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iPad mini Original ipad mini any good?

N

Necross

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 31, 2011
131
33
So, my job gave all of us iPad minis today as an xmas gift. It's the original 16 gb kind. They said we can go to an apple store and exchange it for something else if we want a bigger one, so I thought about exchanging it for the 16 gb Mini 3, but I'll have to cough up $150, which I don't really have to spare. So before I rip open the shrinkwrap and make it unexchangeable, is the original mini any good if I crack it open and upgrade it to the latest OS right off the bat? Or will it be really slow?

I'm mostly just going to be using it for surfing the web on the sofa and occasional games if I'm stuck in a waiting room, nothing too hard core.
 
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Necross said:
So, my job gave all of us iPad minis today as an xmas gift. It's the original 16 gb kind. They said we can go to an apple store and exchange it for something else if we want a bigger one, so I thought about exchanging it for the 16 gb Mini 3, but I'll have to cough up $150, which I don't really have to spare. So before I rip open the shrinkwrap and make it unexchangeable, is the original mini any good if I crack it open and upgrade it to the latest OS right off the bat? Or will it be really slow?

I'm mostly just going to be using it for surfing the web on the sofa and occasional games if I'm stuck in a waiting room, nothing too hard core.
Click to expand...

My wife still loves hers. I can't even get her to upgrade...
Basically, it's got some newer features like motion coprocessor and touch ID plus a higher resolution display and better camera features but the older mini is still very well supported and for what you describe, I wouldn't spend extra cash, personally.
 
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I can't say for sure because I sold my mini before the second generation was even released. But I say putting the latest OS may not be a good idea. Again, I can't confirm it, but I believe the first mini on iOS8 would probably be slow (maybe not slow slow if you remember dial up internet, but its noticeably slow since it utilizes iPad 2 hardware - which I believe is struggling on the latest OS). My fear would be if it is prone to crashes. I still have my iPad1 that is specifically for streaming purposes. It sometimes crashes because of the low ram, but I deal.

But again, if you aren't used to iOS being fast, the slowness probably won't be an issue, if things start crashing, you may be a bit more frustrated. Id wait to see what users actually using it have to say, but if you don't have the money to exchange it, then do you really have any other choice?

I personally would try to exchange it. I love the touch ID and retina screens, so Ive been spoiled :eek:
 
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Exchange it for a Mini 2. The Mini 1 was so bogged down with iOS7, I traded mine in on a Mini 2 the day the price went down last fall, and I have ZERO regrets. No way I'd have updated it to iOS 8, not with the problems it had with a clean, setup-as-new install of 7.1.2. Even stupid little addictive games like Candy Crush were enough to crash it, or bog down with incredibly slow animations.

The Mini 2 is an excellent device even on 8.1.2. Touch ID would be nice, but it's not worth the extra $100, and that's the only advantage of the 3 over the 2.
 
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Exchange it for an Apple Gift Card then purchase at least an iPad mini 2 when funds are available. Get anything 2013 and up!

Refurbished iPad mini 2 goes for $249 or the iPad Air for $339.
 
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Return for gift card. Go to refurb.me and snag a mini 2

My wife has mini 1 on ios6 and I have mini 2 on iOS 7.


Mini v1 has se hardware as iPad 2. Mini 2 has same hardware as original air.


I suggest return it and if u can't afford one now wait
 
I concur on exchanging for the Mini 2. Performance increase aside, the retina display is worth the upgrade. The only noticeable difference with the 3 would be TouchID.
 
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OK thanks for the input. Maybe I'll go for #2 then. Is that really the only difference? the 3 doesn't have a faster processor or memory or anything? I don't care about the touch id really.. Like I said I'm mostly just gonna be using it for sofa surfing
 
Necross said:
OK thanks for the input. Maybe I'll go for #2 then. Is that really the only difference? the 3 doesn't have a faster processor or memory or anything? I don't care about the touch id really.. Like I said I'm mostly just gonna be using it for sofa surfing
Click to expand...

Touch ID and available in gold. That's all. No change in screen, processor, or RAM. You can search the threads around here to read the massive outrage we Mini owners all went through when the announcement came out.
 
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I personally wouldn't buy one as there are better tablets on the market but free always trumps complaints.
 
Wow that stinks. I'll definitely go for a Mini 2 then. So, did they do that with the big ipads too? Are the guts of the Air the same as Air 2? if so I might spring for a bigger screen then.
 
The specs of the Air 1 are similar to those of the mini 2. They're both great tablets; the mini 2 is cheaper and more compact while the Air 1 has a larger screen. The Air 2 is the cutting edge Apple tablet.
 
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At my previous work I used iPad 2 and the first iPad with retina, as well as first mini.

Back then OS demands were similar on all three devices. I found the retina iPad much heavier... First mini was great. So portable I actually used it much more.

I knew for home use mini would be, and bought my wife for birthday. I knew at some point I'd have a mini and did not care that much for retina vs first gen mini... But I was concerned about the CPU speed.

I think to future proof yourself you mini2 is the way to go. I'm still hesitant on upgrading to iOS 8 as I want to know the new release is ok.

For my use regular size iPad does not have the portability I need.


At the end... Refurb from Apple has brand new battery and same warranty (1 year) as new.

Actually my wife's was a refurb and it was a fluke. I returned it to apple store (and I bought few different refurb products before all good) and because it was few dats after purchase I received new retail replacement.

For myself I wanted cellular iPad mainly for the GPS, and pricing was too much for me, and stumbled upon great clearance deal at local micro center store,


iPad mini 2 cellular 64gb for $329.
I would have been happy with 32 as that's the size if my phone.


Return the mini1. Get Apple store ( not iTunes App Store) credit and buy mini2 when you can.

Mini2 vs mini3 is touch I'd plus optional gold color.

Hope this helps.
 
My original Mini runs fine on iOS 8 - clean install mind you. I don't do much gaming, just browsing, news, email, video, comics (comixology and dark horse), kindle. If you want to play the latest games then switch it. If you just want an everyday tablet it's perfectly fine. It was free, after all, so....
 
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Recently bought a original mini, instaled ios8 during firt night and it works great. It snappy and fluid, we (family) use it for web, gaming (SimCityBuildit...), kid games and drawing, and as a general lite computer. It is a second iPad bought in my family, first gen 32gb stil going strong now at my mothers for kid pictuers shared via icloud and some email and web browsing. (shame it wont run ios7)

Original mini is really good enough, and it is up-to-date (unlike 1gen ipad) feature wise, if you tur off some visual effects it will run even beter.

Issues: some times safari reloads pages in background, and Sim will not load as fast as it would on mini3 for shure.

Reason for buying, we wanted to save some money and still get a newer iPad, so with a saving of obout 150 euro purchased an original mini.

Long term plan is to eventually replace our old original iPad with this one for my mother, and get a new Air. But to be honest I dont see this happening until 2016/2017.
 
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I still have my original iPad mini (though mainly I'm not upgrading because of the idea of ipad pro.)
If you don't have the cash I would recommend to either keep it or at least upgrade to iPad mini 2.
 
RickTaylor said:
The specs of the Air 1 are similar to those of the mini 2. They're both great tablets; the mini 2 is cheaper and more compact while the Air 1 has a larger screen. The Air 2 is the cutting edge Apple tablet.
Click to expand...

I would also go with turning for credit toward a Mini2. Touch ID doesn't prove a whole lot with the Mini 3 in my opinion, and the 2 is a lot less expensive, especially if you get a refurb from Apple. The original Mini is basically the same generation technology as the iPhone 4S, which means it may run iOS 8 but slowly, and probably won't run 9, which may mean that you're going to miss out on app upgrades or new apps that need the current iOS version. My iPod Touch is running 7.1.2 and there are app versions and new apps that I would like to be able to install but can't.
 
Thanks.. I’ll go for the mini 2. one more question, is 16 gb enough? should I spring for more space? I don’t expect to be recording video or taking pics really, but will there be a good amt of space left for apps after the OS is updated?
 
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I think that depends on your usage.

Here is my history
iPhone 3GS 8
iPhone 4 16
iPhone 5s 32 - I have some apps and music and few photos and videos from camera. 8 FB free

My iPad 2 mini is 64. I'd be comfortable with 32, and 16 would be hard but doable. I scored 64 for a steal of a price $329 plus tax for the cellular flavor on clearance.
 
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It's personal but I find 32gb just a little snug after installing a reasonable number of apps and some music and video. If you're not storing videos on the iPad and/or not storing a lot of music, 16 might be OK...or it might require you to do a fair bit of content "management" (i.e., moving stuff on and off).
 
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Necross said:
Thanks.. I’ll go for the mini 2. one more question, is 16 gb enough? should I spring for more space? I don’t expect to be recording video or taking pics really, but will there be a good amt of space left for apps after the OS is updated?
Click to expand...

For apps, yes. I have 62 apps currently on a 16GB, and have close to 5 GB left.

BUT--

I have no videos or music loaded onto this device. EVER. If I want to watch or listen to something, I stream it.

So it's all in what you want to use it for. If you want to be able to carry around several movies that you can watch without connectivity, a hefty music catalog you've ripped from CDs, 10 years' worth of high res pictures, or a season or two of The Walking Dead, you probably won't be happy with a 16GB device. If, like me, you use other devices for that sort of thing, 16 GB will probably be fine.

(The current OS takes up around 4 GB of the 16, leaving me 12 GB for anything I personally want to load onto it.)
 
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I'm using a first generation iPad mini right now to write this post. It has been a great device for the two years that I have owned it, however I wouldn't buy one now. It has just slowed down so much. I can't decide if it's iOS 8 or that I'm using a few more power hungry apps that didn't exist when the A5 processor was developed. Probably a mixture of both since iOS 8 was designed with the A7 and A8 processors in mind.

The best option for an iPad mini right now is, as others have said, the iPad mini 2. The only thing it's lacking over the newest generation is Touch ID and the gold colour option. Neither of which are worth the extra money between generations.
 
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