FWIW, I find it very easy to tote my iPad mini around. It fits in coat pockets and purses way easier than the full-sized iPad.
Jayne is a girl's name.
River ,'Trash'
Buffistechnology 3: "Press Some Buttons, See What Happens."
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-t - Jan 06, 2015 8:53:33 am PST #24252 of 25496
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
Jessica - Jan 06, 2015 9:24:18 am PST #24253 of 25496
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
I honestly can't imagine using a tablet without wifi. Almost everything I do with that device requires an internet connection.
tommyrot - Jan 06, 2015 9:35:35 am PST #24254 of 25496
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
I just purchased a new iPad Air. So much faster than my 2 1/2 year old iPad, plus it had a cellular modem so I can internet everywhere as God intended. No more using a personal hotspot on my iPhone, which means I can have a reduced data plan and save a lot of money.
-t - Jan 06, 2015 9:41:06 am PST #24255 of 25496
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
Did you have to add a service plan for the modem?
tommyrot - Jan 06, 2015 9:51:37 am PST #24256 of 25496
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Did you have to add a service plan for the modem?
I added it to the now 3GB plan for my iPhone. AT&T charges $10 per month to combine them into one plan.
Jessica - Jan 06, 2015 10:04:32 am PST #24257 of 25496
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Yeah, I have LTE on both of my tablets that I activate when I'm going out of town.
beekaytee - Jan 06, 2015 10:14:08 am PST #24258 of 25496
Compassionately intolerant
-t, that's the kind of real world experience I want to hear about!
I might crack under the wifi pressure, but I'd really rather not.
If I could network an ipad to my peripherals, the choice would be made, but that not being the case. I think I'm leaning heavily toward the ipad2.
eta: I meant to say the mini ipad2.
meara - Jan 06, 2015 10:23:05 am PST #24259 of 25496
I just have hotspot for my phone, rather than buying the iPad with cellular connection--my last one had it but I never ever used it, so figured no point in paying for it with my current one.
Maria - Jan 06, 2015 12:40:03 pm PST #24260 of 25496
Not so nice is that I'm about to ruin a Friday morning for a bunch of people because of a series of unfortunate events and an upset foreign government. - shrift
bonny, I'm confused. If you're going to use an iPad/mini to replace a desktop computer, how do you plan on doing that without wifi? There are no native inputs on an iPad for an ethernet cable. There's no USB ports either. You can't buy one without it at least being wifi-capable. The LTE versions that run on cellular network and basically act as giant cellphones are optional.
askye - Jan 06, 2015 3:36:49 pm PST #24261 of 25496
Thrive to spite them
bonny there are some things you'll be able to do on a tablet without a wifi connection but the ipad and ipad mini only have the lightning connector.
There are some adapters you can get that attach the lightning connector (that's the charger) that give you some options. For example you can get a SD card adapter or an adapter for HDMI (it's called lighting to digital av adapater).
Also you are locked into the storage - if you get 16 gbs and you use it up the only way to get more space is to use the iCloud (which requires wifi connectivity) and that has a monthly fee, delete files or apps, or transfer them to a computer.
There are soem Windows based tablets that have microHDMI ports and most Android and Windows tablets have microSD card slots for expanding storage.
If you're worried about breaking it, I highly recommend a Lifeproof or Otterbox case for it. However, those types of cases will limit the kinds of keyboards you can use for it. Zagg makes a folio keyboard case that encloses the whole ipad (or other tablet they've expanded this line) so that the ipad will look like a small computer and it provides more protection. Although it doesn't have the kind of military grade drop ratings that the Lifeproof and Otterbox cases have.