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iPad mini vs iPad - a realist look at things. iPad mini is better than you think

A

AnthonySager

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 27, 2010
76
15
For those who think the iPad mini is just a small iPad 2 your highly mistaken. It is really an iPad 4th gen shrunken down minus A6x and Retina.

It has the exact same camera front and back as iPad 4. Same wireless options. Same battery. Same graphics processor.

We do not know about the ram. Prob going to be 1gb which would be the exact same.

What people are failing to recognize is that the X in A6x is required only for retina. Having had every iPad I will say when going back to my iPad 2 most apps were speedier due to the amount of graphics calc need to push the display on the iPad 3. Honestly, 163ppi is good enough for me. Think about it. You never would notice 1080p vs 720p vs 4k on a 32in TV so why would it be different on a 7.9in screen? All impressions so far love the screen.

Everything about the mini being an ipad 2 would be mute if the iPad 4th gen never was.
 
AnthonySager said:
For those who think the iPad mini is just a small iPad 2 your highly mistaken. It is really an iPad 4th gen shrunken down minus A6x and Retina.

It has the exact same camera front and back as iPad 4. Same wireless options. Same battery. Same graphics processor.

We do not know about the ram. Prob going to be 1gb which would be the exact same.

What people are failing to recognize is that the X in A6x is required only for retina. Having had every iPad I will say when going back to my iPad 2 most apps were speedier due to the amount of graphics calc need to push the display on the iPad 3. Honestly, 163ppi is good enough for me. Think about it. You never would notice 1080p vs 720p vs 4k on a 32in TV so why would it be different on a 7.9in screen? All impressions so far love the screen.

Everything about the mini being an ipad 2 would be mute if the iPad 4th gen never was.
Click to expand...


I'm a fan with the mini, and I agree with you in principal. That said, I think you are underselling the difference between the A6X process and the normal dual core A5 processor. Yes, the Retina screen needs extra punch in the processor to push all those pixels, but I do think there is a wider performance gap than you are accounting for. Also, I wasn't aware that the two shared the same graphics processor. Are you sure about that?

Lastly, I really hope the mini has 1Gb of RAM as you seem to think it will, but I'm thinking they will go with 512Mb of RAM like the iPad 2 has. Think about it, this thing for most part is identical to the iPad 2 internally. I very much hope to be proven wrong here.
 
The A6x is still a dual core processor just quad core for graphics.

Both A6x and A5 are 1gb and both use the exact same graphics chipset.
 
AnthonySager said:
The A6x is still a dual core processor just quad core for graphics.

Both A6x and A5 are 1gb and both use the exact same graphics chipset.
Click to expand...

no your grossly misinformed. the A6 is dramatically different for both graphics and cpu then the A5 I still think the mini is good tho. remember the A5X was powerful enough for the iPad 3 as well as the iPad2 and iPhone 4S. so its not THAT slow. Maybe thats what you meant?

----------
AnthonySager said:
The A6x is still a dual core processor just quad core for graphics.

Both A6x and A5 are 1gb and both use the exact same graphics chipset.
Click to expand...

yes dual core but the A6 is DOUBLE as fast as A5. actually more then double.
 
CrAkD said:
no your grossly misinformed. the A6 is dramatically different for both graphics and cpu then the A5 I still think the mini is good tho. remember the A5X was powerful enough for the iPad 3 as well as the iPad2 and iPhone 4S. so its not THAT slow. Maybe thats what you meant?

----------



yes dual core but the A6 is DOUBLE as fast as A5. actually more then double.
Click to expand...

I agree. They are different. But according to Ars the A5 and A5x are identical in CPU tests. It's the graphics that are different. Which leads to my point how if we never knew of the iPad 4 we wouldn't be having this discussion and people wouldn't act all 'cheated'.

The A6 is an evolution. Much like sandy bridge to ivy bridge in intel terms. Going to be fast enough for almost everyone.
 
I'm hoping for 1Gb of RAM, but fully expecting them to duplicate the iPad 2 onboard RAM of 512 Mb. Hoping I'm wrong, but not betting on it :mad:

I'm still most likely going to buy it though, as I know two things:

1) It will work just fine if it comes with 512 Mb of RAM.
2) I would upgrade to a newer version long before the 512 Mb of RAM were to become a real issue in performance.
 
AnthonySager said:
The A6x is still a dual core processor just quad core for graphics.

Both A6x and A5 are 1gb and both use the exact same graphics chipset.
Click to expand...

Has information on the A6x come out? How does anybody know its the same graphics chip?

CrAkD said:
no your grossly misinformed. the A6 is dramatically different for both graphics and cpu then the A5 I still think the mini is good tho. remember the A5X was powerful enough for the iPad 3 as well as the iPad2 and iPhone 4S. so its not THAT slow. Maybe thats what you meant?
Click to expand...

The A5 is also plenty for the new iPod touch
 
AnthonySager said:
For those who think the iPad mini is just a small iPad 2 your highly mistaken. It is really an iPad 4th gen shrunken down minus A6x and Retina.

It has the exact same camera front and back as iPad 4. Same wireless options. Same battery. Same graphics processor.

We do not know about the ram. Prob going to be 1gb which would be the exact same.

What people are failing to recognize is that the X in A6x is required only for retina. Having had every iPad I will say when going back to my iPad 2 most apps were speedier due to the amount of graphics calc need to push the display on the iPad 3. Honestly, 163ppi is good enough for me. Think about it. You never would notice 1080p vs 720p vs 4k on a 32in TV so why would it be different on a 7.9in screen? All impressions so far love the screen.

Everything about the mini being an ipad 2 would be mute if the iPad 4th gen never was.
Click to expand...

163ppi is the same as the iPhone 3GS. Don't tell me that you can't spot any difference between the 3GS's screen (163ppi) and the new iPad or the retina MBP's screen (~264 ppi).
 
163ppi is more than the iPad 2 at the same resolution. iPad has a way better screen than the iPhone 3G
 
We have to realize also in the post pc era there is going to be everyday and pro. MacBook vs MacBook Pro. The complete ipad lineup demonstrates this.

Mini=air
Ipad 2=MacBook pro
Ipad 4=retina MacBooks
 
haruhiko said:
163ppi is the same as the iPhone 3GS. Don't tell me that you can't spot any difference between the 3GS's screen (163ppi) and the new iPad or the retina MBP's screen (~264 ppi).
Click to expand...

Wow..............Didn't read anything bad about the screen though...if true.....

mind-blown-2.gif
 
AnthonySager said:
The A6x is still a dual core processor just quad core for graphics.

Both A6x and A5 are 1gb and both use the exact same graphics chipset.
Click to expand...

Wrong.
A5 is 512mb - Ipad 2/Ipad 3 Processor
A5X is 1Gb - Ipad 3 Processor

Apple didnt even put the A5X in the Mini.
 
Well you can't listen to the whiners. They have adverse reactions every Apple product launch. Change is tough. The unknown is scary.

But they usually come around quite a bit when they get their hands on the product.

This is a nice product. Apple most of the time doesn't release dog sht. You would never know that if you read this forum the day of an Apple product launch.
 
I remember checking out the iPad 2 when it was brand new and being disappointed with the mediocre photo and text quality. Why would I want to buy a smaller version of that?
 
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