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snipr125

macrumors 68020
Oct 17, 2015
2,011
3,125
UK
The form factor is a huge part of what makes the mini an excellent solution for portable use. But there are other things that help make it great.
  • Fast A15 SoC
  • Pencil 2 support with magnetic charging
  • TouchId on the power button
  • 5G Cellular
  • WiFi 6
  • Center Stage
Along with the size, I love the squared off sides of the case.
Also its 326 ppi screen is the sharpest Apple have ever produced outside the iphones (Ipad air and pro are about 264ppi), and it has overall better battery life than the Ipad Air 4 in battery tests (the A15 helps here a lot with its video efficiency)
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,917
13,261
Whoah, I never noticed that! It’s even higher than the new MBPs!

Note, both retina 7.9” iPad mini and 9.7” have 2048x1536 resolutions. The resolution is how a lot of apps pretty much cram the normal 9.7” UI to 7.9” without having to optimize the layout.

Mind, if they change the Pro 11” to 326 ppi, you pretty much have almost the same display area (pixel-wise) as 2x iPad mini 5s.
 
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JM91Six

macrumors regular
Apr 22, 2019
121
93
True. I’m thinking it has something to do with the screen refresh or something that makes me FEEL that my old iPad and current iPhone 13 Pro are way snappier. I don’t know.

I am using Mini still right now and man I do love the size of this thing. But whenever I scroll the screen, breaks my heart. I did originally bought this for media consumption and works well for me as e-reader and video. I have a habit of reading the text also while I scroll the web site for more text. Cannot do that with this. Had no problem with my iPhone XS Max. And of course no problems with current phone.

But hey, did not do my homework and here we are. I am glad for anyone who are not so sensitive for the poor display and scrolling.
I love my mini.. but I do notice it’s a tad sluggish compared to my iPad Pro 11”. I’m not doing anything drastic. I mainly use for media consumption but I agree, it may have something to do with the refresh rate. The jelly scroll doesn’t bug me much but I have noticed what you are talking about. Not enough for me to not love the little device. But a mini with promotion and Face ID would be amazing for me.
 

JM91Six

macrumors regular
Apr 22, 2019
121
93
For the mini’s size, the new aspect ratio really works. I don’t think I’d like it on 10”+ iPads, though (worse for PDFs, single window landscape browsing, typing in landscape, etc).

Now if only Apple would better optimize the UI for the mini and really, iPads in general. I found iOS 14’s home screen more efficient than 15. Plus, my icons didn’t move all over the place when I changed orientations.
I loved the iPad OS pin widgets to the screen in landscape mode. Hopefully they fix the scaling on the minis, but don’t see it happening. I don’t use widgets much on my iPad mini so the size of the text hasn’t bothered me much… but it’s comically small lol
 

JM91Six

macrumors regular
Apr 22, 2019
121
93
Love my mini 6. Even though I've owned several iPad Pro models, the mini 6 has been my favorite one so far for note-taking. I hate resting my hand on the screen while I'm writing for some reason, and this model eliminates that issue because my hand usually ends up more off to the side while I'm writing. I love it for Books, News, Twitter, video, etc. as well.

The mini is a great fit between my 14" MBP and iPhone 13 Pro Max. If I'm going to have to kill time and know I won't need to type a lot or do a lot of intense work, I leave my Mac and iPhone at home and the mini comes with me instead. Since it has the A15, I'm also not afraid to work on more resource intensive projects with it, which is not an option I had on my last mini.

I think iPadOS has come a long way and really works well on the mini other than the weird Home Screen layouts. Very satisfied with my purchase and I really kind of forget about the jelly scroll until someone mentions it here.
This is my exact setup! My iPad Pro 11” with magic keyboard isn’t getting much use. I was worried that my 13PM and the iPad mini may be to close in size…but two totally different beasts. The mini is perfect for the lounge life and consumption device to me
 

turbineseaplane

macrumors P6
Mar 19, 2008
17,392
40,178
Guess I ABSOLUTELY NEED to say “to me” since we have the technicality police on the forums

That will be acceptable - yes :p;)
Thank you for adding that

Sorry you felt it was "technicality police".

Being serious and honest, it really does help to specify if you are making a proclamation "x, y, z is not an issue!" -- vs -- "to me.. really it's not a big issue. I notice (or don't) and it's not bothering me", etc..

The jelly thing is super subjective and very dependent upon dominant use case and orientation, etc.
 
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Shanghaichica

macrumors G5
Apr 8, 2013
14,725
13,245
UK
This is my exact setup! My iPad Pro 11” with magic keyboard isn’t getting much use. I was worried that my 13PM and the iPad mini may be to close in size…but two totally different beasts. The mini is perfect for the lounge life and consumption device to me
I’ve always had the max/plus sized iPhones and always used a mini alongside them so I’ve never had any reservations. It’s my 11” pro that’s seems to be getting less use since I’ve had my mini 6. When I had my mini 5 I was using them both equally. I think it’s the form factor change and the slightly bigger display that’s made me use the mini almost exclusively.
 

JM91Six

macrumors regular
Apr 22, 2019
121
93
That will be acceptable - yes :p;)
Thank you for adding that

Sorry you felt it was "technicality police".

Being serious and honest, it really does help to specify if you are making a proclamation "x, y, z is not an issue!" -- vs -- "to me.. really it's not a big issue. I notice (or don't) and it's not bothering me", etc..

The jelly thing is super subjective and very dependent upon dominant use case and orientation, etc.
I totally understand. I being a troll .. in reality the smoothness and sort of jittery nature of the iPad mini bothers me a tad more than the jelly scrolling.. but that all kind of comes down the the screen just not being the best quality and no promotion. I’m living with it though since I’m basically just browsing websites and watching videos, comics etc.
 
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kristalsoldier

macrumors 6502a
Aug 10, 2013
818
523
I still love my iPad mini 6. I use it every day. It’s the perfect size. I’ve started using it for gaming too. I use it more than my iPad Pro 11.
Very interesting as I am considering the same. I am also curious about one other thing - the gadgets in your signature…do you have them all and use them all?
 
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DeepIn2U

macrumors G5
May 30, 2002
13,051
6,984
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
This is my exact setup! My iPad Pro 11” with magic keyboard isn’t getting much use. I was worried that my 13PM and the iPad mini may be to close in size…but two totally different beasts. The mini is perfect for the lounge life and consumption device to me
Nice.

I’m now in the full mini life:
iPad mini 6 & iPhone 12 mini (until case and screen protector for 13 mini I have waiting in box arrives).
I still love my iPad mini 6. I use it every day. It’s the perfect size. I’ve started using it for gaming too. I use it more than my iPad Pro 11.

I recall you stating this in another thread about a month ago, I think. Back then I had the M1 Pro 11” and would’ve thought “you’re crazy”. But then I noticed as weather getting nicer outside and wanting to cycle more that the M1 was way over powered for my use case.

Got the iPad mini 6 as an impulse buy when picking up my BFPs. Sure I sold my M1 pa few days prior and considering the mini since it’s launch.

Result I love my mini as much as I love my iPhone mini.

2 different beasts indeed that work harmoniously together. Now I need a case and paperlike.
 

Student of Life

macrumors 6502a
Oct 13, 2020
791
915
So im not sure if this is the right place to put it, but right now amazon has the space gray mini for 399. New not refurbished or returned.

 
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*~Kim~*

macrumors 65816
May 6, 2013
1,178
470
UK
Sold it. Miss the headphone jack but that’s all. Having tried to FaceTime with headphones in (both wireless and wired via adapter) I could hear them but they couldn’t hear me. Perhaps this quirk is by design to sell more AirPods…

I was going to pass it down but the Mini form factor wasn’t wanted. The Air should be arriving for Mum in the week, so perhaps I’ll end up less satisfied with the Mini once I’ve set it up for her, rather than just annoyed how much better specs wise the Air became 5 months later.
 

kristalsoldier

macrumors 6502a
Aug 10, 2013
818
523
Firstly, for context, this was my most recent impression about the Mini 6, which I bought recently.

I have to add some more details. While I am not disappointed per we wirh the Mini, I think I erred by getting it in the sense that the overlap between it and the 11” IPP is a lot leading me sometimes to question whether I needed the Mini or I just indulged myself. That said, I am not regretting it as it works well for reading in the Kindle and epubs on Books.

I do notice the relatively poor battery performance. For example, if I read on the Mini for 6 hours coupled with occasional browsing, a bit of Reddit on Apollo, a bit of Telegram chatting, the battery drops to around 60% with brightness on around 40% or so. Could have been better, but I understand smaller battery and all.

So, most important question - (1) would I buy it again? (2) why did I not return it. The answer to (1) is no I would not buy a second iPad and my clear preference is the 11” IPP despite mobility/convenience being a bit of a problem. The answer to (2) is that I can still make use of the Mini - it’s not like I am wasting it and it is lying unused on my desk.

Edit: One other point I am finding a bit irritating with the Mini is the touch recognition on the sides of the screen. Often I find that while I am holding the Mini in portrait mode and reading in either Books or Safari or Edge or a PDF document, the screen registers a touch and moves the page. I wish Apple would release a software update to fix this but I strongly suspect they likely will not.
 
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bingeciren

macrumors 65816
Sep 6, 2011
1,070
1,010
I've been using mine for the past 4 months and I love it. I also have the mini 4 and when I compare the two, I think mini 4 has a slightly better display for viewing at an angle and mini 4 is more comfortable to hold it with its rounded edges.

I prefer to use mine naked without a cover. Lately I bought a smart folio from Apple but I don't like it that much. It is uncomfortable to hold it in my hand and the sharp edges of the folio dig into my fingers. However, it is good as a protector and a stand.

Jelly scroll is totally a non issue for me; I hardly notice it, if I notice it at all.

Apple Pencil support is nice but I use it occasionally for drawing schematics mostly.
 
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