Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. Deals

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Best back-to-school iPad deals: Get an Apple tablet for $220

Jennifer Allen
By
This article is part of our Back to School sales coverage, where we help you beat the rush and save money by shopping early.

If you need one of the best iPad deals for taking back to school, or simply for fun, we’re here to help. With some great iPad deals going on right now, we’ve highlighted some of the best of the bunch. Below, we’ve picked out iPads covering various different budgets so there’s something for everyone here from the basic iPad to the iPad Pro. Let’s take a look at what’s best for you.

Apple iPad (64GB, Wi-Fi, 7th Gen) — $220, was $249

The iPad 10.2 being used.
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

This Apple iPad 7th generation might not be very new anymore but thanks to Apple supporting its products for a while to come, it remains a good option for those wanting to keep costs down. This particular model is refurbished so it’s had a previous owner but has since been restored to excellent quality, just like if you bought it new. It offers a 10.2-inch Retina display with a 2160 x 1620 resolution, Apple A10 Fusion chip, and a massive 128GB of storage space. It also has a 8MP camera although it’s best suited for occasional snaps or video calls rather than pure photography. It’s a great introduction to tablets if you want something iPadOS based without spending a lot.

Apple iPad (64GB, Wi-Fi, 8th Gen) — $413, was $449

Apple iPad 9th Gen. 2021 on porch with toys.
.

The latest Apple iPad offers a lot to love. On a basic level, it looks great with a choice of color schemes for matching your aesthetic at school. It also has a delightful 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone support so the display is adjusted to the color temperature of the room for excellent picture quality at all times. The A14 Bionic chip ensures decent performance for this price range while there’s 64GB of storage space. A 12MP ultra wide front camera is useful for video calls thanks to Center Stage support, while there’s a 12MP wide back camera for taking snaps.

Related

Apple iPad Mini (64GB, Wi-Fi, 6th Gen) — $469, was $499

The Apple Pencil attaches to the iPad mini magnetically.
Adam Doud/Digital Trends

A little powerhouse of an iPad, the Apple iPad Mini is ideal if you need the most portability possible from your tablet. Its 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display looks great with True Tone support, as well as P3 wide color and ultralow reflectivity. The tablet is powered by the A15 Bionic chip which is pretty good for gaming as well as editing content such as images or videos. It also has a 12MP Ultra Wide front camera with Center Stage support, along with a 12MP Wide back camera with True Tone flash. Its smaller size makes it great for anyone who prefers to travel light.

Apple iPad Air (64GB, Wi-Fi, 5th Gen) — $559, was $599

iPad Air 5 alongside the iPhone and MacBook.
Digital Trends

Topping our look at the best iPads, the Apple iPad Air is the best choice for most people. It uses the M1 chip you see in slightly older iPad Pros and MacBooks so you’re gaining laptop levels of performance here. For the screen, there’s the ever gorgeous 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone support along with P3 wide color to ensure that images look sharp and vibrant at all times. Besides being a productivity powerhouse, the Apple iPad Air supports the Apple Pencil (2nd generation) so it’s a reliable option for anyone who wants to sketch out designs and have the advantages of a magnetically charged pencil compared to the first gen one that other tablets support. Suitably versatile, this is a tablet ideal for pretty much all situations.

11-inch Apple iPad Pro (128GB, Wi-Fi, M2) — $749, was $799

Woman using an iPad Pro 11-inch feat image.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The latest Apple iPad Pro 11-inch is a supremely powerful tablet. It uses the M2 chip we see in MacBooks so you gain the latest in laptop levels of performance. It has an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU so it’s great for everything from gaming to video editing, all while on the move. Alongside that, the 11-inch Liquid Retina display looks great with ProMotion support ensuring no motion blur, True Tone for great colors in any light, along with P3 wide color support too. Basically, you’re gaining a laptop in tablet form with the option to add on the Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard for more functionality.

12.9-inch Apple iPad Pro (128GB, Wi-Fi, M2) — $1,049, was $1,099

Someone holding the 12.9-inch version of the iPad Pro (2022).
Joe Maring/Digital Trends / Digital Trends

For the ultimate iPad experience, buy the Apple iPad Pro 12.9-inch M2. Its screen is truly stunning with the 12.9-inch Liquid Retina XDR display offering up to 1,000 nits of brightness with 1,600 nits of peak brightness. A 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, reference mode, ProMotion, True Tone, and P3 wide color all add to the stunning quality of the display. It’s also powered by the M2 chip with 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU so it can handle anything you throw at it. If you want a life that’s laptop-free, this iPad just made it possible.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Jennifer Allen
Jennifer Allen
Deals Writer
Jennifer Allen is a technology writer with over 10 years of experience. She primarily writes about the best deals coverage…
Save on Apple’s USB-C Power Adapter to go with your iPhone 15
The Apple USB-C Power Adapter on a white background.

If you've just bought yourself a shiny new iPhone 15 then lamented the fact it doesn't come with a power adapter, we've got the right Apple deals for you. Over at Walmart, you can buy the Apple USB-C power adapter for $17 instead of $19. Sure, it's a tiny saving of $2 but you need this adapter anyway, so you might as well save a couple of bucks while you're at it. If you need to know a bit more about the adapter and why it's so useful, read on. Otherwise, just hit the buy button to get straight to saving some cash.

Why you should buy the Apple USB-C Power Adapter
So, you've weighed up whether to go iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro and bought your new phone. Then you've cursed the fact that there's no way to charge it via a regular power source and you're limited to plugging it into your laptop or USB-C dock to recharge. That's where you need to buy the Apple USB-C Power Adapter.

Read more
This deal gets you an iPhone 15 Pro Max for free (at Amazon)
An iPhone 15 Pro Max, lying on a wood floor with its display on.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max has been a bit of a divisive device; for some, it's not a big enough upgrade compared to last year's phones, and for others, the switch to USB-C makes this one of the most significant changes to the iPhone since it's inception. Regardless of which camp you lie in, if you want to grab one, Amazon has one of the best sales we've seen on an iPhone 15 Pro Max for a while, and that's saying something, becuase you can get it for free, with caveats. You can get it through Boost with a monthly subscription, so it's locked to them, but besides the subscription fee, taxes and shipping, you can get an iPhone 15 Pro Max without spending several hundred dollars.

Why you should buy the iPhone 15 Pro Max
The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a lot going for it, with the biggest change being the A17 bionic chip, Apple's most advanced, and roughly 20% more powerful than the previous generation. In fact, Apple has claimed that you could run The Division: Resurgence and Resident Evil: Village on the phone, although at what graphical quality and framerate remains to be seen. Another ugprade comes to the cameras, with the most significant one being to the zoom shutter, and the inclusion of an impressive 5x optical zoom, which isn't available in the regular iPhone 15 models. Otherwise, things remain relatively the same, such as the Super Retina XDR OLED running at 120Hz and 2796 x 1290 pixel resolution.

Read more
Just got an iPhone 15? Get this 6ft fast-charging USB-C cable for $9
The USB-C port on the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

If you've been living in a remote mountain in the Himalayas for the past few months, you may not be aware that the iPhone 15 will now come with a USB-C port. Of course, it's been a long time coming, especially since the European Union mandated that all Manufacturers move to the USB-C port standard. Unfortunately, if you're familiar with and have been using the old port, you might not have a good cable to charge your new iPhone 15. That's where this deal from Monoprice comes in, letting you grab a great type-c to type-c cable for $9 instead of $10, so you can grab a couple and save some extra money.

Why you should buy the Monoprice USB 2.0 Type-C to Type-C Cable
Before we get started, there's an important point we need to clarify. While the new iPhone 15 will have a Type-C port, only the iPhone 15 Pro Max will support the latest USB 3.2 standard with higher data rates. On the other hand, the iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Pro will only support the USB 2.0 standard, with PD 18W and 480Mbps data rate, which is a bit slower. Now, while USB 3.2 is backward compatible, it does tend to be a bit more expensive, given the higher standards, which is why, if you have the iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro, it's better to grab a USB 2.0 cable, rather than pay for the more expensive USB 3.2.

Read more