iPad mini Consider Purchasing an iPad Mini

[ProgRocker]

I'm looking into an iPad Mini, which will be my first iPad.
A few questions.... since I'm not in a rush would it be better to wait for the 3nm for the potentially cooler running system ?
Will they eventually add an Mx to the Mini ? What is the best guesstimate as to when the next model will come out ?
I'm purchasing for mainly banking, home systems, reading, ect what size drive would best suit those needs ?
Are all models fixed at 4GB... and if so would the larger storage help with the operation of the unit ? And will/should
they raise the ram to more than the current 4GB ?

Thanks...

 

[sparksd]

Nobody has a clue when the next version will come out or what features it will have - your guess is as good as any other. But Apple does tend to go longer between Mini updates than with other models. You could have a long wait.

 

[ProgRocker]

But Apple does tend to go longer between Mini updates than with other models. You could have a long wait.

Good to know, thanks sparksd.

 

[PeteBurgh]

I'm purchasing for mainly banking, home systems, reading, ect what size drive would best suit those needs ?

These are pretty straightforward needs - I think you would find that basically any iPad from the last 5 years would do these things perfectly. You can get more storage if you like, but that's really if you want to store a lot of photos, music or movies locally. You certainly don't need to wait until a new processor node type or anything like that to have those needs met.

RAM becomes more significant for people who use the iPads in more 'productivity' oriented ways - editing video or big files in Illustrator perhaps. My 2018 iPad Pro (with 4GB RAM) is approaching its 5th anniversary, and the RAM has never annoyed me.

 

[Digitalguy]

4GB annoys me with Safari, too many reloads (but mind you, I also watch youtube from safari to avoid ads, if you watch from the app you won't have reloads for youtube at least). The next mini should get 6GB, but you might have to wait until the end of 2023 or even Spring 2024

 

[Jonr515]

My wife has the Mini 6 and i’ve used it some. It’s a nice piece of equipment and push come to shove you can connect it to an external display, no stage manager, but still.

 

[ctjack]

Picked up base 9th gen Ipad from bestbuy for $250 and it can't be better than that. Absolutely love it and don't feel like overpaying for mini especially if you are the first time owner like me.

 

[coachingguy]

Picked up base 9th gen Ipad from bestbuy for $250 and it can't be better than that. Absolutely love it and don't feel like overpaying for mini especially if you are the first time owner like me.

My wife has the 9 and I’ve got the mini 6… There’s no comparison… the Mini 6 runs rings around the 9. Screen quality is much better… USB C… use an external monitor, it’s faster… The 9 is fine for what it is… The Mini 6 IMHO opinion is simply better. If it’s $$ issue, pick up a refurbished one… I can’t wait for an M1 mini!

Coachingguy

 

[ctjack]

My wife has the 9 and I’ve got the mini 6… There’s no comparison… the Mini 6 runs rings around the 9. Screen quality is much better… USB C… use an external monitor, it’s faster… The 9 is fine for what it is… The Mini 6 IMHO opinion is simply better. If it’s $$ issue, pick up a refurbished one… I can’t wait for an M1 mini!

Mini for sure has its' own things. For example can't imagine hauling regular ipad with me, but can easily see myself walking in the city with mini one.
I mean i bought 2 ipads for $500 and my kids and I enjoy ipad experience now. If money was not a problem, then i would probably consider 11 or 12.9, though 9th gen base ipad runs genshin perfectly fine (for benchmark purposes only).

For better display I have M1 Air and MBP 14 laptops, that is where it shines. Those drive external monitors.
I airdrop my photos for edit, so don't really care about usb-c - would not refuse but not chasing.
Faster? Maybe for sure, but i don't notice my 9th gen lagging.

 

[Shanghaichica]

These are pretty straightforward needs - I think you would find that basically any iPad from the last 5 years would do these things perfectly. You can get more storage if you like, but that's really if you want to store a lot of photos, music or movies locally. You certainly don't need to wait until a new processor node type or anything like that to have those needs met.

RAM becomes more significant for people who use the iPads in more 'productivity' oriented ways - editing video or big files in Illustrator perhaps. My 2018 iPad Pro (with 4GB RAM) is approaching its 5th anniversary, and the RAM has never annoyed me.

I agree. I use my iPads for consumption. The only productivity things I really do is send a fee emails and scan documents and upload them to iCloud. I also have the 2018 iPad Pro and the iPad mini 6. Both have 4GB of ram and I have no problems. The only type of multitasking I do is say have a YouTube video playing in PIP and have safari open. I don’t tend to use more than a few safari tabs at a time. I actually don’t like to have lots of browser tabs open. I actively close them down because the thought of having hundreds of tabs open at the same time bugs me for some reason.

 

[4743913]

I'm looking into an iPad Mini, which will be my first iPad.
A few questions.... since I'm not in a rush would it be better to wait for the 3nm for the potentially cooler running system ?
Will they eventually add an Mx to the Mini ? What is the best guesstimate as to when the next model will come out ?
I'm purchasing for mainly banking, home systems, reading, ect what size drive would best suit those needs ?
Are all models fixed at 4GB... and if so would the larger storage help with the operation of the unit ? And will/should
they raise the ram to more than the current 4GB ?

Thanks...

I bought one two weeks ago (moving from an M1 iPad Pro). I mulled over waiting but I honestly could not come up with reason to wait. More ram, faster processor, meh. It's a Mini and is already about perfect for my needs. I may get a tinge of regret if they come out with a Magic Keyboard that only fits the Mini 7..

 

[Rafterman]

My wife has the 9 and I’ve got the mini 6… There’s no comparison… the Mini 6 runs rings around the 9. Screen quality is much better… USB C… use an external monitor, it’s faster… The 9 is fine for what it is… The Mini 6 IMHO opinion is simply better. If it’s $$ issue, pick up a refurbished one… I can’t wait for an M1 mini!

Coachingguy

I love the mini, hate the 256GB max. For my needs, 512GB would have been better. But for some inexplicable reason, Apple upgraded everything from the Mini 5, except the storage.

 

[Rafterman]

I actively close them down because the thought of having hundreds of tabs open at the same time bugs me for some reason.

Do some people really have "hundreds?" I don't think I ever had more than 10 open at any one time. Usually, it's just about 5. How do people find a tab they need with so many open?

 

[ctjack]

Do some people really have "hundreds?" I don't think I ever had more than 10 open at any one time. Usually, it's just about 5. How do people find a tab they need with so many open?

probably just the way some brain works - i get sidetracked. For example, was watching a recent movie about slaves, went on wikipedia to read about it, ended up adding places to visit in google maps - all while watching reviews for that movie, doing my remote work, watching youtube when break needed.

 

[rui no onna]

Do some people really have "hundreds?" I don't think I ever had more than 10 open at any one time. Usually, it's just about 5. How do people find a tab they need with so many open?

I know there’s someone here who regularly uses 500 tabs.

I’m not as bad but I usually hover between 50-200, usually while shopping and doing price comparisons and reading various product reviews.

 

[teh_hunterer]

I'm looking into an iPad Mini, which will be my first iPad.
A few questions.... since I'm not in a rush would it be better to wait for the 3nm for the potentially cooler running system ?
Will they eventually add an Mx to the Mini ? What is the best guesstimate as to when the next model will come out ?
I'm purchasing for mainly banking, home systems, reading, ect what size drive would best suit those needs ?
Are all models fixed at 4GB... and if so would the larger storage help with the operation of the unit ? And will/should
they raise the ram to more than the current 4GB ?

Thanks...

I wasn't aware iPad heat was an issue for anyone, anywhere, at all?

 

[ProgRocker]

I wasn't aware iPad heat was an issue for anyone, anywhere, at all?

Yes, that's why I asked. I'm not sure if that is a concern. I do know that certain computers in general will throttle when heat builds up, though not having owned an iPad before I wanted to clarify this.

 

[teh_hunterer]

Yes, that's why I asked. I'm not sure if that is a concern. I do know that certain computers in general will throttle when heat builds up, though not having owned an iPad before I wanted to clarify this.

Fair enough. Well, there's no need to worry about it.

 

[teh_hunterer]

Yes, that's why I asked. I'm not sure if that is a concern. I do know that certain computers in general will throttle when heat builds up, though not having owned an iPad before I wanted to clarify this.

Actually I thought I'd give a better answer:

With device heat, you've got 3 issues:

1. Throttling: When the SoC gets too hot, it throttles down to a lower performance. The main thing is, how often does it throttle, and when it throttles, how bad is the performance. With the M1/M2 generation, it only throttles under quite a lot of sustained load, so already it's not much of an issue. It also doesn't throttle that badly. Based on vague memory, I think the throttling tends to make it lose somewhere between 10%-17% of performance. An M1, M2, A15, that's still operating at 83%-90% performance is still very fast. Fully throttled, it's still faster than the previous/comparable devices.

When you then consider it's an iPad, doing iPad stuff, throttling is a complete non-issue.

2. Actual heat: How hot does the device get? Is it uncomfortable or annoying? Well, only high load will heat the iPad up to the point where you can notice it's getting hot. It's uncommon. Even then, it doesn't get so hot that it's particularly uncomfortable compared to any other tablets or computers. Non-issue.

3. Fan noise: As this is an iPad, obviously this is a non-issue as well.

Long story short, compared to literally any other tablet, phone, laptop, etc, heat is not a problem on any modern iPad. Waiting for M3 would change barely anything.

 

[culo77]

Yes, that's why I asked. I'm not sure if that is a concern. I do know that certain computers in general will throttle when heat builds up, though not having owned an iPad before I wanted to clarify this.

I personally have not gotten my iPad mini 6 to heat up. Has anyone done that yet?

I did get my iPad gen6 to get pretty darn hot, but it didn't throttle I don't think. I was in full summer sun, so full brightness, plugged in, split view work's Remote Desktop with other part of split view a spreadsheet, PIP Netflix, and slide over open using messaging app. 3 intensive apps and one stock apple app running full (Wait, who says you can't multitask on the iPad.)

I have not taxed my Mini 6 like my old iPad. I use it differently, but I would assume that it would handle that situation with more ease.

That said, when I bought my Mini the iPad Air m1 demo at the store was on FIRE and the brightness was limited because of this.

 

[rui no onna]

I personally have not gotten my iPad mini 6 to heat up. Has anyone done that yet?

I did get my iPad gen6 to get pretty darn hot, but it didn't throttle I don't think. I was in full summer sun, so full brightness, plugged in, split view work's Remote Desktop with other part of split view a spreadsheet, PIP Netflix, and slide over open using messaging app. 3 intensive apps and one stock apple app running full (Wait, who says you can't multitask on the iPad.)

I have not taxed my Mini 6 like my old iPad. I use it differently, but I would assume that it would handle that situation with more ease.

That said, when I bought my Mini the iPad Air m1 demo at the store was on FIRE and the brightness was limited because of this.

I've had my iPad 3 (2012) automatically shut down due to thermals. Max brightness, used as GPS while driving along SoCal desert.

 

[rovex]

It’s a nice machine, especially if you own a smaller phone, doesn’t weigh much more than a phone and you get so much more screen.

 

[floral]

I wouldn't count on the Mini getting an M chip, it is a more mobile sort of device. Of course you can use it as a computer, but it's a little... small.

 

[EgGKeith]

I'm looking into an iPad Mini, which will be my first iPad.
A few questions.... since I'm not in a rush would it be better to wait for the 3nm for the potentially cooler running system ?
Will they eventually add an Mx to the Mini ? What is the best guesstimate as to when the next model will come out ?
I'm purchasing for mainly banking, home systems, reading, ect what size drive would best suit those needs ?
Are all models fixed at 4GB... and if so would the larger storage help with the operation of the unit ? And will/should
they raise the ram to more than the current 4GB ?

Thanks...

The problem of the current ipad is the screen, 4GB ram is good enough. If the screen comes with 90Hz (or higher) refresh rate that will be great.