I wrote an article this weekend about how I was never going to upgrade my first-generation iPad.
I have an iPhone 6, a Kindle, a MacBook Air, and a DSLR, and I find that I don't use my iPad as much anymore. The first-gen iPad is good enough for me. For everything else, I use one of my other devices.
Many readers agree with me. Even readers who disagreed with me, still somewhat agreed with me.
Some of them emailed and commented on the story to explain:
74-year-old Katy says she's keeping her iPad until it doesn't work anymore. "No, I'm sticking with the one I have until something is done that makes it unusable, as was the case with my Palm Pilot. I also have two laptops and a desk PC, plus an iPhone 4 (free with a new contract 2 years ago), which I'm not planning on upgrading either, until it becomes impossible to update my apps or something like that. My husband, a retired GM electrician, won't touch any of this stuff because he had a gut full of it when he worked. However, I'm a gadget nut ... I have to be, on a limited income, really intrigued by or in need of an upgrade, to spend the money."
Terence Jarog has an iPad 3 and disagrees that the iPad 1 isn't worth upgrading. But he does admit that Apple's new device, the iPad Air 2, isn't that attractive. "I didn't find anything, in the new iPad release, to entice me. With Steve Jobs' magic no longer there to drive Apple, the yearly or sooner upgrades fall short for me. I will purchase an iPad Plus (gotta be called plus) when the 13" versions are released. I prefer to watch movies on my iPad and be able to do it no matter where I am. The 70" LED is too hard to transport."
Lawrence De Leon thinks that the thin new iPads are actually getting flimsier than his sturdy iPad 1. "Great article you posted on Business Insider. Like you, I'm also a generation 1 iPad user. I have seen most of the new iPad variants that have come out since then, including its smaller cousin the mini, but somehow I haven't had the urge or temptation to buy and replace my good old iPad. I use it almost everyday and has consistently served me well. Besides, I feel the newer iPads that are getting leaner and thinner are also "flimsier" compared to the 'solid' feel of the old one."
A reader who goes by the name "pbreit" says getting a new iPad isn't about upgrading at all. "I don't think it's about upgrading as much as getting a new, 2nd iPad. It's not like phones or PCs where you typically retire the old device. Tablets are different. You keep them around."
A reader who goes by "hugh.lockey.5" might not even get an iPad after his dies. "I have an iPad 2 and use it for only for quick web searches and email whenever I am sitting in front of the TV. I have an 8 processor 10 GB desktop with a nice 24" monitor for everything else and If I want to take pictures I have a Nikon DSLR. For that so like the author see no need for ever upgrading my iPad. When the battery finally fails I will simply toss it in the trash and buy a new tablet but not an iPad."
Of course, not everyone agreed. A reader named Gavin writes: "give up you [sic] tech writing please!"