Forum menu
Laptop, the ipad might look nicer but there will come a time when she will be using windows products at school and home access will be very beneficial. If you buy the ipad, you would probably end up getting hassled for a laptop as well in the not too distant future.
that was at the forefront of my mind as she's using excel now....
Fair enough Mick - from reading some of your posts it does seem your child is a level-headed child and good on her for that. I am not trying to be judgemental but I guess I was never the sort of child who could get expensive things nor do I really have the ability at the moment to spend that amount on my children and it just seemed an awful lot of money.
Wait for the Amazon Fire (will be much cheaper), or go for an Android based tablet - but if she's going to use it for homework etc, then I'd suggest a cheap laptop.
But have to agree that £400 for christmas is ridiculous.
Do what ever you want, you shouldn't need to justify to a bunch of strangers what you want to give your kid from Christmas, I'm sure she will be over the moon with an iPad.
But have to agree that £400 for christmas is ridiculous.
Of course it's not, plenty of people spend a lot more than that, plenty will spend a lot less, and so it goes.
Someone posts a picture of their new bike that costs the same as a small family car and will get used at way less that its capability once or twice a week max yet no one says anything. Expensive bikes in the classified in almost pristine condition (ridden twice or whatever) and no one says anything. Yet someone asks about a present that costs less than 10% the value of said bikes (and will be used much more) and there's uproar. 🙄
ianv - for me the argument is that an adult working for and spending money on themselves is far different than a child asking for expensive presents. A child should be taught the value of money and understand they have to work for things, not just ask and get.
I do think though, from what the OP has subsequently said, that his daughter is not a demanding child rather just in a fortunate position and does value what she is given. (Which is a far cry from the example I give above of someone I know).
age 10 .... internet from a computer set up in a family room
ipad will need laptop access to get music on it and to back it up and even update it to start with !
the two are not mutually exclusive
for educational purposes get a laptop because its whats used in the big bad world and its a life skill these days being able to operate a computer efficiently
ipad really is just an expensive toy it comes into its own when traveling for media consumption(why i got mine) - its not a productive tool
If OP said he was getting his kid a bike worth 400 that nobody would bat an eyelid
To the OP. Get him one for xmas and the other for his birthday. Not sure about the year after that though, but don't worry there will be a new iPad out by then.
Double what I would spend, but then I've got more kids and a humungous mortgage
I have considered the question of how much to spend on my kids.
I think that Christmas should not be a time for massively expensive presents. If my kids have a genuine requirement for a laptop, a decent bike, a musical instrument or whatever, I'll more than likely shell out. But not at Christmas. Otherwise I fear Christmas will be a time for demanding and expecting huge sums of money spent and not for enjoying the fun of it all. Big purchases should be outside the normal loop of gift buying. Like houses, cars, and bikes. My bikes were all bought with windfalls, if my kids had been around then they'd have got something too.
(nods head in agreement with Molgrips)
ipad will need laptop access to get music on it and to back it up and even update it to start with
iPad does not need a computer to back it up or update it since iOS 5 was released.
Also music can be purchased directly from the iTunes store without the need for a computer.
Of course if you want to rip CDs to put on it then you will need a computer.
plus games for the iPad are cheap.
As I child, I rarely got random presents throughout the year, and certainly nothing expensive. However, at Christmas, my parents would get my brother and I one 'big' gift each. We had a Spectrum 48k, a Commodore 64, an Amiga 500+ - all of which inspired a lifelong love of technology and gaming which ended up defining my future.
Get her a laptop so she can use Excel/Word/Powerpoint, etc. Also, get her Scratch and get her into programming. Then when she's a fabulously rich coder* she can start repaying her debt! 😛
* Not in the games industry - it's fun, it's creative, but bloody hell you earn more outside of it!
How about if you remove the [i]"for Christmas"[/i], and leave it as he is going to buy a laptop for his child to use, partly for her education, but she will also be allowed to use it for recreation and games.
If you flip it around this way, then it's really the same as asking [i]"what washing machine for the wife's Christmas"[/i]...
Nothing wrong with an iPad, but I'd get the laptop, be a lot more use for school projects and the like in the future. It's your money and your kid, go for it. I would.
if your going to quote me at least read the full quote instead of trying to be smart .....
We had two computers when I was a kid, not a the same time though. They were family computers though, not mine, even though it was mostly me using them. They were also in the spare room most of the time, my parents were very keen on them not ending up in my room. Neither was a Christmas present either.
I bet nobody would have batted an eyelid if you'd said you were spending £400 on a bike for your 10-year-old daughter.
You don't do yourself any favours implying that people are envious though. They're just grumpy really and some people prefer to keep quiet about their finances.
Here we go. page 3, time for the descent into squabbling...
This website is hilarious.
There seems to be an equal blend of threads about which trim level to opt for on an Audi A5 (or suchlike) and others where chippy little men seek to exorcise their own feelings of inadequacy by pontificating on how others should spend their money. Then the usual fauxletarians turn up to out do each other with stories, whether real or imagined of living in a shoebox in the middle of the road.
My advice?
1) Do whatever you think will make your kids happy
2) Ignore everything on this forum including this post
I'm viewing this from an ipad in comet!!!
she's at the age where all of her home work is still paper bassed, she loves apps and music and the ipad could sync with my mac for all that gubbins. I'm drwan to the ipad mainly because of the educational apps, games and no need to buy anti virus crap etc...
thanks to you all for a healthy debate!!
Ohh the same old same old.. "he should", "he shouldn't".
Get the girl what she likes, if you have the £'s then do it. But you need not do it just for Xmas.. Do it at any time of the year, Xmas is about spending time with your family and giving/sharing the LUV, that I feel is way more expensive to give, easy to recieve and she'll remember that for a very very very long time indeed.
iPad.
I bet nobody would have batted an eyelid if you'd said you were spending £400 on a bike for your 10-year-old daughter.
£400 for a 10 year old's bike would seem very expensive too!
I think, rereading this post that I was wrong. Like someone said, if the OP's daughter has a real need for a laptop to do her homework etc on, then £400 isn't a huge amount to spend. I think it's just the iPad is perceived as a luxury item IMO.
But I also agree with the above about maybe buying it outside of 'christmas', as it's easy to get into a cycle of trying to outdo the previous year.
Get a grip. Buying a kid an educational toy at xmas is bad?
My mate's 3 year old has an ipad and that wasn't a present.
£400 for a 10 year old's bike would seem very expensive too!
My 10 year old daughter loves her Isla Bikes Beinn 26, £349, she rides it for miles because it is light and works properly.
Get her a laptop so she can use Excel/Word/Powerpoint, etc
Oh yes I agree, get her trained up for a life of office based drudgery as early as possible 🙄
trouble with a laptop it is encourages poor posture using it.
If they don't need to move it around why not a desktop mac.
You can't really use a tablet for homework and other productive stuff, it is more email and mucking around, imho.
Oh yes I agree, get her trained up for a life of office based drudgery as early as possible
Haha, I guess most schools use those too though, no?
Alternatively, install Ubuntu, and tell her she can't use it until she configures her own wireless and audio drivers... 😛
geordiemick00 - Member
I'm viewing this from an ipad in comet!!!she's at the age where all of her home work is still paper bassed, she loves apps and music and the ipad could sync with my mac for all that gubbins. I'm drwan to the ipad mainly because of the educational apps, games and no need to buy anti virus crap etc...
thanks to you all for a healthy debate!!
Have you decided, then?
Sounds like you are gonna get the iPad, and probably had that in mind all the time....? 🙂
I went against my better judgement and bought our daughter an Android tablet for her birthday, as she really wanted one. It hardly got used and had now been sold to go towards a laptop.
On the laptop theme, she wants a netbook, but I'm standing firm on this one and getting a laptop. Am I right in doing do, or would a netbook be fine. She not a gamer, but it will be used for schoolwork
On the laptop theme, she wants a netbook, but I'm standing firm on this one and getting a laptop. Am I right in doing do, or would a netbook be fine. She not a gamer, but it will be used for schoolwork
Laptop has more screen 'real estate' and can take more memory/bigger hard drives/faster processor. A compact 13" laptop should be a good compromise between performance and portability.
Might as well get her a 13" MacBook Pro to go with the iPad. 😛 😉
Sounds like you are gonna get the iPad, and probably had that in mind all the time....?
I bet he had already bought the iPad before starting the thread 😉
Laptop has more screen 'real estate'
More WHAT?
[img] http://www.smileys4me.com/getsmiley.php?show=1829 [/img]
Surely a 10 year old is going to have more fun with an ipad, a laptop may be needed in two or three years but by then whatever you get now will be history. I vote ipad.
More WHAT?
Bigger screen 🙄
This is a slightly different view.
I got an iPad half price through work and it's a "share" between me and my son (well, until I got a FREE iPad2 through work 😀 ).
Anyway, he used it a lot last couple of weeks (games and stuff) and has been getting really bad headaches. Had to come home from school one day and leave his sports club early another.
Not sure if a laptop will be any better, but limited use is probably a good idea.
My mistake, I thought it might have been somewhere to build a condo!
[img] http://www.smileys4me.com/getsmiley.php?show=2152 [/img]
*runs off looking for the business ****erspeak thread*
Well, a bigger screen doesn't always indicate more 'space' as it comes down to the resolution a screen can handle... the 11" Macbook Air has more 'space' than the 13" Macbook Pro, while being a physically smaller display.
If you think £400 is too much to spend on a 10 year old, then you could always go for a 40 year old Whisky, which Aldi are doing for £50. Should help them sleep well after the excitement of Christmas day.
Jesus, £400?! For a 10 year old?! Mind you, if it were for a learning device like a laptop then I kind of think that's fair, computers are invaluable tools.
I thought I was the luckiest kid alive when I got a bike frame and only had to buy the bits to build it myself.
Our 11 yr old will be having around £650 spent on her in total. So what, its a couple of days wages. It's all relative.
Our 11 yr old will be having around £650 spent on her in total. So what, its a couple of days wages. It's all relative.
Do you want to be my new dad?
In return I will mow the lawn once a month and possibly clean the car, but only if you give me the money up front.
What? No?
Oh your so unfair!
*storms out of thread and slams bedroom door*
each to their own but an ipad for a 10 year old is fekin ridiculous.
whats she having for her 18th, a house?
sorry just my view,
Dad of an 18month old girl, i have it all to come dont i!? 🙄
*storms out of thread and slams bedroom door*
*Offers Jamie an orange*
Dad of an 18month old girl, i have it all to come dont i!?
What? People judging you for how you bring up your children?