My wife just found out that she has won a $600 (Canadian) gift card for the Apple store. The point of the contest was to win an iPad, but the gift card can be redeemed for anything, so I thought I’d ask for suggestions.
We recently bought a laptop, so we don’t need a new machine.
Currently she has an old shuffle, and I have a fairly old classic, so one option is to update to a touch and a nano, or a couple touches. Or, we could just go with the iPad, maybe bumping up the memory.
Are there any rumors of when the iPad line will get updated?
Any other cool gadgets that might be worth picking up?
I’ve seen rumors in the news of a smaller screen iPad for next year.
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/ has decent predictions on what’s coming soon and whether or not now is a good time to buy, based on how long since any given product has been updated. Strangely, they don’t list iPads yet.
Something else to consider is software.
You could buy a Mac Mini, and use it as a home theater PC - play Youtube videos, Netflix watch instantly videos, and DVDs on your TV. The iPod touch is a nice hand-held computer / music-playing device (I just bought one myself), but you can only use it for internet access when you have a wireless network available. And the screen is a little small to use as an eBook reader. A nice feature of the iPod touch is that it can also serve as a small hand-held video camera.
Also, in that vein, Apple has come out with a new version of their AppleTV device. I don’t know if it’s worth buying, but for $100, you might be interested in giving it a try.