I currently have the iPad 1 and am considering upgrading to the 4. How big is the difference in speed between the two? Mainly safari...
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iPad iPad 1 vs iPad 4
- Thread starter IUBall22
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Poochi
macrumors 6502a
KeepCalmPeople
macrumors 65816
The 4 is much faster. How much faster? You'll only know for sure if you try it out for yourself.
It should be noticeably faster no matter what you do. Even more obvious and impressive is the retina display.
It should be noticeably faster no matter what you do. Even more obvious and impressive is the retina display.
I didn't have the first iPad but now have the 4th and it's incredible! So from one Hoosier to another....do it!
Well its about 4 times faster which is a massive difference. Furthermore the screen is very nice with the retina display.
The sun spider tests which measures the speeds of browsers on different devices (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_speed_test) shows that the iPad 4 would be more than 3 times faster in safari then the ipad 1 if internet was the same speed and source.
You should probably upgrade.
I can only compare the 4 to an iPad2, not sure how much of a difference there is between the 1 and 2. I'd agree there is a noticeable difference but I wouldn't say there is a massive difference. The 2-4 increase seen in benchmarks is there but not that meaningful until apps are written to take advantage of that speed. Best to do your own comparison as meaningful speed can be somewhat subjective.
wrkactjob
macrumors 65816
I upgraded from iPad 1 to iPad 4 and improvement is considerable. You'll mostly notice it when loading heavy webpages and when switching between tabs. It is not only that rendering is much faster because the WiFI is quicker as well and with more memory everything becomes more fluid and crashes less. Then there is the display of course.
I use the iPad mostly for browsing and the upgrade was well worth it. Surfing the web on the iPad4 is just pure pleasure.
I have the original. I spent some time in the store playing with the 4 last week. It is a HUGE difference. I have no doubt that those saying that the upgrade is well worth it are right. But even given that difference, I couldn't pull the trigger. I am going to wait one more cycle. I figure at that point the new processor will be taken advantage of and the lack of ios 6 will be meaningful.
Yeah I know what you mean tbh. I sorta regret upgrading but it's nice to own the latest and greatest. I own the iPad 1 and and the iPad 4. There is quite a lot of difference. 🙂
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
There's a huge difference between the look, feel and operation of the iPad 4 and the 1.
I have an iPad 1 and its great but apple in redesigning the tablet in the second generation made it more hold-able. The CPU/GPU, screen camera and memory improvements in the iPad 4 make it a huge jump in performance and user experience from the first gen.
I have an iPad 1 and its great but apple in redesigning the tablet in the second generation made it more hold-able. The CPU/GPU, screen camera and memory improvements in the iPad 4 make it a huge jump in performance and user experience from the first gen.
clyde2801
macrumors 601
Kudos to the OP for resisting the RDF and hanging onto his iP1 for so long! The shortage of ram is why I upgraded to the 2, and the double ram and retina to the 3.
I was being lured by the 4 (It has double the processing power and a better wifi antenna! Better FT camera, too!), but I think I'm going to sit this one out. I don't think I've ever had an experience with it so far that's left me wanting. Same might go for the iP5, whenever that's released. It'll have to be more than a spec increase and a case redesign to get more of my money...it'll need to have blow me out of my socks performance or features.
I seem to remember the iPad being described as an 'internet appliance' a few years back. And that's what it may end up being to most consumers: most people are unconcerned that a new coffee maker with new features is being released unless their old one quit working.
It wouldn't be surprising if we're about to reach the market saturation point soon, where everyone with the disposable income who wants an iPad already has one. Apple has to crank out new models year after year (or maybe bi-annually, who knows) and sell at least as many as they did the year before or their stock will take a beating. I almost feel sorry for them.
I was being lured by the 4 (It has double the processing power and a better wifi antenna! Better FT camera, too!), but I think I'm going to sit this one out. I don't think I've ever had an experience with it so far that's left me wanting. Same might go for the iP5, whenever that's released. It'll have to be more than a spec increase and a case redesign to get more of my money...it'll need to have blow me out of my socks performance or features.
I seem to remember the iPad being described as an 'internet appliance' a few years back. And that's what it may end up being to most consumers: most people are unconcerned that a new coffee maker with new features is being released unless their old one quit working.
It wouldn't be surprising if we're about to reach the market saturation point soon, where everyone with the disposable income who wants an iPad already has one. Apple has to crank out new models year after year (or maybe bi-annually, who knows) and sell at least as many as they did the year before or their stock will take a beating. I almost feel sorry for them.
I agree. I had the iPad 1 and when my wife got the 2, I noticed an enormous difference in just about everything except the display quality. With the 2, I felt like they really got it right (sans display)! I've had the 4 now for 2 weeks. Performance wise....I'm not seeing a huge difference from the 2. Both the 2 & 4 do everything well. Wifi performance is one exception......I'm finding much improved over both 1 & 2. The display quality of course was a huge improvement.
Maybe when apps are written to take advantage of the 4's power.....I'll notice a bigger difference. All in all.....the upgrade from 1 to 4 was huge....as would going from the 1 to "anything" would have been.
The iPad 4 is in raw CPU performance about four times faster. Take into account that you'll also be able to run iOS 6 which has even more improvements and you'll see drastic speed improvements - especially in Safari.
When looking into the GPU performance it's 36 times faster. If you, however, take the Retina display into account the iPad 4 is 9x faster than the first-gen iPad (the iPad 2 is, relatively, also 9x faster while the iPad 3 is only 4.5 faster than the first-gen iPad).
When looking into the GPU performance it's 36 times faster. If you, however, take the Retina display into account the iPad 4 is 9x faster than the first-gen iPad (the iPad 2 is, relatively, also 9x faster while the iPad 3 is only 4.5 faster than the first-gen iPad).
BenTrovato
macrumors 68040
The new ones are almost always better. It just becomes a question if you need it, or if you want the newer technology. If you don't need it, and don't really want it, then it won't be appealing to upgrade. Some people get satisfaction out of selling the previous model for a good price because they kept in good condition and pick up the new model for the difference in price.
IMO, the iPad 1 is really slow. The 2 is great if you don't care about retina. If I was in the market right now I would buy a refurb 3 if I had the iPhone 4/4S or if my phone was the 5, I would get the iPad4 so all the cables would be in unison. Honestly technology is just a game, it'll keep digging at your heels if you let it. Enjoy what you have and stop looking at the newer prettier woman who keeps luring you to go after her. Sorry I meant device, not women! 😀
IMO, the iPad 1 is really slow. The 2 is great if you don't care about retina. If I was in the market right now I would buy a refurb 3 if I had the iPhone 4/4S or if my phone was the 5, I would get the iPad4 so all the cables would be in unison. Honestly technology is just a game, it'll keep digging at your heels if you let it. Enjoy what you have and stop looking at the newer prettier woman who keeps luring you to go after her. Sorry I meant device, not women! 😀
I went from a 1 to a 3 last summer. In a lot of ways the iPad 1 is just fine and you won't see much difference in usage (ignoring options on the 4 that didn't exist like cameras) for a lot of things.
But the 4 will have subtle changes that you will come to appreciate. It will load apps faster, web viewing will be smoother. The retina display will look sharp. With more memory, more apps will remain in memory for switching.
Don't expect some mind blowing upgrade. A lot of software is frame locked anyway and the 1 is pretty capable. So while the specs are impressive, for basic usage and web browsing or games like Angry Birds, it's not so drastic.
But the 4 will have subtle changes that you will come to appreciate. It will load apps faster, web viewing will be smoother. The retina display will look sharp. With more memory, more apps will remain in memory for switching.
Don't expect some mind blowing upgrade. A lot of software is frame locked anyway and the 1 is pretty capable. So while the specs are impressive, for basic usage and web browsing or games like Angry Birds, it's not so drastic.
zhenya
macrumors 604
I just moved from an iPad 1 to an iPad 4 and the difference was dramatic. I'll admit I'm a bit of a power user, so I expect things to work pretty quickly, but the iPad 1 had started to fall out of regular usage for me because it was just too slow - slow to load pages, slow to reload tabs every time you changed pages or switched between programs, slow to open programs when trying to multi-task. All of those little slowdowns and waits really started to sour the experience for me.
The 4 is nearly everything I've wanted the iPad to be. The retina screen makes reading in portrait mode a joy. Web pages load nearly as fast as on my iMac. There is very little reloading of pages or programs due to lack of RAM.
The last things that I'd really like to see would be a change in iOS so that pages are preserved on the drive even if they have to be dumped out of RAM so that you don't lose what you are doing there, and more programs that can be returned to through multi-tasking without the (now very short) reloading of the data. I'd also like to see some provision for viewing two items at once - say a chat window and the browser. At that point, it'd be a near complete non-work computer for me.
The 4 is nearly everything I've wanted the iPad to be. The retina screen makes reading in portrait mode a joy. Web pages load nearly as fast as on my iMac. There is very little reloading of pages or programs due to lack of RAM.
The last things that I'd really like to see would be a change in iOS so that pages are preserved on the drive even if they have to be dumped out of RAM so that you don't lose what you are doing there, and more programs that can be returned to through multi-tasking without the (now very short) reloading of the data. I'd also like to see some provision for viewing two items at once - say a chat window and the browser. At that point, it'd be a near complete non-work computer for me.
consider yourself lucky that you find yourself satisfied with the 1.🙂
Might as well wait for the 5 at this point which should use the new "mini" construction if I were to guess, plus thinner glass?
MrXiro
macrumors 68040
You ever use a 4 year old computer? That's pretty much what it the difference is.
Speedy and able to run multiple apps vs slower with a paltry amount of RAM so even Safari crashed all the time.
I have the iPad 1 and I ended up with the iPad Mini. It feels WAY faster than the original iPad in all aspects, absolutely no comparison, so the new 4 should feel even faster. Its mainly the little things that will be faster all around, web browsing, scrolling, switching between web pages. I also haven't seen the mini crashing or freezing once when loading heavy wen content either, thats definitely a plus.