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Was it worth the upgrade/purchase? Sound off...

G

GrindedDown

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 4, 2009
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Las Vegas
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There are numerous reviews hailing the 3rd generation iPad (or the "new iPad" for some...) as a landmark achievement by bringing together boundary pushing technology, a la the retina display and graphics, while maintaining the "essence" of the iPad.

Other reviews are downplaying the significance of such upgrade and choose to dub this iteration as the "iPad 2S". Some have gone as far as saying this is a letdown of sorts and not worth the upgrade or purchase at this price.

Well, you have it in your hands now. What do you think? Is it worth the upgrade? Is it a major upgrade or minor? Is it a letdown?

Sounds off with your quasi-reviews...
 
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Personally I think it is most certainly a major major upgrade. Packing the retina display and much better graphics while maintaining battery performance, form factor, and overall snappiness is astonishing to me.

One quote that really sums it up for me comes from Techcrunch:

Remember a few years ago when everyone was using CRT monitors with resolutions of 800-by-600? They needed to be plugged in and to sit on a desk with plenty of room behind it. And they weighed upwards of 30 pounds. Think about that when you hold this new iPad.

This is not the iPad 2S or some little upgrade.
 
For me, I think is was aN okay upgrade, since I have an iPad 2. The screen is amazing, as well as the camera but I will hardly use the camera. The only thing that I wanted the new iPad was because of the retina display

If I had the original iPad than yea it would be totally different, I would say it was worth it
Sadly I will have to return my new iPad since I'm leaving for Boot Camp a lot earlier than i expected. So by the time I come back a new and better iPad will be out. Until then the new iPad is a great upgrade from its last gen version but not as as good of an upgrade as the iPhone 4 was to the iPhone 3GS
 
I ended up paying $329 for it. ($829 - $500 from my old iPad 2 sale).

It was worth every single penny.

The screen is AMAZING, and 11Mbps download and 10Mbps upload on two bars of AT&T LTE is just amazing for $329. Haven't even messed with the camera yet.
 
Definitely worth it. I'm so happy that I upgraded to the "new iPad". I like voice dictation and the screen is noticeably superior to my other idevices. Maybe it edges the iPhone 4s' screen due to being thrice the size! Safari is snappy, ha ha and I love the edition of the extra ram! My screen hasn't refreshed once since I picked it up!

The design is perfect for long term holding in one position or so. At first, the curved structure is quite odd, but quickly becomes second nature. Battery life seems very good, but that's to be expected as our iPads are new. I haven't used the 4G LTE network yet, but will soon. My next move is to buy a case for this thing. I shall digress.

I have a few negative gripes and they are petty. The speaker doesn't seem as loud as I had hoped. Also, the iPad feels very fragile and I really can't explain why. I think if one drops this thing, it's going to shatter like glass. Again, I'm not saying its cheap, because it is a quality piece of equipment, but I would not attempt a severe torture test with it. This may be because I'm coming from iPad 1 and not ipad2. Don't know though.

I have not watched a movie yet or synced my Bluetooth device, i.e. Apple wireless keyboard, but I'm trying everything once and I am very satisfied with the new iPad. My .75 though. If I think of anything else, I'll either update this post or post again while quoting this post.


Edit: I forgot to mention the camera and video capabilities. I used the camera inside a house which has one well lit room and the photos are pretty good. iPhone 4s' camera maybe slightly better though. However, viewing the photos on this screen is a luxury, I'd like to see a photo taken with the new iPad and viewed with a non- retina display. I shot a minute video or so and I can verify that image stability or whatever Apple calls it, does indeed reduce shake will holding the device. Note, it does not eliminate it, but reduces it two fold. I plan to use visual media features of the new iPad.
I eagerly wait to read other "quasi reviews" lol
 
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This is my first iPad and it is certainly worth it.

RonHC, I don't know how I would have felt of I had owned the iPad 2, but I have used them a plenty. I still think its a pretty damn good upgrape (yes.....upgrape).

ZBoater, I totally agree that it's worth every last penny. Seriously, when I opened it last night and started reading The Daily on it, I almost teared up at how astonishingly beautiful the screen is. Imagine taking this back just 5-10 years ago and showing it to everyone. I mean.......holy crap. It seriously is like glowing paper when trying to read. I might just start reading again.
 
I'm excited!!!

This will be my first iPad, I ordered the 16GBWifi+4G white and it should be shipped on Monday. I was holding off on the iPad until a retina model came out :)

Now everyone has me nervous about getting a 16GB!! however, my iPhone4S is 32GB and I'm only using 10GB, 7 of that being music which I don't really plan putting on my ipad. Maybe only half.
 
I feel it was worth it, but I don't think everyone should upgrade or anything like that.

My main complaint about it is that it gets quite warm. My iPad 2 got a little warm, but this seems quite a bit warmer. I'll wait and see though, as it has been restoring from iCloud for the whole time so maybe if there is a little less of a load it doesn't run as "hot".
 
Honestly? I don't think it was worth it for me. I think I bought into the hype a bit and that's my fault. Screen is still amazing, but it detracts from the wow factor just a little bit that I have already been spoiled from the "retina display" goodness of my iPhone. And I love Apple products. Like I said, it's probably just me, but that's my honest opinion.
 
In my opinion, it kind of is like an iPad 2S. That being said, I'm on my 3rd gen. iPad now and the screen is beautiful! I did a test video shot of the back camera, works great! I'm enjoying this upgrade more than the iPad 1 to iPad 2. :D

No buyers remorse whatsoever.
 
So far it's worth it. I don't need to pinch or zoom for images or text. Things are crisp.

The real value will come when we see more apps that fully exploit the new hardware. Like apps that include super high resolution images.
 
I don't know yet. Im everything apple so I know I'll keep it no matter what. I'm selling my iPad 2 to a family member for $500. so my 64gb 4g ipad cost me $329. that being said im hoping as more apps get upgraded for the retina display it begins to get more apparent because I used them side by side today with my ipad 2 and I can see the clarity but it wasnt mind boggling. if i had given my ipad 2 away and bought this thing outright id be mad. but since im only into it for about $300 the LTE and retina may make it worth it. but I think from an ipad 1 or no ipad its a pretty huge improvement. from the 2.......eh not so much.
 
After selling my iPad 2, it worked out that The New iPad was an £85 upgrade. Is it worth that, ABSOLUTELY! Heck, i would pay almost three times or more of that upgrade price for the Retina Display alone. Its beautiful.
 
This is my first iPad, and I have been enjoying every second of it. While I can't comment on whether it's worth the upgrade, I can say it was worth it as a first time iPad owner. The Retina display is just gorgeous, and watching 1080P videos on it is just a blast.
 
What's actually been one of the more amazing things to me is that despite having been spoiled by the retina display on the iPhone 4 for almost 2 years now, I am still blown away by the clarity on the new iPad's screen. A lot of it has to do with the added screen real estate and the fact that the iPad is adore viable solution for actually reading on.

I wasnt't like, "wow that's relief" when looking at the new iPad. It's been more like "holy $h!tballs this is unbelievably amazing.....and beautiful.....and amazing.
 
Considering that I am upgrading from iPad 1, which I love, I think I'll enjoy the upgrade quite a bit (haven't set it up yet, still got some things to complete for work before the end of the workday).

Best of luck to my fellow iPad owners, I hope whatever version you have does everything that you need it to do and bought it for.
 
I think it's a good upgrade going from the iPad 1, I have an iPad 2 but I won't be upgrading even though the retina display sounds amazing I just don't think it's worth it personally just for an upgrade to the screen and I never use the camera's on my iPad 2.
 
I have an iPad 1 and iPad 2 in my household and use them regularly. I did purchase an iPad 3 but I have to admit that I am pretty disappointed. The screen is very nice, gpu uped frame rates but there's nothing really more to it. I am sick of the same OS with row after row of icons. The battery life hasn't been great for the first charge unlike my iPad 2 and it also gets quite warm, which is electronic parts nightmare. Not to mention that 32gb storage should be standard on base models now. Spending $100 for 16gb more is insane. Coming from an iPad 1, this is an upgrade, coming from a 2, I have to say its not much of an upgrade.
 
I'd say it was worth it. I sold my original iPad for $250 and got the iPad new, and the screen is absolutely gorgeous. I switch between multiple things quite a bit, and my original was simply unable to keep up with its limited RAM. I like to keep my devices for as long as I can (I don't just upgrade for the sake of having something newer), and I feel like this iPad should last me several productive years to come.
 
Coming from the first gen iPad, my goodness it was def worth it. I didn't even have a camera on the first one.

We all know about the display and for me, the speed is night and day compared to the first gen. I'm typing this right now on the new iPad and it's nice to have no lag when typing.

Plus having 560 ram free is awesome to see :D
 
LTE and Display

For me the killer feature is LTE data speed. The Display is also a killer over ipad2... very crisp reading books, etc.

ipad3-ATT-LTE-sm.jpg
 
infinitemethod said:
Not to mention that 32gb storage should be standard on base models now. Spending $100 for 16gb more is insane.
Click to expand...

I have to completely agree. I actually have a sneaking suspicion that a month or two for now, this could become quite big news as many that purchased the 16gb version are beginning to find that the storage space is completely inadequate as more and more apps become available with Regina graphics.

Needless to say, I would be absolutely shocked if the next versio of the iPad came with a 16gb flavor at all. 32, 64, 128gb will almost certainly be standard by then.

Interesting side not question: will increased sizes postively affect people's perception on the iPad as a full computing solution? (16gb is seen as "a peripheral's memory and 64gb and up usually coincides with full sized computers).
 
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