It's a brilliant iPad. It's the iPhone SE 3rd Gen of iPads.

Surprisingly fast chip, Excellent software support that transcends generations and will (likely) go past Apple's software support threshold due to it's popularity, and a well built frame that inspires confidence to hold.

This is what you buy your Mom and Dad unless they're familiar with a Linux platform. Android tablets do not compare in ease of use, or security, and this is coming from an avid Linux and Android user. My main platform uses Arch/XFCE on a custom built PC and my phone is an S22 Ultra on 14 Beta. With a Dad that was using Redhat and other GNU/Linux based operating systems before they even became 64-bit...

Anyway, he had an iPad 6th generation that said he required iOS 11 to do the migration, and after pairing, suddenly said it required iOS 14.6.2 which was... almost causing my father to whip it out of a window. But anyway, after backing up .apk files to iTunes and doing a re-dump and update of his iCloud finally worked. Most people don't know that trick, but...

I got it to work fully, and he couldn't be happier. But put a note in 4 years to get him another, so that way when you pass the 5 year mark, you don't have to argue with an outdated system interface module to move critical banking and personal data that claims to be movable.

This behaves like an iPad should. Simple as that.

Buy this.

I’ve been avid flip phone user since beginning of their introduction. Went through not one but 2 android, Samsung “free” tablets from Verizon. Started enjoying the idea of device other than desk top. Was gifted a non cellular iPad and while it took a little learning curve to switch from Android to Apple, I was soon convinced that Apple had superior function ability for my needs. Upgraded to a cellular iPad after couple years of strictly WiFi usage primarily for business needs. Work is dead zone with no access to Verizon Fios, best option is COX internet and we rarely go a month without extended service interruption. Now I have all my business functions on my cellular iPad and can truly function 100% incase of internet outage at office as well as be 100% mobile/remote. Took three years to use up the 32GB space so this upgrade was for the 256GB and so far, I’m still 100% Team Apple. Needless to say when the flip phone went swimming, I went to iPhone so I have it synched with iPad to get text messages and emails on both devices. The absolute most impressive think to me being a tech dinosaur was my ability to set up my new iPad and transfer EVERY picture and app already installed on previous iPad. It made me feel like an IT expert.

Our intention was to use the iPad as a simple way to show holiday photos to family & friends. We have many years of photos on an external drive, put there using the ‘export’ facility of Mac’s Photos app.
Sounds easy: we just connect the drive and use the Photos ‘import’ facility to build a new set of directories on the iPad. But we had problems.
In summary, the iPad wouldn’t support an external drive. We were advised to get a Lightning to USB 3 adapter. It didn’t work - it had to be from Apple. We bought one from Apple. That didn’t work. We bought a SD card camera reader. No use, either. Online advice was that photos had to be unmodified (why, for heaven’s sake) and straight from the camera (no use to us - ours were already edited). We loaded some photos onto a memory chip and tried that. We got some garbled nonsense about the power being wrong.
We gave up with all these external attachments and reflected on a very frustrating experience. We believe we are quite IT-savvy and I have developed and maintained my own web-site for the last 3 years to illustrate the point. In the end, the web-site offered us a way-in to the iPad since, of course, it can run my url (but I had to write my own html applications to achieve this).
In summary, my advice to someone wishing to do similar is to buy a workstation that offers proper support for external devices.

Since 2012, I have purchased several Apple products. None have disappointed. The original iMac Pro I purchased in 2012 still functions, but has physical damage from repeated lifting by the left front corner of the laptop from the table next to my chair. This is not an apple problem; I simply did not realize that the shell was flexing each time I did this. The repeated gesture wore an internal part over time. I did have it repaired in a "shade tree" shop. Other than the damage I inflicted, the laptop still works 12yrs later. I averaged 3yrs or less from PC's in the past. Mostly from the OS becoming junked up and unusable.

My recent cell phone is also my first Apple and I'm completely satisfied.

The 9th gen 10.2 iPad I purchased approximately 2wks ago is functioning like a charm. Something I have come to expect from Apple. With the steady increase in prices for high-end PC products, and the relatively steady pricing of Apple pricing (which all tend to be high-end), I will likely never purchase anything else.

The new Apple-branded processor in my MacBook Air functions with no noticeable difference from the familiar high-end brand that has led the market for years. I have, so far, experienced the same functionality and speed from my new iPad. The price of this model, which isn't the latest, was very reasonable.

My iPad was purchased online and picked up at the store. Best Buy has an excellent process in place for this type of shopping. I made the purchase and received a notice that is was ready for pickup a few minutes later; well within the time it took me to drive to the store (about half an hour). The wait in the pickup line was very short and the process well organized.

The Best Buy website is also accurate and user friendly for comparison shopping. The prices are very competitive and consistently so.

Completely satisified start to finish.