Be Excellent To Each Other

I've been offered a 1st Gen 64GB 3G/Wi-Fi iPad for £300?

Currently I have an iPod Touch for all my iOS gaming & a HTC Android phone.

I've played with iPads but can't help thinking they are just a big iPod touch
Also this is first gen, for £400 I could get a 2nd gen 16gb wi-fi only new. The equivalent 2nd gen of this model would be £600+

The rumour of the iPad 3 out before xmas?

Oh! I'm really bad at deciding

Help

I'd say go for the iPad 2 wifi-only, but then I never leave the house with mine, so it rather depends how you'd use it.

It's too big to be portable & I can't see me leaving the house with it at all.

We take ours with us when we go for a few days away and it would be handy to have 3G to use it in the car/on a train, but it's not really a problem.

Nearly 18 month old* bit of tech for £300? Ouch! I say. Ouch!

*Not to mention the annual update schedule.

Do you really need 64GB and 3G? As you've said - it's difficult to envisage leaving the house with the thing, so I'd get an iPad 2 without all of the extra space and 3G malarky. OR, do you really need one at all? Personally, I'd love to have one based on how much I use my iPhone for browsing and gaming, but, I'm not taking the plunge until they give it a Retina-style display, which will hopefully be next time.

I take mine loads of places, but I mainly use it for sofa browsing and tv and films and books on the train commute. I don't have a 3g version and don't find I need 3g, I have a mifi dongle I can use if I need that. What I do find is that I run out of space too often, as films take up quite a large amount of space.

Only you will know your usage pattern, but £300 for a 64gb 3g seems pretty good, I certainly wouldn't be bother about it being first gen ipad, as the ipad 2 is no great leap forward.

I would be very surprised if the ipad 3 is launched this year...

I'd also like to add:

Although the technical differences between iPad and iPad 2 are relatively minor, you're going to see a huge drop in re-sale value of the first generation tech once the third one comes out I reckon, which is something to think about if you're dropping £300. Plus, is it 18 months old and been in use all of that time? What's the condition of it like? Does it still run as quickly as it did on day one? I know my iPhone 3G ran like shit after 18 months of use and firmware updates.

But hey, I don't have an iPad so take my advice with a pinch of salt.

Current rumours are talking about an 'iPad 2 HD' this year. Screen upgrade, perhaps.

I have a 4th Gen Touch and recently my in-laws bought my wife an iPad 2. After a sharp intake of breath and a brief moment of tech jealousy I can honestly say I don't even look twice at the iPad, and much prefer my Touch.

I'm a certifiable loony though, so YMMV and all that.

I'm not going to bother, £300 is a fairly good price I think but I can't see me using it. £170 for a 4th gen ipod touch is enough for me to play games & use apps.

Current rumours always predict the moon on a stick. I still can't see another iPad happening so soon, and I'd be pretty pissed if one did come out this year after shelling over half a grand on one less than 3 months ago.

Well I fucking love the 3G+GPS on my iPad and would hate to have one without. In fact, I would drop memory for 3G every time.

I think it interesting that people who 'don't get' iPads often have the Wifi version [/anecdote]. To me the 3G really gives the iPad it's legs. I just chuck it in my bag and I have everything I need. My Books. My Games. My Work. It's the greatest thing I've bought since my first PC. Hell, I really doubt I'll be getting another laptop now, just desktops + iPads.

A large part of this comes down to my train commute where the iPad makes a world of difference to my day. But even if it remains housebound the 10hrs battery puts it in another league when compared to iPhones.

Sure, you might not feel you'll use it that often, but trips away, visits home, work trips, train journeys and so on, happen more than you think.

Oh and it makes me think I've a HGTTG in my bag.

I'm really happy with my wifi version, and its completely free usage. But I've found I very rarely use it in places where there's no wifi available, and if I'm that desperate I can tether my phone easily and effectively. That said, I've also still only managed to fill about 4GB of the 32 I bought, so I could quite happily live with reduced storage AND no 3G.

I don't carry a bag around. So if I did, I'd be carrying one specifically for the iPad, which would be annoying.

If someone hasn't made such a case for the iPad, the world is a poorer place.

In a way, that's what's so great about the iPad. The same app ecosystem and the same touch-based OS, but with a screen that enables more complex production-oriented apps and the odd superior gaming experience. I use my iPad a lot, for games, for reading, and, increasingly, for work (iA Writer, NanoStudio in 2x mode, the odd bit of website updating), and I think it's a great machine. It does need to 'click' though—I know a bunch of people who think they waste their money on their iPads, but that's mostly because they still stick with a laptop for living-room computing, thereby relegating the iPad to (in their eyes) pointless territory. In our house—now Mrs G has a Kindle and an iPhone, and we have an iPad—the MacBook Pro almost never leaves the office.

Um something is hiding in this case?

No, don't get it.

Sucker.

I got a good deal on & could not resist the lure of the gadget
It's actually very good, I'm using it now to type this post

If you're like me, you'll find yourself using it a whole lot more than you imagined. If not, I'll bet you can sell it any time within the next six months for pretty much exactly what you paid for it. If you want some app and game recommendations, check out Tap!, and my articles for TechRadar.

Thanks it's all new & shiny at the moment & I need iPad specific app to fill up the 64 GB