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All iPads How long do you keep your iPad?

How long do you keep your iPad?

  • 1 year

    Votes: 53 33.3%

  • 2 years

    Votes: 45 28.3%

  • 3 years

    Votes: 30 18.9%

  • 3+ years

    Votes: 23 14.5%

  • still haven't purchased one

    Votes: 8 5.0%
  • Total voters
    159
  • Poll closed .
I buy the new iPad every year. iPad's hold their value very well (Just like most Apple products). When I go and sell the old one, I usually only have to spend a little bit more for the brand new one. On top of that I get:

- Full year warranty
- Fresh battery
- New condition iPad
 
Pakaku said:
Keeping mine until it dies.
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Same here. Mine is the iPad 1. It's slow at times and crashes occasionally, due to insufficient RAM, but it's still fine for checking email and the handful of apps that I use. I just bought a Lenovo IdeaPad Lynx, which will become my main tablet, but the iPad still has plenty of useful life left.
 
I had the 1. Gen iPad until last year then I got the iPad 4 and the iPad Mini, now I am selling the 4 and getting the new Air. I just really prefer the new design.
 
BenTrovato said:
The future proofing game is tiresome. I'll keep my devices until they no longer serve me or a new feature gets introduced that I want.
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Yep. This is also what I do. Alas, the previous 2 releases have all had features that I want so I was kinda on a 10-month to 1-year upgrade cycle. :eek: No must have feature on the Air though, and the weight decrease isn't big enough for me so I just got a refurbished iPad 4 LTE 128GB with AppleCare instead. I might also get a 16GB rMini but I don't expect I'll do a major upgrade until a 256GB iPad is available. :rolleyes:

leenak said:
I think the poll here is also a bit skewed as I'm sure there are a ton of people out there with iPad 1s around.
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I fully expect results from this forum to be skewed towards 1-2 year upgrade cycles. Which is also partly why I find it funny that there are folks here telling people that the only iPad you should buy is the Air or mini 2 even if you have to sacrifice storage in the name of future proofing. :rolleyes:
 
BenTrovato said:
The future proofing game is tiresome.
Click to expand...

"Future proofing" isn't a game; it's a nonsense concept invented by people who need a justification for spending a lot of money on sealed devices built for accelerated obsolescence.

Somehow they believe buying more storage or wireless capability for the device which they don't presently need or anticipate near term will lenghten the devices useful life. These same people refer to their consumer purchase as an "investment." People would be better off indeed if they just bought exactly what they currently needed and sold it and bought something else when their needs changed.
 
It's a tricky proposition. A Mac Pro is more future proof (time resistant really) than a Mac mini but it's also now 3x the cost. So 6 years on one with no replacement vs three models every two years on the other to be equivalent. Gaining time advantage would actually require 7+ years.

In terms of iPads though, it's mostly about having some feature or spec that won't suddenly become important. Like I'm a 2-3 year guy but now want more ram and can't just install it, so 1 year this time.
 
If I had purchased the first one, I would have ditched it by the third. Definitely would have ditched it for the 4th. Since I didn't buy the first, knowing the second-onward versions of Apple products are far better than the prototype, I'm still good.

I will buy this one, the fifth, though.

There is no reason for me to sell off iPads. Ever. I'll just keep them until they are unbearably slow or die. I'm not the sort that will have to have the latest anything just because it makes me feel good or looks cool--function is everything, form is only valuable in how it facilitates function.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
"Future proofing" isn't a game; it's a nonsense concept invented by people who need a justification for spending a lot of money on sealed devices built for accelerated obsolescence.

Somehow they believe buying more storage or wireless capability for the device which they don't presently need or anticipate near term will lenghten the devices useful life. These same people refer to their consumer purchase as an "investment." People would be better off indeed if they just bought exactly what they currently needed and sold it and bought something else when their needs changed.
Click to expand...

Completely agree. Alas, storage is something I can never get enough of. If there had been an iPad Air 256GB, I'd have gotten and one (and likely have it 70% full by end of the month). :rolleyes:

Lol, with how quickly consumer electronics devalue, I'm surprised anyone views them as investments. :p
 
I got an iPad 2 around the middle of last year.
This February, I sold my iPad 2 and iPod touch to get an iPad mini for portability (why I liked the iPod touch in the first place) with tablet-optimized apps (the reason I like my iPad 2).

So, currently, I've upgraded every year for feature sets that improve my personal usage.

I'm now considering to sell my iPad mini (WiFi only) to get iPad mini 2 possibly with T-Mobile's 200mb free data plan. In addition to the Retina Display and A7, my use case could improved if I get a cellular model. I'd mostly use the cellular data only on-the-go, since I do have a good WiFi connection at home.
 
BenTrovato said:
The future proofing game is tiresome. I'll keep my devices until they no longer serve me or a new feature gets introduced that I want.

Then again, if technology is a hobby for you, only the latest gear will quench your appetite.
Click to expand...

Ditto... future proofing is a waste of time and money unless you can afford it.

I buy when there's a feature I want that isn't available in what I have now. I have an iPad 3, and it works fine and there's nothing in the iPad air or mini that attracts me.

I just bought an MBA 13", not because of Haswell but because it's very light and I have arthritis in my shoulder that makes it hard to pick up my old 13" MBP from 2011.

Lots of customers in the Apple store don't care if a MBP has Haswell, Broadwell, or Stairwell - they just want whatever does the job for them.
 
old-wiz said:
Ditto... future proofing is a waste of time and money unless you can afford it.
Click to expand...

Frankly, I think the only future proofing you can really do is to save enough money to buy newer versions. :p Folks are better off just buying what they need now. Save the rest for later. :)
 
Chupa Chupa said:
"Future proofing" isn't a game; it's a nonsense concept invented by people who need a justification for spending a lot of money on sealed devices built for accelerated obsolescence.

Somehow they believe buying more storage or wireless capability for the device which they don't presently need or anticipate near term will lenghten the devices useful life. These same people refer to their consumer purchase as an "investment." People would be better off indeed if they just bought exactly what they currently needed and sold it and bought something else when their needs changed.
Click to expand...

+1. Nicely put.

Buy what you need and can afford. Doesn't meet your need anymore? Sell it, rinse and repeat.
 
rui no onna said:
Mine gets passed down the family. :)
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Just so. ^_^ I'm looking to lay my paws on a shiny new iPad Air, whereupon my authentic, original iPad will be heading off to my mother, in an attempt to lure her online, despite more than a touch of technophobia.

I've been vaguely admiring a retina display for a while, but the combination of that, the considerable weight loss, and the 64-bit architecture feels like a good place to hop on board again.
 
Porsupah said:
Just so. ^_^ I'm looking to lay my paws on a shiny new iPad Air, whereupon my authentic, original iPad will be heading off to my mother, in an attempt to lure her online, despite more than a touch of technophobia.
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My iPad 2 first went to my mother and then to my grandmother. My grandma doesn't own a computer and the iPad is very easy for her to use for Facebook and FaceTime. :)
 
rui no onna said:
My iPad 2 first went to my mother and then to my grandmother. My grandma doesn't own a computer and the iPad is very easy for her to use for Facebook and FaceTime. :)
Click to expand...

Much the same here! ^_^ My mother doesn't have any kind of computer or smartphone (for now), and the iPad's easy enough for her to use without me having to introduce her to the whole concept of windows, mice, and so forth.

I admit, FaceTime's something that makes me wonder if I'll be swapping it out for an iPad 2 before all that much longer. On the other paw, this would all be on a cellular connection, so maybe audio-only won't be such a bad thing. =:)
 
I've had my gen 1 since early 2010. It only started feeling pokey in the last six months or so.

Will be upgrading to Air or refurb gen 4 depending on the deals in refurb store when the time comes.

Will keep the first gen for my kid to watch his shows on an to control the stereo. It's a tank and still does what I need. Just slowly as a browser. Wish I could go back to one of the earlier iOS's. It was much snappier back then.

I feel that the iPad is apples product that is most resilient to technological change, and will probably become even more so as time goes on and people build up homes full apple devices and remote storage. I can see iPads making it 5-6 years no problem. My iMac late 09 is going on 5 years old and only recently started getting pokey. Lesson learned is to not be so tempted to upgrade OS's. If go back to snow leopard in a second.
 
I've had an iPad 1 from Day 1 in NZ.....and only replaced a month ago to the iPad 4 because my father wanted to buy me a Mini for my birthday.... But since I wanted the larger size, I offered to pay the difference to upgrade. I would have kept using my 1 until it died otherwise and had no real plans to upgrade yet (I still can't bear to part with it, but hubby uses it now).... because I actually like the look of that iPad version best even if it's left behind in tech and heavy as hell at night for reading.... However, now I know the speed and retina that I was missing out on for the last 2 years.... I actually have plans to upgrade again next version after the Air (though I'm not a big fan of this new smaller bezel thing going on)...
 
I used to be lucky enough to be in a time and place in my life where i had a bit of disposable income to spend on useless stuff and gadgets as i pleased.

I had an ipad 1, sold, bought ipad 2, sold, bought ipad 3, sold, bought ipad mini 1st gen.

This year i will sell the ipad mini 1st gen, and get an ipad mini retina.

But i have to forgo getting a ps4 or an xbox 1 to do that. I was first in line for the 360 and the ps3! Ah those good old days.

/1st world problems :)
 
Bought iPad1 on release day. It started to become sluggish and I had lots of crashes last year. At the same time iPad mini was released, so that was win-win for me because i wanted a smaller and lighter iPad. I will keep it until I have problems with it. The iPad1 is now used by my daughter.
 
THFourteen said:
I used to be lucky enough to be in a time and place in my life where i had a bit of disposable income to spend on useless stuff and gadgets as i pleased.

I had an ipad 1, sold, bought ipad 2, sold, bought ipad 3, sold, bought ipad mini 1st gen.

This year i will sell the ipad mini 1st gen, and get an ipad mini retina.

But i have to forgo getting a ps4 or an xbox 1 to do that. I was first in line for the 360 and the ps3! Ah those good old days.

/1st world problems :)
Click to expand...

Lol same. Kids and a mortgage did in that lifestyle for me, for now at least. No complaints.
 
Hamburger said:
Bought iPad1 on release day. It started to become sluggish and I had lots of crashes last year....
Click to expand...

Doing a fresh install of iOS 5 (the latest for iPad 1) dramatically increases your speed and stability. I was having problems with mine, some apps wouldn't even run for more than 30 seconds without crashing.

After a fresh install, everything runs quite well again.

I am tempted to replace my iPad 1 with either a Retina Mini or Air, but I just don't think I enjoy the linear iPad experience enough to make it worthwhile. I'd rather upgrade my 6 year old desktop... for $450 CAD, I can get an i5 4670 with G87 chipset motherboard and 8Gb of 1600 MHz RAM, with USB 3, etc.. in other words, a massive step forwards in computing power and technologies.

Just got a Macbook Air last month which gets used much more than the iPad.
 
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