How I Got An iPad For $120.00

I just bought a brand new 2017 iPad Pro for $120 dollars. That’s right, $120 dollars.

I wanted an iPad so I can be more efficient and consistent with this blog. I haven’t been writing weekly like I told myself I would as part of my 2019 New Year’s resolution. Ironically I spend more time at the gym.

I won’t get into an in depth review of the iPad as there are already too many of those on YouTube, but I will briefly describe how I ended up choosing this model and most importantly, how I only paid $120 dollars.

I initially wanted the 2018 iPad Pro. It starts at $799 for the 64GB model. That does not include the keyboard or iPencil.

My soon to be former company provided all employees with 10 shares of restricted stock rather than pay a bonus when Trump initiated his tax plan. At that time the shares were trading around $134 each. The vesting period for the first 5 shares was 12 months after the initial grant and the remaining 5 vesting 24 months later.

Mid-March the shares vested and we had the option to cash out or keep them. I sold the shares that were valued at $169 each. Normally I would never cash out my investments, but since this was low volume I figured, why not. My goal was to use this money on the iPad. But after taxes and fees that amount was only $479. Roughly half the cost of the 2018 iPad Pro.

I also had a $200 Amazon gift card which bumped me up to $679 for the iPad. But I wanted more space than the standard 64GB and I still wanted the $179 keyboard and $94 dollar pencil. Before taxes I was already faced with $1,222 for an iPad. A little bit on the excessive end of the spectrum.

Then suddenly Apple released the 2019 iPad Air. This was also expensive priced at $922 before taxes. I then researched the difference between the two models and found out that the 2017 iPad Pro is still available. It has more features than the 2019 iPad Air but does not have the current A12 processor that the 2018 iPad Pro and new iPad Air have.

I realized that I don’t need to spend more to get less on the iPad Air and spend way more to have Face ID and a slightly better picture on the 2018 iPad Pro.

Long story short I took my $200 gift card and $479 payout of my 3 shares and bought the 2017 iPad Pro with Smart Keyboard and iPencil. The grand total was $798 for a 256GB iPad. I paid $120 dollars out of my own pocket.

It’s important to look at the big picture and not buy the latest and greatest tech that is out on the market. Yes tech products have a short shelf life but I’ll get 3-5 years out of this for $120. How about them Apples?