All iPads Talk Me Down from Going Mini to 12.9

[Surfsalot]

20% brighter has to be better, 11" is the perfect size imo, have had the mini 6 and 12.9" iPads.
Had 2018 11" for 2 years then the M1 12.9" for 1 year, tried a mini then went back to the M1 11" for the last year.
Black bars on the 12.9 for video are HUGE too, 11" is a better ratio even though bit smaller.
I only use iPads with the smart folio so keeps them small/light, 11" is easy to hold one handed.

 

[okkibs]

Anyone actually notice the outdoors brightness being better? (500 to 600 nitz)

500 nits is a bit too dark outdoors for me. But 600 does not make a huge difference. What really makes a difference is the 800-950 nits of my Macbook outdoors, that is really something else. Compared to that the iPad Pro brightness is still too low on a hot summer day. In my opinion the 600 nits alone does not justify paying the premium for the Pro. I'd still prefer the 600 nits over 500 of course, so I am not saying the Pro should not come with the 600 nits brightness, it's an improvement, even if it's small.

In any case, the M1 11" Pro refurb pricing is decent and performance is outstanding with 8GiB of RAM that come with the M1, meaning apps will remain open in the background indefinitely and never have to reload. If I were to get just a single iPad overall the best for me would be that refurb 11" where you get the most display real estate and performance for the money. Just don't expect the 600 nits to be that much brigher outdoors.

Would I buy that Pro if I already had the Mini? Only if I sold the Mini and used the Pro as my exclusive main device every single day, otherwise I'd find the Pro to be too expensive "just as a gadget". Since you are looking to replace the Mini entirely, I think that Pro would be a good choice. I am currently not buying one because I am waiting for a better brighter screen on the 11" hopefully with this year's M3 upgrade. It's still months away though and there aren't any promises that the screen will change.

 

[culo77]

Thank you for your insight Okkibs. This helps a lot as I do use my devices outside about half the time.

 

[teh_hunterer]

Black bars on the 12.9 for video are HUGE too, 11" is a better ratio even though bit smaller.
I only use iPads with the smart folio so keeps them small/light, 11" is easy to hold one handed.

They're so big it's comical. You really need to experience it to understand. It's the main reason I returned mine in the end.

A 12" iPad Pro with the aspect ratio of the 11" would be a much more compelling device to me than the current 12.9".

 

[Digitalguy]

They're so big it's comical. You really need to experience it to understand. It's the main reason I returned mine in the end.

A 12" iPad Pro with the aspect ratio of the 11" would be a much more compelling device to me than the current 12.9".

instead I am absolutely not bothered in the slightest by larger black bars, what matters to me is how big the video is, and the squarer ratio is a plus in portrait mode

 

[okkibs]

Outside the single best and most portable device currently on the market for working in the shade on extremely bright summer days is the 14" MBP with the 1000 nits display with a third party app to unlock the brightness for all apps. It gives a maximum battery life of 4.5 hours (with a power bank you can double it), but I can see the screen clear and bright with my 10% VKT sunglasses on, basically the darkest sunglasses you can find.

That difference to all other Macs and and the iPads is staggering - but it's quite heavy, and if you do anything that's more intense than Office work you can pretty much cut the battery life down to 2-3 hours. Which is no longer all that practical.

 

[sparksd]

instead I am absolutely not bothered in the slightest by larger black bars, what matters to me is how big the video is, and the squarer ratio is a plus in portrait mode

Absolutely the same for me.

 

[pdxrevolution]

So it is a big fat capitol NO for changing to the 12.9 iPad!

I swung by the Apple Store and played around with it. That is one chunky beast. Because I mostly one hand my iPad, the 12.9 was just too heavy for that and even though the weight is balanced it felt top heavy in portrait. The screen is amazing and the extra real estate would be highly useful. For my particular iPad use it just too big for me.

Odd thing, I compared the UI text on the 12.9 to the 11, and it was the same. It wasn’t scaled bigger you just see more. Compared to the mini where it’s scaled down like an afterthought.

I ruled out the 12.9 quickly while I was there. I turned my attention to comparing my Mini to the 11. The 11 UI text is better and the one hand ability is still great. The refurb M1 is a good price, but don’t know if it’s worth difference from my mini. I would like if I changed to go with a Pro because the screen brightness on paper would seem better outdoors. Anyone actually notice the outdoors brightness being better? (500 to 600 nitz)

I think I'm someone who's kind of been in your shoes. I already wear contacts or glasses. I'm in my 40s. I've always loved tiny: iPhone mini, MacBook Air 11" (and PowerBook 12" before that), iPad mini, etc. And I just can't do it any longer, despite the fact that a device like the iPhone mini is larger than the original iPhone I gladly used. Moving to the regular iPhone size and the 11" iPad size has done wonders for me. I recently gave my 6th generation mini to my son because I found I was only using the 11" Air that I also have. (Caveat: I've never liked the 6th generation mini because of its non-contoured shape, at least compared to the prior minis.) I used to think the 11" iPad was just too big to read on or hold in bed to watch something, but I've really gotten used to its size, just as I've gotten used to the size (and weight) of my iPhone 14 Pro.

I've also owned a 12.9" iPad Pro, and I love it as a laptop replacement but not anything else. If you're going to pretend you can do real work on an iPad, the 12.9" screen makes a big difference when hooked up to a keyboard, especially for split view or Stage Manager. But when I want to be productive on my iPad, I just hook it up to a monitor, and therefore don't care about the screen size. So the 11" Air is the sweet spot for me. In terms of eye strain, the only other caveat I would throw in is that I can really tell the difference between Pro Motion and 60 Hz displays. My eyes get much less tired with the Pro Motion display of my iPhone 14 Pro, and the only way you get that on an iPad is the 12.9" Pro. But if Pro Motion doesn't matter to you, I'd really consider the 11" Air.

 

[Surfsalot]

Who watches video in portrait mode lol

 

[sparksd]

Who watches video in portrait mode lol

I don't believe in the least that the comment a few posts up meant watching landscape video in portrait mode.

 

[phrehdd]

If I were you I would go to a store that carries all 3 sizes you are interested in (and the AIR) and go to their email app and look. My guess is that you don't need a Pro or 12.9 to do what you want. A 11 Pro or any just below it should more than suffice.

 

[culo77]

Alrighty then, here is an update.

I found a deal on a 10th gen base iPad. I bought said iPad, set it up, used it for 2 days, then reset it to factory settings and just returned a bit ago.

That experiment didn't end well but was needed to show me the light. The bigger screen was nice and all, plus with adjustments some Apps/Content I could jack up the text size and it scale great without using glasses. Now the reasons I returned it is, not all apps/content text upsized and still needed to throw on my readers. It is a bit unwieldy holding in portrait for long stretches, missed my mini. The screen was a bit more glarey than the mini outside. I have a MBA M1 which to me for things I would still turn to it than the iPad, so as a second device, the mini for me is better. Now testing the size, I know now if I didn't have a MacBook Air I would most likely go 12.9 Pro. (I also could do a 11 pro and dock it to a screen when needing more screen real estate.)

Interesting experiment and funny to reflect how my use cases change over time and see how different things worked before and now don't but may work later. Crazy in 2018-2020 I was 90% iPad Base 9.7 usage with a second device of a ancient 2009 MBP, in 2021 a 80% MBA usage with a second device of iPad Base 9.7, to 2022-2023 a 50-50% of the iPad mini and MBA.

Live and Learn

 

[Pezimak]

Alrighty then, here is an update.

I found a deal on a 10th gen base iPad. I bought said iPad, set it up, used it for 2 days, then reset it to factory settings and just returned a bit ago.

That experiment didn't end well but was needed to show me the light. The bigger screen was nice and all, plus with adjustments some Apps/Content I could jack up the text size and it scale great without using glasses. Now the reasons I returned it is, not all apps/content text upsized and still needed to throw on my readers. It is a bit unwieldy holding in portrait for long stretches, missed my mini. The screen was a bit more glarey than the mini outside. I have a MBA M1 which to me for things I would still turn to it than the iPad, so as a second device, the mini for me is better. Now testing the size, I know now if I didn't have a MacBook Air I would most likely go 12.9 Pro. (I also could do a 11 pro and dock it to a screen when needing more screen real estate.)

Interesting experiment and funny to reflect how my use cases change over time and see how different things worked before and now don't but may work later. Crazy in 2018-2020 I was 90% iPad Base 9.7 usage with a second device of a ancient 2009 MBP, in 2021 a 80% MBA usage with a second device of iPad Base 9.7, to 2022-2023 a 50-50% of the iPad mini and MBA.

Live and Learn

Always the best way to do it. I see many people ask these questions, but every single person is different, all have different needs. I have an 11” M1 myself, and a 6.1” iPhone Pro. I extensively looked at all the different sizes and those were best for me.

 

[The Game 161]

12.9 is one great device and is superior in every area aside from portability. it is certainly big though and not a use case for everywhere. if you use it just at home it's obviously fine and its king for media content.

 

[erasr]

Who watches video in portrait mode lol

Just an entire younger generation, that’s all.

Why do you think all these YouTube Shorts, Insta Reels and TikToks are portrait videos?

🤦🏻‍♂️

Blimey. Did you not know that?