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I have an iPad 3 and I am quite happy with it. The iPad 4 seemed to be just a spec bump vs. the iPad 3 and I found no reason to spend the $$$ to upgrade. I'm not in the habit of chasing incremental upgrades, so I will wait to see what the iPad 6 (or whatever it will be called by then) offers.
 
The 4 feels like a 3S to me. I'm holding out for the 5 before I think of upgrading, and in the meantime, the 3 is working just fine.
 
Still loving my 3! After having an iPhone 5 for about 5 months, I do notice the i5 feeling faster overall but it's nothing too drastic. I'm thinking or maybe upgrading to the iPad 5 when it comes out, even if it still has an A6X...that chip is still a powerhouse.
 
I've got a 3d. Recently I was 'setting up' a 4th for my father-in-law: to be honest, I didn't notice any difference worth mentioning or being jealous. Having said that, I'm not using the thing for gaming or so, just writing / reading / emailing / surfing etc.
 
I have an iPad 3 and I am quite happy with it. The iPad 4 seemed to be just a spec bump vs. the iPad 3 and I found no reason to spend the $$$ to upgrade. I'm not in the habit of chasing incremental upgrades, so I will wait to see what the iPad 6 (or whatever it will be called by then) offers.

Same here, the 3 is perfect for what I need it for, I purposely waited before I got an ipad because I knew I would be using it for photo viewing and streaming videos so I waited for the added Retina screen. To clamor for more speed than what i have is redundant for my current needs. Besides I actually have other more important things in life that requires my financial attention and a spec bump gadget is not one of them..
 
Other than weight and thinner, I am not expecting much else out of the 5 over the 4th gen worth upgrading for me personally especially those two things. I added the ultrathin keyboard and the 4 is even fine with that.

Time will tell but will probably go to Mini 2 with cellular if the price and specs are to my liking if I buy another ipad at all.
 
Listen i have the 2, and think its better than the 3 or 4. Quite frankly it does not run as hot, it is noticeably thinner, and the battery is better. I am still using it after 2 years, it works fine, and I am not sure I would even upgrade once the 5 is out.

Agreed. I understand that the 3 and 4 have many upgrades but the 2 handles all my necessities such as browsing, games, books etc. I have a wifi only and it is more than enough for me
 
The only thing an iPad 4 offers is an overrated "faster" processor and a new lightning dock connector that makes my current iPad dock obsolete.

People that you should upgrade every other release... there's a reason for that.
 
I have had all 4 versions of the iPad.

1. Anyone who claims iPad 3 A5X vs. iPad 4 A6x speed difference is "over-rated" is simply not telling the truth.

The A6X chip is the fastest chip Apple makes. The iPad 4 is faster than my iPhone 5. The iPhone 5 is faster than my iPad 3. All tests confirm people have run report that.

The iPad 3 is barely faster than the iPad 2.

For gaming, like Real Racing 3, it will make a huge difference. For web browsing, email, simple apps. It probably doesn't make a difference to 95% of people out there. There's a reason the ipad 2 is still selling well. Performance is still good with duo core.

Like I said, depends on what you use the iPad 3/4 for. I actually use my Verizon LTE iPad 3 64GB all the time since I take it to work and travel a lot. I leave my iPad 4 64GB wifi at home for my almost 3 year old to play with.

I am not a heavy gamer. It doesn't make a real world difference to me. But for anyone who says the ipad 4 processor is over rated, they need to use it side by side the iPad 3. There is a difference especially on certain intensive apps.
 
Who has the 3, and thinks its better than the 4? I like it because it runs ios 5, and feel like people with the 4 think that their iPad is way better than ours.

You clearly posted this to make yourself feel better about owning a iPad 3.

Personally, I love my 4 and glad I waited. The next iOS I'm sure will start to bog it down, but the 4 will stay strong with the extra power.
 
You clearly posted this to make yourself feel better about owning a iPad 3.

Personally, I love my 4 and glad I waited. The next iOS I'm sure will start to bog it down, but the 4 will stay strong with the extra power.

No I didn't. I just simply think that iOS 5 is a better os. And I like the 3 better...
 
Who has the 3, and thinks its better than the 4? I like it because it runs ios 5, and feel like people with the 4 think that their iPad is way better than ours.
I have the 3. Its not better than the 4 by any metric. But its not worth upgrading.

Running an obsolete iOS5 is not a plus.

The 4 is better.
 
The 3 is by no means better than the 4. The only way I could see that being true is if you have a bunch of 30 pin accessories. I would like an iPad 4 or 5 (when it comes out) but wont be getting either. The only way I would replace mine is if I broke it (knock on wood) or it just lasts so long it becomes painfully slow to operate because of how out of date it is. I only use my iPad for document viewing, web browsing, ForeFlight and the occasional movie. I can foresee the iPad 3 being able to handle these tasks for many years to come.
 
The iPad 4 will have higher resale value in the future than the 3, it is more future proof A6 CPU is twice as fast as a A5 which is almost 3 years old now, the new connector is future proof, and camera on the front for video calls is a MAJOR improvement. I sold my 3rd gen to purchase a baseline 4th gen so it would hold value when I sold for an iPad 5 ;)

While cosmetically they are much alike, the performance enhancements as someone who has gone from everyday use of a 3 to everyday 4, it makes a huge difference, the battery life on my 4 is also noticeably better than the 3, charge time is much improved too.

Personally to be future proof I recommend selling the 3, the A5 is very soon going to show some lag when iOS7 and 8 come around.
 
The iPad 4 will have higher resale value in the future than the 3, it is more future proof A6 CPU is twice as fast as a A5 which is almost 3 years old now, the new connector is future proof, and camera on the front for video calls is a MAJOR improvement. I sold my 3rd gen to purchase a baseline 4th gen so it would hold value when I sold for an iPad 5 ;)

While cosmetically they are much alike, the performance enhancements as someone who has gone from everyday use of a 3 to everyday 4, it makes a huge difference, the battery life on my 4 is also noticeably better than the 3, charge time is much improved too.

Personally to be future proof I recommend selling the 3, the A5 is very soon going to show some lag when iOS7 and 8 come around.

The future proof plan that involves selling your iPad every update? That's a new one. You're just following the upgrade cycle, silly. Of course buying the brand new one every time is the best way to have the best gear. Sheesh.
 
The 4 is better.

Indeed.

I've owned every iPad, including the original and the Mini, but the iPad 4 is the first one where everything feels like it's come together.

I just hope iOS 7 brings over some basic OS X features that's been missing.
 
The future proof plan that involves selling your iPad every update? That's a new one. You're just following the upgrade cycle, silly. Of course buying the brand new one every time is the best way to have the best gear. Sheesh.

Well no protecting resale value when you are ready to upgrade is the goal, also if you plan to not upgrade to a new ipad for a few years your experience on a 3 will diminish much more than 4 the probably ever will (A5 vs A6).

Clearly I did not make my point clear enough, the differences are notable and the new connector ensures compatibility with future new accessories. It is just logical.
 
The iPad 4 will have higher resale value in the future than the 3, it is more future proof A6 CPU is twice as fast as a A5 which is almost 3 years old now, the new connector is future proof, and camera on the front for video calls is a MAJOR improvement. I sold my 3rd gen to purchase a baseline 4th gen so it would hold value when I sold for an iPad 5 ;)

While cosmetically they are much alike, the performance enhancements as someone who has gone from everyday use of a 3 to everyday 4, it makes a huge difference, the battery life on my 4 is also noticeably better than the 3, charge time is much improved too.

Personally to be future proof I recommend selling the 3, the A5 is very soon going to show some lag when iOS7 and 8 come around.

The A5 processor was released in Spring 2011. It's 2 years old. iPad 1 A4 processor was released in Spring 2010.

So A5 is 2 years old. Not 3. A5X has quad core graphics to power the retina display of the iPad 3. iPad 3 should run fine for iOS 7 and for another 18 months easily.

Also iPad 3 has 1GB RAM with A5x. iPad 2/mini have 512mb of RAM. iPad 4 has1Gb RAM also.
 
A5X has quad core graphics to power the retina display of the iPad 3.

The iPad 3's GPU is barely sufficient for its display.

With twice the shader performance, the improvement made by going from 543MP4 to 554MP4 is no small matter, especially in the long run.
 
The iPad 3's GPU is barely sufficient for its display.

With twice the shader performance, the improvement made by going from 543MP4 to 554MP4 is no small matter, especially in the long run.

It works fine for me. I've never had a problem. As I said earlier in the thread, the iPad 3 is great. However, any claims that it is somehow better than the 4 are ludicrous (in my opinion). That's all. Two great devices that will be fine a year and a half from now.

Well no protecting resale value when you are ready to upgrade is the goal, also if you plan to not upgrade to a new ipad for a few years your experience on a 3 will diminish much more than 4 the probably ever will (A5 vs A6).

Clearly I did not make my point clear enough, the differences are notable and the new connector ensures compatibility with future new accessories. It is just logical.

The 2 runs just fine right now, the 3 does too. I don't think anyone ought to be worrying about it suddenly becoming a brick. For my own use case, the difference between the 3 and 4 is almost imperceptible. It is there, and unlike the OP, I see that the 4 is clearly better (at the very least, it gets much more battery life), but it isn't a big deal if you are going from a 3 to a 4.

My resale value is fine a year into the cycle, and it would be no better if I sold it and bought a 4. Heck, the tax alone would make that a waste of money. If you want the latest and greatest (I do), then you will take the hit (I didn't for the 4, but I certainly will for the 5). It's not a terribly cost-effective way to do things, though, because

Accessories? All of the connectors (camera, projector, etc.) work with my 3, but wouldn't with my 4. Again, upgrading to save money in this case is not going to save you much when you factor in all the new accessories.

The only people I think who came out ahead on this cycle were the people who didn't buy the 3 at all, and after them, the people who dumped the 3 just before the 4 came out. Now, there is just no point to upgrading to the 4, unless you enjoy contributing money to Apple and Uncle Sam :)

If I am wrong, let me know with some numbers. At any rate, I'll be getting the 5, and I hope Apple will get back to the once a year releases so that I can time my upgrades better!
 
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Aside from a faster CPU for gaming, what does the iPad 4 have that the iPad 3 doesn't?

I'm on an iPad 2, which is why I'm asking.

A significantly better GPU, which is far superior for games. Better cameras front and back. The Lightning port is pretty sweet. Those are the main differences.

The iPad 4 is superior in all ways to the 3. This doesn't mean the 3 is a bad iPad or anything, but it's not really better than the 4.
 
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