Ipad 2nd or 3rd Gen for creating artwork?

I want to start doing most of my artwork almost exclusively digitally.

While I would rather have the latest and greatest. I was wondering if I would do just as well getting a refurbished Ipad 2, vs the newest version.

The digitizer sensitivity, is still set up for using your finger, so while the new ipad has far greater screen resolution, the actual amount I can draw with is still at best a stylus the size of a pencil eraser. So until, or if apple ever works with wacom, I will still have to zoom in to do detailed work because od this.

I also wanted to ask about memory. I have a 32 gig I touch. I use it for camcorder and snapshots. While I could use an ipad, it would be a monster of a camera ,and I dont see it getting used often, unless its an emergency.

But I would rather have at least a 32 gig, but was wondering if I could get by with a 16 gig. I am currently away from wireless internet most days, so online storage wouldnt be of much use.

I was thinking I could get a refurbished, ipad 2 for either $320, or $400, 16 or 32. And save nearly 200 over a 3rd generation. And hopefully it would be less of a loss, if I decided to upgrade to a 4th gen ipad, when selling

The main issue besides the retina display I am aware of I would loose, would be the Ram. Not sure if many or any of the art apps are using a lot of ram or not.

Or should I bite the bullet, and get an ipad 3rd gen?

And are their any other issues I should be aware of for artwork?
I am a bit conserned about battery life, I also have an ipod touch 4th gen btw with 32 gs of memory, but its just to small to draw on effectively, and the battery life is shameful.

I do play games but I have some arthritis, so I dotn know If I could play well on any ipad. So again I might be able to get by with a 16 gig, but I have filled my ipod often with video and pictures.

Thanks for any advice

I'll think about it. I have an itouch with retina so I know it blows the doors off the original, I just dont know if it will be worth it for drawing except for zoomed out or showing to someone. I'm disabled so every penny counts, so while I am hoping I can work on one of these to try and have some thing to do that will be gainful, I am just not sure If it will produce dramatically different results in my artwork, since the touch registers are likely the same even if the screen resolution is not.

Any suggestions on memory? Im probably gonna game on my i touch since I dotn have the dexterity to jump across the ipad screen, so I am thinking I could possibly get away with 16 gig which makes me wonder how much of it is useable by the end user?

thanks again

eurobum said:

I say go third generation. The better you go now, the longer you can stay in the game and perhaps not have to upgrade until maybe the fifth or even later generation.

Like others said, I truly think you will -- long term -- regret getting an older generation iPad now.

Click to expand...

I guess unless I can score one in the 200-250 range, tops, Ill try and save up for the newest one.

My other question is can I get by with 16 gigs if I game on my ipod, and use the ipad for mostly work?

The thing with a 3 is I would either have to get a 16 gig, or wait & save.
I was hoping I could get a 2 for either 320 or 4 from apple, and even with the reduced resale, hopefully I could get at least half, and then upgrade to the 4 or 5th gen at the time. could I afford a 3, yes irresponsibly, barely scraping by. Im not exactly comfortable paying 400 for a 32 gig 2nd gen but it is from apple and not a stolen or questionable craigslist one. every one ive checked on below apples pricing so far has been a scam on CL.

I have a wacom cintiq which in many ways is a step up, that I am trying to sell, but I can't give it away just to get an ipad. so I've only had a few minor replies . But if I sell it I will probably get a 3rd gen. if not, I'm leaning at 2nd to do some work when i feel like working. Its really a shot in the dark anyway. I can only "work" in spurts of like an hour or so. and lugging a laptop and wacom with a bunch of wires and power requirements around hoping i get inspiration, or whatever well thats my point. I do want the newest thing ,but I am also a bit cautious with the new models. other than ram, I haven't heard dramatic gains in performance with the 3rd gen.

I would still like to find a steal of a deal on any model, even possibly a 1st gen ,but I would likely have to score one for like $100.

I guess part of my concern with dropping too much into one is the fact I am not working, and this is in many ways a pipe dream, that I can hopefully turn into a viable long term money maker. I had invested a pretty good bit on macbooks and a $1000 buck cintiq and my business partner said we could get by without the cintiq, plus we figured out we were better off sticking with our artistic strengths than trying to learn programming as well.

But the money is gone, and other than selling something else recently I barely have enough to get any ipad, much less the new 64 gig 3rd gen.

I know from my ipod retina rules, I just don't know from a workability standpoint if it will be worth the risk of the extra $200 for a device that I might not necessarily need, except for gaming ,which i need to not be goofing off much with anyway.

If I had more hands on with any ipad I might be more inclined to see if I'm just talking about wasting my money and going back to the cintiq, or if it is viable to switch to for most of my artwork.

thanks for the input btw. I really wish apple would put a 3rd gen in the refurb store even though I figure they will only save me $50 on a new 3gen.

You think i could get by with a 16 gig, if i use it for artwork mostly?


the kickstarter looks awesome but isnt that sort of thing still up in the air?

My original question stemmed from the actual touch detection capability.

So while the new ipad has twice the resolution, unless they licence, or come up with an alternative, the detection is still designed to detect a finger basically.

so yes, I could draw on say a 1000 x 800 on the first 2 generations, and the new one would be 2000 x 1600 ish, BUT the detection through finger or stylus would be the same. So while I theoretically have a larger canvas on the newest gen, I would still have to zoom in for detail work.

Right now I will probably just save up and get a 3rd gen, unless, i run across a 2nd gen, that is at most half the price of the 3rd gen, if not less.

What i had wanted to do was get a 2nd gen, use it to get used to the platform, and then save up for the 4th or 5th gen, and hopefully still get half my investment from the 2nd gen ipad, I figure it would depreciate more on a newer version than on the older where its already taken like 40% or so off.

And the notion of getting an older one would only be used if it were significantly cheaper. If it were like retail and only like 20% difference between the 2nd gen and 3rd, I would just get the 3rd, but refurbished, and Cragslist have some closer to half sounding deals. To be honest i havent had a single cheaper ipad responce from CL that was not a bot.
So Im leaning toward new or refurbished. I'm hoping apple will get 3rd gen in refurbished store soon. having retina on my ipod i know it is better, looking, but functionally im not so sure. And since I'm trying ot do it cheap, I was wondering opinions.

thanks again, good info.