KellyGirl Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 With the talk of price drops coming Wednesday, I took a peek at the refurbs in the Apple store. And I'm thinking I might be able to squeeze a 1st generation iPad into the school budget for next year. From what I can see, the biggest differences between a 1 and 2 are the size, faster processor in the 2, and the cameras. I'm thinking that if it's primarily for the kids to use none of those things will be that big of a deal. But it's always good to hear from the hive before pulling the trigger on a purchase like that... If I buy a 1st generation 16gb iPad, will I wish that I had waited until I could afford a newer one (which would be at least another year)?:bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennsmile Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 The new interactive books crash the iPad 1 easily, I would get at least a 2. I had to delete several new educational interactive iBooks, they were crashing my iPad too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roseyloxs Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 A camera was a must for us since we do a lot of skyping with family and friends. I don't remember if the first generation has any other significant disadvantages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuirkyKidAcademy Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 I use our 1st gen iPad with no probs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KellyGirl Posted March 5, 2012 Author Share Posted March 5, 2012 The new interactive books crash the iPad 1 easily, I would get at least a 2. I had to delete several new educational interactive iBooks, they were crashing my iPad too much. Elizabeth, I'm not familiar with interactive iBooks at all. Are they things that you are using as spines? I saw from a quick search that they seem to be pretty reasonably priced (many starting at $14.99) I was originally thinking that I would use an iPad for some internet access and to let the kids write on the PDFs for programs like Math Mammoth. And of course there are some great educational apps to download. We're not super high tech around here, but we're not totally unplugged either. So I guess I'm trying to say I don't know how I feel about interactive books. I kind of like books to just be words on a page:tongue_smilie:, but I don't want to miss something great, either! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acurtis75 Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 We have both an ipad 2 with 16bg and a first generation with 64gb. We haven't had any issues with either. If it is in budget to get more memory I would but if you can't you can always manage big files (like movies) by moving them from the ipad to the computer and back when necessary. The processing time and weight are only noticable if we are holding them right next to each other. The camera is nice but by no means necessary. We use it to skype and take the occassional video but that's about it. Also, imovie which is the video editing app only works on the ipad2 but you probably wouldn't need that unless you have the camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabeline Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 I use our 1st gen iPad with no probs. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 I use our 1st gen iPad with no probs. But, can you download and open and close and search through iBooks Textbooks with a lot of videos like E.O. Wilson's Life on Earth? (It is free, it worked the first few times, then it repeatedly crashed my iBooks and my iPad. When I searched the internet, there were a lot of other iPad 1 users with this problem, but it seemed to work well with the iPad 2.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 (edited) Elizabeth, I'm not familiar with interactive iBooks at all. Are they things that you are using as spines? I saw from a quick search that they seem to be pretty reasonably priced (many starting at $14.99) I was originally thinking that I would use an iPad for some internet access and to let the kids write on the PDFs for programs like Math Mammoth. And of course there are some great educational apps to download. We're not super high tech around here, but we're not totally unplugged either. So I guess I'm trying to say I don't know how I feel about interactive books. I kind of like books to just be words on a page:tongue_smilie:, but I don't want to miss something great, either! Well, since they crash my iPad, I haven't used them much, and I wouldn't want an electronic book as a spine, I limit total electronics time and prefer to work from actual books most of the time. However, for certain subjects, the interactive books are great, they allow you to really "see" things that work better when explained in 3-D. I was really impressed with the potential of 3-D and interactive books for a subject like chemistry or certain aspects of biology, geometry, physics, etc. Edited March 5, 2012 by ElizabethB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KellyGirl Posted March 5, 2012 Author Share Posted March 5, 2012 Well, since the crash my iPad, I haven't used them much, and I wouldn't want an electronic book as a spine, I limit total electronics time and prefer to work from actual books most of the time. However, for certain subjects, the interactive books are great, they allow you to really "see" things that work better when explained in 3-D. I was really impressed with the potential of 3-D and interactive books for a subject like chemistry or certain aspects of biology, geometry, physics, etc. Thanks for expounding! I wonder if they will make iBooks compatible with Mac computers sometime in the near future... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 Thanks for expounding! I wonder if they will make iBooks compatible with Mac computers sometime in the near future... I'm still trying to find out how teacher's editions are handled for the iTextbooks. I am considering an ipad for a future purchase and these books are one of the reasons, but I'd like to know more about how the whole system (student text, workpages/study guides, teacher text, tests, etc) would work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KellyGirl Posted March 6, 2012 Author Share Posted March 6, 2012 So...I'm leaning towards trimming the workbook fat and trying to squeeze the first generation iPad into the budget. But would love to hear from more people. Anyone :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuirkyKidAcademy Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 Elizabeth, I haven't used a book like you describe, so I should have qualified my answer. We have a 32G first gen iPad. It's loaded with games galore and tons of books (not imbedded with video though). I load PDFs using Download Pro and put them on Notability for DS to use. My husband uses it for his flight charts and weather data. The first gen doesn't have a camera, but we use a real camera or our phones so that isn't a problem for us. If the OP is going to use her iPad with the type of interactive texts you describe, sounds like a 2nd generation would be better - just to be on the safe side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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