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back to article New iPad's innards: Good news for recent fondleslab buyers

When the new fourth-generation iPad made its debut at the iPad mini roll-out event late last month, it was a surprise to many – especially those who had recently opened their wallets for "the new iPad" released just this March. Fret not, fanbois. The tools, parts, and repairs folks at iFixit have just torn apart Apple's latest …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    excellent improvements

    This is the Reg not Apple marketing trying to avoid upsetting the iPad 3 owners. No need to downplay the new connectors, front facing camera and especially the x2 performance boost needed to make the most of the retina display. Like to see some benchmarks to illustrate the x2 claim.

    Well done Apple, just in time to counter the Nexus 10 and Surface plays.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Re: excellent improvements

      NEXT YEAR a retina display for the mini ipad

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    2. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Re: excellent improvements

      Anandtech has graphics benchmarks on iPad 4 showing great results for the A6X.

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    3. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Re: excellent improvements

      >Like to see some benchmarks to illustrate the x2 claim.

      If you're going to cast doubt on it, why not spend 30 seconds googling it first?

      http://www.anandtech.com/show/6324/the-iphone-5-performance-preview - Benchmarks for the iPhone 5 which uses the same A6 SOC as this new iPad.

      Heck, if you have a valid argument about Apple's business practices or whatever, then make it. Don't go inventing stuff to make some negative point by proxy. Judge things on their own merit, or lack of it, as the case may be.

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Fourth generation

    Was only rushed out because the 3rd was notorious for overheating...

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    1. Ramazan
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      Re: because the 3rd was notorious for overheating

      Of course iPad 3 burns through more watts to handle 4 times more pixels on its Retina Display. Was this compromise necessary in the first place? Maybe they should've simply waited till A6X processor before inroducing Retina Display to iPad?

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  3. Joerg
    Facepalm

    iPad 3 has an A5X processor NOT and A6 !

    And the upgrade from A5X on the iPad 3 to the A6X on the iPad 4 it's huge!

    It's Tim Cook really bad mistake to have overshadowed the all new worth buying iPad 4 with the outdated hardware iPad Mini (which is just a repackaged iPad 2).

    The iPad 4 is the best and fastest tablet on the market right now.

    Apple by Tim Cook is at fault for not being able to sell the iPad 4 properly. They screwed it up big time with the whole iPad Mini stuff.

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    1. qwarty
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      Re: iPad 3 has an A5X processor NOT and A6 !

      Not a mistake.

      iPad 4 offers compelling benchmarks against Surface RT and Nexus now and prepares Apple to to compete well with the faster Tegra 4, Samsung Cortex A15, Qualcast etc. based Android/RT tablets coming in the Spring. Mainly aimed at new customers. However Apple wants the 'same as the old boss' type reviews as delivered by the Register here to minimise upsetting the proud owners of the old new iPad. They want to boost the Mini and deflect interest in 7" Nexus and Kindle. The mini is old tech so why draw any more focus than necessary on how much faster the iPad 4 is. Overshadowing is good for a little while. Thought that was all obvious.

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  4. Azzy

    I think we're seeing a few things here, and none of them reflect well on Apple

    They're out of exciting new features (or so it seems). All that's left is to improve processor speed.

    Their competitors have a 6-9 month product release cycle, while apple has had a 1 year one. That doesn't cut it anymore.

    Everyone who buys iStuff has piles of 30-pin accessories. Switching to lightning in time for the holidays means more sales of adapters and new accessories.

    The Apple visionary is gone - and he has not risen from the dead (at least not yet).

    Also, Tim Cook sucks at product launches.

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    1. JeffyPooh
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      Pint

      @Azzy

      "...competitors have a 6-9 month product release cycle..."

      I think you're right. I read that Google and Asus *started* discussing the Nexus 7 project in January 2012, and was being sold in massive quantities by summer. I wonder how many divorces resulted from the product team all working around the clock?

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    2. Annihilator
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      Trollface

      "Their competitors have a 6-9 month product release cycle, while apple has had a 1 year one. That doesn't cut it anymore."

      Remind me when Apple last released an iPad? March was it?

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      1. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        "Remind me when Apple last released an iPad? March was it?Remind me when Apple last released an iPad? March was it?"

        You mean the iPad that is almost identical to this one in the article? As opposed to the N7, which is a new product line and developed in the same amount of time? I think that is the OP's point.

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        1. Pamplemoose
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          Go

          Remind me again which new and exciting features the Nexus tablets bring to the market?

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  5. Chris D Rogers

    As someone who invested in a iPad 3 4LTE 64G in late June, i can't say I was too happy about the revised iPad - I knew a update was coming as far as Lighting was concerned, but a new CPU - THE HORROR.

    Basically, the iPad 3 should have had its launch delayed for a month or two until the A6X was ready to launch - probably May 2012 - instead, Apple have managed to annoy quite a number of its 'user base' buy updating the iPad after only 7 months - as for performance, the CPU in the Nexus 10 - Samsung - wipes the floor with the A6X - me, I'm waiting for Tegra 4 and a new Asus Transformer based on the T4.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Really?

      Other devices (from apple or any other manufacturer) popping up don't suddenly make the device you paid for run slower or do less stuff. PC industry has had this for years - there is always a new <insert something here> around the corner. CPU upgrade, new RAM speeds, new GPU, etc, etc. If you want any company to always wait a few months for the "next big thing" they would never actually manage to release a device.

      Either the device you bought was worth the money you paid or it wasn't. I suspect what you are really pissed about is that you feel you paid quite a lot for a device which actually has limited functional capability, and even though the functionality is the same as it was last week you've lost the "bling factor" and a realizing perhaps the device isn't actually worth as much as you paid for it.

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  6. Alan Denman

    Ipad 2 is better

    I cant see the point of this.

    They have simply removed the usable iPad 2 from sale and left a hotch potch halfway house in its place.

    Its obviously not meant to be portable as the Nexus.

    Making it a portable without the GPS simply makes for a 2nd rate item.

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  7. The Alpha Klutz
    Megaphone

    hahaha

    the idea of buying an apple was to have a one size fits all computer that, while being crap, was at least reliable because allt he devs use the same crappy computer as you. now thats not the case as they have a whole line of crap computers just like Dell etc so fuck it just buy a Sammy like everyone else.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Re: hahaha

      Did you just get the dates wrong? The "Pointless Bitter Numpty", awards were handed out last week, and I'm afraid the "forum post least likely to engender the slightest interest from anyone who isn't an experimental Romanian search bot" category was won by someone who can correctly parse dates and correlate them accurately with entry deadlines. Better luck next year, although you clearly have a bit of work to do before you're as fully incomprehensible as say A Man from Mars. Fine try though.

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      1. The Alpha Klutz
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        Re: hahaha

        i thumbed u down because what u have isnt curable. sorry mate.

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        1. Anonymous Coward
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          Anonymous Coward

          Re: hahaha

          "i thumbed u down because what u have isnt curable. sorry mate."

          Try thumbing down on the shift key a little more often. That at least is curable.

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          1. The Alpha Klutz
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            Re: hahaha

            no

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  8. Tapeador

    Apple potentially liable for SOGA claims in UK

    "That battery array, however, is glued tight to the new iPad's case. "Since batteries are consumables that wear out," iFixit notes, "the trend of glued-in, hard-to-access batteries in iPads and other Apple devices is unfortunate."

    Lol Apple could find themselves with quite a few individual claims that the product is not 'reasonably durable', with findings of liability against Apple, if its life is as long as its battery's life...

    They're going to reap what they sow on that front (although that depends on individuals' willingness to threaten and/or make small claims in the face of what's always really annoying resistance).

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      call it something new, sell it all over again.

      So... its basically the same as an Ipad3 with a new connector so that they can sell new accessories to fanboys. And a processor upgrade that 90% of users will see no benefit from.

      Standard Apple.

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  9. Freddellmeister

    Do the ipad 4 suffer the same heat/overheating spots that ipad 3 or is it closer to ipad 2??

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  10. Christian Berger

    Dear Reg: This is one of the basic parts of a review

    See? Others can open test-devices, too. So why can't you? Why do your reviews mostly consist of things already found in the press-release?

    So please, at least boot Linux on the device and execute lspci and lsusb, then tear it down.

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  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apple stuff has much better longevity - most people I know certainly do not feel the need to upgrade each time a new model comes out. I have friends with 3GS iPhones and still perfectly happy with them as they are still supported and still do what they bought them for. Same with the iPad 1 - sure you can get newer models with better features but surely you do not buy a new car every time a new model comes out if you are perfectly happy with the one you have?

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    1. stragen001
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      Most normal people don't, no, but we are talking about members of the iCult here. They buy whatever Apple tells them to buy.

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