It depends on what you're doing and what your budget is. Shoot & edit on one device, plus an excellent drawing experience, is pretty compelling when you're talking about a device for a kid to learn on, and the main things it'll be used for are video & drawing. You don't need 2TB of built-in storage for that, either.

Only way I can see that not being the option to beat, is if your goal is to learn the UI (not the concepts or techniques) for pro-tier desktop editing software. Then, yes, of course you have to have a desktop. I think "non-starter" is overstating the case against the iPad, for the particular tasks and user-profile stated.

> video editing desktop with two large 27" monitors for $1k

I need to know where you're buying monitors.