Ipad 4th gen....is it worth to buy it or not ?

[sip1995]

So, one of my relatives went to Australia and will bring me a present or something and i really consider the a refurbished iPad 4th Gen with Retina Display, since he can't spend more than 300$, but i have some questions about it.
1)Is it worth to buy it in 2016 or not ?
2)Does it lag with IOS 9 ?
3)I mostly want it to watch videos and movies, so is it good for these ?
4)What about games, am i gonna face some problems or they run smoothly on it ?
5)My 2nd option is to buy the iPod touch 6th gen because of its specs, but i really want a big screen, what do you say ?
6)Do you think Apple will continue to support it (?) since they now support even the 2nd ged iPad.... Do you think it will get IOS 10 (when it's available) ?
7)Do you have any other options to recommend ?

 

[Algus]

The iPad 4 is pretty old now with quite a slow processor. It is noticeably slower than the Air series and the newer Minis. It is acceptable as a media viewer (books, movies, etc.) if you don't mind the OS lag but it is not a particularly good gaming device anymore. Newer games frequently have issues with it. Check app descriptions and reviews to see if the 4 is supported.

iPod touch 6 has the much faster A8 CPU and is a pretty nice pocket gaming device. My first iOS device was a 5th gen iPod and I was quite happy with the form factor for portable gaming. Eventually though, I moved to the Air because like you I wanted a larger screen and I didn't particularly enjoy doing much besides listening to music and gaming on the touch, reading and watching stuff was out of the question (at least for me).

Apple is pretty good about supporting older hardware and I would expect the iPad 4 to get iOS 10. As for how well 10 runs on the iPad 4, I don't think we'll have any idea until it is actually released.

My advice if an Air is out of reach would be to look at a Mini. Even the Mini 2 has a better CPU than the iPad 4 and given its age, they can be found pretty cheap! (though obviously newer is better). Normally I recommend buy as much space as you can but keep in mind for a given model (Air, Air 2, Mini 3, etc.) that a 16 GB device has the same tech specs as a 128 GB device, the difference being how much stuff can be stored on the machine. With a 16 GB device you will be having to delete and move stuff A LOT but you might also get a much more powerful device in your limited budget. It could be worth looking at!

 

[sip1995]

The iPad 4 is pretty old now with quite a slow processor. It is noticeably slower than the Air series and the newer Minis. It is acceptable as a media viewer (books, movies, etc.) if you don't mind the OS lag but it is not a particularly good gaming device anymore. Newer games frequently have issues with it. Check app descriptions and reviews to see if the 4 is supported.

iPod touch 6 has the much faster A8 CPU and is a pretty nice pocket gaming device. My first iOS device was a 5th gen iPod and I was quite happy with the form factor for portable gaming. Eventually though, I moved to the Air because like you I wanted a larger screen and I didn't particularly enjoy doing much besides listening to music and gaming on the touch, reading and watching stuff was out of the question (at least for me).

Apple is pretty good about supporting older hardware and I would expect the iPad 4 to get iOS 10. As for how well 10 runs on the iPad 4, I don't think we'll have any idea until it is actually released.

My advice if an Air is out of reach would be to look at a Mini. Even the Mini 2 has a better CPU than the iPad 4 and given its age, they can be found pretty cheap! (though obviously newer is better). Normally I recommend buy as much space as you can but keep in mind for a given model (Air, Air 2, Mini 3, etc.) that a 16 GB device has the same tech specs as a 128 GB device, the difference being how much stuff can be stored on the machine. With a 16 GB device you will be having to delete and move stuff A LOT but you might also get a much more powerful device in your limited budget. It could be worth looking at!

Thanks for the reply. I know that it's an old device specially for 2016, but i just want it for movies and videos and social networking. As for the games, i don't have high standards. Actually the games i mostly play are Candy Crash, Temple Ru, Crossy Road, Subway Surfers and others games like these, as for "heavy" games i play Asphalt. I'll take the advice and check the app descriptions.
Now, about the iPod touch, i know that it has great specs and it might be great for my first Apple device, but the only thing that stops me somehow it's its small screen and i already have a phone, the LG G3 (3gb ram) actually.

I saw the iPad mini 2, it looks like it has good specs, if not the best....but it costs more than 370$.

 

[Justin Kelvianto]

1)Is it worth to buy it in 2016 or not ? no at all
2)Does it lag with IOS 9 ? a bit lag
3)I mostly want it to watch videos and movies, so is it good for these ? it actually really good but because of that ios 9 laggy, make it a bit worse *maybe
4)What about games, am i gonna face some problems or they run smoothly on it ? some games run smoothly some not
5)My 2nd option is to buy the iPod touch 6th gen because of its specs, but i really want a big screen, what do you say ? better buy ipad mini 3 above or ipad air above
6)Do you think Apple will continue to support it (?) since they now support even the 2nd ged iPad.... Do you think it will get IOS 10 (when it's available) ? i think they will continue(?) or not because the ipad line up that will support is ipad air above
7)Do you have any other options to recommend ? last option, buy ipad air 2 / pro 9.7 instead

i'm still using the ipad 4 tho, but if you wanna buy a new ipad, it's better get the new and refresh one, than the old one.