It's also unclear whether Apple may be having battery-management problems with the third-gen iPad that go deeper than the we've seen, including the tablet's failure to charge while in use, and its showing a full charge when it may still need additional juice (as some reports have indicated, but Macworld's testing didn't show).

What is unmistakable, however, is a 25 percent decline in battery performance in our tests from the iPad 2 to the new iPad--and this is something we hope Apple will investigate further and address through software updates.