mac4mac.co.uk

I'm looking for a replacement iPad for my 10-year old grandson whose ancient iPad has died.

There is SO MUCH choice! It doesn't have to be new, size is not important, but Wi-Fi is needed. It also needs to be sufficiently recent to be reasonably future-proof, but not cost too much.

For those who understand these things, could you kindly offer some advice. For instance, musicMagpie has been recommended for refurbished iPads, but then – which model, how old can I go? Can I spend less than £200 and still have a reasonably future-proof iPad?

Thanks in anticipation,

Lorimer

_________________
Mid '09 MacBook Pro 2.66ghz, 500gb SSD; OS 10.10.4; 11" MacBook Air 128gb;1 TB Time Capsule; iPhone 5s, 64gb; 13" 2012 MBA

Look at the specs, and see if a given model meets your requirements.
All iPads have WiFi capacity; some do not have cellular capacity.

Future-proof? A gamble, but the devices are able to be updated for quite some years. And if one is needed to use a non-updatable iPad for a while, isn't that doable?
I'm running Sierra. I could run later versions of the OS, but I get by quite well, thank you, on that now-old OS.
Not every device needs to be running the latest. And the kid is 10 years old!

Yes, but he was unable to load some programmes which were used at school.

_________________
Mid '09 MacBook Pro 2.66ghz, 500gb SSD; OS 10.10.4; 11" MacBook Air 128gb;1 TB Time Capsule; iPhone 5s, 64gb; 13" 2012 MBA

Apart from the size (large, standard medium, or mini), you have 3 choices:

1. the Pro, which is probably more than your 10 yr old needs
2. the Air, which is a very competent iPad and is future proof to a great extent
3. the (budget) iPad, i.e. the lowest specc'd of them; however it will still be a huge improvement on his ancient one

you could do a lot worse than check the refurbished models in the Apple Store - you won't save a huge amount but you will get a checked over machine which will be "as new" and comes with the full Apple 12 month warranty. They have a couple of these which at $209 almost meets your budget and saves $90 which is pretty good:

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/FW74 ... 820891b4db

ETA: apologies, that's the US store, there's nothing like that in the UK store

_________________
"If it ain't broke, we can fix it" (© Tim Cook, Jonny Ive)

Core i7 2011 21.5" iMac 12,1 2.8 GHz 16GB RAM OS X 10.9.5 1TB SSD & 128GB SSD

Very helpful MacBiter - thank you.

_________________
Mid '09 MacBook Pro 2.66ghz, 500gb SSD; OS 10.10.4; 11" MacBook Air 128gb;1 TB Time Capsule; iPhone 5s, 64gb; 13" 2012 MBA

I've found this website:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250001726

which beautifully clarifies the huge selection of iPads available (or not) today, together with information on production date and latest iOS they're capable of. I've found this extremely useful. I've also found that (as usual) eBay is the place to go, with an extensive offering of every iPad you could ever want, at prices far below elsewhere.

_________________
Mid '09 MacBook Pro 2.66ghz, 500gb SSD; OS 10.10.4; 11" MacBook Air 128gb;1 TB Time Capsule; iPhone 5s, 64gb; 13" 2012 MBA

Be very careful about buying from eBay - be very clear about what you're buying, guarantee, flaws, etc. If very cheap be suspicious...

_________________
"If it ain't broke, we can fix it" (© Tim Cook, Jonny Ive)

Core i7 2011 21.5" iMac 12,1 2.8 GHz 16GB RAM OS X 10.9.5 1TB SSD & 128GB SSD