare say I wouldn't bother to invest in an apple pencil 2 even if i got an ipad pro. the crayon has distinct advantages once you have more than one ipad.
 
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Just bought a Crayon from Best Buy and I like it a lot better than the Apple Pencil.

At first, stupid me thought it was broken because it wasn't working on my iPads. Then I remembered mine were both 2017 iPad Pros (10.5 & 12.9). Tried it on two 2018 iPad 9.7 when I got home and it worked beautifully marking PDFs side by side. I actually found the flat profile more comfortable than the round Apple Pencil 1.

I'll probably nab two iPads this BF. One for upgrade and a second one to be used as a dedicated work iPad ($250 2019 iPad 10.2 32GB).
 
rui no onna said:
Tried it on two 2018 iPad 9.7 when I got home and it worked beautifully marking PDFs side by side. I actually found the flat profile more comfortable than the round Apple Pencil 1.
Click to expand...

I prefer the shape of it too. I've always had issues writing with biros etc, can't stand writing for extended period with my index finger bending backwards. I like the chunkiness of the crayon.
 
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