Help choosing a tablet

[ImmalovemaGTR]

So my father is looking for a new tablet, price range about 350€. He'll mainly use it for watching videos on youtube, general surfing, communication (mainly sending pics via E-Mail and Whatsapp, he's a hobby photographer) and occasionaly taking a photo and/or doing some light photo editing. I know, tablets usually don't have great cameras, but he doesn't always take his camera with him and he likes to take spontaneous photos.

Text editing would be a nice bonus, but definitely isn't a must since he uses Word on his mac for any text-related stuff.

Right now I narrowed my search down to two options, but I am very much open to other suggestions.

Option 1: Xiaomi Pad 6 new

Accoring to some reviews I read this one has good functions overall, a nice camera, plenty of hard drive space (128 GB) and sufficient performance for his needs. But, for organising and editing photos, he uses a Mac mini M1, that's where the second option comes in...

Option 2: iPad 9 (2021) used

At basically the same price, you can get a used, refurbished iPad 9 with 1 year warranty. I'm not the biggest Apple fan myself, but from the experience I have with Apple products and what I heard from other people, they're usually pretty reliable options, have decent performance and, in case of my father, it makes sense since he's already in the eco system and he constantly has issues connecting his Android phone to his Mac. I know it's possible, but he's not the greatest computer expert and I don't want him to be forced to always wait for me coming to his place for such tasks. For his and for my sake
Downside would be less RAM and less disk space (64 GB)

So, any opinions which one to get? Any other suggestions?

 

[ImmalovemaGTR]

Just updating in case someone else is also on a similar search:

There's a site called snapdrop that can easily be used for file sharing if sender and reciever device are both in the same network. Since it's a browser app it works independently from the OS, so this is definitely an option for my father, so the compatibility issue is resolved.

I personally still tend more towards the iPad since I'm a fan of buying used products if a new one isn't necessary, but in the end that decision is up to my father.

Still, I'm open to other suggestions if someone has an idea Thanks!

 

[Korza]

I would go with the iPad as your old man already has Apple devices. Means he doesn't need to learn a new ecosystem, saving you from having to provide support. Another benefit is being able to use AirDrop to transfer directly to the Mac Mini.

I wouldn't worry about the iPad being slightly older, Apple has fantastic support for older devices so it will continue to receive updates for years to come.

 

[ImmalovemaGTR]

Long story short, I ended up ordering a refurbed Surface Pro 6 with an i5-8350U, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD for him, Surface docking station and Win10 Professional included. I'd have preferred if he got an iPad, but the screen is too small for him.

Advantages of the surface are longer software support since it's upgradeable to Win11, full x86 Windows, connection to external screen, keyboard etc. thanks to the dock and the rather cheap price of 400€. Also, he was using an older Surface Pro 2 until last month. Let's see if he's going to like it.

Also, thanks @Korza for the reply!