iPad mini iPad mini use case--do any of you do this?

[spiderman0616]

Trying to see if any of you have tried something I stumbled upon last night while setting up my new iPad mini 6:

My main desktop setup is the two Macs you see in my signature (15" is work, M1 is personal) and I hot swap them in and out as needed. They're both paired with all my peripherals via my LG UltraFine monitor.

Last night I wanted to use my third Logitech MX bluetooth profile for my new iPad, and had completely forgotten that iPadOS has full blown mouse support. So I plugged it in to the monitor, set up the bluetooth pairings, and then realized that with the Logitech MX mouse having the little gesture pad on the side, I now have essentially a giant iPad Pro without the touch screen if I ever want to use my iPad mini that way.

This is a completely unintended use case that I had absolutely not considered when deciding to purchase the device. I really just want it as an e-reader, note taker, TV watcher, etc, but since it's really just a tiny, somewhat souped up iPad Air, I feel like I accidentally stumbled into the best of both worlds.

Anyone else come to that realization? Is there a pitfall here I'm not considering? (other than the ugly black bars on the screen) I can see myself doing this from time to time as needed, as I used to work almost full time from an iPad Pro. This would be more for in a pinch, but it's still nice to know it's there. USB-C is really changing the way I work now that it's on most Apple devices.

 

[Davidalan]

Posted in error, sorry

 

[spiderman0616]

Found this from apple support:

If you have an active cellular data plan, you can use Personal Hotspot to share a cellular internet connection from your iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular models) to other devices. Personal Hotspot is useful when the other devices don't have internet access from a Wi-Fi network. ... See Join a Personal Hotspot.
View attachment 1944056
https://support.apple.com › ipados

Share your internet connection from iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular) - Apple Support​

I think you're in the wrong thread.

 

[Davidalan]

Thanks your right

 

[jasperj8]

Right, your setup is now like an enlarged non-touch iPad. Tried it in the early days just to see if my usb-c dongle hub for an mbp M1 works and it does. I use a Logitech mk850 and the 3rd profile for both keyboard and mouse is setup to iPad. With that said, however, I do not have actual use case for this setup.

I am more likely to use the iPad Mini 6 as an additional extended screen to my mbp + monitor, than above however.

 

[rui no onna]

Not my cup of tea. I prefer pure tablet mode in couch/bed. The only time I sit in front of a desk is when I need to run software or encounter websites that aren’t available or don’t work well on the iPad.

Same as @jasperj8, I’m more likely to use the iPad as an extra display (instant messaging, video chat, background YouTube music, etc).

 

[spiderman0616]

Not my cup of tea. I prefer pure tablet mode in couch/bed. The only time I sit in front of a desk is when I need to run software or encounter websites that aren’t available or don’t work well on the iPad.

Same as @jasperj8, I’m more likely to use the iPad as an extra display (instant messaging, video chat, background YouTube music, etc).

Same, really. It’s just nice to know it’s there as an option.

 

[ejin222]

Yes, I thought this was obvious hahah. But I purchased the Mini for the size and use of touch on a smaller device, so that's how I use it always.

But I'm glad that you're really loving your Mini 6. With some of the hate that the Mini gets on these forums, it's great to see someone really enjoying theirs. I have the M1 iPad Pro and Mini 6, and the Mini is my most used iPad.

 

[jasperj8]

Same, really. It’s just nice to know it’s there as an option.

What you mentioned above may be a good alternative for watching/streaming, quick, browsing and the likes. Connect and go situation. So it may actually work for some.

 

[jasperj8]

Yes, I thought this was obvious hahah. But I purchased the Mini for the size and use of touch on a smaller device, so that's how I use it always.

But I'm glad that you're really loving your Mini 6. With some of the hate that the Mini gets on these forums, it's great to see someone really enjoying theirs. I have the M1 iPad Pro and Mini 6, and the Mini is my most used iPad.

I am enjoying mine, for the size, it fits well my purpose - portable and able to do some comfortable reading/studying text while lying down

 

[BigMcGuire]

My M1 iPad Pro 11 is so much more pleasant to use with my desktop setup (4K monitor, mouse, keyboard) thanks to it working with my USB C thunderbolt dock. Every now and then on the weekends I’ll hook it up and use it as a desktop for awhile. Yeah, Mac OS is better but I usually try to stay off the computer on the weekends. I have used my mouse with my iPad more in the last 6 months than I ever have thanks to full support. My backpack has my iPad Pro 11, a bluetooth mouse, and keyboard that I take places. I’ve done Teams meetings from it, talked to family, and spent hours treating it like a mobile laptop of sorts.

Back in 2019 when my wife and I got our first iPad Pro 11s, they quickly became our most used devices despite iPads being so “limited” and being speciality devices. The M1 iPad Pro has only pushed this further. I’m typing this now on my iPad with a Bluetooth keyboard on the couch while my wife plays animal crossing on the TV.

I think people are quick to bag on iPads. I get coworkers that sincerely ask me: “What can you do with that device? It’s a glorified Chromebook!“ to this day. Well, this device is easily my most used device in the history of computational devices in my life and it continues to grow on me. I read 44+ books on my iPad last year, took hundreds of pages of notes, watched TV, journaled, and conversed with family/friends, scanned documents in, controlled my home thermostat, exercised via Apple Fitness, borrowed books from the library, — could go on and on and on.

I know the mini 6 can do a lot of these same things. These devices are great. . Growing up in the 90s with AOL - I dreamed of the day that I’d have a computer with all the world’s knowledge at my fingertips - just like Picard’s PADD.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Trying to see if any of you have tried something I stumbled upon last night while setting up my new iPad mini 6:

My main desktop setup is the two Macs you see in my signature (15" is work, M1 is personal) and I hot swap them in and out as needed. They're both paired with all my peripherals via my LG UltraFine monitor.

Last night I wanted to use my third Logitech MX bluetooth profile for my new iPad, and had completely forgotten that iPadOS has full blown mouse support. So I plugged it in to the monitor, set up the bluetooth pairings, and then realized that with the Logitech MX mouse having the little gesture pad on the side, I now have essentially a giant iPad Pro without the touch screen if I ever want to use my iPad mini that way.

This is a completely unintended use case that I had absolutely not considered when deciding to purchase the device. I really just want it as an e-reader, note taker, TV watcher, etc, but since it's really just a tiny, somewhat souped up iPad Air, I feel like I accidentally stumbled into the best of both worlds.

Anyone else come to that realization? Is there a pitfall here I'm not considering? (other than the ugly black bars on the screen) I can see myself doing this from time to time as needed, as I used to work almost full time from an iPad Pro. This would be more for in a pinch, but it's still nice to know it's there. USB-C is really changing the way I work now that it's on most Apple devices.

When I had the 11' 2018 iPad Pro - I used it with my Satechi X3 ultra slim KB and Logi mx anywhere 2 mouse. I use the top bottom for Expose gesture and it works quite well. using it as a secondary computing system while I'm working on windows laptop it's much better for this as I tap the PC button to switch back and forth. I found my KB works better on iOS/iPadOS from full cold start whereas on intel MBP KB will not work until after I've logged in, something Satechi mentions on their site so I was well aware before purchase.

The benefit of TrackPad or Mouse support is my desk is in my bedroom and my bed is in perfect view of my 43" LCD so with iPad connected directly over USB-C and mouse in hand I pretty much have the navigational control I need once I've queued up ATV+, Netflix or Apple Developer to learn about Xcode.

The real question, for another thread is can we fully code a fully working iOS/WatchOS/iPadOS directly on iPad Pro or do we need to connect to a Mac or online Mac with distributed Xcode to do so?

 

[spiderman0616]

When I had the 11' 2018 iPad Pro - I used it with my Satechi X3 ultra slim KB and Logi mx anywhere 2 mouse. I use the top bottom for Expose gesture and it works quite well. using it as a secondary computing system while I'm working on windows laptop it's much better for this as I tap the PC button to switch back and forth. I found my KB works better on iOS/iPadOS from full cold start whereas on intel MBP KB will not work until after I've logged in, something Satechi mentions on their site so I was well aware before purchase.

The benefit of TrackPad or Mouse support is my desk is in my bedroom and my bed is in perfect view of my 43" LCD so with iPad connected directly over USB-C and mouse in hand I pretty much have the navigational control I need once I've queued up ATV+, Netflix or Apple Developer to learn about Xcode.

The real question, for another thread is can we fully code a fully working iOS/WatchOS/iPadOS directly on iPad Pro or do we need to connect to a Mac or online Mac with distributed Xcode to do so?

Yeah, I’m really liking it. The MX3 For Mac mouse works great with iPadOS, even without the ability (as far as I know) to really configure it.

 

[rui no onna]

Yeah, I’m really liking it. The MX3 For Mac mouse works great with iPadOS, even without the ability (as far as I know) to really configure it.

Not sure if you're aware but while customization options aren't particularly extensive, you can customize the button actions via:

Settings > Accessibility > Touch > AssistiveTouch > Devices

 

[spiderman0616]

Not sure if you're aware but while customization options aren't particularly extensive, you can customize the button actions via:

Settings > Accessibility > Touch > AssistiveTouch > Devices

Thank you! Forgot to even look there.