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Buy ipad 3 or Wait for ipad 4?

M

MrMacBookPro

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 23, 2012
269
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FL
I've been thinking of getting the new ipad but in the next coming months speculation of the ipad 4 will probably start hitting the web so should i wait or pick one up now?

Any insites on what the new one will have? Flash, larger screen, more pixels, etc...

The Apple store is already getting some ipad 3's in the refurb section.

Mainly want the ipad for music and playing games..

16 or 32g recommended for games?

BTW i'm new here and didn't find a place for introductions...

I'm also talking about the next Gen ipad not the ipad mini..

thanks
 
Just a note iPad 4 (wutever its gonna be called, the new ipad) will probably be announced and released in March of 2013.

Do you own an iPad now or an iPhone 5 or something?

If you own the iPhone 5, I suggest waiting because your going to want that Lightening connector.

Its half way through its 1 year cycle so theres still time.

For me, I have the iPad 1 (32GB) but I dont really use it that much and still it works for the most part so I would wait for the iPad 4.

Also get 32GB. While some people might find 16GB perfect, 32GB is the middle ground. You can have tons of games, movies, photos, apps, books, etc.

Many games and apps are memory intense (iLife and iWork apps are about 1GB each while games like Real Racing 2, Infinity Blade, etc. easily take up 1GB and over.)
 
thanks guys.. no i currently don't own a ipad.. Was thinking of getting just the ipad 2 as a nice tablet but everyone is raving about that retina display.. I would love to play games like Infinity Blade and some shooters..

There's some tuff competition out there.. The new Asus Transformer Infinity and the Wikipad for gaming makes it tuff but i know Apple quality is top notch so I really want to stick with Apple
 
There is talk that apple might do a mid-cycle refresh of its ipad line to incorporate the new in-cell screen tech or igzo screen. However, that seems unlikely, with current supplies monopolised by the release of the new iPhone.

Half a year is like neither here nor there. I certainly can't wait 6 months for a new tablet refresh, yet I don't really like the new ipad enough to actually recommend it (though I have one). Plus, current refurb'ed 16gb ipad2s are cheap enough that you can consider getting one just to tide you over for the next half a year.
 
OP, you are at the mid life cycle of the iPad 3. If you need one then there is nothing wrong buying one now. But if you can wait till next March or April, that would be my suggestion to wait for the iPad 4.
 
MrMacBookPro said:
Buy ipad 3 or Wait for ipad 4?
Click to expand...
See every other "Buy now or wait?" thread. It's never a one-size-fits-all matter. If you need something now then waiting doesn't make much sense. As with any subjective matter, you need to consider your situation and make your decision based on that. There's really not enough in your OP to even make a recommendation for you. What are your dealbreakers? What are you expecting from the 4? Have you even tried a 3?

You can always buy a 3, try it out and see for yourself. Nothing beats first hand experience for answering subjective questions like this. You can always return if you're unhappy with it.

MrMacBookPro said:
Any insites on what the new one will have? Flash, larger screen, more pixels, etc...
Click to expand...
Take your pick of rumors. And keep in mind that they're just rumors.

MrMacBookPro said:
16 or 32g recommended for games?
Click to expand...
Capacity is always a subjective matter. "Games" doesn't really point in one direction or the other. Obviously, the 32 will hold more games but you need to make the call based on your needs/wants/preferences/budget.
 
I'm in a similar situation and I'm planning on waiting. The current gen iPad has an A5X processor and they had to boost the voltage to it to get gains over the iPad 2's A5 processor, which diminished battery life by about an hour. If the new A6 processor in the iPhone 5 is as good as it's chalked up to be, the next iPad should be not only faster, but less power-hungry. To me it feels like the current iPad was rushed into production and they didn't quite nail the implementation of the Retina display. Each upgrade should be thinner, lighter, and have improved battery life, but the New iPad didn't achieve those goals. The next revision should be worth the wait.
 
I'm in a very similar situation and am waiting. I have an iPad 1 now but it is really starting to show it's age. It's slow plus I can't install IOS 6 on it (the main thing I can't do now is install iPhoto, which I use a lot on my iPhone). I had thought about getting an iPad mini when/if it comes out, but have about decided I really don't want to give up the larger screen size of the iPad. So I guess my plan now is to stick it out a while longer with my iPad 1 and get the next refresh when it comes out, hopefully in March.
 
If you need it now then buy it now, otherwise wait.

No one knows what changes it will have, only that Apple will call it "The best iPad ever" :)
 
takeshi74 said:
See every other "Buy now or wait?" thread. It's never a one-size-fits-all matter. If you need something now then waiting doesn't make much sense. As with any subjective matter, you need to consider your situation and make your decision based on that. There's really not enough in your OP to even make a recommendation for you. What are your dealbreakers? What are you expecting from the 4? Have you even tried a 3?

You can always buy a 3, try it out and see for yourself. Nothing beats first hand experience for answering subjective questions like this. You can always return if you're unhappy with it.


Take your pick of rumors. And keep in mind that they're just rumors.


Capacity is always a subjective matter. "Games" doesn't really point in one direction or the other. Obviously, the 32 will hold more games but you need to make the call based on your needs/wants/preferences/budget.
Click to expand...

thanks for the reply..
 
The retina display is really fantastic but there are some instances where the pixels are just too much. I find the new Maps app can struggle a bit in 3D buildings mode for one. I'm guessing the iPad 4 will have a more powerful GPU that will improve things like this though.

My only real gripe though with the iPad 3 is the pitiful charger. The iPad 3 has a 25% larger battery than the entry level MacBook Air yet it's charger has a power rating of about a quarter. End result is that the iPad 3 takes *forever* to charge - i.e. if you forget to plug it in over night then you're kind of boned.

My biggest hope for the new lightning connector is that hopefully it has been uprated somewhat so as to be able to deliver more juice. The iPad needs 45W charger not a 10W one.

If I didn't already have an iPad 3, that alone would make me think twice about buying now vs waiting for the fourth gen iPad to come out.
 
I've been wanting a new ipad as well, and the rumors of a possible mid cycle refresh has kept me waiting...If no mid cycle refresh I'll just wait...The next one should be a doozy...
 
whitesand said:
I've been wanting a new ipad as well, and the rumors of a possible mid cycle refresh has kept me waiting...If no mid cycle refresh I'll just wait...The next one should be a doozy...
Click to expand...

For me personally I could just pick up the 3 then sell it later on but for some reason the mini just doesn't do it for me.. I like the larger screen and i even wish it was 10.1 just to compete with the other 10.1 Tablets.. No doubt the mini will be a great seller but for me the larger the better...
 
The iPad 3 that I and nearly all my friends have has been incredibly bug free & reliable. That alone, based on my experience is worth everything.

If you read the iPhone forum here, you'll notice the iPhone 5 has lots of issues. The one I got is not even close to being as good as my last years 4S.

It's all about what's important to you. Some buyers are so eager to be seen with the latest they don't care about anything else.
 
ixodes said:
The iPad 3 that I and nearly all my friends have has been incredibly bug free & reliable. That alone, based on my experience is worth everything.

If you read the iPhone forum here, you'll notice the iPhone 5 has lots of issues. The one I got is not even close to being as good as my last years 4S.

It's all about what's important to you. Some buyers are so eager to be seen with the latest they don't care about anything else.
Click to expand...

i agree some people are such in a hurry to buy the newest product that they forgot that all the bugs aren't worked out yet. That is whats happening to the iphone 5.. wait a few/be patient lol
 
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