Well, if you're trying to decide now and your needs are not high graphics, if you can find a used or leftover iPad 1, you'd like it lots. I happen to have both. I just got the 2. I do see a speed difference, but it's not like I think it's light years faster. I have been perfectly happy with my 1, but as I've been having a bit of a crappy time, my lovely honey surprised me with a 2 yesterday. (yes, I have a nice honey!). He's been offering to get me the 2 from day one and I kept saying no, no, no, because really, the 1 still beyond rocks and I continue to use it all the time. Well, lovely hubby decided to override me and got me the 2, and I confess, I'm still keeping my 1 because I just can't part with it, but I am enjoying the 2 already. Huge difference? No, not on an HUGE scale, but yeah, I notice the slim profile and faster browsing, but the browser on the 1 I find perfectly fine still. I haven't tried to open pdfs and the like yet to see the speed difference there. I would have continued to been fine with the 1, and probably gotten a 2 maybe when the 3 came out, or gotten the 3 like several months later, or maybe still just kept the 1 until the battery or software upgrade ability went. And who knows when the 3 will be released-sometime this year and in the next few months is logical. But heck, of course I can't say I mind having a 2...