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All iPads iPad e reader - any takers?

ApeBot

ApeBot

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 15, 2015
107
203
Sydney
Looking to replace an ancient Sony e reader. Have books on Kindle, iBooks, ePub and other library services. Want an lcd with weeks of battery life. What do I do?

The e reader market at the moment is abysmal, with Amazon and Kobo being the last remaining players. They are limited and provide an experience not unlike my 10 year old Sony.

Can Apple please release an iPad mini e reader!!! Would anyone be interested in this?
 
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rui no onna

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,918
13,261
ApeBot said:
Looking to replace an ancient Sony e reader. Have books on Kindle, iBooks, ePub and other library services. Want an lcd with weeks of battery life. What do I do?

The e reader market at the moment is abysmal, with Amazon and Kobo being the last remaining players. They are limited and provide an experience not unlike my 10 year old Sony.

Can Apple please release an iPad mini e reader!!! Would anyone be interested in this?
Click to expand...

If you're using the LCD, weeks of battery life just isn't feasible. E-ink displays pretty much only use power when you turn pages. Meanwhile, LCDs are constantly refreshing multiple times per second. Also, e-ink readers have super anemic processors which help lower power consumption. I expect library browsing/navigation, changing font sizes, etc. will suffer with a processor downgrade.

Market-wise, that's a very niche audience. I think statistics show most people just read on their smartphones.

Besides, I don't see anything particularly problematic with using the iPad mini as e-reader just as it is.
 
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dwig

dwig

macrumors 6502a
Jan 4, 2015
908
449
Key West FL
Personally, I prefer e-ink readers and have two Kindles.

I've read on a wide range of devices over the last 30+ years of reading ebooks, everything from desktop PCs to palmtops to laptops to PDAs to Kindles to phones. Displays have been monochrome CRTs, color CRTs, reflective LCD, backlit mono and color LCD and e-Ink. E-Ink wins hands down.

I've also been a constant user of calibre as a library manager and format converter for many years, though before it matured I had used a variety of tools to convert ebooks from one format to another as my devices required.
 
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sparksd

macrumors G3
Jun 7, 2015
9,996
34,305
Seattle WA
I have a 10th Gen Kindle Oasis but only use my 2021 12.9 (primarily) and Mini 6 for reading Kindle (some hours/day, every day). I prefer them over e-ink.
 
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D

Dealmans

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Mar 12, 2022
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I had a mini for a few weeks, ok for books vertical but too small for other uses, expensive e-reader, no good outdoors and also heavier v a kindle to hold for a long time
Sold it and going to get a 11th gen Kindle next sale, have a M1 12.9” pro anyway.
 
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Isamilis

macrumors 68020
Apr 3, 2012
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ApeBot said:
Looking to replace an ancient Sony e reader. Have books on Kindle, iBooks, ePub and other library services. Want an lcd with weeks of battery life. What do I do?

The e reader market at the moment is abysmal, with Amazon and Kobo being the last remaining players. They are limited and provide an experience not unlike my 10 year old Sony.

Can Apple please release an iPad mini e reader!!! Would anyone be interested in this?
Click to expand...
If you don't plan to read pdf - especially academic text book and papers, I would suggest Kindle e-Reader. Oasis or Paperwhite. For PDF ebook reading, better go with iPad.
 
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kevigrif

kevigrif

macrumors newbie
Mar 21, 2022
22
12
I love my iPad mini 6 as an e-reader. It also functions great for me as a media consumption travel device, notebook, etc. so it ticks multiple boxes and does them well rather than using a single product for a single task.
 
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J

jdb8167

macrumors 601
Nov 17, 2008
4,859
4,599
Dealmans said:
I had a mini for a few weeks, ok for books vertical but too small for other uses, expensive e-reader, no good outdoors and also heavier v a kindle to hold for a long time
Sold it and going to get a 11th gen Kindle next sale, have a M1 12.9” pro anyway.
Click to expand...
Yeah. An iPad mini solely for reading ebooks is seriously overkill. It does a fine job but there are good ebook readers for a fraction of the cost.
 
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dwig

dwig

macrumors 6502a
Jan 4, 2015
908
449
Key West FL
stanza.richi said:
Totally agree: academic text book and papers in PDF need an iPad and an Apple Pencil.
Click to expand...
I agree, if and only if, you restrict the "iPad" to being "iPad except mini", even the basic iPad is marginal for this use. Screen size is a major issue when readying academic ebooks and papers. If such reading is common then I would recommend only the 12.9" iPad Pro.
 
rui no onna

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,918
13,261
jdb8167 said:
An iPad mini solely for reading ebooks is seriously overkill. It does a fine job but there are good ebook readers for a fraction of the cost.
Click to expand...

Higher end e-readers can be pretty pricey, too. I remember the 32GB Kobo Forma costing like $329-349 at launch.

Of course, the primary draw there is the e-ink display. I don’t see much point to an LCD-based iPad mini that’s been restricted to ebook reading functions only (maybe audiobook) while likely still carrying a $400-500 price tag.

Mind, I actually bought the iPad 2 ($699 64GB Wi-Fi) purely for reading manga.
 
Last edited:
stanza.richi

stanza.richi

macrumors 65816
Dec 5, 2019
1,108
1,700
Italy
dwig said:
I agree, if and only if, you restrict the "iPad" to being "iPad except mini", even the basic iPad is marginal for this use. Screen size is a major issue when readying academic ebooks and papers. If such reading is common then I would recommend only the 12.9" iPad Pro.
Click to expand...

I could agree. I’ve got a 12.9” and it’s like having an A4 paper, very comfortable.
 
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RRC

RRC

macrumors 68000
Nov 3, 2020
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Get an iPad mini with an anti reflective screen protector fitted. Job done!
 
cmichaelb

cmichaelb

macrumors 68020
Aug 6, 2008
2,284
742
Italy
ApeBot said:
Looking to replace an ancient Sony e reader. Have books on Kindle, iBooks, ePub and other library services. Want an lcd with weeks of battery life. What do I do?

The e reader market at the moment is abysmal, with Amazon and Kobo being the last remaining players. They are limited and provide an experience not unlike my 10 year old Sony.

Can Apple please release an iPad mini e reader!!! Would anyone be interested in this?
Click to expand...
I prefer my Kobo Clara HD to the iPad for reading. The iPad is great, but the eink screen has such long battery life, it's smaller, lighter.
 
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