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iPad mini Returning my Mini today
- Thread starter Newtons Apple
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Max and mini is overkill in my opinion. Depends how comfortable you feel using a large phone as a media consumption device.
I use both, and I don’t think it’s overkill. The mini is a perfect sized tablet. Easy to type with two hands while holding it, comfortable in bed and on the couch, productive, and I can take it places easily.
Your literally describing the Max experience. If anything the Max having slightly larger text while browsing the Internet with the better screen and speakers makes me think a larger tablet would offer a better experience while at home as a companion device.
I find the Mini absolutely perfect for two-thumb typing in portrait mode. Even the XS Max is still a little too narrow for me to really type the same on.
I had owned larger iPads before, but the Mini was the first one that really clicked with me, and it was during a period when I was doing hours of train commuting daily. I was able to get so much work done, even while standing up on the train, just because the Mini was so light and so comfortable for touch typing on.
The Xs max or iPhone in general is not a great device for viewing web content.
I have both the Xs Max and the Mini 5 and don't think it's overkill at all. The Max I only use out and about when I need to quickly bring out my phone to look for something. I don't enjoy typing on the iPhone no matter how big it seems as every time I type a message I'm bound to touch the wrong letter (even with tiny hands/fingers). The mini is perfect for typing and sooooo fast. It's my absolute favorite.
No, I’m not. The max is more narrow and has less screen real estate than the mini. The better screen and speakers has no additional benefit over the larger screen of the mini, imo. To say the max is a better tablet experience than the mini is silly.
And on the 14th day I returned the Mini. Not to discourage anyone else, it’s a fantastic device, but I just couldn’t find enough justification to replace my 10.5” Pro with it for my usage and I’m not ready for multiple iPad ownership.
I feel like they should’ve matched the 2018 iPad specs and made this thing a $299 iPad. I don’t want that or what they actually made but would gladly pay $599 or more for a Mini Pro with more screen in the same size body.
I feel like they should’ve matched the 2018 iPad specs and made this thing a $299 iPad. I don’t want that or what they actually made but would gladly pay $599 or more for a Mini Pro with more screen in the same size body.
Just sold my 12.9 3rd gen. best media consumption device hands down but that was it for me. Too big to play any games that required dexterity. Now have the mini and it’s perfect to do anything.most of all how important portability is for me. I travel a lot and it’s nice to bring something this small that’s so easy to carry with me all the time.
The thought pondered my head, however I decided to keep both since I do note taking every single day for math. I can do it on the mini, and it is fine, but the incredibly large canvas of the pro is too good. Albeit, the pro literally stays on my desk. The mini goes with my everywhere!
Kudos to you if you can justify having both at once. For me no matter how many version iPads I have, they all have the same purpose. It’s definitely not worth it for me to own multiple iPads at once. The only time I used the 12.9 on a desk is at work which was a good chunk of my usage. That being said, I don’t like sitting at my desk at home. I’d like to relax. I didn’t get an iPad just so that I can sit at my desk at home. The whole point is I can laze around on my couch or bed. It’s why my laptop is collecting dust.
I also travel a lot and while I’m very careful with my electronics, I’m worried I’d bend the pro 12.9. Going for the mini ultimately was the best choice for my overall usage.
I’d love a 12.9 + Mini combo but don’t want too much device overlap/redundancy so a 12.9 would have to replace my MBP. I don’t have overly complex needs but Excel and managing files in Onedrive are crucial so iPads aren’t quite there yet in my mind. Will stick with the happy medium 10.5” + MBP for now.
When I want something and can afford it, the question I ask myself is if I couldn't afford it would I still buy it. Alistair Cooke, the renowned journalist and broadcaster, who was born in 1908, once remarked that he was raised to respect the notion that you should never let your wants exceed your needs. It is a cultural attitude that has for the most part fallen into disuse. Nevertheless, I strongly suspect that we all would be a lot happier if it made a comeback.
Disagree. At least personally, I am glad they didn’t do that.
I had been waiting for a new iPad Mini for years, and began to suspect that the Mini might have been quietly awaiting cancellation. And by extension, I had started losing interest in iPads altogether, because I’m just not as interested in the larger ones. It would have been pretty disappointing for them to revive the Mini after four years of languishing just to deliberately give it outmoded specs once again, as they did with the Mini 3 and Mini 4 previously.
I say let the 9.7” continue to be the cheap entry iPad. It seems to be of the “average” size for people largely indifferent and who just want a nonspecific iPad. The Mini has fans who specifically seek it out for its size and who also want it to be fast and powerful, myself included.
Having said all that, I would be interested in a theoretical Mini Pro with a design that mirrors the 3rd generation Pros, along with 120hz refresh, USB-C, 4-6GB of RAM, etc.
As someone who has been on the Mini train since the first one in 2012, I view the 5 as disappointing and think it misses both primary markets the Mini is supposedly best for. For all the talk about Mini’s in business uses such as POS systems, waiters, doc lab coat pockets, etc, they don’t need such a beefed up and expensive Mini. Same for parents buying for kids. For these groups a more modest update, say to A11 with 3GB and pencil support, would be perfect and could probably be priced at $250 or so. As a side benefit, people like me might not feel so guilty buying one as a supplemental iPad for specific uses like reading books where the Mini excels.
Another group to which you admitted being part of is those of us who would like to see a full screen Mini Pro. That would be close to 9” of screen and I’d gladly daily drive that and so could justify paying more than $399 for it. So yeah, I personally find it disappointing that they wrapped those great specs in a 2015 housing which was largely a 2012 housing with the same 7.9” screen size when the rest of the iPad lineup has evolved so much since then.
I guess in that case they could have kept the Mini 4 around simultaneously and slashed the price to $250, maybe dropped the storage down to 64GB, and keep it around for the low-end-but-specialized users like restaurants and retailers who use them for singular tasks, or people who just want one for books and nothing more (in which case an e-ink reader would be a better purchase, in my opinion).
I guess in part I’m happy because the Mini 5 hits a lot of points I wanted in finally upgrading from my Mini 2, and although it keeps almost the same external design it debuted with way back in 2012, it isn’t an underwhelming upgrade in terms of performance. Plus, since the Mini tends to not receive yearly updates, not putting the latest SoC in it would hamper it further in the next couple years if that remains the situation.
And while I like the idea of a Mini Pro, given everything it entails I could see it being a device with a $700 entry point. I kind of like the fact that the Mini 5 is a powerful enough tablet yet still relatively affordable.
Also, as an aside, if I were designing a Mini Pro, I’d keep the same 7.9 screen size and trim the bezels off to match the current 3rd-gen Pros. The current screen size feels just right. I like tablet-y tablets.
Not the Mini 4. I reckon the reason Apple kept it at $399/128GB is because the cost of the laminated display wouldn't give them their desired margins if it had a lower base model price. Out of warranty replacement cost for the Mini 4 costs more than OOW replacement for the basic 9.7" iPads.
Remember, when the Mini 4 was released, it was $399 which was the same price as the Air 2 at the time. A 326ppi iPad Pro Mini could very well cost the same $799 as the iPad Pro 11.
Same here. Five years ago I tried a mini, but thought its display was too small to be truly useful, and set about buying one of every iPad & pro in every size since then. And yet, since any iPhone is still too small to do decent drawing, notation, & spreadsheet work on, I found myself dragging around a phone plus an iPad, which meant that 9 times out of 10, the big iPad wouldn’t actually be with me, but in the car, or at home because the big iPad requires a free hand to carry around and thought to remember. ...which meant I always had a thousand dollar iPad Pro sitting somewhere not getting used, while I’m fumbling around looking at spreadsheets and drawings in a phone. Before long, the value of the compromise size of the mini became apparent. It’s just barely big enough to do quality work on in a pinch, and just barely small enough to fit in a clothes pocket and actually be mobile with you. Getting a $3 Skype number for it immediately made the phone an unused redundancy, and let me tell you how disappointing it was to say goodbye to a big cellphone bill every month...
If two mini’s could be joined side by side and run as one, via a magnetic hinge, like a clamshell configuration, this would be the device to end all devices.
Even with the 12.9 inch iPad Pro, it feels to small for spreadsheet task. I have the iPad mini 1 to iPad mini 4. Ever since the 12.9 inch iPad Pro came out, I ditched the mini for good.
Interesting. I use both the third gen 12.9 pro and the fifth gen mini. The pro stays on my desk and is used for mathematical calculations and notes, and the mini goes with me to school or wherever I go to hangout. I adore both of them, but the mini may be my favorite. It’s so adorable.