Hi!
I'm an undergrad University student currently looking for the cheapest iPad Air 4 on the market. I've looked around, and the cheapest I can see was the Apple Education Store for $829.
Is there anything cheaper? I can wait until around mid January, so no real rush.
Anything from discount gift cards, to bundles* of items which I can use/sell would be highly appreciated!
*as in Apple Pencil, Case, AirPods, etc
If you can afford it I second the M1
Pro M1 is what you want. The keyboard case is nice too, though you need to take it off the keyboard case to hold it like a tablet unfortunately.
It does look very nice, however it's far outside my budget :/
No point recommending the pro as the poster already said the regular price of the air was too high. Being Apple, most sales and discount gift cards do not apply and there are no bundle specials because Apple. If you must go ipad but money is tight then go regular ipad 9th gen as still covers the basics. Otherwise go non ipad such as samsung S7 FE or lenovo duet 5 chromebook depending on your needs.
Thanks for the recommendation!
However, Ive used an iPad Air 3 in the past, and the quality seems to be better than the other tablets on the market, especially when it comes to the Apple Pencil.
What’s the primary use of the Air for Uni? Note taking?
yer this is confusing me as well…
far easier to take notes on a laptop and a laptop is much cheaper than an ipad with much more functionality
I took a laptop when I first started uni, after the first year I stopped and switched back to pen and paper - I found typing out notes didnt engage my brain (so essentially it was pointless) when I wrote it down it engaged my brain and I retained the information far better.
I already have a very good laptop. My plan is to use the iPad as my primary note taking device throughout lectures and tutorials, using the apple pencil and keyboard.
During exam prep I'd switch over to my laptop, and gridn through that.
This is the method that worked best for me throughout highschool, and carried me through the HSC.
My daughter is proposing to do the same by using the Apple pen and iPad to write notes
Will follow recommendations with interest before we get the credit card out
@idboys: It definitely worked for me in Highschool, and was multipurpose enough to act as a strong secondary device to my laptop.
However using the pencil on the screen was very strange, and I do not recommend that at all. I'd recommend getting a matte screen protector, or a Paper-Like screen protector, and not actually writing directly onto the glossy screen.
Hope this helped! :)
I don’t even know why people take notes.. all my professors read directly off the lecture slides.
well ye there's that as well.
Wait, why not an iPad (9th Gen)? It is cheaper than the iPad Air 4 (and the same goes for the accessories), and you're still able to take notes and use a keyboard with it.
Putting that question aside and assuming you're dead set on an iPad Air 4, you have three options (and they inevitably rely on gift cards, as it is generally difficult to eek out better deals for Apple products without resorting to gift cards):
Woolworths is currently running a gift card deal ending today where you'll earn 20x Everyday Rewards (EDR) points for every $1 on Ultimate Gift Cards, which equates to 10% of the gift card value returned to you in the form of EDR points. The Ultimate Kids, Teens and Home gift cards can be redeemed at JB Hi-Fi on pretty much everything sold at JB Hi-Fi (including Apple products). The Kids and Teens gift cards are sold in $30 and $50 denominations, whereas the Home gift card is sold in $50 and $100 denominations. I have also seen variable load Ultimate Teens gift cards, where you can specify the amount you want to load on the card between $20 (or $25) and $500, so you could grab two and that would make your life easier.
Once you go to JB Hi-Fi (which doesn't have to be today), ask them to price match the Apple Education Store for the iPad Air 4. Staff are usually happy to do this if (and only if) you can provide evidence you are eligible for the Apple Education Store (e.g. uni ID card). If you have $830 in Ultimate Gift Cards, you can use it to purchase an iPad Air 4 and you will have $1 left over on one Ultimate Gift Card, but you'll also have $83 worth of EDR points on your EDR account. If you are wondering, you can use as many Ultimate gift cards as you want in-store at JB Hi-Fi, so it's not the end of the world if you can only find $30 gift cards today. I mean, someone recently redeemed 81 TCN/Ultimate gift cards in one transaction at a JB Hi-Fi store…
If you are looking for an Apple Pencil to go with your iPad (which it sounds like you are), you can ask JB Hi-Fi to price match Officeworks, as they are currently selling an Apple Pencil 2 for $169 (whereas JB Hi-Fi sells it for $199).
It sounds like you're not in a rush, so this option may not be the most suitable, especially since your local Woolworths may not have any Teens, Kids or Home gift cards in stock. If you decide to go down this path, do not buy the gift cards issued by TCN.
Assumptions:
There are a number of discount gift card portals that sell Apple gift cards at a 5% or 6% upfront discount (and this does not take into account any transaction fees). You can use these gift cards on the Apple Education Store to help reduce the cost of the iPad. As a bonus, you can still earn 1.5% cashback via Cashrewards if you go through their link for the Apple Education Store, and I assume that is the same for ShopBack.
However, the downside is that you cannot price match through the Apple Education Store on Apple's website. You can ask Apple to price match in-store or over the phone, but they will only reduce their prices by a maximum of 10%. For example, if you ask the Apple Store in-store to price match Officeworks' price for an Apple Pencil 2 (at $169), Apple will only reduce the price of the Apple Pencil 2 to $179.10. Having said that, if you're in store or over the phone, you're also losing out on the 1.5% cashback from Cashrewards (and presumably ShopBack).
There were a number of 20x and 30x EDR / Flybuys points deals on Apple gift card deals at Woolworths, BIG W and Coles this year, so my guess is that we'll see one around early-to-mid January. This is especially handy if Apple in the new year repeats this year's back-to-school/uni deal where you got a free pair of AirPods with a purchase of an iPad Air 4 through the Apple Education Store.
Whether there will be other gift card deals (e.g. TCN gift cards, Ultimate gift cards) that you could take advantage of is anyone's guess, but my bet is that you won't see another TCN or Ultimate gift card deal until at least February.
The black friday apple gift card $140 deal with $100 cashreward was able to bring the price to around $960.
Cheapest I've seen so far is $807 with JB Education BYOD https://www.jbeducation.com.au/byod/
If you have Student Edge (free signup for students), then you can use its BYOD code to access the deal.
Thank you so much!! I'll definitely be going with this. Maybe try and get Officeworks to price match
I would go for ipad pro with M1.