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realrick

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 5, 2013
18
0
I am kind of bored of my ipad 2 right now because of the display and the speed on iOS 6. I really want to get the 4th generation ipad right now because of the retina display and quad core graphic. Now is April already, should I wait for the 5th generation or purchase an ipad 4 right now. The rumors of the release of the ipad 5 are unclear so no one knows exactly when ipad 5 will unveil. Do u guys think it is worth to upgrade from ipad 2 to ipad 4 because I don't care about the design, I care about the specs and performance. I like the current design.
 

DouglasDubya

macrumors newbie
Mar 28, 2013
5
0
You may as well if you've got the money; it could be Fall until the revised iPad 5 is released. I went from 2 --> 4 and the screen alone made it worth it. Sold my 2 right after Christmas for about $465 on eBay (16GB, WiFi. (I know, I was surprised too.))

If all else fails you can enjoy your 4 for a few months then turn around and flip it for a new 5 when it is released at a small cost to yourself. This is most likely what I'll do as well...
 

djransom

macrumors 601
May 14, 2008
4,044
165
Chi-Town
I would go with the 4 as well. It seems like at this point the ugprades are going to be incremental. I just got an iPad 4 a couple of weeks ago and couldn't be happier with it.
 

kanselmo

macrumors member
Jul 21, 2010
64
48
I went from an iPad 2 to an iPad 4 (work covers half the cost of a computer or tablet every year). I still thought the iPad 2 was great, but the iPad 4's screen is noticeably better. I felt silly when I did the trade-up, but it's been a few months and I'm really happy I did. If you have the money now, might as well, but it's not worth going into debt to upgrade.
 

Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Feb 21, 2012
55,216
52,867
Behind the Lens, UK
I am kind of bored of my ipad 2 right now because of the display and the speed on iOS 6. I really want to get the 4th generation ipad right now because of the retina display and quad core graphic. Now is April already, should I wait for the 5th generation or purchase an ipad 4 right now. The rumors of the release of the ipad 5 are unclear so no one knows exactly when ipad 5 will unveil. Do u guys think it is worth to upgrade from ipad 2 to ipad 4 because I don't care about the design, I care about the specs and performance. I like the current design.

I have an iPad 2 & 4 in my house, and I don't think the speed difference is all that. As for the screen it kind of depends on what you are doing on it that will show the difference. If you look at a lot of photos then yes you will see a difference. For text and games not so much. I would wait for the next one as it will offer a (slight) speed bump over the 4. If they change the design and you don't like it, it's not like you won't still be able to get a 4 (and probably for less).
 

Night Spring

macrumors G5
Jul 17, 2008
14,612
7,791
As for the screen it kind of depends on what you are doing on it that will show the difference. If you look at a lot of photos then yes you will see a difference. For text and games not so much.

I have a 2 and a 3 (which has basically the same screen as 4), and I feel the exact opposite. I don't see much difference between the two when looking at photos, but text looks much sharper and in games, the colors are a lot brighter on the 3.
 

Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Feb 21, 2012
55,216
52,867
Behind the Lens, UK
I have a 2 and a 3 (which has basically the same screen as 4), and I feel the exact opposite. I don't see much difference between the two when looking at photos, but text looks much sharper and in games, the colors are a lot brighter on the 3.

Strange as they both have the same colour space and brightness levels! Are they both set up the same?
 
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KeepCalmPeople

macrumors 65816
Sep 5, 2012
1,457
659
Los Angeles, California
I like the current design.
If that really is the case, and you are not drooling over the likely lighter, thinner, smaller-bezeled iPad 5, then your only decision is buy the iPad 4th gen now, or buy it for possibly $100 less when the iPad 5 releases.
I went from the 2 to the 4, and I notice the rich retina display EVERY time I pick it up, no matter what I'm using it for. It's a joy to stare at.
 

Night Spring

macrumors G5
Jul 17, 2008
14,612
7,791
Strange as they both have the same colour space and brightness levels! Are they both set up the same?

The color display technology for the retina screen is different from the non-retina screen used in the 2. Apple made a big deal about brighter colors when they introduced iPad 3.

Do you have a 2 and a 3/4 to compare?

BTW, setting up the 2 and 3/4 to the "same" brightness levels is misleading. They just don't scale the same way -- 3/4 start out at very dim, and go up from there, while the 1 and 2 didn't go as dark at the lowest brightness setting.
 
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Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Feb 21, 2012
55,216
52,867
Behind the Lens, UK
The color display technology for the retina screen is different from the non-retina screen used in the 2. Apple made a big deal about brighter colors when they introduced iPad 3.

Do you have a 2 and a 3/4 to compare?

BTW, setting up the 2 and 3/4 to the "same" brightness levels is misleading. They just don't scale the same way -- 3/4 start out at very dim, and go up from there, while the 1 and 2 didn't go as dark at the lowest brightness setting.

I have a 2 & 4. Are you sure they have different colour spaces? I thought they were both SRGB but I could be wrong. Doesn't actually say on their website.

iPad 2
9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
1024x768 resolution
at 132 pixels per inch (ppi)
Fingerprint-resistant
oleophobic coating

Retina display
9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
2048x1536 resolution
at 264 pixels per inch (ppi)
Fingerprint-resistant
oleophobic coating
 

Night Spring

macrumors G5
Jul 17, 2008
14,612
7,791
I have a 2 & 4. Are you sure they have different colour spaces? I thought they were both SRGB but I could be wrong. Doesn't actually say on their website.

I did a google search for "ipad 3 retina display colors" and found, for instance, the following article (see "Improved Color Saturation and Color Accuracy"):
http://www.displaymate.com/iPad_ShootOut_1.htm

You'll also see many articles and reviews praising the better colors on iPad 3.

I find that almost any game looks better on the iPad 3 than 2. But try Sparkle -- I believe there is a free lite version. I think that one shows a very dramatic difference.
 

typeadam

macrumors regular
May 16, 2010
249
10
10016
I have a 2 and 4 also. Both same capacity, both only WiFi. They are pretty much mirrors of each other in terms of apps and content. Only difference is the 2 is jailbroken. The 4 is not.
And TBH, other than the screen, I don't notice a difference in speed or anything else. :confused:
 

Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Feb 21, 2012
55,216
52,867
Behind the Lens, UK
I did a google search for "ipad 3 retina display colors" and found, for instance, the following article (see "Improved Color Saturation and Color Accuracy"):
http://www.displaymate.com/iPad_ShootOut_1.htm

You'll also see many articles and reviews praising the better colors on iPad 3.

I find that almost any game looks better on the iPad 3 than 2. But try Sparkle -- I believe there is a free lite version. I think that one shows a very dramatic difference.

Interesting read. So the iPad 2 is only 61% of the Adobe Colour space where as the iPad 4 is 99%. It certainly doesn't seem that much to my eyes! I'll do a comparison when I can wrestle them off my daughter & wife.
 

myrtlebee

macrumors 68030
Jul 9, 2011
2,677
2,242
Maryland
I am kind of bored of my ipad 2 right now because of ...the speed on iOS 6

I have no idea what you are talking about. My iPad 2 runs iOS 6 super fast with no lag or any problems whatsoever. I notice zero difference in speed between it and the iPad 3rd gen we have, and would imagine the differences would be negligable with the 4th gen. Once you reach "fast" and no lag, "faster" isn't that big of a deal unless you are worried about future-proofing for, say iOS 8.
 

Tsepz

macrumors 601
Jan 24, 2013
4,821
4,635
Johannesburg, South Africa
Go for it!

I say go for it! The display, battery life and power are worth it in the long run. I have an iPad4 and 3 of my friends have iPad2s, I can immediately tell the difference when it comes to the display, having being spoilt by the 4s Retina the 2s display looks pixilated and of less quality, IMO.

One con in the iPad4 that you may not like is that it is heavier and slightly thicker than the 2, I noticed this when using friends iPad2s, they feel super light.
 

MrGimper

macrumors G3
Sep 22, 2012
8,470
11,737
Andover, UK
I have no idea what you are talking about. My iPad 2 runs iOS 6 super fast with no lag or any problems whatsoever. I notice zero difference in speed between it and the iPad 3rd gen we have, and would imagine the differences would be negligable with the 4th gen. Once you reach "fast" and no lag, "faster" isn't that big of a deal unless you are worried about future-proofing for, say iOS 8.

I'd agree.

The CPU side of things between the 2 and 3 is pretty much the same.
The GPU of the 3 is quad-core and supposedly 2x faster than the 2. However as the 3 is pushing a retina about I guess this cancels out any advantage of the quad core in the A5x.

This is also why I don't think the fact the mini has an A5 is as much of a big deal as people tend to believe it is. Especially when you consider Apple's No1 gaming device, the Touch, uses an A5 (slightly underclocked too I believe) with a retina screen.
 

Medic311

macrumors 68000
Jul 30, 2011
1,659
58
yeah i know the A6X puts the A5X to shame (in raw power, not realized yet with today's iOS version), i just know in the immediate future it won't really matter much. everyone's reasoning is different since we all have different uses and expectations from our iPads. this is something i posted in a thread last year after the iPad 4 just came out, which pretty much sums up my reasoning:

-------------------------

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. some people say they only need 1 cable since they can just use wifi sync to transfer movies. 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. the funny thing is, Apple now has dropped my very same model down to $629 (another $50 discount). $629 for the iPad 3 64GB LTE is a steal IMO
 

iLuvMyMacToo

macrumors regular
May 18, 2010
177
0
Australia
Today I went from an iPad 2 to an iPad 4 knowing there is likely an update coming up sometime this year. My problem was I had an iPad 3, but gave it to my partner and took the iPad 2. I noticed the difference straight away and after a few months of having the iPad 2 I just decided I wanted the benefit of a retina display and the current graphics card. I'm happy I did because the change from 2 to 4 is obvious to me.
 

Badrottie

Suspended
May 8, 2011
4,317
335
Los Angeles
my iPad 2 has not bored me at all…The speed and iOS does not bother me at all. I am not going to bulky iPad 4, I hope I will upgrade to iPad 5 when I see much improvement over iPad 4 hopefully. :apple:
 

saberahul

macrumors 68040
Nov 6, 2008
3,645
111
USA
You may as well if you've got the money; it could be Fall until the revised iPad 5 is released. I went from 2 --> 4 and the screen alone made it worth it. Sold my 2 right after Christmas for about $465 on eBay (16GB, WiFi. (I know, I was surprised too.))

If all else fails you can enjoy your 4 for a few months then turn around and flip it for a new 5 when it is released at a small cost to yourself. This is most likely what I'll do as well...

No way… you got very lucky you landed across a stupid buyer.
 

JBazz

macrumors 6502
Apr 14, 2006
491
2
I just upgraded last week to a 4 from a 2 because I wanted the 128 gb storage.

It is faster. But the screen for me is a wash. Yeah, it is a better screen, but honestly nothing I am doing needs a better screen. But what I like best is the LTE. Much, faster.
 

jjfactory

macrumors newbie
Mar 30, 2011
16
3
USA
If you have ipad2 now might as well just use it couple more months. At the time when 5 is out, the price for getting a 4 will be around $100 cheaper than now. It's not worth to pay the money only for screen plus speed upgrade in such a short time period. Especially when you are not sure if you will fall in love ipad5 or not.
 

realrick

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 5, 2013
18
0
I have an iPad 2 & 4 in my house, and I don't think the speed difference is all that. As for the screen it kind of depends on what you are doing on it that will show the difference. If you look at a lot of photos then yes you will see a difference. For text and games not so much. I would wait for the next one as it will offer a (slight) speed bump over the 4. If they change the design and you don't like it, it's not like you won't still be able to get a 4 (and probably for less).
Thank u for your info
 

Pressure

macrumors 603
May 30, 2006
5,041
1,381
Denmark
I just upgraded to the iPad 4 from the iPad 2. Sure, it weighs more but the screen more than makes up for it. Not to mention being faster and finally able to ditch the 30-pin connector across the board.
 
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