I have to gift an iPad to a college student. My question is: get the new iPad or wait for a new model? I understand that every year will be the same question but I looked at A6 processor benchmarks (iPhone 5) and it's stunning. I believe they will do an iPad with A6 in the future so, talking about longevity, I don't know if it's wise to get one today.
Thank you
MacBook Pro "Penryn"
Nobody here knows when any new iPad model may be coming, neither do we know what the specifications of any future models will be.
If the current iPad suits your needs - buy now. If not, wait.
Whatever you decide, get as much memory as you can. One of my sons is a junior in college and went back to school this year with a refurbished ipad2 with 64 gb. He loves it and loves that he has so much memory. Almost immediately, he used up about 22 gb when he added in his itunes music, some movies, tv shows, etc. He will add books for school, apps to transfer word/excel documents, pdfs, games, etc., He has to have The Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and NY Times on his ipad, so it will all add up.
We are tech saavy enough, not advanced in any way, and are not a family that always wants/needs the newest and the best. We're happy with what works for us. However, many love the idea of being the early adopters. It's Tuesday, and as we speak people are lined up outside some Apple stores waiting for Friday's roll out of the iphone 5! Good for them and I hope their wait gets them the new phone.
Our intro to ipads started when my husband wanted a reader of any sort. I suggested an ipad, and that we wait until the new ipad came out. I got on this support forum to learn about issues that might have come with the new ipad. Given our concerns about possible overheating and some other issues, we decided to get an ipad 2 32gb. However, we waited too long and couldn't find any. So we went refurb through the Apple Store. We don't get Siri and the retina display, and that's okay with us. But because the price was great, we went to 64gb. And my son decided he wanted the same.
If you're not going to surprise the college student, and if money's not an issue, you might offer him the option
of getting one now or waiting for the new one. My guess is the college student might want one now instead of doing without one for who knows how long.
Also, when a new ipad is launched, whatever ipad you buy now can be sold or traded in. The Apple refurb store is still selling the original ipad and sometimes they sell out.
And I still think, at least for a college student, memory is most important.
All the best as you make your decision.
Thank you
iPad for college advice
