Apparently they’re actually decently supported.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=G3YFLQ5Z33MZA6FT
Secure biometrics are off the table though.
Android tablets have a significant engagement issue (depending on your view and willingness to parent, that might not be a bad thing), and we were involved in a school study about this. Harder to use, easier to break (both in software and hardware). Kids engage with the learning better on an iPad, are more efficiently able to complete their homework. They can compound laziness if you don’t disable certain features though. Kids learn very quickly that dictation means they don’t need to know how to spell, or learn how to type for instance.
iPad is the only computer I’d ever recommend for a child. And is the computer I’m increasingly recommending for most adults.
Android tablets might be cheaper, but in my view the money you spend on one is usually completely wasted, whereas an iPad isn’t.
iPad 9 remains in the line up. The economic issues hopefully won’t last forever. More schools are starting to give out iPads to children anyway. And the iPad will last many years.
4 Likes
For watching Paw Patrol and playing Cut The Rope, I’d wager the Android tablet works just as well for engagement! Which is generally the need that they’re filling for younger kids.
Education purposes (and usage for older kids in general) are definitely another matter.
You’re channeling some serious Tim Cook there! 
2 Likes
You’d think! The research we did painted a consistently different picture. It was limited to kindle fires though.
For whatever reason, kids just didn’t enjoy using those tablets to watch stuff or play games, and would apparently lose interest in them quite quickly. iPad has the opposite problem, which is what I was touching on before. Kids won’t put em down! YouTube and gacha games really have their claws hooked, and something about the iPad experience exacerbates it. You can certainly use these apps on a kindle fire too, but they generally don’t!
That sort of addictive engagement sounds bad, and it probably is if you’re not going to parent, but it makes a world of a difference for homework too. Assuming you can get them off the games and YouTube to do it.
iPad Airs are completely kid proof too, not sure where Apple are cheaping out on the cheaper ones, but they’re more damage prone, and the screens shatter more easily. They have more flex I’ve noticed too, and don’t quite feel like the glass on the more expensive models.
2 Likes
I think there are two separate issues with the pricing.
One is to do with the strength of the dollar and explains why lots of existing Apple products have gone up in price in the UK (e.g. iPad 9). Like you say, this factor may be temporary.
But the the other is independent of exchange rates and is to do with what strategy Apple has for their iPad line-up, which is now unclear to me. Since around 2017 they have introduced a new entry level iPad every year with a sub $350 launch price. They now appear to have returned to pre-2017 approach of having the new entry level iPad with a launch price of $450 or more. Yes, they currently have last years model still around to occupy the sub $400 space. Is the new strategy going to be to always keep a 1-2 year old model on sale as the sub $400 iPad? Or is the current approach a transition toward abandoning the sub $400 space entirely when the iPad 9 is withdrawn??? Time will tell I guess.
1 Like
Who knows?
They’ve switched back and forth between both models, and given it’s just moved to a new hardware design, it’s to be expected.
It’s common and always happens when Apple introduce a design refresh to a specific model. Whilst the design language itself is not new, it is new to the entry level iPad, so it holds to the pattern. Eventually the price of this model will come down, and when it does, the old design will be phased out.
They do this with MacBooks too (iPad more closely follows this structure than it does iPhone these days), and kinda with iPhone, but that’s a lot more complex where instead of several lines they just leave the older ones around.
They always like to keep something around that sticks to an older design language for a while.
I suspect what we might end up getting is an iPad SE. Old design, better specs, to fill the iPad 9 slot. The sub 350 iPad is never going to go away. It’s their best selling iPad.
1 Like
I hope not! The iPad line up is already a complete mess, and the last thing we need is even more complexity. There are too many different iPad models with barely anything to differentiate them, with different compatible accessories. The difference between them is also quite negligible, which I think is their strategy to get people to move on up to the Pros. At least in the US because in the rest of the world this stuff is getting unaffordable.
And that’s my second bugbear. Just like with the iPhone pricing, I find the increases in price worldwide shocking. Other manufacturers decided to keep their prices where they were previously and take a small hit on profit margins. Apple is instead gambling on their selling points being strong enough to keep people. They may be in the US, but I suspect in Europe and the rest of the world, people (not tech enthusiasts but ordinary people) will think twice about whether to stick with Apple currently
1 Like
Didn’t think it was worth a new thread.
Shame we didn’t get an redesign for the Mac Mini, to actually make it really mini.
3 Likes
As much as I’d have liked to see a Mac Mini redesign, I can see why they didn’t make it any smaller when practically 50% of the the Mac Studio is heatsink. I imagine it would have needed a complete redesign to allow the thermals to shrink it any further even with the efficiency of Apple silicon.
I think that’s what @ravipatel was hoping for. Me too a little bit.
The Mac mini is beautifully designed as it is, but they’re still sticking an apple silicon chipset inside of a chassis that was designed for Intel. I’ve no doubt a redesign will come at some point though, that’s perfectly engineered with Apple silicon in mind, and I look forward to that day.
With that said. I think the Mac mini has a lovely form factor already, so there’s no rush.
1 Like
I had a Mac Mini back in 2013 and I loved it, if I ever had a need for a Mac desktop I’d definitely get another.
Unfortunately we use Windows at work and my personal laptop is a MBA M1.
1 Like
I was too, but only for the sake of it being different. I love how many 3rd party solutions there are for mounting them up behind monitors, under desks and even server rack mounts!
1 Like
I imagine it could be at least half the size it currently is. Although that may give Apple cover to remove some more ports 
.
It’s a perfectly fine design. But it’s essentially over a decade old.
1 Like
Two ways they could go. Minification (apparently not a real word. Who knew? Not me. More serving of being one than frauded though.) or optimisation.
Or possibly both. I’d be more curious to see the optimisation path though. Similar size, new look, but a lot more oomp.
I’ve been waiting for a replacement for my 2017 iMac Pro - preferably another iMac with a Pro or Max chipset. It doesn’t look like it’s on the horizon, though, so I may treat myself to the M2 Pro Mini along with the Studio display.
The iMac Pro is still pretty quick, though, so I might give it another 6 months and see what happens.
There is this, but also Mac Mini’s are used in some data centres in racks by the tens of thousands - that is a subset of customers they won’t want to piss off with a redesign just because they can. Of course you could have a specific model retained for racks, but then you are adding more SKUs and increasing costs.
It is an old design, but I think it stands the test of time.
2 Likes
Yeah I feel like the Mac mini is exactly the size it needs to be in order to have the ports it has. There’s not a lot of spare space on the back of my M1 mini – and I wouldn’t want to lose a single one of those ports.
1 Like
2 Likes
Well that’s a surprise!
Nice, but oh that price 