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iPad iPad 2

C

cynics

macrumors G4
Original poster
Jan 8, 2012
11,977
2,178
Is there anyone out there still using the iPad 2 (not Air 2)?

My mother has been saying hers is very slow. I was going to do a restore however considering its age I might just buy her an Air 2.

She didnt want to "bother me" so she took it to "best buy" (for unknown reasons) and a restore as new was their suggestion. This kind of hurt me (broke my heart actually) because she wouldn't be "bothering me" but with my work schedule and poor disputation anymore I can understand why she would think that.

Anyway I'm curious if a restore would even help or should I surprise her with an Air 2?

BTW she notices the slow downs when clicking an Facebook article. You know, the ones that inundate you with 10 million ads that could probably bring the worlds super computers to their knees? Albeit my iPad Air 2 doesn't seem to bad at handling this.

What do you guys think? Try or a restore or just get her an Air 2? And where can I find the best deal on an Air 2....looking like 399 is as good as it gets new.
 
I have family with an iPad 3 and that thing is ... painfully slow. I can only imagine how much more an iPad 2 would be slower. I recently just bought an iPad Air 2 and ... I'm in love with it. Before my Air 2 I had a Mini 4 (still fast).

I don't think a restore will help that much. I got my 32GB Air for $399 from Best Buy as well.
 
The older iPads don't do well with big websites, and Facebook is one of the biggest. My old iPad 3 isn't as smooth as it once was as well. Then you add the yearly iOS updates that can also slow down the device, and you essentially need to fork over some money for a new device if you want any snappiness.

You can make a full backup, then wipe and setup as new to see if the situation improves (you can always go back). Its unlikely though, you will likely need to upgrade to a new device.
 
i dont use my ipad2 anymore unfortunately. Newer ios's completely kill it, and a restore would install one. so yes, surprise her with an Air2 or something.

My ipad2 just sits in my bookcase feeling sorry for itself unfortunately. and i'd love to keep on using it with an old ios if poss.
 
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M. Gustave said:
I'm sorry if I missed it, but why do you have to buy her an iPad?
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strange question. i too provide my parents or other 'older' members of my family with modern tech and help and advise. i find they're happy to use it but unsure/nervous in purchasing and maintaining it themselves. and 'me' as i dont have and siblings and they like me helping in this capacity.
 
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sjleworthy said:
strange question. i too provide my parents or other 'older' members of my family with modern tech and help and advise. i find they're happy to use it but unsure/nervous in purchasing and maintaining it themselves.
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I didn't ask why OP is helping and advising his mother (assuming she asked for such help). I asked why he's buying her an iPad.
 
We are using one at home. Essentially it acts as a kitchen TV nowadays. It still runs the main TV apps reasonably well (BBC iPlayer, Netflix, YouTube, etc.) but web browsing on any commercial sites is painfully slow, especially sites that have a lot of advertising. Most well designed apps run pretty well. I too am considering an iPad Air 2 however the smaller iPad Pro may become affordable soon?
 
M. Gustave said:
I didn't ask why OP is helping and advising his mother (assuming she asked for such help). I asked why he's buying her an iPad.
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Do you mean that as, why isn't she buying it? If thats the case, because she doesn't have the expendable income to justify upgrading a device because its "slow".

.....

Looking around, it appears I can trade hers in for a small store credit (possibly 55 dollars) which I'll just use on an Air 2.
 
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cynics said:
Do you mean that as, why isn't she buying it? If thats the case, because she doesn't have the expendable income to justify upgrading a device because its "slow".

.....

Looking around, it appears I can trade hers in for a small store credit (possibly 55 dollars) which I'll just use on an Air 2.
Click to expand...

That's very nice of you to care for family like that. Good luck on the store credit! Would love to hear an update on how she likes her Air 2 if you end up getting one. I just bought an Air 2 myself and am still very thrilled with it.
 
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M. Gustave said:
I didn't ask why OP is helping and advising his mother (assuming she asked for such help). I asked why he's buying her an iPad.
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I don't think it's that unusual for adults to buy things for their parents who might be on a fixed income. Personally, my parents sacrificed a lot to help me be successful in life. Now that I'm in a position where I can help them financially and at times provide them with a luxury that their budget might not allow for, I'm happy to do it.
 
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joeblow7777 said:
I don't think it's that unusual for adults to buy things for their parents who might be on a fixed income. Personally, my parents sacrificed a lot to help me be successful in life. Now that I'm in a position where I can help them financially and at times provide them with a luxury that their budget might not allow for, I'm happy to do it.
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Off topic for sure, apologies, but I don't consider anything I do for my two kids to be "sacrificing". It's "parenting".
 
M. Gustave said:
Off topic for sure, apologies, but I don't consider anything I do for my two kids to be "sacrificing". It's "parenting".
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Maybe a poor choice of words, but certainly as a parent you have done with less (money, time, sleep, emotional wellness at times, etc) for the sake of your children. Now I'm sure you would never expect them to pay you back for that since, as you say, that's parenting. But similarly, now that I'm in a position where I can do things for my parents, I don't consider it as paying them back. I love them and I appreciate all that they have done and continue to do for me, so I will gladly buy them things that will make their lives better.
 
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I have had mine since a few months after its launch. Last year I got an iPhone 6+ and honestly the ipad began collecting dust, more so with the new 7+. However, as a lawyer, I decided I needed a portable go to device and was very keen on getting one of those sexy ipad pro 9.7s, but decided instrad to give my old Ipad a go.

Honestly it´s slow, but not unusable slow, netflix, comixology, kindle and social media apps work just fine. It just takes a little while to load up the office apps, but other work apps such as PDF expert, One drive, notability and one note work ok, not blazingly fast but fast enough to be able to work at home or on the go.

Newer games are a no go, though, they look kinda horrible, but honestly I play ios games mostly on my iphone. So yes, maybe a restore will do her some favors.

In fact I have decided to keep my old ipad with me until it either fails or when the apps I use for work stop being supported.
 
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I ended up trading her iPad 2 in at Best Buy for 77 and getting an Air 2. She loves it! Night and day difference in speed.

Apple was only offering 55 trade in. I don't particularly like Best Buy but definitely a better deal.

I probably could have done better on Craigslist but I hate the hassle.

Thanks guys
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M. Gustave said:
Yes, that's what I meant, thanks for clarifying. Sorry, infantilizing one's parents is a pet peeve of mine. Carry on.
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Not sure I follow...?

Have you never bought your parents a gift outside of a holiday or special occasion?

I could have saved myself a fortune over the years if I could justify that mentality.

Different strokes for different folks I guess.
 
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Nice, loving my Air 2 more every day I use it. I read everything I can on it now. Good to hear!
 
Good choice. I did the exact same swap for my mother when I was at home at Christmas. I had instructed her to keep her iPad 2 on iOS 7, but it was still pretty slow. I have the same model at home on 7 and it can be unbearably slow. It's basically just a large remote control/recipe reader for the kitchen now.

Picked up a Black Friday deal on a 32 GB Air 2 for 200 and change. Although my mother is a light user, she's loving the increased speed and the weight difference. She's using the new iPad much more than the old one. Her old iPad has been repurposed as a device for the grandkids.
 
I have a Mini 1, which is as slow as an iPad 2. I think it's usable. If it had 1GB of RAM it would be even more usable. The major slowness feeling comes from app switching, which requires flushing the current app to virtual memory (swap) and loading the new app. Other stuff that can be switched off is transparency, notifications and turning off background apps.
 
Anything older than the iPad 4 is pretty slow these days, if you have updated to the latest iOS version they support. I still have one iPad 4 that I use and it works ok, but it is definitely pretty slow with Facebook and some larger websites.

I traded most of my older iPad 2 and iPad 3 I had at Amazon. They tended to have the largest trade in values there. I still have one 64GB iPad 1 that my 3 year old uses. It is pretty painful trying to find apps that will still work on it, but I have found a few. Mostly it is just used for movies and music which it works fine for. Eventually I will give her my iPad 4 when I buy a 12.9" iPad Pro (waiting to see what happens this spring).
 
cynics said:
I ended up trading her iPad 2 in at Best Buy for 77 and getting an Air 2. She loves it! Night and day difference in speed.

Apple was only offering 55 trade in. I don't particularly like Best Buy but definitely a better deal.

I probably could have done better on Craigslist but I hate the hassle.

Thanks guys
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Glad to hear it. :) I'm sure she is still loving her Air 2. I'm chiming in late, but I have an iPad 2 and it is reallllyyyyy slow. You made the right choice with the Air 2. This thread made my day.
 
I wonder just how slow ipad2 on 9.3.3 is???

But like I've said before...be judicious when it comes to updating the iOS.

I'm on ios7 so no worries. /* heh heh/
 
bufffilm said:
I wonder just how slow ipad2 on 9.3.3 is???

But like I've said before...be judicious when it comes to updating the iOS.

I'm on ios7 so no worries. /* heh heh/
Click to expand...

Slow. I believe she was on 9.3.5 (I THINK) although I don't know if that was slower then 9.3.3 or not. I wiped it before returning it and the guy at best buy had to make sure it worked. It was a tedious process of waiting just to turn it on and get to a point it could connect to the wifi.

I'm used to an iPhone 6S and iPad Air 2 though so what seems slow for me might not be the case for someone else.

I would stay on iOS 7 if I were you.
 
i did the same at christmas, gave my mum my ipad 2 when i got the ipad air few years back and she has been hooked on it since that day. iOS 9 its just asking too much of the hardware it was ok for the apps, they did not load lightning quick but once you were in the game or app it was generally ok. Safari and web browsing though was boardline unusable with iOS 9 , so got her an iPad Air 2 and shes given the ipad 2 to my nephew. She loves the speed of it and im sure will see her good for 5 years. Shame the ipad 2 is bad at web browsing on iOS 9 as the battery is still great.
 
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