Genuine question from on old member but now infrequent to this forum (back in the day I used to count 24 hour threads )

Me and Mrs james_g1 are planning on stepping out from our PC existence into the world of the iPad. It's unlikely to be used outside of the house so wi-fi only is probably fine. Should we go for 16GB or 32GB? Is this the beginning of the slippery slope into going all apple for our computing and entertainment needs? General thoughts and opinions welcome...

Cheers,

J

Have you found what apps you are planning to use? I downloaded all the apps I wanted long before I bought my iPad. Then from looking at the size of the apps folder in iTunes you will get a good idea of want might be best for you. You cannot upgrade the memory so I would suggest going for the largest capacity you can afford if you have a lot of apps. If you know that you will not need much capacity because you do not plan on getting games or can stream then you could go for the smallest.

If you do not plan on taking it out of the house then wifi is best, though you can always tether to an iPhone if the network allows or use a mifi as a mobile wifi.

The biggest question will be screen size and that can only be decided by getting your hands on one. Many shops will stock them so try and compare if you can.

Amnesia - you are brilliant. I never thought of downloading the apps to itunes first...

Brilliant...

Brilliant...

Further opinions also welcom, but brilliant.

If you can hold off for a while I'd wait for the iPad Mini 2 with the improved screen. Otherwise I'd avoid the current generation Mini and take aim at an iPad 4.

I would add rather than actually spending money on some apps, use the iTunes store listings to make a note of the size of the apps. Just add up the total and it will give you a rough idea of space required.

Also by using the store method is that when you attach the device you can install the apps much faster from your hard drive than download them via wifi at a later date. You will probably get far more apps than you expect and will probably run out of space. The other benefit of downloading the apps first is some disappear at a later date and are not updated.

I'd say buy the biggest you can afford. In my opinion, 16GB is too small. And I spent some time managing the 32GB iPad 1 I had. Content, especially video, can eat up space, and as you have cameras on iPads capable of HD video, you'll wish you had more capacity if using this becomes a habit.

I also like drawing on my iPad, so I need space to store those layered images on the thing. So my iPad 3 is the 64GB one.

I don't have a 3G model - just the wifi model, and I use a MiFi device if I am out and about and need net connectivity with it.

Downloading apps in advance is a good tip, but you don't get an idea of data storage with them, especially if you are using the iPad to create or download a lot of data.

Thankyou. I think for most of what we will do with it the 16GB would be fine, but having the extra capacity for movies etc when going away is important for keeping the kids amused! Will be going for the 32GB iPad4. Thanks.

If you know that you are going somewhere where you can get a wifi access then streaming can be a tremendous space saver. Good luck with your purchase.