iPad 2,4 vs new iPad 3

[Blu]

Apologies in advance if this is in the wrong area, I just registered to get some advice from you guys as to which to get (see topic).

I am really having a tough time deciding between the two. I have used both, and loved the iPad 2,4 with its enhanced battery life and staying cool, but I also appreciate the retina display a lot (also worried about discolored screens however). Most other features aren't really a selling point for me and I will be getting wifi only so 4g doesn't appeal.

I would like others opinions and pros and cons of each not just specs but personal experience and if at this point in time the iPad 2 revision with the newer chipset is still a worthy investment or if I just just pony up for the 3. I'm a moderate to heavy user so the battery life concerns me. Do you find it is ok even when streaming movies and playing games for several hours?

I will mainly be web surfing, casual gaming, app use such as flipboard and steaming movies. I'd like to save the extra money of course but I wonder if I might be better served in resale value down the line with the 3 as well.

Do the charge times and lower battery life of the 3 annoy you or is it not a problem? Anyone choose the iPad 2 recently or is it not a good idea to buy one this late in the game?

Thanks so much for anyone's experiences and insight!

Blu

 

[KevinJS]

I have an iPad 2, which I'm satisfied with.


I have the facility to charge it throughout the day, so if I had a 3 battery life wouldn't worry me. That said, with normal use, you should get up to 10 hours without having to recharge.

For me, if I was buying now, the big thing would be storage. I would not buy a 2 because I would want 32 or preferably 64 Gb. 16 just doesn't cut it any more. Too much switching out of apps and music.

Sent from my iPhone using iPF

 

[AQ_OC]

get the retina ipad. learn to turn the brightness down. mine last at least 10 hours.

 

[scifan57]

I have both the iPad 2 and the iPad 3. The retina display and the 1GB RAM make the iPad 3 a better investment, in my opinion.

 

[Kaykaykay]

I didn't upgrade my iPad 1 or 2, because the screens work fine for me, and I don't care about LTE. (I have it on a Samsung Galaxy Note and find LTE no big deal.)

But if I were looking to buy new, I wouldn't hesitate to go for the newest model iPad -- better guts, more RAM and more likely to get firmware upgrades longer.

 

[s2mikey]

I have both the iPad 2 and the iPad 3. The retina display and the 1GB RAM make the iPad 3 a better investment, in my opinion.

To some people those upgrades are important but not necessarily for everyone. It also depends on the cost differences between the two devices. The less you pay for the second gen iPad, the better of an investment it becomes. The iPad 2 is still a very worthwhile tablet and I suspect it will keep selling for a while yet.

 

[janner43]

I get 10 hours out of my iPad 3 & charge over night. The retina screen is the reason I bought it. Don't sell yourself short, screen wise.

 

[twerppoet]

The main reason I would by an iPad 3 at this point is future proofing. I also really like the dictation feature.

Reading (books and apps, not the web) is much nicer with the retina display. Not enough to justify the cost by itself, but definitely on the plus side of the ledger.
Speed. iOS 6 on an iPad 3 is faster than on an iPad 2. And when iOS 7 comes out that will be even more true. (yes, this is point 1 again).
Battery. I get a bit less than I did with the iPad 2, but it's not a big deal. It still lasts most of the day, even when I use it heavily.

Then again, we're approaching the 6 month mark in the iPad's (unofficial) refresh schedule.. It would be awfully tempting to buy the cheaper iPad now and see how much money is in the bank when the next generation comes out. Ultimately spending more, but you can always buy some good will from a relative by gifting the iPad 2. That's what I do with my old iOS devices.

 

[charm]

Blu. Go with the three for all of twerppoet's points Plus you will regret only having 512MB ram instead of a robust 1GB ram in the 3. Look at what happened to iPad 1 owners. Their measly 256MB ram means it can't run OS 6 which apple admits . People who read about ram instead actually working with it may say it is no big deal. And they are right as long as you don't mind apps crashing or slow game play on the newest ones. apple is brilliant and they know the ram counts for optimal experience which is why they double the ram for each iPad version even though they never mention it in ads or specs. If it didn't matter apple would not have doubled it

 

[BostonDan]

Back in April, I went for the iPad-2 over the 3. For me, I couldn't tell the difference in screens between the 2 and the 3 (maybe I need glasses) and because I had read that the 3 takes much longer to charge. I'm not running anything that is app intensive, Safari, Quickoffice, Mail, Catch, Evernote, and a few other small apps. I also couldn't see a difference in speed when running these apps in the store. I'm happy with my purchase.

Whatever you decide, I recommend getting a warranty with the iPad. My iPad recently tipped over and hit the ring of my binder and gave my screen a tiny crack. Within a few days, that crack spread across the entire screen. It was amazing how far the crack spread. I believe that my case was 1 in 100,000, the iPad fell over so that the glass right next to the button hit the ring of the binder. I believe that if it hit anywhere else on the screen I would have been fine. I bought a replacement iPad-2, but this time bought the warranty.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[s2mikey]

Blu. Go with the three for all of twerppoet's points Plus you will regret only having 512MB ram instead of a robust 1GB ram in the 3. Look at what happened to iPad 1 owners. Their measly 256MB ram means it can't run OS 6 which apple admits . People who read about ram instead actually working with it may say it is no big deal. And they are right as long as you don't mind apps crashing or slow game play on the newest ones. apple is brilliant and they know the ram counts for optimal experience which is why they double the ram for each iPad version even though they never mention it in ads or specs. If it didn't matter apple would not have doubled it

I agree that RAM is important but like anything your mileage will vary and it all depends on usage. I'm sure plenty of users will never know or benefit from RAM differences amongst tablets. I think getting a great deal on an iPad that's one generation behind makes sense for lots of people. The differences are certainly there but end up being trivial for quite a few users. When you are two generations behind, then it starts to become a problem. My iPad 2 still runs like a champ and handles everything I've thrown at it without any muss or fuss. I realize that the latest gen iPad with the retina display is nice and so is extra RAM. However, we still purchased an iPad 2 for my daughter because it satisfied her needs. I know that some other people have an every other generation purchasing system with I-devices. This seems to make sense to me. Just my take on it.

 

[ajcgn]

I agree that RAM is important but like anything your mileage will vary and it all depends on usage. I'm sure plenty of users will never know or benefit from RAM differences amongst tablets. I think getting a great deal on an iPad that's one generation behind makes sense for lots of people. The differences are certainly there but end up being trivial for quite a few users. When you are two generations behind, then it starts to become a problem. My iPad 2 still runs like a champ and handles everything I've thrown at it without any muss or fuss. I realize that the latest gen iPad with the retina display is nice and so is extra RAM. However, we still purchased an iPad 2 for my daughter because it satisfied her needs. I know that some other people have an every other generation purchasing system with I-devices. This seems to make sense to me. Just my take on it.

Sort of why I upgraded my iPhone from a 4 to a used 4S instead of the 5.

As to iPad, got the new one because I love the retina display. The other features, for me at least, are just gravy.

 

[Kaykaykay]

I agree that RAM is important but like anything your mileage will vary and it all depends on usage. I'm sure plenty of users will never know or benefit from RAM differences amongst tablets. I think getting a great deal on an iPad that's one generation behind makes sense for lots of people. The differences are certainly there but end up being trivial for quite a few users. When you are two generations behind, then it starts to become a problem. My iPad 2 still runs like a champ and handles everything I've thrown at it without any muss or fuss. I realize that the latest gen iPad with the retina display is nice and so is extra RAM. However, we still purchased an iPad 2 for my daughter because it satisfied her needs. I know that some other people have an every other generation purchasing system with I-devices. This seems to make sense to me. Just my take on it.

I skipped iPad 3, but would still buy it over iPad 2 if shopping for a new iPad now. RAM will be increasingly an issue (even if you're not dealing with it yet) with firmware upgrades, along with app upgrades. It doesn't make sense to me to buy and hope that RAM won't be a prob for a new user, now or later. Along with the improved guts in iPad 3, you'd still probably get longer firmware upgrades with iPad 3 than 2.

I have iPad 1 and 2, and still use both daily. Both started crashing frequently with iOS 5 even though I don't play any games or such. Only with later versions of iOS 5 did the crashes ease off, though both still crash from time to time just on tech blogs (even though I'm anal about closing unused apps). iPad 1 still crashes more frequently than 2, but again it's been a lot better since Apple improved with later versions of iOS 5. Such crashes were widely reported by others previously, so Apple offered fixes. That signaled to me that Apple had to take extra steps to stay within the bounds of iPad 1 and 2 RAM. The continuing crashes on web pages (though now fewer) indicate to me that RAM use is already at or near max. And apps will continue to upgrade to take advantage of new firmware.

 

[charm]

For those who still doubt the true importance of RAM ,just note that the iPad mini will have 1full GB of RAM or 4 times more than our iPad 1.
Buying any iPad without 1GB of RAM is buying obsolesce . My iPad 1 is fine for running one app at a time with all other apps closed and the screen is bigger than an iPhone but this just reminded me of why we insisted on window machines at work where my crew and I could easily upgrade RAM
But since apple has seen the light on all it's new products more work office may switch

 

[Frawick]

Apologies in advance if this is in the wrong area, I just registered to get some advice from you guys as to which to get (see topic).

I am really having a tough time deciding between the two. I have used both, and loved the iPad 2,4 with its enhanced battery life and staying cool, but I also appreciate the retina display a lot (also worried about discolored screens however). Most other features aren't really a selling point for me and I will be getting wifi only so 4g doesn't appeal.

I would like others opinions and pros and cons of each not just specs but personal experience and if at this point in time the iPad 2 revision with the newer chipset is still a worthy investment or if I just just pony up for the 3. I'm a moderate to heavy user so the battery life concerns me. Do you find it is ok even when streaming movies and playing games for several hours?

I will mainly be web surfing, casual gaming, app use such as flipboard and steaming movies. I'd like to save the extra money of course but I wonder if I might be better served in resale value down the line with the 3 as well.

Do the charge times and lower battery life of the 3 annoy you or is it not a problem? Anyone choose the iPad 2 recently or is it not a good idea to buy one this late in the game?

Thanks so much for anyone's experiences and insight!

Blu

You say, "will be getting wifi only so 4g doesn't appeal".
You may find that you will regret buying wifi only. Even without activating cell service, the location and mapping/GPS functions make 3-4G worth it.