Cheap ipad offer at the moment on the 2021 Apple iPad (10.2-inch iPad Wi-Fi, 64GB) - Space Grey (9th Generation) - $449
Could price match (beat) at officeworks if you can find stock
CamelCamelCamel.
Personally I'm waiting for USB C! For 99% of uses this is a great basic tablet though
It's only good when use with good type-c cable, many reported charging port damage and some even had damaged CPU.
Citation needed.
There was a problem with early usb c cables but I think it's largely not a problem nowadays.
@Caped Baldy: There are dodgy USB-C cables, and Dodgy Lightning cables. So generally stick with the original brand such as Samsung, Apple, or certified products such as Belkin, however I think Cygnett and Alogic may also be certified etc.
@Caped Baldy: I was recently quite disappointed with an old iPhone with its shocking battery performance (despite the phone reports battery health at 91%). However, I found out the cable I've been using to charge that phone was not an Apple original cable. Was gifted that cable and it looked like an original. Upon closer inspection with a real original, I realised it is a fake.
I put it under a meter and did some checks. I found the fake one somehow is slightly more aggressive in feeding current initially. Unlike an Apple original cable, when the display is off, the current fed through doesn't drop quickly, it seems to remain for longer period of time. Also, the cable is more prone to minor damages (at least the outer part of the cable). It could be pure coincidence that the iPhone just happened to be bad. It is the only phone where I unknowingly used an non-original cable.
damaged CPU?
Are you suggesting that if you use a dodgy lightening cable, that it will cause no damage at all?
@onlinepred: No, but that's not a fair comparison. USB-C can have up to 24 pins, whereas lightning has 8 pins. So, pins on USB-C are much closer to each other. The margin for error is clearly lower on USB-C.
This USB-C is just as reliable as lightning is wishful thinking. With USB-C, just on power side, it could run 5V 2.4A mode, the newer 5V 3A mode, QC2, QC3, QC4, USB-PD (PDO and PPS) - up to 100W though USB-PD 3.1 now allows up to 240W. If you don't take care of your Macbook Pro's, then you will find some Thunderbolt ports start to have intermittent issues. Why do you think Dell, Lenovo etc… insist on proper e-marked cables to allow fast charge? We have loads of el cheapo USB 2.0 cable without e-marking chip claiming 60W support.
The worst part is even USB-IF certified cables don't really mean quality. I have cheap AmazonBasics USB-IF "certified" cables. They consistently charge at lower voltage and lower current and do suffer intermittent problems (won't fast charge).
@netsurfer: Meanwhile I bought a cheap lightening cable that caught on fire. Good times. It was my last lightning cable too, meanwhile I had at least 20 usb c cables in the house, as nearly all my other products use it and have had zero issues even with cheap cables. Good times. Good times.
@onlinepred: So, should I ask you for warranty service with AmazonBasics USB-IF certified USB-C cables? How about the $2 ones I bought? I test 3rd party cables using an USB-C meter and they consistently performed inferior to original. If you have Android devices, at least they tell you which mode it runs. On Apple land, Macbook Pros do not tell you which charging mode it is running.
USB-C cables, for me, are a mess. I have Thunderbolt 40Gbps ones, USB 3.2 gen 2x2 20Gbps ones, USB 3.2 gen 2 10Gbps ones, USB 3.2 gen 1 5Gbps ones, USB-C/USB 2.0 ones. You want to sell me USB-C cables are so great? One of my USB-C meters, in its user manual, page 1 says, read the USB-PD switch usage carefully, incorrect use will fry the device.
@netsurfer: I fell into this rabbit hole of USB-C cables recently as well. Surprising how little info there is out there on the topic when I searched for videos on YouTube.
There was that one guy who wrote an article though and cut open nearly every single USB-C cable he could get his hands on, and the list of variations and differences in cable quality was just way longer than it should be.
Sorry I don't have a link but it's not hard to find.
Some bigger brands were also cutting corners with their cables which was worrying.
After all the reading the simplest thing I could take away from it was USB-C is just the connector, and it can be wired for any version of USB (so in some cases only supporting a max current of 500mA/900mA) and then there are special designations such as USB-PD which have their own variations.
I got a baby USB-C cable with my Taotronics TWS buds and it is most likely a USB 2.0/3.0 cable.
I think one of the biggest problems was with the CC pins, which are used for the handshake and orientation designation. They are both supposed to be wired to resistors but many cables cheap out on this part and don't have any resistors on the connector board.
@harshbdmmaster718: USB-C cables are a mess. Also, ones which passed tests from reviews (i.e. Benson and his colleague) are not always safe UNLESS you can get the exact same batch. We know the cable retailers can switch cable suppliers. Anker had issues (which surprised me because I generally found Anker care more about their products and more willing to put in some safety measures, however, Anker is still a notch below originals). Apple, way back, had to recall its early batch of USB-C to USB-C cables.
Thunderbolt (40), USB 3.2 gen 2x2 (20), USB 3.2 gen 2 (10) all need proper cables. I was surprised when a seller provided an additional USB-A to USB-C cable, that seller provided a cheaper type, rather the USB-C/USB-C cable included with the enclosure.
On the power side, new standards keep coming out. It's a pain really. With USB-PD 3.1, all my meters are unable to fully support checking it. A couple of them "claims" to check the new Apple USB-C to Magsafe USB-PD 3.1 cable, but they technically run slightly above their intended voltage. Furthermore, it is unclear how much margin Apple put in there. If that cable is capable of 48V/240W and Apple implements that, my meters could fry.
@netsurfer: Wowsers. I am not liking all those USB-C cable types thrown at me hahaha.
I guess I am lucky I don't have to deal with anything Thunderbolt/USB-PD or any Fast charge USB Power adapters, which simplifies things somewhat.
But yeah when you have to deal with every spec, and making sure you have got a cable that's made right it seems like an utter nightmare.
I recently purchased a USB power meter as well.. maybe it will save me at least once in the future.
My experience with Anker: I purchased one of their "premium" 1.8m braided Lightning cables to give me a bit more length. One day I touched the Apple USB Power adapter and it was running VERY hot. Most likely there is high voltage/current losses in the 1.8m cable and the Power adapter was running at full tilt for the majority of each charge, while the device was not getting enough and constantly asking for more juice (current) because it wouldn't see the Power adapter's max output ever. Not good for both the devices battery which was likely seeing a high fluctuation in current and not good for the Power adapter either.
I don't believe their marketing anymore with cutouts of their cables claiming thicker gauge etc. I swapped it out for an IKEA lightning cable which at 1.5m is a bit shorter, it doesn't claim anything "special" but it's a completely different experience seems like it is made to a decent spec and no overheating of the USB Power adapter.
@harshbdmmaster718: I generally stick with originals. The devices I use third party cables and chargers are devices which are out of warranty for years and with low power requirement.
Shorter cables, they tend to not run into as many issues as the longer ones (and are able to get away with inferior grade wires). Feeling warm is common for 3rd party cables. I wouldn't bother with Anker premium cables. If I want "premium", I just go original. At work, strictly originals. I don't lend dodgy cables to colleagues. Frying their devices will be costly.
@netsurfer: Yeah I had stuck with originals up until that Anker cable purchase. New devices tend to include cables, and I use the included cable for each device, but this time round I needed a longer one and I could not resist getting a pack of 2 for less than the price of 1x genuine Apple 2m cable.
But yes cheaping out probably was not worth it.
In the case of the IKEA lightning cable however, not living that close to an IKEA I was in a situation where I wanted to use the entire amount of a "store credit" giftcard so I saw the IKEA cables and decided to give them a try and I ended up being pretty impressed.
The device I was charging was a budget iPad with a 8000+mAh battery so as you can imagine charging current can get quite high and the Anker cable was just not hacking it. But the Apple Power adapter was very hot, I was shocked at how hot it had gotten and I wrapped my entire hand around it to feel it better and I had to let go because of the searing heat and this is in cooler weather.
I have heard Apple's Power adapters are pretty well made and on the safe side, but if I was using some cheap third-party power adapter I could imagine it starting to melt and possibly cause a fire. I am confident the Anker cable was functioning as intended, as I am pretty gentle with cables. I have never damaged one to the point of fraying or failure.
In fairness I have an Anker Powercore 13000 and a Anker 60w USB Power adapter with 6x USB-A outputs which have been working reliably just fine. But their cables I will stay away from in the future.
@onlinepred: yes, I've seen some repairing videos indicate that CPU damaged with faulty Type-C charging….
@davidl2: Wow and that’s happened with a cable and not the chargers? Also are you suggesting that Diane happen with all other chargers like mac chargers old and new, iPhone chargers by third party etc etc
That's why you get a magnetic usb one. Virtually no wear and tear.
I use below with mine, works well for charging and data transfer, no OTG support though
will next-gen Ipad come with USB C for sure ?
No guarantee. EU gave apple around 2.5 years to do it.
You'd think so, considering the iPad Pro comes with USB C already.
Unclear yet. Considered iPad Mini and iPad Air have moved to USB-C, iPad is the last one to move. However, even if it does go USB-C, it will suffer the same fate as the iPad Mini, data portion will be restricted to USB 3.0 and the video out will be limited to 4K/30Hz max.
4K/60Hz is reserved for Pro and M1 based iPad Air.
Is 64gb enough for apps and updates?
Yeah shud be fine
Not really fills up quick
It could be. But only you can truly know. The answer you seek must come from within. Time for some honest self reflection.
Thanks guru
Took your advice
I looked for the answer within, within my phone that is.
I'm already using more than 64gb, so this will be too small. Need that goldilocks medium sized version.
Apple up sell technique.
If you're not going to take photos or videos with the iPad (your phone probably has a better camera) or make music with Garageband/videos with iMovie then it should be enough.
your phone's current storage subtract photos is roughly how much you'd use on iPad.
Damn that's good.
Amazon is price matching Mwave and free delivery too
https://www.mwave.com.au/product/apple-102inch-ipad-9th-gen-…
if you are not familiar with apple, I think better to get an used Surface, learned it the hard way. I wish knew it before buying from the last deal.
better to get an used Surface
Not sure what your mean. In Paulin's term, please explain.
I guess there is always a learning curve, but I do find iPad learning curve is much easier than Macs.
Surface is way easier than IOS. Their low end models can be very slow though.
Terrible as tablets too
Surface is basically Windows. IOS has WAY better UI, not even a contest. Apple really nailed it with iOS.
@neonlight: What does ‘productivity’ mean I’m this context anyway? Will using an iPad Pro mean i can troll more on YouTube live streams?
@Icecold5000: Means many different things like creating artwork, graphic design, composing music, programming, publishing, writing documents etc
The normal iPad is like for media consumption
Pro range or Windows/OSX for that matter.
I was looking for I5-6300U + 8 GB Surface models on ebay for around $250-$300, quite powerful
for an example, ipad can't be connected as a mass storage device, can't easily file transfer without itunes, sandboxing between apps makes it even harder.
@bazingaa: Yup you got it iPad is purely for entertainment and media consumption. It doesn't have that flexibility surface offers. Ipad however is very easy to use and very friendly. It's absolutely the best device for any age group
Its like compare Wii and PlayStation if you put in gaming console terms
Apple tried add stylus to the iPad entry range but it only gives you a stylus for drawing and no where near the same as surface
The whole thing is based on apps
I don't think they are comparable devices. I own both a Surface and an iPad Pro. iPad's are great for reading books, checking emails, watching videos, basic web browsing etc., whereas the Surface is more like a laptop as it is very hard to use without a keyboard and mouse (so it more or less needs to be used at a table, not on the couch).
I think it would be easier to use Windows with the pen. I am using Ipad with RDP client -> remote desktop to Win10 PC with pen and it is fine (copy,paste is not easy on ipad like on android for me). Sometimes it is much easier to use PC applications than the apps available for ipad. I had an issue on using browser addons on ipad, as they are not supported web browsing experience was not that great even with Firefox (IOS doesn't let firefox to use their own rendering framework as I found and have to use safari backend). I was able to at least block ads with Adguard DNS. I mainly got this for studies to read PDF, comment, highlight etc and in the early days it was a headache to transfer files, now I manage with itunes -> pdf expert sandbox anyway (feels like using MyPhoneExplorer with early Sony Ericsson :D ).
I think at the end it comes to the familiarity with the ecosystem, with IPad I feel like everything is restricted. May be not the actual case if someone use MacOS + IPad OS + Iphone OS.
Good price
There are no stocks in OW in Vic!
Thanks OP.. with Amazon discount $404
Which discount?
single use discount count of 10% that i had on hand for a while
Price not found
64 GB doesn't really get you places these days.
Helped Apple get a $2trillion market cap though. Still not a fan of manufacturers having inflated prices for cheap storage.
Really depends on use case - PERFECT for a streaming/web browsing device that most ipads end up being.
Great for web browsing and apps (higher quality apps available than Android, better touch experience than Windows) but with the speakers on one side, large bezels and 4:3 aspect ratio it's less than ideal for streaming shows (most of which are 16:9). With the camera on the short side it also means you appear to be looking off-center when in a video call.
True true. User case here would be education so that 64 GB fills up in no time. And my kids recording nonsense videos.
Got a feeling Apple might still offer 32 GB iPad lol
pirchase from shopback Amazon gift card get another 2% off. save time to officework.
No Apple iPad pro deals this year? sad noises
Ordered one for my grade-1 kid. Hope 64gb is more than enough. Thanks for this post.
Isn’t this only like $20 cheaper than edu pricing?
Still cheaper than $499 RRP
Cheers OP bought one
How does this compare to the Lenovo Xiaoxin Pad Pro (which I just ordered yesterday lol) OS aside? Not particularly loyal to either OS.
I can't use stage manager on this right?
What’s gonna be new with the 10th Gen?
Whatever it, its going to be the base model. More than enough to do most things on it for average joe. Software support for 3-4 iPad os versions is going to make this a real worthwhile purchase + you get apple pencil support. My folks still use the original iPad mini.
Numbering….
Faster processor, maybe usb-c, apple pencil 2ng gen support, MAYBE slightly thinner bezels, MAYBE MAYBE no more home button…? Problem they have is that they cant intrude on the Air too much. Id guess they would upgrade to the A15 chip and thats its…
So basically the same as 8th gen
Probably A14 & 4GB RAM, maybe USB C and everything else the same.
Luckily found stock at officeworks picked it up for $426
awesome!
Could you share product code?
Also, is it WiFi only or WiFi+cellular
Is it wifi only or WiFi+ cellular model?
Wifi only model at $449. Will price beat to $426
What’s education discount
might as well spend an extra $50 and get the 10th gen in a few months
If all the fake guesses turned out to be true on the 10th gen, it will be $100 or more.
Shows $475
The deal is space grey only
anyone have luck with officeworks price beat? officeworks north ryde just said no to me :(
Yep price beat mwave instore today no problems.
Yes, bought 2 from Glebe with the Amazon price beat
Officeworks at Casula accepted price match and 5% price beat, total $426. As of yesterday they have 3 in stock for Space grey, 64 GB
Wish I saw it sooner. Already bought one from Apple last weekend. Apple store don't price match I guess.
Unless they recently changed policies, actually they do some price matching. They price-matched JB for a 2020 M1 MBP for me early last year.
Thanks. I tried this morning. They said they do price match only to physical stores like JB Hifi, Harvey Norman.
Picked up one at OW price beat
In store or delivery?
Pick up in store. Can’t do price beat online
Anyone have any recommendations for an official style (doesn’t necessarily need to be official) magnetic case and Apple Pencil to suit this?
Bought it for my wife's birthday. It's really nice!
10th gen 3 months away? still a good price though