Like Dave, I’m not sure what need a tablet fills, but unlike Dave, I still find myself coveting the iPad 2. Since we haven’t planted that money tree in the backyard yet, we’re looking at a possible trade in my household to fund a new iPad purchase. The gadget recycling site Gazelle.com is offering $530 for like-new, first-gen iPads with 3G and 64GB. That amount would make a nice down-payment on a fully tricked-out iPad 2. Or it would cover the Wi-Fi 16GB version with money to spare. Unfortunately, if your iPad has a little wear and tear – like faint scratches and scuffs – the trade-in value drops to $387. But even that amount provides a good chunk of change for a tablet upgrade. Dave’s gone the Gazelle route before and says it couldn’t be easier. A little cash, plus karma points for recycling. Not a bad deal.
Doing the same thing. Have used Gazelle before–when upgrading my iPhone 3GS to an iPhone 4, and when upgrading my wife’s iPhone 3G to an iPhone 4. The 3GS to 4 upgrade pretty much paid for the new phone, so the only downside was the 2-year lock-in, which I can live with. For the iPad since there’s no contract-free aspect to the deal, it won’t be paying for my unnecessary iPad 2 upgrade, but will cut the upgrade price quite a bit, which makes it much easier to justify it to myself. Highly recommended.