IPad - Best Value?

[bobski1]

Mrs B has been dropping some hints lately about wanting to get an iPad mainly to do graphic designs & general browsing/work.

Been a long time since I bought any tech & I've been looking online & seems like there are a few places which sells refurbished iPads/apple pens but are these generally good value?

Looking for regular iPad (not air or pro) WiFi only, 256gb storage or more & an apple pen. Doesn't have to be the latest & greatest a lower generation would be fine, think it's on gen 10 now?

[LJF_97]

They are currently on gen 10, but I imagine they will be due an upgrade in the near future. Have a look at pawn shops, you can get older gens for quite cheap, although I was recently looking at the 10th gen and it made more sense to buy from Currys and get a warranty and a new machine for about £30 quid more than Cash Converters.

For graphic design, you might want an air or pro for the better chipset, however, with my money I'd be getting a MacBook if spending over a grand.

[gangzoom]

Make sure you get one with the M1 (or better) chipset, I actually used my one quite a bit during the house build to show builders what we wanted adding internally for wardows, and to help my wife visualise what light/colour combinations would work in various spaces.

Also make sure when buying used the battery is in decent shape, when using the pen to draw you will be surprised how quickly it eats through charge, I would say within 90 minitues you can almost drain the battery on my M1 Pro when using a drawing app+pencil.

[Sheepshanks]

However you settle on doing it, make sure the pen version you get is compatible with the iPad you choose.

[Magnum 475]

Lookup apple uk refurbished.

This will get you Apple’s uk refurbished store. Stock changes constantly, but you get the full Apple Warranty for significant discount over new prices. Products are indistinguishable from new.

[wyson]

Another vote for a M processor iPad.

If she is going to do graphic design etc it can eat RAM, base 10th gen iPads come with 4GB.

Also with Apple Intelligence becoming a thing in the future, a M processor iPad with 8GB ram is going to be a lot more future proof.

M processor iPads will come with more advanced versions of the Apple pencil that have more pressure sensitivity etc.

[SteveKTMer]

Magnum 475 said:

Lookup apple uk refurbished.

This will get you Apple’s uk refurbished store. Stock changes constantly, but you get the full Apple Warranty for significant discount over new prices. Products are indistinguishable from new.

This. Apple refurbished comes with a new case and screen and a new battery and a years Apple warranty.

Agree with M1 comment, don't get one without at least M1 processor, they were a fantastic step up and will continue being supported for years to come.

[Craikeybaby]

Ignoring the M1 chips, which are a big jump, and looking at the standard iPads, which were mentioned in the original post, there is a decent jump between the 9th generation and the 10th generation - my boys have both generations between them. The 10th generation is the one I would go for, especially if there is a deal to be had. My eldest son (with the older iPad) has a third party pencil which he uses with his iPad, it seems to do an OK job for a fraction of the price of the official Apple version.

[bobski1]

Perhaps there is a better tablet/device over an iPad for what she wants? I did buy a drawing pad to link to laptop but she just didn't get on with it

[wyson]

Depends on what software she is running.

Dell XPS13 2 in 1 or Surface Pro are touch screen tablets running full fat Windows.

Can get stuff like the Wacom Cintiq if she wants a screen she can draw on. She can pair that with whatever computer she wants.

[bobski1]

wyson said:

Depends on what software she is running.

Dell XPS13 2 in 1 or Surface Pro are touch screen tablets running full fat Windows.

Can get stuff like the Wacom Cintiq if she wants a screen she can draw on. She can pair that with whatever computer she wants.

No set software yet, I have photoshop and illustrator on my Mac but even that is getting very old and doesn't get a massive amount of use.

I think a tablet/2 in 1 is what she prefers over a drawing tablet, that way she can use it for general browsing too

[Craikeybaby]

I would go iPad, mainly on the basis that there is the ecosystem around it, for apps/guides etc.

[skeeterm5]

One word of caution if buying refurbed, heck how old it is. My iPad Air 2 no longer gets updates from Apple and I am starting to see some apps that won’t work with my version is iOS (15.8.3).

Apple generally only support their kit for 5 years.

[xeny]

skeeterm5 said:

One word of caution if buying refurbed, heck how old it is. My iPad Air 2 no longer gets updates from Apple and I am starting to see some apps that won’t work with my version is iOS (15.8.3).

Apple generally only support their kit for 5 years.

Looking at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_iPad_models#... , I'm seeing periods of over 9 years in the "lifespan" column. If you got 5 years of support on the refurb'd Air 2, that suggests you bought it 2 years after it was discontinued?

[danb79]

bobski1 said:

Mrs B has been dropping some hints lately about wanting to get an iPad mainly to do graphic designs & general browsing/work.

Been a long time since I bought any tech & I've been looking online & seems like there are a few places which sells refurbished iPads/apple pens but are these generally good value?

Looking for regular iPad (not air or pro) WiFi only, 256gb storage or more & an apple pen. Doesn't have to be the latest & greatest a lower generation would be fine, think it's on gen 10 now?

Just get the latest iPad; they're £309 on Amazon. That is for £64GB though, they go up a lot for more storage; why is 256GB needed, can iCloud storage not be used?

Am compatible pen is c£25; screen protector (Jtec) c£10 andc a case (ESR/Jtech etc) c£15

You don't need any more than that really

[MiniMan64]

skeeterm5 said:

One word of caution if buying refurbed, heck how old it is. My iPad Air 2 no longer gets updates from Apple and I am starting to see some apps that won’t work with my version is iOS (15.8.3).

Apple generally only support their kit for 5 years.

Tell me about it, I have a work provided Air 1 that will not run a thing except Safari and the planning app I primarily use it for, everything else is useless. Unsurprisingly.

Currently debating similar to the OP and whether it worth self-upgrading to a 10 just I can scroll through more crap online…