It depends on which ipad you have now. Since you've got an older one you would certainly benefit from the upgrade. You should always get the best one available at the time of purchase so that you'll get the most life out of it. The only reason I upgraded to the Mini 2 that I have now was because my original iPad (the oldest one) was rendered unusable by the ios7 update. I don't plan on upgrading until the next time the OS update has the same effect on this one.
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iPad Is the iPad Air 2 worth the upgrade?
- Thread starter AnthonyS621
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It depends on which ipad you have now. Since you've got an older one you would certainly benefit from the upgrade. You should always get the best one available at the time of purchase so that you'll get the most life out of it. The only reason I upgraded to the Mini 2 that I have now was because my original iPad (the oldest one) was rendered unusable by the ios7 update. I don't plan on upgrading until the next time the OS update has the same effect on this one.
You can't beat what they're offering especially if you have an iPad 2 to trade in!
Yeah if I'm not mistaken the iPhone 6 also has the no air gap thing and I am LOVING IT. The screen on my phone is crystal clear and so smooth, it's great l. I really hope the iPad air 2 screen is like that
I just traded my iPad 2 for an Air 2. Definitely worth it for me. Gazelle and T-mobile have the trade value at $80 or $85. My Air went from $781 with tax, to $503 at BB, with $150 trade, $50 trade gift card, and 10% movers coupon. I can't imagine doing any better on price.
As far as non-cost 'is it worth it,' I probably would have continued to use my 3-yr. old 2 except that I broke the glass about 6 mos. ago, and I had the glass replaced twice, but it's never been the same. I would type in certain letters or numbers, and I'd get 4 of them, just for one example. So, I had additional incentive to trade now.
I do love my Air2. It's a little faster, but not so much that it makes a big difference to me. I thought the screen was odd at first, but the more I got used to it, the more I appreciated it. I mostly use sound for GPS, occasionally for news clips or short videos, so the vibration doesn't bother me. And, there are features that I don't think are available on the old one like iMessage and Siri. I could have lived without the new things, but now that I have them, I use them.
Very glad I traded up, and I feel even better because of the price.
As far as non-cost 'is it worth it,' I probably would have continued to use my 3-yr. old 2 except that I broke the glass about 6 mos. ago, and I had the glass replaced twice, but it's never been the same. I would type in certain letters or numbers, and I'd get 4 of them, just for one example. So, I had additional incentive to trade now.
I do love my Air2. It's a little faster, but not so much that it makes a big difference to me. I thought the screen was odd at first, but the more I got used to it, the more I appreciated it. I mostly use sound for GPS, occasionally for news clips or short videos, so the vibration doesn't bother me. And, there are features that I don't think are available on the old one like iMessage and Siri. I could have lived without the new things, but now that I have them, I use them.
Very glad I traded up, and I feel even better because of the price.
It's a big jump from an iPad 2, so it worth the upgrade.
And forget all the whining here about screen issues: at every single new iPad release there is an hysteria on this forum about its display.
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This. The iPad has quite a modest speaker (it was mono until the air/mini). It definitely needs earbuds or an external BT speakers to play music.
UPDATE: I went to best buy today. I was told that best buy is receiving a blind shipment sometime this week. They were out of the 32gb black iPad air 2. I was also told I will get $225 for my iPad 2 and $95 for my iPhone 4s
Is your 2 a 64gb? Does the $225 include the $50 trade coupon? Just wondering if someone at BB made a mistake.
Not doubting you or anything, but the posted/reported trade in values have been consistent with the online BB trade calculator. Max for a 64 is $173, a 32 is 150. (Plus the $50.) Seems like each BB store has a mind of their own though, so who knows. I do hope they give you that much though.
I'm sure you already know, but just in case, you have to trade in by 11/8, and use the $50 coupon by 11/15.
Probably a typo, but Air 2 doesn't come in 32gb, only 16, 64, 128.
I ordered mine online for store pickup, ordered last Sat., it shipped on Tues. and was at the store Wed. night. I picked up Thurs., traded my old one, they did a cancel on the first order, and resold it to me with the discounts.
Mine is also silver. I know the SGs are harder to come by, but I just looked online, and a 64gb SG is available at a number of stores (not the closest one) in my area for pick up today. That's the first I've seen that. If you click the Check availability, it will come up with your store only (mine says not available), then input your zip and it will show other stores in your area. If it says 3 to 5 days for in store pickup, you will have it for sure this week, if it says available today, buy it online and drive a little.
I asked them, they said 225 but it all depends on the number of iPad 2 32gb 3GS in the ware house if there is a ton then 200 if there is not a huge amount then 225 he seemed confident with the 225 and that is with the 50$
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Yeah it was a typo, and I live in a pretty crowded area( Houston suburbs) and the closest one with a 64gb space gray iPad air 2 is 3 and a half hours away. I'll just wait till mid week
Got it! They got the shipment today! I seem to have gotten a perfect screen! No warping when holding it with one hand, no weird hue, no dead pixels! It is absolutely stunning! I ended up getting SG iPad Air 2 64gb for 270.88 I traded in my iPad 2 for $200 and my iPhone 4s for $110 and $55 off from the movers coupon! I love this forum you all saved me like $300 dollars!
Was interested in moving up to the 2 from my Air but went to BB to check them out and Even though the 2's screen was definitely crisper (they had an Air and a 2 side by side, both at 100 percent brightness) the 2 just seemed TOO thin and felt kinda slight in my hands. I'll definitely go back again but this has kinda cooled my jets on upgrading right now.
Upgraded from an iPad 3 to an air 2 and I ********** love this thing. I want to eat it I love it so much.
The iPad Air 2 was worth the upgrade, even over my Mini 2 which my wife now has (her first iPad). I just got it yesterday evening and I can already tell a huge difference in performance when switching between apps and especially in Safari. I was able to keep 12 tabs loaded into memory before it reset at 13, and that includes some rather intensive websites with lots of photos and ads like The Verge, Polygon, 9to5Mac, etc. I think in normal use I could get up to 15 or 16 (I would never have that many tech sites open at once unless it was an Apple event). I'll have to try that out later. I just wanted to tax the crap out of it. The Verge is the one that gives the most momentary screen flash when switching back to it, and The Verge is the one that would continuously crash my iPhone 6 Plus. I'd definitely pick this over the original Air. It's worth the extra money. The other thing is it just seems more responsive at opening things. I have my 27,000 photo Lightroom catalog on here and it's much faster at browsing and scrolling than my Mini 2. I worked in Lightroom for a couple hours and didn't have a single crash. On my Mini 2 it would crash about every half hour losing the work I had done on that image. The display quality and color reproduction is outstanding, and next to the Mini 2 I can definitely see an improvement in glare and color gamut.
Side note: A lot of you guys who use your iPad a lot but don't think the Air 2 is a big upgrade are going to be shocked if you get one or get to spend some time with one. I'm not sure why Apple didn't stress this more during the event. It is absolutely ridiculously fast for something that is so thin you could lose it between sheets of paper.
Side note: A lot of you guys who use your iPad a lot but don't think the Air 2 is a big upgrade are going to be shocked if you get one or get to spend some time with one. I'm not sure why Apple didn't stress this more during the event. It is absolutely ridiculously fast for something that is so thin you could lose it between sheets of paper.
I took advantage of the various offers that Best Buy had to trade in my iPad Air for the Air 2 for a fairly reasonable out of pocket expense.
Thoughts so far are mixed. I use my iPad very heavily every day, primarily for web browsing, email, music, magazines, note taking and writing, etc. The difference in thickness is quite noticeable to me, but it's not earth-shattering. It definitely makes it just that much easier to hold one-handed though which I appreciate.
The screen is nicer, but not so much so that I would pay for it alone. I think the screen on both devices is very good. I have not had it for long enough to make a definitive statement about the battery, but so far it definitely seems to be draining noticeably faster than on the original Air. It's not a deal breaker, but the Air's battery was by far the best battery life I'd ever seen. Even with my heavy daily use I averaged between 14-20 hours and 5-7 days of standby. I basically charged it once every 5-7 days. I suspect the Air 2 is going to get me more like 12-13 hours and 3-4 days of standby.
The speaker vibration was something I ignored before, and there were no display models out to test it, and I'm surprised at how noticeable it is. I can see that it could really be irritating to people who use the speakers a lot. Fortunately I rarely use them while holding the device, so while it's not perfect, I can live with it.
As for the performance, I'm actually quite surprised at what a jump this is. From a pure speed standpoint, everything happens just that little bit faster, but it's enough that you constantly notice it. Programs open and switch faster. There is less delay when you switch to a program and quickly try to activate a control, for example. Web pages seem to jump onto the screen instantaneously - even in Mercury browser which is not yet using the newly accessible rendering engine. So far in the day I've been using it I haven't seen any browser refreshes and many other programs stay open and active as well making switching between them that much more seamless. This really speaks to how much better the experience will be once Apple modifies the underlying code to treat programs more like a real computer where even if the contents get dumped from RAM they can at least be held in a page file.
Overall, I'm mixed in my opinion. I think that for light users and especially those that appreciate good battery life, the original Air is where the value is now. There is something to be said for a device that can live so much of its life far from a plug. On the other hand, if you are a heavy user and appreciate speed, the Air 2 is undoubtedly faster and more fluid to use.
Thoughts so far are mixed. I use my iPad very heavily every day, primarily for web browsing, email, music, magazines, note taking and writing, etc. The difference in thickness is quite noticeable to me, but it's not earth-shattering. It definitely makes it just that much easier to hold one-handed though which I appreciate.
The screen is nicer, but not so much so that I would pay for it alone. I think the screen on both devices is very good. I have not had it for long enough to make a definitive statement about the battery, but so far it definitely seems to be draining noticeably faster than on the original Air. It's not a deal breaker, but the Air's battery was by far the best battery life I'd ever seen. Even with my heavy daily use I averaged between 14-20 hours and 5-7 days of standby. I basically charged it once every 5-7 days. I suspect the Air 2 is going to get me more like 12-13 hours and 3-4 days of standby.
The speaker vibration was something I ignored before, and there were no display models out to test it, and I'm surprised at how noticeable it is. I can see that it could really be irritating to people who use the speakers a lot. Fortunately I rarely use them while holding the device, so while it's not perfect, I can live with it.
As for the performance, I'm actually quite surprised at what a jump this is. From a pure speed standpoint, everything happens just that little bit faster, but it's enough that you constantly notice it. Programs open and switch faster. There is less delay when you switch to a program and quickly try to activate a control, for example. Web pages seem to jump onto the screen instantaneously - even in Mercury browser which is not yet using the newly accessible rendering engine. So far in the day I've been using it I haven't seen any browser refreshes and many other programs stay open and active as well making switching between them that much more seamless. This really speaks to how much better the experience will be once Apple modifies the underlying code to treat programs more like a real computer where even if the contents get dumped from RAM they can at least be held in a page file.
Overall, I'm mixed in my opinion. I think that for light users and especially those that appreciate good battery life, the original Air is where the value is now. There is something to be said for a device that can live so much of its life far from a plug. On the other hand, if you are a heavy user and appreciate speed, the Air 2 is undoubtedly faster and more fluid to use.
it's worth it for anyone that doesnt already own an ipad air first gen. I have the first gen and the only difference i see between it and the air 2 is the touch id. I dont do anything on my ipad that the ram upgrade would make that much of a difference for.
Excellent post! My wife upgraded from her Air to the Air 2 & me from the Mini 2 to the Air. So we now have both. Every thing you stated in your post mirrors my experience when comparing the 2 models.
I definitely prefer my wife's Air 2. It's just a better devise in almost every respect. However, the Air (original) is a still a fantastic device for light users (like myself) and is, as you stated, where the value is right now.
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This. I tried one at my local Best Buy and did find it obnoxious. And no thanks, I don't like headphones. I don't want the screen to vibrate if I'm playing a game or listening to music. Sorry.
