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All iPads Used iPad air or iPad Mini for school

D

DivineJustice

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2010
15
0
Hi everyone,

I was thinking about buying an iPad for school and for my budget, I can either get a used iPad air or an iPad mini (or I guess the last gen iPad).

I have a powerful windows laptop that I would prefer not to carry around and just wanted an iPad to take simple notes for classes (and maybe play some hearthstone on the go... hopefully not in class).

Just wanted to see if people would strongly advise me against a smaller size mini for note taking and whether people had good experiences with used market (craigslist). I'm a little more worried about an iPad since I'm not 100% familiar with the product and I might get one with less than optimal battery life.
 
If you are buying used i assume you are buying from ebay? Becareful and read the listing carefully.

I currently use an ipad air, its a great tablet. It is noticeably lightweight when compared to the last gen ipad 4 or ipad 3. Cant say much about the original ipad mini, for me the screen quality was lacking, i havent had my hands on a retina ipad mini. It all depends on the listings.
 
If you watch for sales you can get a new iPad Air for less than the price of a Mini Retina. I just got a new 16GB Air for $350 from Best Buy ($399 sale price - $50 student coupon). I'd be wary of used iPads/iPhones at this point since Apple has introduced the iCloud lock.
 
danny_w said:
If you watch for sales you can get a new iPad Air for less than the price of a Mini Retina. I just got a new 16GB Air for $350 from Best Buy ($399 sale price - $50 student coupon). I'd be wary of used iPads/iPhones at this point since Apple has introduced the iCloud lock.
Click to expand...
Wow, I'll have to look out for those.
 
CEmajr said:
A used iPad Air vs a brand new original iPad Mini?

Get the iPad Air no question about that choice.
Click to expand...
Sorry, should've been more clear on the topic. I'm also thinking about waiting a little bit until iPad Air price reduction when the next one comes out but that's a whole other topic.
 
Depends on which size you prefer then. The full sized iPads have always been awkward to me as they seemed too big to be ultraportable but not quite good enough to replace my laptop. I find the Mini form factor to be the perfect size for school. I just acquired a retina Mini on Craigslist for a good price so that's the way to go if you know what you're looking for.
 
CEmajr said:
Depends on which size you prefer then. The full sized iPads have always been awkward to me as they seemed too big to be ultraportable but not quite good enough to replace my laptop. I find the Mini form factor to be the perfect size for school. I just acquired a retina Mini on Craigslist for a good price so that's the way to go if you know what you're looking for.
Click to expand...
Hmm, I'm going to have to go check it out at an apple store tomorrow to see what size I'd be happy with. I heard that iPad mini is not that great with keyboard case, which I'll be getting for simple note taking.
 
DivineJustice said:
Hmm, I'm going to have to go check it out at an apple store tomorrow to see what size I'd be happy with. I heard that iPad mini is not that great with keyboard case, which I'll be getting for simple note taking.
Click to expand...

Well, if you are going to be using a keyboard case, then obviously, the ones for the mini come with tiny keys. The ones for the Air have almost full-size keys. If you touch type, I have a hard time imagining how anyone can manage on the mini keyboard case.
 
Night Spring said:
Well, if you are going to be using a keyboard case, then obviously, the ones for the mini come with tiny keys. The ones for the Air have almost full-size keys. If you touch type, I have a hard time imagining how anyone can manage on the mini keyboard case.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think I'll be getting a new iPad air from Best Buy since they have $100 off until next week (Canada). Thanks for whoever suggested this above! :D
 
DivineJustice said:
Hi everyone,

I was thinking about buying an iPad for school and for my budget, I can either get a used iPad air or an iPad mini (or I guess the last gen iPad).

I have a powerful windows laptop that I would prefer not to carry around and just wanted an iPad to take simple notes for classes (and maybe play some hearthstone on the go... hopefully not in class).

Just wanted to see if people would strongly advise me against a smaller size mini for note taking and whether people had good experiences with used market (craigslist). I'm a little more worried about an iPad since I'm not 100% familiar with the product and I might get one with less than optimal battery life.
Click to expand...

if you are using the iPad to take notes, you will want to get the iPad Air with a BT keyboard that acts as a case as well.

there was a recent deal at Staples where you could get an iPad Air 16GB for $369 after coupon, or the 32GB one for $469

i expect more deals to come soon and i think there is one coming up from Best Buy (according to slickdeals)
 
Medic311 said:
if you are using the iPad to take notes, you will want to get the iPad Air with a BT keyboard that acts as a case as well.

there was a recent deal at Staples where you could get an iPad Air 16GB for $369 after coupon, or the 32GB one for $469

i expect more deals to come soon and i think there is one coming up from Best Buy (according to slickdeals)
Click to expand...

whats the deal that may happen at best buy? I'm thinking about jumping on the staples deal but i don't know if i want 16 or 32gb
 
Since you're just using for notes you only really need 16GB. Check out clamcase if you want a good keyboard case, it works really well but it's pretty expensive.
 
gc15 said:
whats the deal that may happen at best buy? I'm thinking about jumping on the staples deal but i don't know if i want 16 or 32gb
Click to expand...

IMO i would get the 32GB

no one kicks themselves for getting the higher capacity iPads, but i see people regretting all the time going with the 16GB ones
 
Medic311 said:
IMO i would get the 32GB

no one kicks themselves for getting the higher capacity iPads, but i see people regretting all the time going with the 16GB ones
Click to expand...
I would kick myself for spending the extra $100 if I don't need to. Many people need the extra space but I don't.
 
DivineJustice said:
Hi everyone,

I was thinking about buying an iPad for school and for my budget, I can either get a used iPad air or an iPad mini (or I guess the last gen iPad).

I have a powerful windows laptop that I would prefer not to carry around and just wanted an iPad to take simple notes for classes (and maybe play some hearthstone on the go... hopefully not in class).

Just wanted to see if people would strongly advise me against a smaller size mini for note taking and whether people had good experiences with used market (craigslist). I'm a little more worried about an iPad since I'm not 100% familiar with the product and I might get one with less than optimal battery life.
Click to expand...

Do you have a smartphone as well? I love my full-sized iPad with my iPhone. I think it's a solid combo for whatever comes up. (Full disclosure: I also have a 27" iMac for intense research, work, grading, etc.) For my needs, a Mini wasn't a step-up enough.

If you don't have a smartphone, but you do have that laptop, a Mini might be best.
 
danny_w said:
I would kick myself for spending the extra $100 if I don't need to. Many people need the extra space but I don't.
Click to expand...

then don't buy the 32GB model then...i'm not sure why this is so difficult to comprehend
 
willmtaylor said:
Do you have a smartphone as well? I love my full-sized iPad with my iPhone. I think it's a solid combo for whatever comes up. (Full disclosure: I also have a 27" iMac for intense research, work, grading, etc.) For my needs, a Mini wasn't a step-up enough.

If you don't have a smartphone, but you do have that laptop, a Mini might be best.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have a pretty powerful windows laptop for work and gaming. I have a Nexus 5 for smartphone and after looking at all the things I would like to do on a tablet, decided to get one of the iPads. I'm going to buy one from Best Buy Canada as they have a $100 off back to school promotion.
 
DivineJustice said:
Yeah, I have a pretty powerful windows laptop for work and gaming. I have a Nexus 5 for smartphone and after looking at all the things I would like to do on a tablet, decided to get one of the iPads. I'm going to buy one from Best Buy Canada as they have a $100 off back to school promotion.
Click to expand...

Then, as I said, I'd go with the iPad Air, as it would fill that niche better. Of course, that's just bc it does so for me. To each his own.

Enjoy!
 
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