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iPad mini IPad mini 2/3 still ok for basic stuff?

M

MrMister111

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 28, 2009
3,900
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UK
Thinking of picking up a 2nd hand mini 2/3. Just wondering if they still chug along on latest iOS for everyday things?

It will just be for a secondary device that probably be used twice year for holiday. As have other iPad's in house, 12.9" which wouldn't want to take.

So will be for book reading, movie watching, from iTunes, Netflix, Amazon prime video etc, basic browsing and odd basic game/app. Will it play all movies ok? Or max 720P etc?

I know it won't run latest iOS 13, but as said it's only for intermittent use, and so don't want to spend much.

What I am worried on 2nd hand buying is the battery though, on such an old device.

Will it run the above ok? It's an old A CPU and 1Gb RAM so wouldn't want movies to stutter etc.

Thanks
 
First, you may need a new battery, depending on device age and such.
As for movie playback, 1080P no problem. 2K or 4K or 8K is probably not possible anymore given otherwise how weak A7 processor is. Book reading no problem, as long as app and store is still supported. Same goes for Amazon Prime and Netflix.
Game could be a tricky one because A7 is no longer that powerful. Depending on how “basic” your game is, the experience can end up being mediocre or terrible.
 
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My kids have a Mini 2 still. For movie watching and book reading, I would say that it's fine as long as your internet is quick enough. For games and higher functioning apps, you will most likely see lag. It's frustrating because I used to use a Mini 2 as my all around iPad and loved it, but now, just a few years later, it's unusable for me. My kids don't notice the lag, so it's fine for them. YMMV.
 
Games will be puzzle games, just for passing time, tetris, crossword etc, nothing taxing, although I like motorsport manager not sure if that will work.

Reading in Books and PDFs and Readily should be ok.

The battery am worried as it's £89 for a new replacement from Apple.

IPad mini 4 128Gb refurb from Apple with a new battery is £299 anyway, but as say it's for such light use, twice a year, wouldn't want to spend that ideally.

ejin222 said:
My kids have a Mini 2 still. For movie watching and book reading, I would say that it's fine as long as your internet is quick enough.
Click to expand...
I'd want the movies and videos downloaded onto the mini so Internet shouldn't matter
 
Personally I wouldn’t get less than the latest. I have a mini 2 I havn’t fired up in some time. Laggy.

It’s going to a young niece in mexico soon, she’s still using my old ip5 from a couple of phones ago.
 
BeforeTheMeds said:
Personally I wouldn’t get less than the latest. I have a mini 2 I havn’t fired up in some time. Laggy.

It’s going to a young niece in mexico soon, she’s still using my old ip5 from a couple of phones ago.
Click to expand...

Laggy for what? Everyday use? It's only for holiday use really for movies and books and general browsing though.

Mini 4 maybe better then? But more money!
 
I have a mini 2 and think it is ok for very basic stuff as internet mail and reading. But consider it won't get ios13. So compatibility with more modern devices could suffer when ios13 is released. And it really is slow :-(
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MrMister111 said:
Laggy for what? Everyday use? It's only for holiday use really for movies and books and general browsing though.

Mini 4 maybe better then? But more money!
Click to expand...
The mini just got updated and you can't compare them anymore except for the screen size. The new one is better in every way and maybe is good for the next 4 iOS releases where mini 2 is stuck on iOS12.
 
MrMister111 said:
Laggy for what? Everyday use? It's only for holiday use really for movies and books and general browsing though.

Mini 4 maybe better then? But more money!
Click to expand...
I have an iPad Air (A7/1GB) and I wouldn't use it for browsing unless all you need are text-heavy sites.

Books should be fine as long as they're not gigantic (like a single epub collecting 50 long novels or something). Movies are fine as long as they don't exceed 1080p H.264/AVC. I believe it will struggle even with H.264 Hi10p or 1080p HEVC.
 
I owned an iPad mini 2 since 2014, and given a lightly used mini 4 this past December. To respond to your question, the answer is
NO!
The iPad mini 4 is okay. The mini 5 should be great. I was planning to get a mini 5 when I got a basically brand new 4 from another family member.

The wifi is not multiple in multiple out and is still wireless N not AC!
The 1 Gb of RAM is hugely limiting and causes the device to be bogged down doing the most basic tasks. It would still work as a reader, but not much more.
 
Mini 3 / Air 1 or older hasn't been usable ever since iOS 9 came out.

Mini 4 might be okay on iOS 12 but I doubt it very much from my limited experience with it. Anything after iOS 10 has been a crapshoot for Air 2 / Mini 4.
 
I thought iOS 12 helped with older devices? I think maybe I should keep away from mini 2/3 then after all going off what has been said.

Howevwr are we saying that mini 4 is still poor as well? It's getting iOS13 as well
 
MrMister111 said:
I thought iOS 12 helped with older devices? I think maybe I should keep away from mini 2/3 then after all going off what has been said.

Howevwr are we saying that mini 4 is still poor as well? It's getting iOS13 as well
Click to expand...

iOS 11,12 and 13 all will be crazy slow on Mini 4 or Air 2.
 
aakshey said:
iOS 11,12 and 13 all will be crazy slow on Mini 4 or Air 2.
Click to expand...

Really? How is mini 4 on iOS 12 now? I thought again it was optimised for older devices?

Hoping was going to be ok, maybe mini 2/3 is a step too far back but hoping mini 4 would be ok
 
The problem is A8 is just too old/slow.

A9 is okay on iOS 11, 12 and I guess maybe even iOS 13. Anything older is just a tad too slow.
 
aakshey said:
iOS 11,12 and 13 all will be crazy slow on Mini 4 or Air 2.
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Completely disagree. I'm using the ios13 beta on my Mini 4 and its absolutely fine. Obviously not as fast as a Mini 5 would be, but at no point is it stuttering or is it taking so long to open apps that its driving me nuts. Its perfectly acceptable.
 
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I have a Mini 4 that I bought back in December. It's running 12.3.1 now just as if it came with it from the factory. There is no lag and I use it just as much as I do my 2018 12.9" 1TB Pro model. Many times, I prefer the Mini 4 because it's much easier to type using the onscreen keyboard then the onscreen keyboard on the Pro. I have about 200 epubs that I'm making my way through on either iPad and I also use numbers for various spreadsheets.

I don't play games so I can't say how it handles those.

I have no problem recommending the Mini 4 to the OP.
 
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I would think iOS 13 improves older devices again, as part of info about it states smaller app packages and faster opening of apps, surely that can only help mini 4?

Think mini 2/3 is out then and have to spend a bit more on a 4, even for the very very minor use it will get.
 
MrMister111 said:
I would think iOS 13 improves older devices again, as part of info about it states smaller app packages and faster opening of apps, surely that can only help mini 4?

Think mini 2/3 is out then and have to spend a bit more on a 4, even for the very very minor use it will get.
Click to expand...
Honestly, when I bought my Mini 4 in December, I used it for a few days and then put it in a case and put it away for seven months and didn't touch it until about two weeks ago. I'm suddenly interested in it again due to it's size. I find myself using it to read books at times when the Pro is just too big. I took the Mini with me last week when I had my car serviced.

I'm glad I didn't return it last December. I didn't want to be bothered going to the Apple store in December so that's the only reason I kept it then.
 
MrMister111 said:
I would think iOS 13 improves older devices again, as part of info about it states smaller app packages and faster opening of apps, surely that can only help mini 4?

Think mini 2/3 is out then and have to spend a bit more on a 4, even for the very very minor use it will get.
Click to expand...
I have a mini 2, 4 and 5 (plus some pros). I would suggest the mini 4. It's much much more usable than the mini 2/3, and contrary to what someone said above it's still surprisingly competent, and while not close to the mini 5 it's still closer to the mini 5 than to the mini 2 in terms of usability. Opening a pdf on the mini 5 can take up to 10 seconds. Now patience is subjective, some people (young, old) have very high tolerance to lag... others don't.
I keep the mini 2 for legacy reasons (that is to use 32bit apps and games that no longer work after ios 11, I keep it on ios 10, and by the way with those old apps it's as fast as with ios 7). Ios 12 improved performance slightly compared to ios 9/10 (I compared it to an ipad air with the same specs and ios 12), but not by much. I wouldn't want to browse on the mini 2, it lags and sometimes can freeze because of that 1GB RAM... You'll be more than happy for your usage with the mini 4 (or air 2 if you want to get a larger screen for your movies and books with what is still a very compact and light device)
 
I have a 10.5" pro so don't t want an Air, I want a mini for the portability as some have said.

Exactly the type some have said, to read books, full size iPad's are too big for this.

I have Readily for magazines as well as PDFs, so want it for that as well.

The movie, Prime, Netflix, iTunes is extra for taking away. I don't want to take my Pro away, and wanted a much smaller iPad and one that if gets broke wouldn't be as bothered.

It's good to hear that the mini 4 still seems to stand up, and hopefully improves again with iOS 13.

Think I'll look for a mini 4 now. What price 2nd hand (UK) is decent?

Thanks
 
MrMister111 said:
I have a 10.5" pro so don't t want an Air, I want a mini for the portability as some have said.

Exactly the type some have said, to read books, full size iPad's are too big for this.

I have Readily for magazines as well as PDFs, so want it for that as well.

The movie, Prime, Netflix, iTunes is extra for taking away. I don't want to take my Pro away, and wanted a much smaller iPad and one that if gets broke wouldn't be as bothered.

It's good to hear that the mini 4 still seems to stand up, and hopefully improves again with iOS 13.

Think I'll look for a mini 4 now. What price 2nd hand (UK) is decent?

Thanks
Click to expand...
you mentioned the 12.9, that's why I mentioned the air 2, with the 10.5 it makes no sense of course. Good luck with you search!
 
Digitalguy said:
you mentioned the 12.9, that's why I mentioned the air 2, with the 10.5 it makes no sense of course. Good luck with you search!
Click to expand...

The 12.9 is 1st gen and wife just uses in house. Wouldn't take that out anywhere tbh it's huge!

10.5" isn't bad, but that's mine and the mini is to use for wife when away with me also for movies, her for books.
 
MrMister111 said:
I have a 10.5" pro so don't t want an Air, I want a mini for the portability as some have said.

Exactly the type some have said, to read books, full size iPad's are too big for this.

I have Readily for magazines as well as PDFs, so want it for that as well.

The movie, Prime, Netflix, iTunes is extra for taking away. I don't want to take my Pro away, and wanted a much smaller iPad and one that if gets broke wouldn't be as bothered.

It's good to hear that the mini 4 still seems to stand up, and hopefully improves again with iOS 13.

Think I'll look for a mini 4 now. What price 2nd hand (UK) is decent?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Yeah, go for the iPad Mini 4.
 
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