iPad Thread

[celticmoon]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

Target's deal was a $100 gift card with the purchase of any full-sized iPad. You could also get a $75 gift card with the iPad Mini. Best Buy had their iPads $50-$70 off depending on the model. Wal-Mart only had a $20 off deal on their iPads, but they were selling the first gen iPad Mini for $100 off. Staples had $50 off iPads.

I was actually asking about the Apple Store deals, but most of these seem like they are probably better than what Apple offers. The best discount I ever remember them having was $100, and that was on iMacs and MacBooks, I believe. Anyway, thanks for the info!

To wait, or not to wait.... One thing I'm worried about is I've read some speculation that the production for the Air 2 won't be as fast as previous iterations due to something having to do with the anti-glare screen. I know tablet sales aren't on the rise anymore, but I wonder if it is likely there will be short supply in the early weeks of its run....

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by celticmoon

I was actually asking about the Apple Store deals, but most of these seem like they are probably better than what Apple offers. The best discount I ever remember them having was $100, and that was on iMacs and MacBooks, I believe. Anyway, thanks for the info!

To wait, or not to wait.... One thing I'm worried about is I've read some speculation that the production for the Air 2 won't be as fast as previous iterations due to something having to do with the anti-glare screen. I know tablet sales aren't on the rise anymore, but I wonder if it is likely there will be short supply in the early weeks of its run....

Last year the Apple Store offered a $75 gift card with the iPad Air and a $50 gift card with previous iPads and the first gen iPad Mini. They didn't have any discount on the retina display iPad Mini which had just been released. That deal doesn't appeal to me at all because I almost never shop at the Apple Store and don't buy much on iTunes so it would be tough for me to spend the gift card.

[celticmoon]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

Last year the Apple Store offered a $75 gift card with the iPad Air and a $50 gift card with previous iPads and the first gen iPad Mini. They didn't have any discount on the retina display iPad Mini which had just been released. That deal doesn't appeal to me at all because I almost never shop at the Apple Store and don't buy much on iTunes so it would be tough for me to spend the gift card.

Ah, thanks for the info. So it seems that they've moved away from the discounts and are just giving away gift cards now? Yeah, I think I'd find little use for them too.... Their summer/back-to-school student discount is stupid now too... They used to give an additional $100 discount, now they give $100 in apps. Sheesh, business is better than ever for them, but they're really skimping on these discounts. Or perhaps, that's precisely why...

Anyway, decisions, decisions....

[Scarface32]

Originally Posted by celticmoon

Ah, thanks for the info. So it seems that they've moved away from the discounts and are just giving away gift cards now? Yeah, I think I'd find little use for them too.... Their summer/back-to-school student discount is stupid now too... They used to give an additional $100 discount, now they give $100 in apps. Sheesh, business is better than ever for them, but they're really skimping on these discounts. Or perhaps, that's precisely why...

Anyway, decisions, decisions....

Not only that, they use to give you a free printer with a new Mac. They stopped that a couple of years ago.

[celticmoon]

So I've been reading about a lot of the issues that people have been having with the new iPad Air over at MacRumors forums. I went to see the display models at the Apple Store, and for me, most of them are non-issues. Things like the "book spine shadow," I can see it there, but only if I'm really looking for it. I don't think it would affect normal every-day use.

However, the one thing that does seem like a legitimate complaint to me is the vibration due to the sound. It is pretty noticeable, even at half the volume, and is surely a result of trying to get the device to be so thin. I ended up ordering one online last night anyway. I figured it'd be best to try it out for everyday use. I found out that they don't charge a restocking fee anymore for returns, so if it's bothersome, I'll just return it and perhaps consider the previous Air or the Mini 2.

[Navster]

Loving the new IPad Air 2.... Such a big upgrade coming from an IPad 3

Ended up getting the Space Grey 64GB, It's light, it's fast and I love the sleek look and feel...

[celticmoon]

So mine arrived on Monday, and I've been playing around with it a bit. Mine does have the so-called "book-spine shadow," which I can tell is there, but I don't think it is too big of a deal. I don't think it is worth trying to exchange, since most of them seem to have it. Honestly, I may not have even noticed it if I didn't know about it in advance. Though I probably can't unsee it anymore.

As for the vibrations, it is fairly noticable when holding the device up. However, when you have it on my lap and such, I haven't really felt it. And I may end up getting Bluetooth speakers for home use, and I don't see myself using the built-in speakers all too much outside of the house, so I don't think it will be too much of an issue for me.

On a different note, anybody know what kind of deals they had for iTunes gift cards last BF? Is it usually a $50 card for $40 or thereabouts? (I think that's the deal I got 2 or 3 years ago around BF.) I'm thinking of loading up on apps, so I could use a couple of those soon.

[flyimages]

i have the ipad air, doesnt seem like its worth the upgrade, but out of curiosity, i'm going to test it out at the apple store and see

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by flyimages

i have the ipad air, doesnt seem like its worth the upgrade, but out of curiosity, i'm going to test it out at the apple store and see

Honestly I don't think there's been an iPad worth upgrading for since the iPad got retina display in the 3rd generation. The only reason I'm going to upgrade my 4th gen model is because I want a bigger hard drive.

[RandyK]

I need to upgrad my iPad 2. It's gone to crap since I updated to iOS 8 (probably shouldn't have done that).

[Scarface32]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

Honestly I don't think there's been an iPad worth upgrading for since the iPad got retina display in the 3rd generation. The only reason I'm going to upgrade my 4th gen model is because I want a bigger hard drive.

iPads don't use hard drives, they use flash memory (essentially a solid state drive, but without the metal casing). A hard drive (or HDD, for hard disk drive) has moving parts, an SSD doesn't.

SSDs are just a series of flash memory sticks (what you'll find in a thumb drive) inside a metal casing. What Apple does is take those sticks and fuse them to the board, along with the other components.

There is no hard drive in the iPad.

[Scarface32]

Originally Posted by RandyK

I need to upgrad my iPad 2. It's gone to crap since I updated to iOS 8 (probably shouldn't have done that).

I know how you feel, my iPad 2 is so sluggish now.

[Navster]

Originally Posted by RandyK

I need to upgrad my iPad 2. It's gone to crap since I updated to iOS 8 (probably shouldn't have done that).

Originally Posted by Scarface32

I know how you feel, my iPad 2 is so sluggish now.

My iPad 3 was very sluggish as well, great job with the updates Apple ... This new air 2 Is well worth the upgrade, you guys won't be disappointed

[MaCruz]

Originally Posted by Navster

Loving the new IPad Air 2.... Such a big upgrade coming from an IPad 3

Ended up getting the Space Grey 64GB, It's light, it's fast and I love the sleek look and feel...

Traitor!

I still make use with my 3 when I'm at home!
IPAD34EVER!

[Scarface32]

For anyone that bought the Pixelmator app, they just updated it to 1.0.1 which gives the Repair tool to the older iPads (iPad 2 and above). Before that tool was only available for the newer iPads, which really annoyed me. Glad to see my money wasn't wasted after all

[fatediesel]

This week's Staples ad that I got in my Sunday paper has all iPad models for 15% off. However, on Staples website they've changed the ad to say 15% off select iPad models so I'm guessing they didn't intend for the deal to apply to the iPad Air 2 or the iPad Mini 3. I'm going to head to Staples when it opens to try to get an iPad Air 2 64 GB model, but I'm guessing they'll have a sign up that the ad was a mistake and should have excluded the 2014 models.

Edit: Not only did my local Staples not have any iPad Mini 3 or iPad Air 2s, they also didn't even have any iPad Airs, so I could confirm whether or not the deal would have worked on the iPad Air 2. I did notice they had removed the front page from all the ads they had in the store.

[celticmoon]

So after playing around with my iPad Air 2 for a week, I've decided to return it and get a refurbished Mini 2. I actually have no complaints about it aside from the aforementioned sound vibration issue (which really isn't a big issue). It is a stunning device. But while I have only used the device at home so far, I've found it to be kind of big. And while big does have its advantages, I've found that I really like the form factor of the Mini after playing around with the display models some more.

The size and the price difference ultimately led me to my decision (the 64GB refurbished Mini 2 is $349, compared to $599 for the 64GB Air 2 that I got). If the Mini 3 had received the same updates as the Air, I definitely would have been all over that (since I do believe the specs upgrades and added features are worth that extra money). It is really too bad that Apple decided to stunt the Mini.

[fatediesel]

I've been spending more time working out of the office lately so I convinced my work to buy me an iPad Air 2 with cellular. I went to Verizon on Wednesday and they didn't have any of the 64 GB model in stock but the sales associate told me they had them in stock at the warehouse and it would ship that day and be delivered today via Fedex. When our Fedex delivery came the iPad wasn't there so I contacted Verizon online support and they told me it wasn't scheduled to ship until November 26. I'm going to visit the Verizon store tomorrow and get it figured out, but I had been considering transferring 25 company lines to Verizon and this probably just ruined any chance of that happening.

[celticmoon]

So after writing out all that reasoning for getting the Mini 2, I ended up sticking with the Air 2, lol! I think I've gotten used to the size, and the extra screen real estate is actually nice. Plus, I feel that the improved features make it more future-proof, plus the screen is just a lot nicer (laminated, full color gamut, etc.).

[celticmoon]

BTW, great deal on iPad Air 2 for Black Friday in Target's Ad. $140 Target GC with purchase. $100 GC with Air, Mini 2, and Mini 3.

Makes me wish I didn't get one yet. I'm hoping Best Buy has a straight-up discount again. Then I can file for the 90-day price protection with Discover to match the deal. Here's hoping.