Advise me on Tablets

In reply to spandak :

This might be the ticket for me. I don't need the newest iPad tech and that seems like a really good price. 

I bought my kids amazon fire tablets first and they were terrible. I hated the ad experience and getting the apps I wanted on there was clunky. I returned them and bought a pair of Samsung tablets. They're "fine," and get the job done. But most of the time I wish I'd bought them iPads. I don't think the kid controls are as good on iPads though, mostly talking about the ability to only run approved apps and have a kid "profile," but that doesn't matter to you. At $225, I would get the 9th gen iPad if I was you. The hardware will last and be supported longer, getting updates longer.

Wife has an ipad with a cellular account tied to it. Paid for by her job, uses it to take video calls on the road, to do light office work while after hours, etc. It's great, but if you're always near wifi you don't need the cell expense.

I have a fire tablet 10 HD, it's garbage, don't bother. There's a reason that ipads are the gold standard. Have friends with windows surface tablets and they like them, but that's closer to a "mini PC" than it is to a traditional tablet in usage.

Recently picked up the best value ipad for kiddo, and after all the research decided on this one:

Amazon.com : Apple iPad Air 10.5-inch (3rd Gen) Tablet A2152 (Wi-Fi Only) - 64GB / Space Gray (Renewed) : Electronics

If someone is really dying for a large format tablet for displaying sheet music true to life size, then here:

Amazon.com : SAMSUNG Item Name Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra WiFi ONLY Factory Unlocked Tablet SM-X910NZA 14.6 Inch, Android Tablet Including S Pen US Version 2023 (12GB+256GB, Grey) : Electronics

In reply to the_machina :

Damn... that's a hard price to argue with.

Any knowledge on the functional specs difference between the $225 9th gen listed above and the $170 3rd gen? Although, that is also an *air*, so the generations are probably not directly equivalent...

Deleted!

edit: oh crap I missed that was an air 3rd gen. Sorry

In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :

Conveniently there's a page on the apple website for that:

iPad Air (3rd generation) vs iPad (9th generation) vs iPad (10th generation) - Apple

dculbertson, the ipad air 3rd gen was released march of 2019. The 9th gen ipad was released in september of 2021.

All "recent" ipads that I'd recommend, from lowest price (and worst performance) to highest price (and best performance):

iPad Air 3rd gen - $170

iPad 9th gen - $230

iPad Air 4th gen - $290

iPad 10th gen - $300

iPad Pro 2nd gen - $430

iPad Air 5th gen - $400

iPad Air 6th gen - $550

iPad Pro 11 inch M1 - $590

There's more expensive stuff out there beyond this.

Don't go for an 8th gen or earlier ipad, don't go with a 2nd gen or before Air, and don't go with a 

the_machina said:

Don't go for an 8th gen or earlier ipad, don't go with a 2nd gen or before Air, and don't go with a 

...

Well, that's ominous.

Thanks for the link. That is useful.

Where are you finding the 10th gen and Air 4th gen for those prices?

Beer Baron 🍺 said:

the_machina said:

Don't go for an 8th gen or earlier ipad, don't go with a 2nd gen or before Air, and don't go with a 

...

Well, that's ominous.

Thanks for the link. That is useful.

Where are you finding the 10th gen and Air 4th gen for those prices?

Totally didn't realize I trailed off before I finished the note about Pros. But generally I wouldn't go for an iPad pro first gen.

On amazon, search for the model name and "renewed"

Amazon.com: Apple iPad Air 2020 (10.9-inch, Wi-Fi, 64GB) - Space Gray (Renewed) : Electronics

Amazon.com: Apple iPad (10th Generation): with A14 Bionic chip, 10.9-inch Liquid Retina Display, 64GB, Wi-Fi 6, 12MP front/12MP Back Camera, Touch ID, All-Day Battery Life – Pink : Electronics

In reply to the_machina :

Thanks for the suggestions. Will confer with wife.

Much of the big advantage I'd see with the slightly newer is the jump from the obnoxious thunderbolt to proper USB-C. Gotta think about how much that would be worth.

Beer Baron 🍺 said:

In reply to the_machina :

Thanks for the suggestions. Will confer with wife.

Much of the big advantage I'd see with the slightly newer is the jump from the obnoxious thunderbolt to proper USB-C. Gotta think about how much that would be worth.

Just to be pedantic:

The old crappy connector on apple devices is a Lightning connector.

USB-C ports can either be USB 3.1 or USB 3.2 (etc), can be charge+data (with USB PD) or just data, etc.

Thunderbolt is a port/connector that's compatible with USB-C (uses the same connector) but uses different Thunderbolt certified cables to push 4x as much data as a USB 3.2 cable. Thunderbolt is what you want to connect your laptop to a docking station with two big 4k monitors.

I agree that a USB-C connector makes life easier, though both my wife and my daughter's iPads use a lightning cable.

You don't need much processing power to watch videos and show sheet music. My 2017 iPad does that just fine. For the given use, I would be looking at battery life and portability. 

Lightning connectors work just fine, and unlike USB-C they're all the same!

I've been using Android tablets daily for years.  Samsung is good.  Nothing wrong with Apple though. My Lenovo Tab 4 10 is old now but that big screen sure is nice.

For my use case, the cell connection is super convenient.  It's way more useful than I thought it would be, and it was quite inexpensive to add it to my existing cell phone account.  But as always YMMV.

The differences in connectors are a complete non issue for me, the connector is only used for charging.  The data comes in via wifi or cell.

I bought a Lenova Tab M9 last year with its main use case being a digital dash connected to the ECU in my track car. It's also come in handy for entertainment on flights and my partner has used it at work. Bought straight from the manufacturer as their price was the best, no complaints here after a year and a half.