iPad iPad family shuffle

[ericg301]

Looking for some advice on how to outfit my family with iPad devices (never "iPads," right Eddie?). As we hit day 32 of lockdown, tablets have been the coin of the realm here in our house.

As the man of the house, I have a 2017 9.7" regular iPad. I use it for streaming, web browsing, light gaming...it's my "couch device." I have a Macbook Air for personal use and a work-issued Macbook Pro. We also have an Acer laptop floating around.

My 4th grade daughter has an iPad mini 4. It's getting a bit long in the tooth but works fine for her streaming, gaming and messaging (she doesn't have a phone). Since we've been in lockdown, she's been using her school-issued chromebook for classwork. But she's getting pretty close to needing her own "computer." (what's a computer?) I think a full sized ipad with external keyboard and BT mouse would be perfect. All the benefits of a tablet plus the ability to do schoolwork. She's tried this setup on her mini but the screen is too small to do anything.

My 1st grader has the 8" Amazon Fire Tablet. It's slow, doesn't have a lot of RAM and frequently freezes. It's passable for streaming and games. But it's not an iOS device and she's jealous that she can't get all of the games that her sister has. Also the Fire OS isn't terribly intuitive, and she accidently made $50 worth of IAP purchases over the weekend, even though I thought I had prevented that from happening. The IAP toggle is in the app store settings, not the main settings app. I do a factory reset on it about once a month.

So anyway, I'm brainstorming how to get everyone setup. First thought is to give my 9.7 to my 4th grader, give the mini to the 1st grader, and get a new one for myself (the 10.2?). Or buy a new mini for my 4th grader and have her use one of the real computers in the house for her homework — but I have a hard time letting one of the kids have a new, better device than me ;-)

And then last night, my wife mentioned that she wouldn't mind an iPad either...as her XR screen is "too small."

 

[ftaok]

I think you're overthinking this, IMO. The main thing is the kids school. What are they expected to use for school. You mention Chromebooks, so I'm going to assume that they'll continue to use Chromebooks through middle and high school. At the elementary level, do they really need a computer more capable than a Chromebook? My 4th grader is using a 2010 Macbook and that's capable of doing any of the online stuff they use (and it's really being tested this last month). Our elementary schools do not issue Chromebooks .. that happens at 6th grade.

My older kids both have school issued Chromebooks, but prefer to work on their 2014 MBA's. If they didn't have the MBA's, they could easily get by with the Chromebooks.

So the real need is whether you want a new device for yourself or not. Downcycling the 9.7 and mini4 would be a result of you wanting/needing a new 10.2 iPad. I think there is merit in getting rid of the Fire 8, as that is a terrible device. I have one that I only use for reading comic books and it's just awful, so I can feel your little one's frustration.

Get a BT keyboard/mouse for the 4th grader to use with the 9.7 for "schoolwork" and a 10.2/10.5/Pro for yourself. Personally, I'm not so certain that iPads are all that great in an educational setting when the school district is set up for Chromebooks, but a BT keyboard/mouse isn't that expensive to try out. And if it turns out that the iPad is no good for school work, the BT devices are still useful for other family members.

Let the wife buy whatever she wants as that will make her happy, and in turn, make you happy.

Good luck on your decisions.

 

[rui no onna]

I think the mini 4 would definitely be going to the 1st grader.

Ask the 4th grader if she wants a bigger iPad. If yes, you can give her your 2017 9.7" and grab new iPads for you and your wife.

If she prefers the mini size, then mini 5's the only upgrade option. That might make the choice of iPad to give your wife harder. Dunno if your wife will be happy to get your hand-me-down 2017 9.7".

Obviously, the choice would depend on your budget.

Usual sale or refurb pricing:

iPad 10.2": 32GB/$229-279, 128GB/$329-379

iPad mini 5: 64GB/$339-349, 256GB/$469-499

iPad Air 3: 64GB/$399, 256GB/$549

iPad Pro 11" (2018): 64GB/$549, 256GB/$679

 

[ericg301]

But do I really need a pro? Seems like overkill for me. I think 32GB is going to be too small for everyone...I want to future-proof at least for a while. 64GB minimum. We load up all the tablets with movies for road trips (remember road trips? remember traveling?)

And yes, once they get to middle school they get their own chromebooks to take home, but obviously it's just a web portal and they can access that content from any device (and they have). So I'll take school work out of the equation. Also, I'll take the wife out of the equation. If she wants an iPad, she can buy an iPad.

Has anyone seen the 6th gen Ipad, (last years model) for sale? I don't need the bigger screen size of the 7th gen, and I believe the processors are the same. May be some cost savings there.

So I'll for sure pass the mini 4 down to the first grader. No it comes down to getting the 4th grader a mini 5, or giving her my 9.7.

 

[AutomaticApple]

Looking for some advice on how to outfit my family with iPad devices (never "iPads," right Eddie?). As we hit day 32 of lockdown, tablets have been the coin of the realm here in our house.

As the man of the house, I have a 2017 9.7" regular iPad. I use it for streaming, web browsing, light gaming...it's my "couch device." I have a Macbook Air for personal use and a work-issued Macbook Pro. We also have an Acer laptop floating around.

My 4th grade daughter has an iPad mini 4. It's getting a bit long in the tooth but works fine for her streaming, gaming and messaging (she doesn't have a phone). Since we've been in lockdown, she's been using her school-issued chromebook for classwork. But she's getting pretty close to needing her own "computer." (what's a computer?) I think a full sized ipad with external keyboard and BT mouse would be perfect. All the benefits of a tablet plus the ability to do schoolwork. She's tried this setup on her mini but the screen is too small to do anything.

My 1st grader has the 8" Amazon Fire Tablet. It's slow, doesn't have a lot of RAM and frequently freezes. It's passable for streaming and games. But it's not an iOS device and she's jealous that she can't get all of the games that her sister has. Also the Fire OS isn't terribly intuitive, and she accidently made $50 worth of IAP purchases over the weekend, even though I thought I had prevented that from happening. The IAP toggle is in the app store settings, not the main settings app. I do a factory reset on it about once a month.

So anyway, I'm brainstorming how to get everyone setup. First thought is to give my 9.7 to my 4th grader, give the mini to the 1st grader, and get a new one for myself (the 10.2?). Or buy a new mini for my 4th grader and have her use one of the real computers in the house for her homework — but I have a hard time letting one of the kids have a new, better device than me ;-)

And then last night, my wife mentioned that she wouldn't mind an iPad either...as her XR screen is "too small."

Give the iPad mini 4 to the 1st grader and buy the entry level iPad for the 4th grader.

 

[KittyKatta]

This is exactly why Apple needs to hire real people with actual families.

In our household we have 2 Mini's, an 11 and a 12.9. Thats about $3000 in iPads. There is absolutely no technological reason that any of us should be allowed to pick up any size we want and log in, but because Apple loves money and hates families then these are all single user devices. So I'm stuck reading on a gigantic heavy 12.9" iPad and the kids are doing 6hrs of quarantine homework on an eye splitting 7" Mini.

 

[rui no onna]

But do I really need a pro? Seems like overkill for me. I think 32GB is going to be too small for everyone...I want to future-proof at least for a while. 64GB minimum. We load up all the tablets with movies for road trips (remember road trips? remember traveling?)

Has anyone seen the 6th gen Ipad, (last years model) for sale? I don't need the bigger screen size of the 7th gen, and I believe the processors are the same. May be some cost savings there.

So I'll for sure pass the mini 4 down to the first grader. No it comes down to getting the 4th grader a mini 5, or giving her my 9.7.

Given the 7th gen has 3GB and often goes on sale for $100 off, pricing is more or less on par with the 6th gen.

Since your 2017 9.7 seems to do everything you need it to, you certainly don't need a Pro. The Pro just has some quality of life improvements and at $549 for refurb, it's fairly reasonably priced so might be worth considering

 

[ftaok]

This is exactly why Apple needs to hire real people with actual families.

In our household we have 2 Mini's, an 11 and a 12.9. Thats about $3000 in iPads. There is absolutely no technological reason that any of us should be allowed to pick up any size we want and log in, but because Apple loves money and hates families then these are all single user devices. So I'm stuck reading on a gigantic heavy 12.9" iPad and the kids are doing 6hrs of quarantine homework on an eye splitting 7" Mini.

The $3,000 of iPads that you have in your house is exactly why Apple doesn't support multiple users for iOS devices.

Just wondering, do Android tablets support multiple users?
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Has anyone seen the 6th gen Ipad, (last years model) for sale? I don't need the bigger screen size of the 7th gen, and I believe the processors are the same. May be some cost savings there.

Definitely go for the 10.2 unless you can find a ridiculous deal on the 9.7

The 10.2 has the smart connector which supports the newest keyboard cases. I think it also has more RAM.

The downside is if you use Microsoft Office Free. The 10.2 screen prevents some features .. I'm not totally sure about this.

 

[ericg301]

The $3,000 of iPads that you have in your house is exactly why Apple doesn't support multiple users for iOS devices.

Just wondering, do Android tablets support multiple users?
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Definitely go for the 10.2 unless you can find a ridiculous deal on the 9.7

The 10.2 has the smart connector which supports the newest keyboard cases. I think it also has more RAM.

The downside is if you use Microsoft Office Free. The 10.2 screen prevents some features .. I'm not totally sure about this.

Irrelevant since there are no more Android tablets outside of the Fire devices.

 

[ftaok]

Irrelevant since there are no more Android tablets outside of the Fire devices.

Actually, it's still relevant because there are lots of Android tablets out there still. Even so, it looks like some tablets do support multiple users. Not sure if Fire tablets do ... I wouldn't subject my kids the horrors of using the Fire8. Oof.

 

[ericg301]

Actually, it's still relevant because there are lots of Android tablets out there still. Even so, it looks like some tablets do support multiple users. Not sure if Fire tablets do ... I wouldn't subject my kids the horrors of using the Fire8. Oof.

Fire8 does have multiple profiles.

I agree it's a huge miss for Apple. That, and lack of touch screen laptops (a thread for another day). I had my kids use my laptop for the first week of lockdown until they brought home their chromebooks...and they couldnt get use to not touching the screen. I wrote tim an email said that they were on the verge of losing an entire generation of chromebook kids....

 

[AutomaticApple]

they were on the verge of losing an entire generation of chromebook kids....

Smart keyboard + iPad?

 

[rui no onna]

The $3,000 of iPads that you have in your house is exactly why Apple doesn't support multiple users for iOS devices.

Just wondering, do Android tablets support multiple users?

Yes. Ever since either Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean, iirc. Phones as well.

Lol, I created a spreadsheet of my iPads and acquisition cost over the past 9 years and the total was cringe inducing.

 

[ftaok]

Fire8 does have multiple profiles.

I agree it's a huge miss for Apple. That, and lack of touch screen laptops (a thread for another day). I had my kids use my laptop for the first week of lockdown until they brought home their chromebooks...and they couldnt get use to not touching the screen. I wrote tim an email said that they were on the verge of losing an entire generation of chromebook kids....

I don’t think Chromebooks (at least the ones used in schools) threatens any Apple product. Most kids get frustrated using them because they sick compared to MacBooks or iPads. If anything, it’ll turn kids away from cheap hardware.

 

[KittyKatta]

I don’t think Chromebooks (at least the ones used in schools) threatens any Apple product. Most kids get frustrated using them because they sick compared to MacBooks or iPads. If anything, it’ll turn kids away from cheap hardware.

Not sure I agree with that statement. Many students nowadays CHOOSE Chromebooks, Not because of superior hardware, but because of a superior experience. Screen, built in keyboard, chrome, google docs and google classroom. And that’s just sad because Education used to be Apple’s thing. But nowadays Apple puts zero effort into EDU while Google (and even Microsoft) snuck in and took over.

(BTW. Despite my efforts in making their iPad Mini’s as “computer” as possible with a mouse and keyboard, the kids always end up fighting over that stupid $100 chromebook that I bought on black Friday. I guess It Just Works.)

 

[EugW]

My kids are 5 and 7 and both have their own iPad Air 2. The first is in kindergarten and the second is in grade 2.

Google Docs + Google classwork works on my kids' iPads Air 2, but I think it's a little clunky. I don't know if it's more seamless on Chromebooks, but it's a bit of a strange workflow.

It's all web-based but I still wonder if they've integrated Google Docs better on the Chromebooks. Cuz on iPadOS, this is what we have to do:

1. Enter Google Classroom. Find out assignment. See that the teacher has attached a Google Docs file to edit for the assignment.
2. Exit Google Classroom and enter Google Docs. Edit the file and save it.
3. Exit Google Docs and enter Google Classroom. See that the file now has the saved assignment.

The clunky part is that you are allowed to edit the file directly from Google Classroom, but not as a normal document. Basically you can markup the file, but cannot do a proper edit. The only way to do a proper edit is to leave Google Classroom and enter Google Docs.

The other clunky part is that some of the document stuff goes off-screen when the on-screen keyboard pops up on the iPad, so you're constantly fighting with this. This would work a lot better with an external keyboard I think, but we haven't tried that yet.

I'm tempted to break out my white 2008 MacBook with Chrome OS on it, and get Google Classroom running on that to see what that's like. However, first I will get my Magic Keyboard running with the 7 year-old's iPad Air 2 to see if that makes things a bit smoother.

Or else we could let them use our secondary Macs running High Sierra. I have an aluminum 2008 MacBook 13" and an aluminum 2009 MacBook Pro 13" they could use. My understanding is they could access Google Classroom via the web, with a proper keyboard and larger screen.

---

BTW, for some of the other web-based educational sites they access, it seems they haven't formatted them properly for iPads. If there are multiple tabs, some of the screen elements may not be there, because they are just off-screen at the edge, and there are no scroll bars. Stupid UI design. To get around this, you have to get rid of the tab bar to expose more screen space.

EDIT:

OK it's an Apple Wireless Keyboard (2009), not an Apple Magic Keyboard, but the same idea applies. It is WAY more pleasant using Google Docs on the iPad Air 2 when running with the external keyboard. The workflow is still clunky, but at least stuff doesn't scroll off screen because of an on-screen keyboard popping up.

I still wonder if the Chromebook might be a slicker solution though.

 

[rui no onna]

It's all web-based but I still wonder if they've integrated Google Docs better on the Chromebooks.

Not at all surprised.

I'm forced to use the Gmail app because on the native iOS Mail app, I'd often get: "This message has not been downloaded" ever since iOS 11/12. Gmail app doesn't play nice with iOS though.

Gripe #1: The Gmail app still doesn't support split-view.

Gripe #2: The Gmail app offers an option to select the default browser for opening links. Selecting Chrome opens the external Chrome app as expected. Selecting Safari opens the link in an embedded Safari browser within Gmail and takes an extra tap to open the link in external Safari. Not good for single-use password reset links.

 

[max2]

Not at all surprised.

I'm forced to use the Gmail app because on the native iOS Mail app, I'd often get: "This message has not been downloaded" ever since iOS 11/12. Gmail app doesn't play nice with iOS though.

Gripe #1: The Gmail app still doesn't support split-view.

Gripe #2: The Gmail app offers an option to select the default browser for opening links. Selecting Chrome opens the external Chrome app as expected. Selecting Safari opens the link in an embedded Safari browser within Gmail and takes an extra tap to open the link in external Safari. Not good for single-use password reset links.

Bingo.

 

[dk001]

But do I really need a pro? Seems like overkill for me. I think 32GB is going to be too small for everyone...I want to future-proof at least for a while. 64GB minimum. We load up all the tablets with movies for road trips (remember road trips? remember traveling?)

And yes, once they get to middle school they get their own chromebooks to take home, but obviously it's just a web portal and they can access that content from any device (and they have). So I'll take school work out of the equation. Also, I'll take the wife out of the equation. If she wants an iPad, she can buy an iPad.

Has anyone seen the 6th gen Ipad, (last years model) for sale? I don't need the bigger screen size of the 7th gen, and I believe the processors are the same. May be some cost savings there.

So I'll for sure pass the mini 4 down to the first grader. No it comes down to getting the 4th grader a mini 5, or giving her my 9.7.

Figure what you can spend then go from there.
I leveraged my other half wanting something other than her Mini5 so I gave her my IPP 11 (1st Gen) and bought a new IPP 11. Then we gifted her Mini5 and my older Mini4 to a couple of family mems.

School kids? They need Chromebooks in most cases. Leave the school stuff out of the equation IMO.

 

[KittyKatta]

Google Docs + Google classwork works on my kids' iPads Air 2, but I think it's a little clunky. I don't know if it's more seamless on Chromebooks, but it's a bit of a strange workflow.

Yeah, the Education experience with the iPad has been pretty bad. On their Chromebook then every assignment and communication seems to be a click away and a click back. But on the iPad then there’s been so much app switching when just trying to do one assignment.

It is WAY more pleasant using Google Docs on the iPad Air 2 when running with the external keyboard. The workflow is still clunky, but at least stuff doesn't scroll off screen because of an on-screen keyboard popping up.

I still wonder if the Chromebook might be a slicker solution though.

I dont think the iPad/Keyboard/Mouse setup is awful. My kids absolutely love their iPads, but the fact that theyre fighting over a Chromebook has to mean something about the iPad Classroom experience.

I’ve been tempted to buy another Chromebook but considering that we’re at the end of the School year then I dont want to buy anything so single-purpose. I really wish the iPad worked out like I wanted it to but after seeing how iPads work in real world education then I’m thinking of buying them a used MacBook Air for next years school work.

 

[ftaok]

Not sure I agree with that statement. Many students nowadays CHOOSE Chromebooks, Not because of superior hardware, but because of a superior experience. Screen, built in keyboard, chrome, google docs and google classroom. And that’s just sad because Education used to be Apple’s thing. But nowadays Apple puts zero effort into EDU while Google (and even Microsoft) snuck in and took over.

(BTW. Despite my efforts in making their iPad Mini’s as “computer” as possible with a mouse and keyboard, the kids always end up fighting over that stupid $100 chromebook that I bought on black Friday. I guess It Just Works.)

I guess my point is that kids use their Chromebooks because it's the best option for doing their schoolwork. School districts that have settled on Chromebooks use the Google Suite of webapps. It's optimized for Chromebooks, not iPads. It's not surprising that kids would opt for using a Chromebook over an iPad when doing their homework.

My comment was in regards to Apple losing an entire generation of kids to Chromebooks. I don't think there's any chance that Apple loses iPad sales to Chromebooks because that's what they use in school.

I offer you a challenge. Tell your kids that you're going to buy them a new device. They can choose either a Chromebook or an iPad. Which do you think they'll ask for? I know what my kids and their friends would ask for.

NOTE - I am in no way responsible if they keep pestering you if you fail to follow through on buying them a new device.

 

[KittyKatta]

I offer you a challenge. Tell your kids that you're going to buy them a new device. They can choose either a Chromebook or an iPad. Which do you think they'll ask for? I know what my kids and their friends would ask for.

I’m going to modify your challenge to be realistic.

Choice 1: IPad
Choise 2: Chromebook + Phone

IPads are awesome.... for adults. But you’d be surprised at how many kids WOULDNT pick an iPad to be their primary window to the world. They have smaller fingers and better eyes than us so the convenience and ultra portability of a phone far exceeds the need for a big screen. Their phone does everything they need...except homework. So if homework is 50% of their life then a solid number of kids would pick the device that gets homework done faster so that they could get back on their phones.

NOTE - I am in no way responsible if they keep pestering you if you fail to follow through on buying them a new device

Okay, I’m modifying your scenario again to be realistic. I’m not the one buying it for them so if they want an iPad then they can use their own money. And if that’s the case then they most likely wont be buying one.