iPad Specs?

[SRASLAN]

What specs should I be concerned about if I am thinking of getting an iPad. I would use it mainly for study and reading.

[MartinClay]

Steve

I have the basic model iPad 2 with only 16GB memory and it runs Accordance and my entire library absolutely fine with plenty to spare. The only issue is that the Greek and Hebrew characters are a bit fuzzy which is where a retina display would help I understand. If Greek and Hebrew are your need then think about that. Otherwise save money and go for a 2.

 

Martin

[Julia Falling]

Steve - Definitely get a Retina version. I completely agree with Martin. It really makes a difference with all text, but especially Helena.

 

My husband and I started with 16G iPad 2's. When the Retina display came out, we replaced then with them with 32G iPad 3's. I don't know that we'll upgrade this spring, but my next iPad will be a 64G (I don't think I need the 128G).

 

We started out using our iPads for reading, checking email, surfing the web, and playing a few games. My husband uses his a lot for reviewing photos (he's a really good amateur photographer) - that required the larger storage. I have a couple of magazines on mine, and MacArthur's new Pulpit magazine. Most of my Accordance library is on there, too. I also was running out of space. I only have a small subset of our classical music collection on my iPad - the stuff that is good accompaniment to light reading.

 

If you walk a treadmill, an iPad is perfect for giving you something to watch so you won't be bored out of your skull. Video is bulky, and my video content is rotated regularly.

 

You will probably find, as many of us have, that you use your iPad more and more and will want larger capacity down the road. My husband had no problems selling his first one. We gave mine to our homeschooling daughter.

 

An iPad is one of those devices that, once you acquire one, will make you wonder how you functioned without! (Sorry - the English there is a little convoluted.) Kinda like a microwave oven, but a lot more fun and a lot more useful.

 

 

[SRASLAN]

Thanks for the input. I tend to get the biggest one and didn't want to overdo it. I have quite a few Accodance modules and a musical collection as well. 64G ought to do. I guess I would need to 'sync' my mac with that, never done that before...?

steve

[Julia Falling]

It's easy to learn. I have all our Classical music categorized by period in iTunes. I can also sort by composer. I created a playlist for iPad and pulled the stuff in there that I wanted.

 

I've ripped DVDs that we own and formatted for iPhone/iPad so that I can play them on the iPad. Since you're coming into this at the point where the iPads already have seen lots of improvements, going with a bigger one makes sense.

 

I buy most of my books on Amazon and read with the free Kindle app. They're usually cheaper than on iTunes. I have not been happy with any books from Amazon that have any kind of chart - they're poorly formatted. Any reference work without a good table of contents or index is also useless.

 

You sync most of your content by hooking your iPad to your computer with the provided cable, or wirelessly with iOS 5 & 6. Accordance syncs wirelessly between computer and iPad through the Mac application and the iOS app.

 

One more thing we always do before buying a new Apple device is to check MacRumors here - http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#iPad. The iPad has a green light due to the recent refresh, so you're good to go.