In sheer horsepower, the A6X is no slouch; it clocks in at
1.4GHz, a hefty 40 percent increase over the A5X's 1GHz. Apple advertises the
device as having "twice the speed" and "twice the graphics performance"
of the A5X. In our benchmark tests, we found this to be pretty accurate. The
fourth-generation iPad doubled its predecessor's score in the Geekbench suite,
as well as offering impressive performance in graphics benchmarks.
Surprisingly, though, it did find itself beaten by a half a second in webpage
loading tests to the iPad mini. That's even more impressive given that I found
the fourth-generation iPad beat out the third-generation iPad in webpage
loading.
In my more anecdotal tests, the fourth-generation iPad took
anything I threw at it, up to and including high-performance games, like Real
Racing 2 HD, Infinity Blade II, and Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy. All played
very well and looked great, though my untutored eyes saw little in the way of
difference between the third- and fourth- generation iPads.
I did notice on occasion some stuttering and skipping in the
game while playing Real Racing 2 HD via AirPlay, but I experienced the same
with the third-generation iPad, leading me to believe it was related to my
network rather than the iPad itself. I saw no such issues while playing only on
the iPad's display.
Of course, all the current games for the iPad are designed
with the third-generation model's specifications in mind, so it's going to be a
little while before companies truly start shipping apps that can take advantage
of all the horsepower the fourth-generation iPad brings to bear.
You might think all of this power would take a toll on
battery life, but Apple says the fourth-generation iPad's built-in
42.5-watt-hour battery (the same as its predecessor) delivers the same 10-hour
life as previous iPads. In our lab's test, the battery didn't perform quite as
well as the third-generation iPad's, coming in at 42 minutes shorter, but it
did just outlast the iPad mini. In my anecdotal experience, which involves
charging the iPad every night, I had no problems at all with my battery life
lasting through a day.
When I asked for questions online, some asked if the
fourth-generation iPad got unreasonably hot while performing
processor-intensive tasks. In my experience, I've certainly found it gets warm,
especially while playing games, but I never noticed it becoming uncomfortably
hot.
In general use, the fourth-generation iPad is plenty snappy,
though for most tasks you probably won't see a huge difference between it and
the third-generation iPad. It's a testament to Apple's engineering that iOS and
its built-in apps have always been more or less smooth, regardless of the
hardware.
Among the other improvements on the newest full-size iPad is
souped-up wireless capabilities. Like the previous model, the fourth-generation
iPad has Bluetooth 4.0 and supports 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi flavors. However, Apple
brags that the new Wi-Fi is twice as fast as the previous version, thanks to
the addition of channel bonding.
In practice, I didn't notice exceptionally faster performance for tasks like
downloading a PDF over the local network or grabbing a TV episode from iTunes.
In most cases, the Wi-Fi of your device probably isn't the bottleneck, anyway.
Finally, Apple also upgraded the LTE chip in the
fourth-generation iPad, providing support for more LTE frequencies around the
world. Like the iPhone 5, the iPad comes in two flavors: a model with support
for LTE bands 4 and 17, which works with AT&T here in the U.S., and a model
that supports LTE Bands 1, 3, 5, 13, and 25, and works with Sprint and Verizon
(it supports CDMA in addition to GSM). Also as with the iPhone 5, the CDMA
model's broader band support means that it's the iPad of choice internationally
(though that depends on your ability to find a supporting carrier). And, unlike
the Wi-Fi-only model, the LTE version also has assisted GPS and GLONASS, which
help provide more accurate location services.
Fast as Lightning
As mentioned above, the only external difference between the
fourth-generation iPad and the third-generation is the change to Apple's new
Lightning connector. My colleagues Jason Snell and Dan Frakes have covered this
topic most ably in their reviews of the iPhone
5 and iPad
mini, respectively.
IDG CONSUMER & SMBTop: Fourth-generation iPad with
Lightning connector. Bottom: Third-generation iPad with 30-pin connector.
The smaller, bi-directional nature of the Lightning
connector is a nice change from the old dock-connector; its somewhat more
compact cables are easier to throw into a bag, for example, and it's nice not
to have to worry about which way is up. If there's a knock against the
connector at present, it's that it doesn't have the same breadth of accessory support
as the long-running dock-connector port.
Who's it for?
Let's get this out of the way: If you've never owned an
iPad, and you want the real estate that a 9.7-inch screen affords, there's no
reason not to pick up the fourth-generation model. It's got all of the benefits
of the third-generation iPad, and it's a smoking powerhouse to boot.
So, what if you're upgrading from a previous version of the
iPad? For owners of the original iPad or the iPad 2, I think the
fourth-generation iPad offers a pretty compelling package. Not only do you get
a quite substantial performance increase (and, in the case of the original
iPad, the ability to run iOS 6), but you also pick up a Retina display,
improvements to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and—optionally—LTE. That's an improvement
across-the-board.
Of course, if the 9.7-inch screen size of the
fourth-generation iPad is a turn-off, the iPad mini is a solid upgrade from
either of the first two iPad models as well. While I think size is the primary
reason to choose the 7.9-inch mini over the 9.7-inch fourth-generation (or vice
versa), the major differentiation right now is that the fourth-generation has a
Retina display. When it comes to text, especially, that's a meaningful
differentiation between the two.
In horsepower, the fourth-generation is significantly higher
powered than the mini, but in the same way that folks—myself included—have
chosen a less powerful MacBook Air over the heavier MacBook Pro, I don't think
that's necessarily going to be the major distinction for many.
Finally, what about the third-generation iPad users among
us? As an owner of a third-generation iPad, I can't honestly see much of a
reason to upgrade. The performance improvements are nice, no question, but I
didn't run into any apps that were overtaxing the third-generation model and
really required the fourth-generation iPad. If developers start building
apps—and especially games—that take advantage of all the power the
fourth-generation iPad has to offer, that equation might change. But right now,
there's no rush unless you need to have the latest and greatest, or you want to
move your household over to Lightning-only.
source: http://www.macworld.com/article/2013582/review-fourth-generation-ipad-is-faster-stronger-better.html?page=2
by Dan Moren
http://www.buyetail.com
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