Three years—that’s how long it’s been since Apple updated their iPod Touch. That’s a long time. But thankfully, Apple just refreshed their line with faster hardware. But does the change justify you throwing your old iPod Touch in the trash and picking up the new one? Let’s find out.

If you were hoping for physical changes to any of the iPod’s dimensions, well keep hoping—probably for another three years. The iPod Touch remains at its now stubbornly small 4 inches. Apple’s probably sitting on a boat load of iPhone 5 and 5s panels so you’re probably going to see this for a little bit longer. The only physical changes one can see is the removal of this silver button thing that lived on the iPod Touch 5^TH Generation, which was for the loop. Other than that, the dimensions and weight are rather identical.

The real changes are found on the insides. Starting off with its processor and RAM bump. The 5^TH Generation Touch came equipped with an Apple A5 processor—the same chip found on the original iPad Mini. It is a 1GHz dual-core processor and only came with 512MB of RAM. The new Touch is much faster. Apple has implanted an Apple A8 processor from their iPhone 6 but has also cut off a .3 of a GHz off their processor clock speed. It also has the M8 motion co-processor. So in total, it’s a 1.1GHz dual-core processor and has a full GB of RAM. Plus, it’s built on Apple’s latest 64-bit architecture and has the ability to utilize metal for gaming.

The camera has also been updated as well. The old iPod Touch came equipped with a 5MP camera with an f2.4 aperture rating while the new Touch houses an 8MP camera with an aperture of f2.4. It’s essentially the same camera module from the iPhone 5S. Again, not Apple’s best and latest camera but definitely an update from the previous generation Touch. All of these changes result in a pretty significant change of character between these two iPods. Probably the biggest gap between two sequential generations of products I’ve seen.

But keep in mind—while it’s only one generation that keeps these two apart, it’s three years of time that has spanned. This is all proven by GeekBench 3, where the iPod Touch 6^th Generation obliterates the 5^TH Generation Touch. It’s not even a competition between single or multi-core scores. And the new iPod Touch feels that much faster as well. Just by going through the home screens and settings, you can definitely tell you have a substantially faster device in your hand. But it really shows in the application loading and gaming performance. It’s an incredibly more powerful iPod but more importantly, it’s an iPod that can give the experience of the current generation iPhone without the monthly surcharge, something the older iPod Touch could do but does it in a much slower fashion.

I suppose one of the biggest reasons why people will want to update is the new camera. It’s now 1 ¾ generation behind the iPhone 6 and that’s not so bad. As I said, the camera came right off the iPhone 5S which means it has an 8MP sensor. And compared to the 5^TH Generation iPod Touch with its 5MP sensor, the camera can capture more detail, more dynamic range and higher quality video. Also, the iPod Touch now has the ability to record 120fps 720p slow-motion video. And for a starting price of $200, it’s certainly a slim and good little point and shoot camera.

Also, the battery has been upgraded too. The 5^TH Generation iPod Touch had a 1030mAh battery. The new one has a whooping 1043mAh—a whole 13mAh up from the iPod Touch 5^TH Generation. Not sure what this really equates to in real world time. Perhaps you’ll be able to make it an extra 15 minutes or so.

I also want to talk about the iPod Touch and things it did not receive on this latest generation. First one being is Touch ID. Now I know you want it on here but does it really make any sense for a device that doesn’t support Apple Pay due to its Wi-Fi-only connectivity? And also, the age of most iPod Touch users are below the age of 18. Secondly, a larger screen. Now this, I can definitely agree with you but part of this iPod thing is portability and this 4-inch size is really hand-friendly.

So here we are, you’re probably trying to decide whether or not to buy the new iPod Touch. The quick and easy answer is absolutely. It’s more powerful, it’s fast and it’s the closest thing to the iPhone 6. Plus, it’s been three years so it’s probably time for a new iPod Touch.