iPad Is iPad 3 really that undesirable?

[stonyboys]

So I'm looking through ebay to compare resale values... And what surprised me is how little people are willing to pay for the 3rd gen ipad.

Take for example this 32GB with verizon cellular ipad, good condition other a ding on the top. CLICK

Is that not an insane steal on the buyer's part?

Now for a surprisingly unsuccessful listing. Mint condition 16GB with no scratches, only problem is that it has no box and only comes with charger. 100$ with no bites?? Why?? What is so wrong with these things? Are they really that bad? Or is there something else wrong with them that my amateur online shopper instincts can't detect?

 

[identity]

Because it's 2 generations behind, gpu couldn't handle the high res display, and it ran hot. Nobodies going to pay big bucks when the iPad 4 is better.

 

[herdnerfer]

I never had any issues with my iPad 3. Sure it's not as fast at the 4 but it surfs fine & the retina screen is beautiful. I never noticed any heat issues with mine. I sold my 16gb wifi on eBay for $350 a few weeks ago when i upgraded to the Air.

With your examples, the 16gb iPad auction was ended early by the seller & iPad auctions don't usually get many early bids. The only explanation for the other auction is that there are plenty of mint condition ipads on the market, buying a damaged one, even slighty, decreases the value dramatically.

The market is flooded right now, i bet you'll see prices leveling off after the new year.

 

[Macman45]

It's pretty much as Identity says...The GPU was underpowered and just couldn't keep up. The screen was fine...The same as the 4, but I owned the three until the day the 4 came out...what a difference there was. I guess you could call it a mistake....7 months and Apple pulled it knowing it didn't really have enough grunt.

I was lucky, and got a very good price for mine, but it was virally brand new, had Applecare and a case. Many people are finding them harder to sell now.

 

[Tork]

I think an iPad 3 is still a fantastic device IF you can get a good enough deal on it. You still get the retina screen, awesome battery life, great reliability, LTE option, amazing tablet app ecosystem, etc. And there are tens of millions of iPad 3s still out there, with relatively few complaints from people. It doesn't run hot (it warms up when playing games, but no more than a friend's iPad 4), and while there is a little bit of jerkiness with iOS 7 (not much more than the 4 experiences, at least to me), it still runs whatever I throw at it. It is much heavier than the Air of course, though it didn't bother me too much until I felt how light the Air is...

Thing is, there are Airs on Black Friday for effectively $379 ($479 with a $100 Target gift card). I'd spring for that if I were in the market for a full-sized 16 gig Wi-Fi iPad over a similar used iPad 3, obviously. The iPad 3 becomes a great option though when considering models with higher original MSRPs, which naturally lose a much greater percent of their original value at resale. Comparing a 32 gig LTE Air for $730 to the same iPad 3 for <$300 (which you can find from time to time right now) would make coughing up the extra $430 kind of tough. A higher spec'ed used iPad 3 is a steal right now.

 

[prism]

Because it's 2 generations behind, gpu couldn't handle the high res display, and it ran hot. Nobodies going to pay big bucks when the iPad 4 is better.

Not to mention, it is a power hog and takes more than half a day to charge.

 

[Ladybug]

I never had any problems with my 3 either. It got warm a few times but no where near hot. Granted I only played simple games on it. I in fact still have my 3 although I've upgraded to the Air. If I don't sell it I will likely pass it down to a family member. It's still on iOS 6 so it's not been updated yet. For the right price I think it's still very usable.

 

[brentsg]

I wouldn't hesitate for a good deal. My family still uses a 3 daily and I definitely wouldn't let it go cheap.

 

[DFZD]

Forget the naysayers, it's a great device, I used it for over 18 months, never felt anything bad about it, except how bulky it become after the Smart Case. 1250g.

I used it for some heavy gaming, Fifa 12,13, Modern Combat 3,4, GTA 3, VC, Max Payne, and a lot of other 1Gig plus games.

 

[Ih8reno]

Still have my 3 and I couldn't be happier. It has held up very well and the only bugs I've noticed since iOS 7 is when changing backgrounds it hangs for a bit.

 

[superduperdom]

No problem with my iPad 3, apart from the weight. But I don't play games on it. Yes things may take a tad slower too load than the air, mainly safari, but I can live with it until perhaps the next upgrade.

 

[s2mikey]

Because it's 2 generations behind, gpu couldn't handle the high res display, and it ran hot. Nobodies going to pay big bucks when the iPad 4 is better.

This. It's really the one to avoid. No offense to 3rd gen owners but it just doesn't cut it.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

So I'm looking through ebay to compare resale values... And what surprised me is how little people are willing to pay for the 3rd gen ipad.

Take for example this 32GB with verizon cellular ipad, good condition other a ding on the top. CLICK

Is that not an insane steal on the buyer's part?

Now for a surprisingly unsuccessful listing. Mint condition 16GB with no scratches, only problem is that it has no box and only comes with charger. 100$ with no bites?? Why?? What is so wrong with these things? Are they really that bad? Or is there something else wrong with them that my amateur online shopper instincts can't detect?

Geez, only $102 for the iPad 3? Heck, I'd donate it before I'd let it go for $102. As it is, I'm giving my wife and my iPad 3's to our kids. It's is great step up from the iPad 1 they were sharing. We turned that iPad into a new bike... Thank you Target! ;-) The wife and I would still be using our iPad 3s if the kids didn't need newer ones for school work.

 

[Menel]

Holy ****. Well that definitely justified the selling of mine 3rd-32gb for much more.

I was a little sad since the Air didn't have all I wanted. And so far doesn't get near the battery life.

But since I had sold it 2 days prior to announcement I was committed.

 

[pocketpenguin]

Like my 3

I'm using my ipad 3 to type this reply. My air is sitting in my backpack in another room.

I like my three, got it on launch day and put it in a Kensington keyboard case so I could use it like a laptop. It replaced a 4 year old think pad without too much trouble (my work was mostly Remote Desktop into servers at a data center).

The few times I removed it from the case, I did notice it got "warm", but it was room temperature warm and never uncomfortable.

In terms of speed, it seems about as fast as my daughter's ipad2. The only speed issue I have with it is that safari pages seem to load in stages, late appearing ads and other widgets make the page jump around; very annoying. My new ipad air doesn't have this problem as bad. Some of this jumping is no doubt due to different load times for the various page elements.

Never had a problem with charge times, but I usually just charge overnight and I rarely let it get below 25%.

Overall, if you have other 30pin devices and can find one at a good price, I say the three is just fine.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Just sold my 32GB wifi to my friend's girlfriend last week for $300. She's stoked and I have a new Air. Win-win? We think so.

 

[LostSoul80]

Because it's 2 generations behind, gpu couldn't handle the high res display, and it ran hot.

Typical MR forums users exaggeration.
The GPU handles the display well, and it almost never runs hot.

 

[deeddawg]

So I'm looking through ebay to compare resale values... And what surprised me is how little people are willing to pay for the 3rd gen ipad.

Neither listing is comparable as they didn't end normally. Both were ended early by the seller; most likely because the item was sold outside of eBay.

As such, the ending prices shown are NOT indicative of what the sellers really sold them for.

Typical MR forums users exaggeration.
The GPU handles the display well, and it almost never runs hot.

Agreed, though I believe it's more a matter of people assuming their needs/uses apply to everyone else.

If you're a gamer that has to have the highest graphics performance then no, the ipad3 isn't for you. Yes the CPU is now two generations behind, and yes in brightly lit situations or if you're really hammering the CPU (gaming) the device gets warm.

Instead if your intended use is web surfing, email, ebook reading, non-CPU/GPU intensive games, etc. the ipad3 would be perfectly fine.

Given an ipad3 or ipad4 for the same price, or a few $ more for the 4, then of course go with the ipad4. Don't believe the hyperbole though.

 

[JonMPLS]

No problems with my 3. I don't play games on it, so perhaps I don't stress the processor enough to notice. Great screen, fast enough for what I want to do. I don't monitor battery life on a minute-by-minute bases like some do, and it's fine for my use. Frankly, my only annoyance is the older connector.

Went out to look at an Air, but really did not feel the change was worth it. Actually thinking rMini if any change at all.

 

[darngooddesign]

So I'm looking through ebay to compare resale values... And what surprised me is how little people are willing to pay for the 3rd gen ipad.

Take for example this 32GB with verizon cellular ipad, good condition other a ding on the top. CLICK

Is that not an insane steal on the buyer's part?

Now for a surprisingly unsuccessful listing. Mint condition 16GB with no scratches, only problem is that it has no box and only comes with charger. 100$ with no bites?? Why?? What is so wrong with these things? Are they really that bad? Or is there something else wrong with them that my amateur online shopper instincts can't detect?

The other side of the coin is that if just want to do some light gaming, reading, video watching, email and browsing you can get one for a smoking deal.

 

[illmatic41]

As it is, I'm giving my wife and my iPad 3's to our kids.

I get what you're saying, but I just thought this was funny when I first read it...sounds like you are giving your wife along with your iPads to the kids!

 

[GoCubsGo]

Because it's 2 generations behind, gpu couldn't handle the high res display, and it ran hot. Nobodies going to pay big bucks when the iPad 4 is better.

********. The iPad 3 ran perfectly fine. It got warm but never super hot, at least mine doesn't. The 4 is better because it is faster, sure. What did you expect with a new model?

As for the pricing, I too was surprised to see resale value. I sold my iPad 1 when the iPad 3 was out and had been out for a good 6 months. I got $250 for it.

 

[BenTrovato]

It's not a bad product, but it's not exactly Apple's best move and they rightfully so eliminated it after 6 months. I personally found it too slow to hang on to for 2 years so I let it go right away but some people are fine with it's speed. If you're happy with a good deal, go for it.

 

[Jinzen]

CPU is very slow on the iPad 3 (it's an A5) and the GPU was barely enough to make it handle the retina.

So you have an iPad 2 with a better display, so effectively, a nice screen but really hobbled by performance. And dealing with 30 pin connectors.

I got rid of an iPad 3 for $425 GameStop credit, which is now $425 of Amazon credit on my account, as good as good cash to me.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

The main reason to buy the 3 when it was released was the Retina screen. But it was quickly succeeded by the 4 w/ Retina AND more horsepower. 3 prices dropped then & there. With the Airs release they dropped more.

The 3 is still an OK unit... Would prefer it over the 2. But consumer reality is there are too many great deals on newer models -- 4 refurbs & good discounting on WiFi Airs. Plus the rMini. All that puts a lot of pricing pressure on the 3.