SoCalDon

I have to buy two iPad's this week for a charity that I volunteer for. As far as I can tell, Apple don't do anything in the way of donations or discounts so I'm just looking around for a supplier that may do us a deal.

Does anyone know if any of the big stores might be able to help with a bit of a discount? Prices in the shops seem consistent at $569 for the model that we're after so price matching's not going to work.

Beoz

Ouch .... does it have to be an ipad ?..... if you went for Windows or Android you would have far greater pricing options.

SoCalDon

Unfortunately they already have a couple of the damn things and they are comfortable using them. I'm sure they'd be better off with something else.

May have a look at refurbished ones which would be a saving, at least. Will go, cap in hand, to the Apple Store in the morning. See if I can play them off against Myer, JB and Dick Smiths. Not that I will ever buy anything from DSE again. Bastards.

GarryP

OK, you're screwed.

Apple don't do charity, basically. The reason you see the same price is apple force them all to sell for the same price - on pain of pain (and not getting any supplies). In theory it should be illegal - but the reality distortion field apple put up tends to allow them to avoid such things as laws. They also artificially try and keep the second hand price up, to maintain the idea even the obsolete ones have some kind of value.

You are more likely to be able to find someone who will do a deal on accessories than on the base price.

You should also bear in mind that as I mentioned elsewhere, there's a new ipad due 15th March.

Strategically the best bet would be to find out what they actually use them for, and see if you can convince them Android is as good/better. You won't get out of apple for under a grand for two, and that would probably get you four android tablets. I've certainly seen a few charities that use android tablets in client facing roles because they are cheaper and more flexible to integrate with other elements.

Beoz

I'm reading on other threads about schools forcing parents to buy iPads for wee Johnny.

Many parents can't afford that price.

Schools need to give a list of applications they will use and if an OS app store has it, game on.

GarryP

Schools ought to supply everything little Jonny needs and not attempt to load it onto parents. But then again, the entire education sector needs a massive shakeup too.

Meanwhile, any proprietary requirements ought to be accompanied by the legal requirement for the school to stump up the cash. The only way they should be able to ask for 'voluntary' elements is if they platform agnostic - and to be honest there is no reason why they shouldn't be.

Beoz

Yep. Whatever apps are used need to be selected on being platform agnostic.

There's no excuse for an app used wide enough in schools not to be agnostic.

Swerv-o

I rally can't see what benefit forcing kids on to iPads has for future life. Granted, there may be a handful of educational apps available for certain subjects, but generally kids need to be learning to use workplace tools - and iPads are certainly not those.


S

GarryP

Well, realistically PCs aren't likely to do too well going forward - mickysoft have seen to that. So inflicting a PC on them is probably not sensible. Indeed, I think from the point of view of learning about computers, the Rasp Pi is far better.

From the perspective of actually learning about other subjects, then flipped classrooms and video playback is sensible. Add on a Bluetooth keyboard and there's no reason they shouldn't be typing up prose on a tablet, etc. They certainly should have all textbooks as (free) downloads to a tablet. Hell, give them a 'classic literature' library as part of the setup.

Amazulu

A friend of ours, a single parent on the bones of his arse, last year had to buy a device for his daughter who was starting at a state high school. This device was necessary as a lot of the work would only be done online/digitally etc. The only device that fitted the spec was a MS Surface Pro 3, which was about $1300 at the time

That's a crock 'o shite IMO. It's a sum of money out of reach of many families who are struggling but keeping their heads above water, entailing sacrifice in other areas of their budget

My son's school has a BYOD policy which is pretty broad in scope and if families don't want to do this, there are plenty of devices to use that belong to the school

Beoz

What was the requirement? Does a student really need a Surface Pro?

Swerv-o

I wouldn't have thought so. I doubt there is very little that a student would need such a machine for.

I suspect that it's more about the technical abilities of the staff than the actual requirements.


S

Amazulu

I read the spec - i5/detachable keyboard/touchscreen/pen etc

It was for a SP3

Great device - I have one - but OTT for a year 7 pupil

SoCalDon

Thank you all for your input. You are right, Apple will not support a charity.

However, I went into the Apple Store and the smarmy git (actually a very nice young man) suggested that they WILL price match. He went onto the Internet for me and found that the iPad sells for $569. Good Guys have it on sale for $478 so Apple would sell it me for $512.

I thanked him very much, trotted off to the Good Guys and bought two of them.

Job done.

Swerv-o

Really? And what exactly are they running on it? Some word processing and spreadsheets?


S