I am buying an iPad for the family this Christmas. I found two open box deals for sale at Bestbuy, in perfect condition. Both are 32g and priced at $502 & $396. I like the idea of the latest and greatest but the $106 dollar savings off the 3 could go toward accessories. People seam to notice the improvements in the 4 but nobody sounds like they are blown away. My family will surf the web, consume media, view photos, children's games. I would like to play a game or two on the ipad but am not a gamer. I am leaning toward the 3 because the price is $200 off the price that Apple was asking for a brand new iPad 3 when it was released half a year ago.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPad Opinions between a 3 and 4
- Thread starter Greggorylane
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I would get the 4. The CPU is significantly faster. The iPad 3 CPU wasn't quite fast enough to drive all those pixels, so it actually felt a bit slower than the iPad 2 overall. The 4, on the other hand, has a fast enough CPU and feels a good deal quicker than the 2.
My wife has the 3 and I have the 4 and I have tried a couple of times but I really can't notice much speed difference at all. Apps open about the same and the web pages seem to open the same as well. I was a little let down as I was expecting a huge difference between the 2 but it's just not there.
Agree.
I tested a 4 against my 3 thinking I would sell the 3 if the 4 blew me away.
It didn't.
I returned the 4 and will wait for v5 - that should be a much better step up.
I'd get a refurb iPad 3 directly from Apple before I'd get a Best Buy "open box" deal. The Apple refurbs are even cheaper and are essentially new. No one does refurbs like Apple - because they don't simply open the device up, do a shoddy repair and then close it up with tons of cosmetic flaws like other companies do. Apple replaces the entire outer "shell" of the device and is pretty anal about making sure it functions correctly. You cannot tell a Apple refurb iPad from a new one. Many of the iPad 3's are simply unsold stock and were never pre-owned.
i used to have an iPad 3, which i bought for full price on October 3. apple allowed me to return it and pre-order the iPad 4, which i did. i got the iPad 4 and in all honesty the difference was not very significant. app folders opened up a split second more quickly and web pages loaded maybe 1/2-1 sec more quickly. games played exactly the same (Metal Storm) and despite the A6X being twice as fast as the A5X, the A5 on a non-retina display still plays Metal Storm more fluidly. that Retina screen truly is a beast and i still feel that the A6X isn't fully adequate for the Retina. but i digress...that's a topic of discussion for another forum.
i saw that the iPad 3 refurbs substantially dropped in price right when the iPad 4 was announced. the iPad 3/4 64GB LTE that originally was $829 brand new was now $679... talk about a steep price drop ($150). i returned the iPad 4 and bought the iPad 3 version for $679. before i did this though, i thought about what my intentions were with this iPad 3. was i intending to hold onto it for 3 years or am i buying it to use for a year and then flip when the redesigned iPad 5 comes out? most likely it will be the latter. thus i concluded that going with the iPad 3 was the better way to go. an analogy to this situation would be trying to decide to buy a used car or a brand new car if you knew you would be selling it soon. most logical people would buy the used vehicle since after 1 year of ownership it will not have depreciated from the purchase price as much as the brand new one. going back to the iPad, the $679 iPad 3 64GB LTE iPad a year from now when the iPad 5 comes out, will probably have a resale dip to $600. the iPad 4 64GB LTE on the other hand, will likely drop from $829 down to the $679 price that the refurb iPad 3 used to be at due to downward pricing pressure from Apple.com iPad 4 refurbs. in my situation, after doing the simple math, the iPad 3 is the better way to go. however, not everyone's situation is the same as mine as they might not be planning to upgrade to the iPad 5. this scenario also doesn't end up being as extreme if you are comparing base model 16GB wifi models and you throw in Black Friday pricing too. that gap ends up being more narrow and then i might say just go with the iPad 4.
moving onto the other new features of the iPad 4. i have an iPhone 4S and i've owned iPods since 2005 so to be honest i won't miss the Lightning port - i'm too entrenched in 30-pin cables and accessories for the benefits of the new port (reversible) to negate the inconveniences. i have about a dozen 30-pin cables - several throughout the house, car, office, several at the lake house, briefcase, backpack, etc just to name a few. while wifi sync is great, it's not ideal for transferring 15GB of Season 2 of Game of Thrones to my iPad. i know eventually the Lightning cables will be generic, but they're not now and they won't be $0.99 probably for 2 more years. again like i said above, i am thinking about the now and for the next year.
not having a Facetime HD camera in the iPad 3 is OK - it's not like 720p will make my face more attractive. if anything it'll make it uglier lol. my girlfriend has the Mini so i at least get to see her in 720p when we occasionally Facetime which is maybe once every 2 months when i am on a business trip. if i was in a long distance relationship though, then i could see the 720p Facetime HD camera being a must.
so yeah, that's pretty much my reasoning why i went from an iPad 3, to and iPad 4, back to and iPad 3. i'm sure many will disagree with my logic and that's OK - that's why we're consumers...we each have our own opinion
i saw that the iPad 3 refurbs substantially dropped in price right when the iPad 4 was announced. the iPad 3/4 64GB LTE that originally was $829 brand new was now $679... talk about a steep price drop ($150). i returned the iPad 4 and bought the iPad 3 version for $679. before i did this though, i thought about what my intentions were with this iPad 3. was i intending to hold onto it for 3 years or am i buying it to use for a year and then flip when the redesigned iPad 5 comes out? most likely it will be the latter. thus i concluded that going with the iPad 3 was the better way to go. an analogy to this situation would be trying to decide to buy a used car or a brand new car if you knew you would be selling it soon. most logical people would buy the used vehicle since after 1 year of ownership it will not have depreciated from the purchase price as much as the brand new one. going back to the iPad, the $679 iPad 3 64GB LTE iPad a year from now when the iPad 5 comes out, will probably have a resale dip to $600. the iPad 4 64GB LTE on the other hand, will likely drop from $829 down to the $679 price that the refurb iPad 3 used to be at due to downward pricing pressure from Apple.com iPad 4 refurbs. in my situation, after doing the simple math, the iPad 3 is the better way to go. however, not everyone's situation is the same as mine as they might not be planning to upgrade to the iPad 5. this scenario also doesn't end up being as extreme if you are comparing base model 16GB wifi models and you throw in Black Friday pricing too. that gap ends up being more narrow and then i might say just go with the iPad 4.
moving onto the other new features of the iPad 4. i have an iPhone 4S and i've owned iPods since 2005 so to be honest i won't miss the Lightning port - i'm too entrenched in 30-pin cables and accessories for the benefits of the new port (reversible) to negate the inconveniences. i have about a dozen 30-pin cables - several throughout the house, car, office, several at the lake house, briefcase, backpack, etc just to name a few. while wifi sync is great, it's not ideal for transferring 15GB of Season 2 of Game of Thrones to my iPad. i know eventually the Lightning cables will be generic, but they're not now and they won't be $0.99 probably for 2 more years. again like i said above, i am thinking about the now and for the next year.
not having a Facetime HD camera in the iPad 3 is OK - it's not like 720p will make my face more attractive. if anything it'll make it uglier lol. my girlfriend has the Mini so i at least get to see her in 720p when we occasionally Facetime which is maybe once every 2 months when i am on a business trip. if i was in a long distance relationship though, then i could see the 720p Facetime HD camera being a must.
so yeah, that's pretty much my reasoning why i went from an iPad 3, to and iPad 4, back to and iPad 3. i'm sure many will disagree with my logic and that's OK - that's why we're consumers...we each have our own opinion
Thank you everyone for the feedback
I appreciate the ideas and looking forward to the 25th to start enjoying the iPad.
I appreciate the ideas and looking forward to the 25th to start enjoying the iPad.
I just noticed that! Now I can't decide whether I should return my iPad 4 and go for the $150 cheaper iPad 3, as it says its available at my local Best Buy.
I bought the 3 when they came out and I love it. I have no issues with speed for any of the videos or other things that I do, however, I'm not a big gamer so I really don't care about game-speed. For my needs, the 3 is more than adequate now.
That being said, it's always worth considering what will happen in the future. Apple generally has a rolling de-support of older hardware. At some point I'm sure that the A5 chip in the 3 will no longer be supported for some version of iOS while the A6 chip will get another 6 - 12 months of life.
That being said, it's always worth considering what will happen in the future. Apple generally has a rolling de-support of older hardware. At some point I'm sure that the A5 chip in the 3 will no longer be supported for some version of iOS while the A6 chip will get another 6 - 12 months of life.
Now the A5 is in the mini, I'm sure it will be supported for a lot longer now.
Maybe one thing to keep in mind: the iPad 4 is significantly more powerful both CPU-wise and GPU-wise. The GPU is really important for games, while the CPU is important for the speed in general but also future software updates. If you intend to keep this device for 2 years or more, I'd go for the latest and greatest.
Also, do not forget that all new accessories will be mainly made for the new, smaller (Lightning) dock connector. Oh, and lets not forget better picture taking, faster wifi and FaceTime HD.
----------
Do not forget that the iPad 3 has to push four times as many pixels as an iPad mini, but is only twice as powerful.
An iPad 4 also has to push four times as many pixels and is also four times as powerful.
It's very well possible that they say that the iPad mini will be supported one year longer than the iPad 3.
Also, do not forget that all new accessories will be mainly made for the new, smaller (Lightning) dock connector. Oh, and lets not forget better picture taking, faster wifi and FaceTime HD.
----------
Do not forget that the iPad 3 has to push four times as many pixels as an iPad mini, but is only twice as powerful.
An iPad 4 also has to push four times as many pixels and is also four times as powerful.
It's very well possible that they say that the iPad mini will be supported one year longer than the iPad 3.
if you have an iPhone 5 I would get the 4 just to have the new style connector not to mention all the updates. if you don't, it would be a much harder decision. it really depends on if u plan on keeping it for a few years and want to be more future proof or if you plan on selling it next year. I went with the 4 but I also have an iPhone 5 and I did not want to go back to the old style connector after using the new...sounds goofy but I hated the old style connector that is on my wife's 3. it was ok to hook up during the day but at night lying in bed with the lights off when I would go to plug it in it was a pain...
$200 off is nothing to sneeze at. I'd eschew any major accessory purchase with the old 32 pin physical connector since it wouldn't work with any new models. Anything bluetooth should be fine.
The iPad 3 is only 2x faster than the mini at the graphics level. The CPU core is still the same.
I have lots of time using both my iPad 3, and 4.
The difference is so slight, I cannot in good conscious suggest one as "the best".
Forget the specs, in practical day to day use there's no difference.
Chose the best price. You'll be glad you did.
The difference is so slight, I cannot in good conscious suggest one as "the best".
Forget the specs, in practical day to day use there's no difference.
Chose the best price. You'll be glad you did.
Since it needs to be a christmas gift time is a concern. I would say to continue looking for open item deals or if you want check out cowboom since they have good deals too.
I upgraded but only with the idea that it'll be used for processor-heavy stuff. For basic media consumption I'd get the 3- heck if that's ALL you're doing, get a kindle fire HD and save even more.