New iPad thoughts

[builderbob]

Funny how tech progresses and is so high profile now that people are updating their devices yearly. Is this necessary? I admit to the allure of a fresh new gadget and often find myself buying the "latest and greatest" but the true test of a product is it's longevity. I'm not saying anything about any particular device, just the trend towards yearly upgrades of gadgets we're paying upwards of $500 for.

An honest question coz i don't know....what is the difference in hardware capabilities between the original ipad and the current iteration? How do these differences benefit or hinder your productivity?

To some gadgets are just toys and there's nothing wrong with that but for those that use them for work I'm curious.

I agree with you that these tech giants almost encourage us to live in a disposable society.  I admit to owning an iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and a MacBook Pro.  The apple ecosystem works well for me. It's definitely a "closed" system and while I won't open a can of worms about vulnerabilities, I have had my MacBook Pro for almost 4 years without a hiccup...which is why I decided to give apple a try back then.

That being said, I use my phone & iPad on site in the remodeling field. The original iPad was huge, but every iteration offers a bit more speed at the very least and generally a better processor to handle the requirements of the annual operating system upgrades. From the trend so far, it seems that if you want to keep current with operating systems, the devices that are 2-3 years old start to become obsolete by not being capable of fully running the current os.

I have repurposed all of my prior idevices. I generally trade them in on eBay instant and have gotten very close to what I originally paid 1 year prior. The more that these devices flood the market, the less resale value which is pretty much why I didn't trade in the iPad 2 for the "New" iPad. Thus far, the iPad 2 is fully capable of all of the New iPad features with the exception of the retina display and some speed and camera improvements.

I think I answered your question ghost!  I'll stop babbling now!

Bob