I am giving away my first gen ipad to someone as part of their Christmas present. it seems to be running a little slow lately but hasnt been updated in quite some time. So the question is: if I update/restore it to whatever the current supported ios version, does it handle it very well or is it quite slow? Thanks for advice.
Minimally, restoring it would most likely make the performance better. The latest ios version is pretty aesthetically pleasing, but it feels a bit sluggish on my mothers iPad 1. Restoring at least is your best bet.
Restore it, it will probably run better, plus if you are giving it away, you might as well delete everything.
you'll want to do a DFU mode restore so it completely wipes and resets the device. a restore through iTunes only does it on a superficial level. https://discussions.apple.com/message/22840261#22840261
It's not that bad. My biggest complaint is the rotation bug I get every so often and the screwy wallpaper dimensions.