OT: Advice on buying a non-iPad tablet

[eddief]

oops

[eddief]

https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Offici...eniuslink=true

[fourflys]

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/ipad

some options?

[dave thompson]

Originally Posted by veggieburger

Hello Folks – would love to have your opinion on buying an off-brand tablet. It will be used primarily to get on the internet, read periodicals, save the odd PDF, follow along with continuing education courses that no longer offer paper. I want something that doesn’t have any pop-ups (apparently some Amazon tablets do?) and keeps a decent charge. Don’t need anything terribly fancy or a super awesome camera. I'll probably try to buy it second hand.

Anything you've bought in the past that you would recommend?

Thanks!

I too would recommend a used iPad. They're extremely robust, well supported and easy to use.

I bought an iPad Pro 12.9 when they first came out and it has traveled the world with me with no issues. It has almost entirely replaced my laptop. I recently replaced it with the latest generation iPad Pro as i have stored all my travel pics and videos and simply needed more on-board storage. I was using Apple's iCloud for storage of my excess on my original.

I will GIVE you my original Pro along with its charging cord, you'll have to buy an Apple compatible charger (widely available and pretty cheap) for the cost of shipping to you. This iPad works perfectly, has zero defects and I'll throw in a new screen protector too.

Give me a shout if you're interested.

[paredown]

Originally Posted by dave thompson

I too would recommend a used iPad. They're extremely robust, well supported and easy to use.

I bought an iPad Pro 12.9 when they first came out and it has traveled the world with me with no issues. It has almost entirely replaced my laptop. I recently replaced it with the latest generation iPad Pro as i have stored all my travel pics and videos and simply needed more on-board storage. I was using Apple's iCloud for storage of my excess on my original.

I will GIVE you my original Pro along with its charging cord, you'll have to buy an Apple compatible charger (widely available and pretty cheap) for the cost of shipping to you. This iPad works perfectly, has zero defects and I'll throw in a new screen protector too.

Give me a shout if you're interested.

Some of us got burned on the short life of the first five generations of iPads--Apple has been pretty ruthless about cutting the legs out from under their older products by dropping support AND making it difficult (and sometimes impossible) to keep them running by restricting the iStore to only the most recent software releases. They make nice scrolling picture displays if yuu mount them in a frame...

It seems to have gotten slightly better--apparently there is still some support for "vintage" iPads (5), and reasonable support for discontinued models (6-9).

The Kindle world is not much better--our house is littered with old Kindles that are no longer usable. The good news is that they were all cheap to begin with, so it hurts a little less when they get tossed...

I personally would go for cheap and disposable...

[veggieburger]

Originally Posted by dave thompson

I too would recommend a used iPad. They're extremely robust, well supported and easy to use.

I bought an iPad Pro 12.9 when they first came out and it has traveled the world with me with no issues. It has almost entirely replaced my laptop. I recently replaced it with the latest generation iPad Pro as i have stored all my travel pics and videos and simply needed more on-board storage. I was using Apple's iCloud for storage of my excess on my original.

I will GIVE you my original Pro along with its charging cord, you'll have to buy an Apple compatible charger (widely available and pretty cheap) for the cost of shipping to you. This iPad works perfectly, has zero defects and I'll throw in a new screen protector too.

Give me a shout if you're interested.

Oh my goodness. Dave, message incoming...

[windsurfer]

Reading this on a Samsung tab s9.

[Turkle]

I use tablets for reading music in a professional setting, so having a big, clear screen and being ultra-reliable is critical for me. Not optional.

I have tried several brands of Android tablets over the years, and without exception they have been unreliable junk. Certainly not reliable enough to depend on in a professional setting.

I am now using iPad Pros for everything. The good news is that I don't need all the super-fancy features of the latest models, as I'm just basically displaying PDFs on it, or streaming movies while I ride my trainer. So my strategy is to buy refurbished models a few years old. I have had great luck with their reliability (they have new batteries, etc.), and they are super-cheap!

So my advice to you would be to purchase a refurbished iPad Pro, unless you absolutely need all the fanciest new features of the latest model. I've had great results with mine.

[benb]

Originally Posted by paredown

Some of us got burned on the short life of the first five generations of iPads--Apple has been pretty ruthless about cutting the legs out from under their older products by dropping support AND making it difficult (and sometimes impossible) to keep them running by restricting the iStore to only the most recent software releases. They make nice scrolling picture displays if yuu mount them in a frame...

It seems to have gotten slightly better--apparently there is still some support for "vintage" iPads (5), and reasonable support for discontinued models (6-9).

The Kindle world is not much better--our house is littered with old Kindles that are no longer usable. The good news is that they were all cheap to begin with, so it hurts a little less when they get tossed...

I personally would go for cheap and disposable...

Not sure which one you are talking about, maybe the very first generation iPad? There has never really been a time where google ever gave the same degree of support and care to even the "current" tablets that Apple gives to iPads, and if you are talking 10+ years ago most of the Android tablets never even got a single major version update. The 2nd generation iPads stayed very relevant and useful for a very very long time.

iPads have most often easily had 5+ years of support and even more of security fixes.

There may have been some iPads that got fewer years of support than others but it's hard to understand how any generation ever was worse than what happened if you bought an Android tablet that same year.

And this is aside from the fact that for a large amount of time since "Android Tablets" were introduced they never really cared to make actual tablet apps and they were mostly just magnified phone layouts, especially in the era where they gave up on 9.5" tablets and just did the "mini" tablets that weren't that much bigger than the biggest phones.

Apple has more often just not supported the latest features on the oldest devices if they don't have the required hardware... as is going to happen this fall with the AI features. But that's more about the iPhone, as the last few years of at least some of the iPad models are going to get the full Apple AI Support, and the last 4 years of Macbooks are getting support.

I have had 2 Android Tablets, one of them never even got the X+1 software release after it came out... it was permanently stuck on the software it shipped with.

The Amazon ones were amazing how janky they were (I still have one). There were periods where the Amazon tablet actually was made cheaper/lower capability year over year instead of getting better. The current Amazon tablets have a screen that is about where the iPad was 12 years ago. Sure they're $75... but you get what you pay for. But 10 years ago you could actually get an Amazon tablet with a high-DPI screen like the iPad.

[ceya]

Samsung, LG, Asus

The ones posted above are the best ones.

They also come with sim cards for 4g lte or 5g


Small to big in size also.

[Nessism]

I'm a Samsung user, but I also have an Amazon Fire 8 for my lathe DRO display.

Slickdeals.net is the place to find cheap devices like tablets. Those guys are pros at shaking the trees until money falls out.

[giordana93]

Reading this on my Chromebook, which is a nicer Acer that folds into a tablet. I have had android tablets that mostly suck and though I like Apple, I went to Chromebooks for browsing and most computing years ago. You can get a cheap one for $100-150 that are more than adequate and for $300+ they start to have pretty nice screens, hinges, and keyboards

[batman1425]

FWIW, the fire tables that we've been getting for my child, to put it mildly, stink. You get what you pay for at that price point and it gets replaced yearly, even though its lightly used. It bogs down a lot, freezes constantly, but for $70, I can't expect a lot more. As soon as kid is old enough/responsible enough for something better I'll upgrade it. I do like that you can load multiple profiles on it, but that doesn't seem like a value add for your use.

If you have any thought you might use it for more than what your current needs are (apps or long term use) I'd consider something more powerful.

[Wunder]

9th gen iPad is $200 today. As suggested before I'd buy that and skip all the Android models unless there is some very specific reason why an Apple device wouldn't work.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09G9FPHY6...f_=as_li_ss_tl