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iPad Buy a used Air 2. Is there any chance the battery is ok in a 4 year old ipad?

gdourado

gdourado

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 22, 2010
468
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Hello, how are you?
The title pretty much is my question.
Is it worth to buy an Air 2?
The hardware is still pretty good. But it is still a 4 year old tablet and the battery health is my main concern.
Even if the tablet had light use or heavy use, it is still a 4 year old battery.
Do you think it can still be ok?

Cheers!
 
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It could be ok, but no battery gets better with time. I would make it dependent on the price you have to pay for the air2.
 
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cola79 said:
It could be ok, but no battery gets better with time. I would make it dependent on the price you have to pay for the air2.
Click to expand...
50% less than a new 2018.
The air 2 is 64gb with lte. 2018 is the base 32gb.
The air has a weaker cpu, but same 2gb of ram and the laminated screen.

Only concern holding me back is the possibility of an end of life battery.
 
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bpeeps said:
After googling, you're right. What the! I wonder what Apple's reasoning is for this software omission.
Click to expand...

Most people don't seem to worry too much about iPad battery health, likely because most people don't depend on their iPads to the extent that they depend on their phones. Also, just from the threads here on Macrumors alone, it's pretty obvious at times why people are often better off not having that information. ie. See the numerous threads in the iPhone forum that are basically "My battery health has fallen to 98% What should I do?!?!" :rolleyes:

Apple only made it visible on iPhone as a response to the whole cpu throttling controversy, which never really came up on iPads.
 
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gdourado said:
50% less than a new 2018.
The air 2 is 64gb with lte. 2018 is the base 32gb.
The air has a weaker cpu, but same 2gb of ram and the laminated screen.

Only concern holding me back is the possibility of an end of life battery.
Click to expand...

Well, the air 2 (my mother has one) will run fine for about two years from now. A 2018 ipad should run 4-5 years from now. She hasn’t complained about the battery yet. At least most ipad generations i have seen do run 4 years fast and another 1-3 a little slower with the new operating systems.

So if i were you i would think about how long you want to use it. If you don’t want to upgrade too soon, than it might be better to get the 2018 model.

The less storage should not be a point, you get cloud space for free or little money everywhere.

The CPU is a point. Compared with my 2017 iPad the air 2 is slower and a little laggy. Not that much that you can’t use it, but it is noticeable when you used a newer model. If you never used a newer model, you might not be bothered, it still runs fine once an app is loaded.
 
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quick snapshot of mine...

Screen Shot 2019-01-17 at 2.36.21 PM.png
 
From imazing on Windows that I don't know if it is reliable, the ipad has 181 cycles and a battery health of 85%.
 
IPad batteries in my experience have been slower to degrade in comparison to the smaller ones in iPhones. Unless its been completely abused, you’ll still be able to get a few hours out of a charge.
 
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gdourado said:
Why so?
Click to expand...
Note that mine has 754 cycles and the battery is still at 90%. Also, my iPhone experience was with one that started to get really slow at around 85%.
I’m thinking maybe that iPad is too close to slowing down at 85%, and I’ve no clue why it’s that low at only 181 cycles. IMHO, I’d pass on it, unless the price is equivalent to the risk of a really slow iPad. YMMV
 
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gdourado said:
Hello, how are you?
The title pretty much is my question.
Is it worth to buy an Air 2?
The hardware is still pretty good. But it is still a 4 year old tablet and the battery health is my main concern.
Even if the tablet had light use or heavy use, it is still a 4 year old battery.
Do you think it can still be ok?

Cheers!
Click to expand...
I would look at current average pricing first. The battery will be fine. We don’t use it anymore but have an original iPad here that still has its battery in ok shape. Years and years. Focus on the asking price and your needs for the iPad. The battery will most likely be fine. Worst case, charge during the day.
 
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Just a follow up.
Pulled the trigger and picked up the air 2 today.
It is in really mint condition.
Boxed, complete and with the official apple smart case also in mint condition.

It is the 64gb lte version.
I payed exactly the same amount I got from selling my 32gb Air 1 in the weekend.

So far, just picking it up feels much better than my old air.
I am currently restoring my backup from iTunes and then going to see how it performs.
 
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gdourado said:
Just a follow up.
Pulled the trigger and picked up the air 2 today.
It is in really mint condition.
Boxed, complete and with the official apple smart case also in mint condition.

It is the 64gb lte version.
I payed exactly the same amount I got from selling my 32gb Air 1 in the weekend.

So far, just picking it up feels much better than my old air.
I am currently restoring my backup from iTunes and then going to see how it performs.
Click to expand...

When I bought a used iPad Pro 10.5 recently, I took my laptop with me to meet the buyer, and before I would go through with the purchase, I connected the iPad to my computer, and checked the Battery Health using iMazing, which showed the it was still at 94%, so I felt comfortable that the battery was still good.
 
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gdourado said:
Just a follow up.
Pulled the trigger and picked up the air 2 today.
It is in really mint condition.
Boxed, complete and with the official apple smart case also in mint condition.

It is the 64gb lte version.
I payed exactly the same amount I got from selling my 32gb Air 1 in the weekend.

So far, just picking it up feels much better than my old air.
I am currently restoring my backup from iTunes and then going to see how it performs.
Click to expand...

Sounds like ‘you done good’! Congratulations!
 
bpeeps said:
After googling, you're right. What the! I wonder what Apple's reasoning is for this software omission.
Click to expand...
Coconut battery if they have a mac.
[doublepost=1547841581][/doublepost]
gdourado said:
50% less than a new 2018.
The air 2 is 64gb with lte. 2018 is the base 32gb.
The air has a weaker cpu, but same 2gb of ram and the laminated screen.

Only concern holding me back is the possibility of an end of life battery.
Click to expand...
I had my iPad Air 2 for 2 years and 7 months and there was very minimal battery degradation. The battery life on iPads is so good that even a significantly degraded battery would probably still last you 6-7 hours.
 
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I restored my backup and went through some settings to tweak it a bit.
So far it feels snappy and a solid performer.

Using it with the original apple smart case is pure joy. I don't understand why they stopped making smart cases.

I'll use it for a couple of days to better evaluate the battery.
 
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That’s the main reason I want to sell my air 2 coz the battery could die soon.

Why not just get a brand new entry 9.7 iPad? It’s lot faster than air 2 and it’s not expensive. You can find deals all the time.
 
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sza said:
That’s the main reason I want to sell my air 2 coz the battery could die soon.

Why not just get a brand new entry 9.7 iPad? It’s lot faster than air 2 and it’s not expensive. You can find deals all the time.
Click to expand...
It doesn’t have a laminated display and has the older air body. In a lot of ways it’s inferior to the air 2.
 
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sza said:
That’s the main reason I want to sell my air 2 coz the battery could die soon.

Why not just get a brand new entry 9.7 iPad? It’s lot faster than air 2 and it’s not expensive. You can find deals all the time.
Click to expand...
I already got the air 2.
I got it because it was a free upgrade.
Got the air 2 with a mint smart case for the same amount I sold my air 1 for.

And coming from the air 1, the screen and build quality makes a difference.
 
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