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Old 28-11-2015, 19:33
Klauttu
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Apple iPad Air 9.7 Inch LED Wi-Fi 16GB 7Ghz Tablet

I am hoping to purchase an Apple Ipad, but am confused over a technical issue.

One advert I saw inferred that the tablet was 'unlocked'. I don't quite understand this. Surely they do not require a sim card.....do they!?

Will 16GB be sufficient for my needs if I am going to store very few pix or music?
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Old 28-11-2015, 19:43
Stig
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Don't worry if it says unlocked. As you say, it's meaningless.

16GB should be fine unless you are storing photos, videos, music or a very large number of apps. My wife has a 16GB iPad and iPhone and has never had a problem with storage.
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Old 28-11-2015, 22:07
zz9
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16Gb is pretty small these days. Some report problems updating iOS because there isn't enough space unless you delete stuff. Remember also that 16GB is the drive. 4GB is taken up by iOS and built in apps so you are only left with 12GB.

Even if you have a 16GB iPhone you won't have 16GB available for all your music, photos and apps. As you can see from this article, The true storage capacity of an iPad or iPhone, a 16GB iPhone or iPad gives you around 12.2GB to play with. That's equivalent to around 3,050 songs, or 15.3 hours of video, or eight Hollywood movies, or 407 apps/games, or a combination of those. Essentially you will have to delete half your content in order to make space for the iOS 8 download.

8 movies isn't much. My Linx Windows 10 tablet cost £120 and has a 32GB drive, plus I can add a 64GB micro SD card for £20. I have whole seasons of various TV shows and a bunch of movies to watch when I'm away from home.

If you just want to surf the net and email people it will probably be fine. If you want to watch movies or TV shows then it will very quickly run out. You can use cloud storage but then you're reliant on wifi or using your data allowance.
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Old 28-11-2015, 22:51
Anika Hanson
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16Gb is pretty small these days. Some report problems updating iOS because there isn't enough space unless you delete stuff. Remember also that 16GB is the drive. 4GB is taken up by iOS and built in apps so you are only left with 12GB.

Even if you have a 16GB iPhone you won't have 16GB available for all your music, photos and apps. As you can see from this article, The true storage capacity of an iPad or iPhone, a 16GB iPhone or iPad gives you around 12.2GB to play with. That's equivalent to around 3,050 songs, or 15.3 hours of video, or eight Hollywood movies, or 407 apps/games, or a combination of those. Essentially you will have to delete half your content in order to make space for the iOS 8 download.

8 movies isn't much. My Linx Windows 10 tablet cost £120 and has a 32GB drive, plus I can add a 64GB micro SD card for £20. I have whole seasons of various TV shows and a bunch of movies to watch when I'm away from home.

If you just want to surf the net and email people it will probably be fine. If you want to watch movies or TV shows then it will very quickly run out. You can use cloud storage but then you're reliant on wifi or using your data allowance.
Apple have reduced the amount of space required to do OS updates.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/27/79...e-space-needed

Some people can get by with only 16GB. If you need more you can always buy up to 128GB of storage space. My iPad Air 2 has 128GB of storage space.
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Old 28-11-2015, 22:57
zz9
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Apple have reduced the amount of space required to do OS updates.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/27/79...e-space-needed

Some people can get by with only 16GB. If you need more you can always buy up to 128GB of storage space. My iPad Air 2 has 128GB of storage space.
Adding a micro SD card is far cheaper. And, as I found out when someone trod on my previous tablet and smashed it, if that ever happens you can just take out the SD card and have all your files safe and sound.
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Old 29-11-2015, 06:27
Stig
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Adding a micro SD card is far cheaper. And, as I found out when someone trod on my previous tablet and smashed it, if that ever happens you can just take out the SD card and have all your files safe and sound.
You can't add an SD card to a iPad
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Old 29-11-2015, 19:22
zz9
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You can't add an SD card to a iPad
Which would seem to be a very good argument for getting a Windows or Android tablet. What Apple-only apps does the OP need to use to require spending twice as much?

Comparing specs of the iPad and the Linx I have, the Linx has a bigger screen, faster procesor, twice the RAM, twice the onboard storage with the ability to add another 128GB micro SD card for £50, and still cost £100 less than the 16GB iPad. And the Linx comes with a proper keyboard free and can run any Windows programs, not just restricted to apps like the iPad. If you're into games you can plug a proper X Box controller into one of the USB ports and play games. Plug an external monitor or your HDTV into the HDMI port and play movies on the big screen while surfing the net on the tablet or use it as a dual monitor PC, another feature no iPad can do, not even the iPad Pro. Use the desktop Windows 10 UI or switch to the tablet UI to get the nice big finger friendly tablet interface. And you can have user accounts so you can let your kids use it without them being able to read your emails or look at your photos, again not something any iPad can do.

The iPad has a couple of advantages. The camera is far higher resolution for example. But if that's important and you're going to be taking lots of pics then the 12GB storage is quickly going to be a problem. And you can't install the proper full versions of Photoshop or Adobe programs which you can on the Linx, just cut down app versions.

It's 2mm thinner and slightly lighter. Which is nice. But the higher spec processor, RAM, storage and screen size of the Linx justify the extra size and weight IMHO.

So it comes down to what Apple-only apps does the OP need that justify spending so much money on a machine that does so much less?
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Old 29-11-2015, 21:44
Anika Hanson
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Which would seem to be a very good argument for getting a Windows or Android tablet. What Apple-only apps does the OP need to use to require spending twice as much?

Comparing specs of the iPad and the Linx I have, the Linx has a bigger screen, faster procesor, twice the RAM, twice the onboard storage with the ability to add another 128GB micro SD card for £50, and still cost £100 less than the 16GB iPad. And the Linx comes with a proper keyboard free and can run any Windows programs, not just restricted to apps like the iPad. If you're into games you can plug a proper X Box controller into one of the USB ports and play games. Plug an external monitor or your HDTV into the HDMI port and play movies on the big screen while surfing the net on the tablet or use it as a dual monitor PC, another feature no iPad can do, not even the iPad Pro. Use the desktop Windows 10 UI or switch to the tablet UI to get the nice big finger friendly tablet interface. And you can have user accounts so you can let your kids use it without them being able to read your emails or look at your photos, again not something any iPad can do.

The iPad has a couple of advantages. The camera is far higher resolution for example. But if that's important and you're going to be taking lots of pics then the 12GB storage is quickly going to be a problem. And you can't install the proper full versions of Photoshop or Adobe programs which you can on the Linx, just cut down app versions.

It's 2mm thinner and slightly lighter. Which is nice. But the higher spec processor, RAM, storage and screen size of the Linx justify the extra size and weight IMHO.

So it comes down to what Apple-only apps does the OP need that justify spending so much money on a machine that does so much less?
The iPad has a much higher resolution display. Also if you have other Apple products then it makes sense to get the iPad.
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Old 29-11-2015, 23:04
zz9
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The iPad has a much higher resolution display. Also if you have other Apple products then it makes sense to get the iPad.
Is that resolution worth £150?

The resolution on the Linx is more than adequate. It's higher resolution than PC monitors were for years. Its higher resolution than 720p HD TV. What advantage would higher resolution give? If you're surfing the net you're not going to see any more detail in web pages or images. Again it comes down to what the OP is going to use it for.
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Old 29-11-2015, 23:18
Anika Hanson
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Is that resolution worth £150?

The resolution on the Linx is more than adequate. It's higher resolution than PC monitors were for years. Its higher resolution than 720p HD TV. What advantage would higher resolution give? If you're surfing the net you're not going to see any more detail in web pages or images. Again it comes down to what the OP is going to use it for.
Watching full HD videos. Text will also be sharper and images crisper. I've used a 10 inch android tablet with 1280 x 800 and it was awful. Yes it depends what the OP is going to use it for. The Apple App Store is also vastly superior to the Windows one but I suppose in some cases this can be circumvented by installing programmes.

Personally I wouldn't buy one for a few reasons, I don't want to use the Windows operating system on a tablet, but if I did I'd get a more powerful tablet like the surface pro 4.
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Old 30-11-2015, 01:41
zz9
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Watching full HD videos. Text will also be sharper and images crisper. I've used a 10 inch android tablet with 1280 x 800 and it was awful. Yes it depends what the OP is going to use it for. The Apple App Store is also vastly superior to the Windows one but I suppose in some cases this can be circumvented by installing programmes.

Personally I wouldn't buy one for a few reasons, I don't want to use the Windows operating system on a tablet, but if I did I'd get a more powerful tablet like the surface pro 4.
If the OP is going to be watching full HD videos then 12GB of storage isn't going to go far. Would be great if you could slot in an extra 64 or 128GB of storage for all those movies....

And you make it sound like full programs are somehow inferior to apps, which is truly bizarre. If given the choice between a app with cut down features and the full desktop version who would choose the app? Why not have the full version that is exactly the same as the one you use on your PC?

And why not use Windows on a tablet? You said earlier that buying an iPad made sense as it would work well with other Apple stuff. Well isn't a tablet using the exact same OS as your home desktop PC the perfect, ultimate, example of that?
All files, programs, settings etc totally interchangeable. No need to learn two different sets of controls or settings. When I bought the 1010 and put my MS ID in during setup it booted up with my wallpaper from my PC already installed, all my files waiting in the cloud drive, all my apps in the app store and so on. (For the paranoid you can set it up with only a local account, so no link to any user account.)
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Old 30-11-2015, 07:26
kidspud
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If the OP is going to be watching full HD videos then 12GB of storage isn't going to go far. Would be great if you could slot in an extra 64 or 128GB of storage for all those movies....

And you make it sound like full programs are somehow inferior to apps, which is truly bizarre. If given the choice between a app with cut down features and the full desktop version who would choose the app? Why not have the full version that is exactly the same as the one you use on your PC?

And why not use Windows on a tablet? You said earlier that buying an iPad made sense as it would work well with other Apple stuff. Well isn't a tablet using the exact same OS as your home desktop PC the perfect, ultimate, example of that?
All files, programs, settings etc totally interchangeable. No need to learn two different sets of controls or settings. When I bought the 1010 and put my MS ID in during setup it booted up with my wallpaper from my PC already installed, all my files waiting in the cloud drive, all my apps in the app store and so on. (For the paranoid you can set it up with only a local account, so no link to any user account.)
The iPad is a dedicated tablet running apps designed to be run on a touch screen tablet. The selection of apps is far, far superior in both choice and quality to anything you will get on a Windows device.

The argument about running full Windows programmes is misleading as the linx is an underpowered laptop. I have a surface pro 3 which I don't use as a tablet because of restricted apps and using full programmes on a touch screen is very difficult. I also think the keyboard on the pro is average at best.

The best thing about the linx is that it is cheap, however it is a compromise in both tablet and pc form.
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Old 30-11-2015, 07:46
psionic
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Apple iPad Air 9.7 Inch LED Wi-Fi 16GB 7Ghz Tablet
7 Ghz???
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Old 30-11-2015, 12:24
Stig
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Is that resolution worth £150?

The resolution on the Linx is more than adequate. It's higher resolution than PC monitors were for years. Its higher resolution than 720p HD TV. What advantage would higher resolution give? If you're surfing the net you're not going to see any more detail in web pages or images. Again it comes down to what the OP is going to use it for.
The Linx is a great tablet. However, its resale value is nothing like that of an iPad. If the OP plans to sell it on after 1-2 years this makes a massive difference.
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Old 30-11-2015, 16:58
victorslot
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And not everyone wants to use Windows whether on a tablet, laptop or desktop. There is little doubt that the Linx is good value for money but not everyone wants the limitations especially on the app front.
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Old 30-11-2015, 18:16
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And not everyone wants to use Windows whether on a tablet, laptop or desktop. There is little doubt that the Linx is good value for money but not everyone wants the limitations especially on the app front.
Unfair comparison. You have massive flexibility with zillions of programs.
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Old 30-11-2015, 21:52
alan1302
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Is that resolution worth £150?
Yes, it is.

And it's not just resolution - colours/contrast a re a lot better as well.
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Old 30-11-2015, 23:36
oilman
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Yes, it is.

And it's not just resolution - colours/contrast a re a lot better as well.
Is it worth buying a BMW rather than a Ford.

Answer is not Yes, or No, but it depends on your budget.
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Old 01-12-2015, 00:05
zz9
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The iPad is a dedicated tablet running apps designed to be run on a touch screen tablet. The selection of apps is far, far superior in both choice and quality to anything you will get on a Windows device.

The argument about running full Windows programmes is misleading as the linx is an underpowered laptop. I have a surface pro 3 which I don't use as a tablet because of restricted apps and using full programmes on a touch screen is very difficult. I also think the keyboard on the pro is average at best.

The best thing about the linx is that it is cheap, however it is a compromise in both tablet and pc form.
Funny, it wasn't that long ago that Mac users were arguing that the vastly bigger choice of software available for the PC wasn't important. Now that iOS has the most apps suddenly having the most is a huge advantage....

As for 'underpowered' it has a faster processor, and twice the RAM, as the iPad the OP is considering. And Windows 10 is a very lean OS, proved by the fact that Windows installed on a Macbook runs benchmarks faster than the original Mac OS.
Windows tablets, even the basic Windows RT, have had multitasking for three years, a feature the iPad has only just caught up. My old first gen Surface RT can play two different HD videos side by side at the same time, or play one in full 1080 on a HDTV and play another video on the tablet screen. Underpowered? It's not a power PC, but it's more than capable of running a bunch of different programs at the same time.

I've never had problems running full programs, I use Chrome as my default browser for example. Being a proper PC, and coming with a proper keyboard, and you can of course use a bluetooth or USB mouse if you want, so when at a desk you can use full programs as a proper PC, even adding a second monitor and extending the desktop (another feature no iPad can do, not even the iPad Pro) and then switch it into tablet mode when using it on the sofa or on the train, with the big finger friendly controls.

It is the iPad that is the compromise since it is just a tablet. If you want to do any actual work on it you are stuck with the tablet UI, can't add a second display, severely limited multitasking, can't install full programs and have to rely on cut down app versions, if they are even available, can't add memory and so on.

If they were the same price the Linx would be the better machine. The fact it's half the price just shows how Apple make so much profit. Charging you £200 for more storage when a Linx owner can buy the same for under £50.

Of course it comes down to exactly what the OP wants to use it for, and any iOS-only apps they need. But it's more likely there would be PC-only programs they would need.

And how can you criticise the keyboard for the Surface Pro when the keyboard for the iPad Pro doesn't even have a trackpad? Isn't that a huge compromise?
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Old 01-12-2015, 00:12
zz9
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The Linx is a great tablet. However, its resale value is nothing like that of an iPad. If the OP plans to sell it on after 1-2 years this makes a massive difference.
Apple sell the 32GB iPad Air for £359. The Linx 32GB costs £130, and you get a free keyboard. Would you get over £200 for a two year old iPad? Even if the resale value of the Linx was zero you'd have to get over £200 for the iPad to break even, and a quick look at completed listings on ebay suggests you wouldn't get close to that.
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Old 01-12-2015, 05:21
Stig
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Apple sell the 32GB iPad Air for £359. The Linx 32GB costs £130, and you get a free keyboard. Would you get over £200 for a two year old iPad? Even if the resale value of the Linx was zero you'd have to get over £200 for the iPad to break even, and a quick look at completed listings on ebay suggests you wouldn't get close to that.
Fair point. But the Linx may be £130 with a free keyboard this week, but it was £170 recently.

I really like the look of the Linx. However, having used a Surface Pro 3 with both Windows 8.1 and 10, I'd still prefer either an iPad or a 'proper' notebook PC. I still don't think that Windows cuts it on a tablet.
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Old 01-12-2015, 17:42
kidspud
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Funny, it wasn't that long ago that Mac users were arguing that the vastly bigger choice of software available for the PC wasn't important. Now that iOS has the most apps suddenly having the most is a huge advantage....

As for 'underpowered' it has a faster processor, and twice the RAM, as the iPad the OP is considering. And Windows 10 is a very lean OS, proved by the fact that Windows installed on a Macbook runs benchmarks faster than the original Mac OS.
Windows tablets, even the basic Windows RT, have had multitasking for three years, a feature the iPad has only just caught up. My old first gen Surface RT can play two different HD videos side by side at the same time, or play one in full 1080 on a HDTV and play another video on the tablet screen. Underpowered? It's not a power PC, but it's more than capable of running a bunch of different programs at the same time.

I've never had problems running full programs, I use Chrome as my default browser for example. Being a proper PC, and coming with a proper keyboard, and you can of course use a bluetooth or USB mouse if you want, so when at a desk you can use full programs as a proper PC, even adding a second monitor and extending the desktop (another feature no iPad can do, not even the iPad Pro) and then switch it into tablet mode when using it on the sofa or on the train, with the big finger friendly controls.

It is the iPad that is the compromise since it is just a tablet. If you want to do any actual work on it you are stuck with the tablet UI, can't add a second display, severely limited multitasking, can't install full programs and have to rely on cut down app versions, if they are even available, can't add memory and so on.

If they were the same price the Linx would be the better machine. The fact it's half the price just shows how Apple make so much profit. Charging you £200 for more storage when a Linx owner can buy the same for under £50.

Of course it comes down to exactly what the OP wants to use it for, and any iOS-only apps they need. But it's more likely there would be PC-only programs they would need.

And how can you criticise the keyboard for the Surface Pro when the keyboard for the iPad Pro doesn't even have a trackpad? Isn't that a huge compromise?
it's easy. I view the iPad as a tablet, and the best tablet available. I view the surface pro as a hybrid in which is neither the best tablet or the best laptop.

And regarding your constant references to money, ive already said, the best thing about the linx is its price.
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Old 01-12-2015, 20:30
alan1302
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Is it worth buying a BMW rather than a Ford.

Answer is not Yes, or No, but it depends on your budget.
That's a simple no - wouldn't want a BMW!
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Old 01-12-2015, 23:09
zz9
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Fair point. But the Linx may be £130 with a free keyboard this week, but it was £170 recently.

I really like the look of the Linx. However, having used a Surface Pro 3 with both Windows 8.1 and 10, I'd still prefer either an iPad or a 'proper' notebook PC. I still don't think that Windows cuts it on a tablet.
I'm curious in what way? W10 has two UI, the desktop one and the tablet one. In tablet mode it's a tablet. Big finger friendly icons, full screen apps, with snap to half screen to multitask and so on. As a pure tablet what is it lacking?
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Old 01-12-2015, 23:15
zz9
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The iPad has a much higher resolution display. Also if you have other Apple products then it makes sense to get the iPad.
Phones like my eighteen month old HTC M8 have a far higher resolution and PPI than the iPhone. Does that make them better phones than the iPhone?
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