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nStyle

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 6, 2009
1,488
987
Just curious.

I bought the Mini, returned it, and sold my 3 for a 4. I miss the Mini. Just don't know if its crazy or not. I don't know if I could truly justify both, but I don't know if I can resist.
 

jjk454ss

macrumors 601
Jul 10, 2008
4,480
500
Bought a mini and upgraded my 3 to a 4. Ended up returning the 4. I like using the mini so much better. Of course it just my preference, everyone is going to have there own preference.
 

Ayemerica

macrumors 65816
Oct 18, 2011
1,058
157
Atlantis but in space
I had the 3 for the first week with the mini than decided to pass the 3 down to my mother.

I love the footprint of the mini over the footprint of the full sized ipad, i am sure apple will be thinning the bezel for the iPad 5 and i'll probably pick that up when it happens or if it happens.
 

firedept

macrumors 603
Jul 8, 2011
6,277
1,130
Somewhere!
Have both the 4 & mini. 4 is for my use in web development. Mini is for my wife & children, plus for movies & music during travel. Both are great and have their purposes. I would not own both if I could not write them off as business expenses.
 

saberahul

macrumors 68040
Nov 6, 2008
3,645
111
USA
Having both is ridiculous, IMO.

I agree. At least for my uses, the iPhone 5 acts well as a to-go device for online usage and phone calls and text messaging. iPad on the other hand acts as a very portable computer good for reading documents and storing PDF's. The iPad mini performs the same reasons as the iPad - so what is the use in having both? Unless you keep the mini as a bathroom only device, I see no reason to have it if you already have an iPad.
 

OdT22

macrumors 6502
Oct 28, 2012
286
404
I have both and I agree. I feel like I might be jump ship on one. Ugh.

We bought two minis on the preorder and have been using them heavily ever since delivery. But last Thursday I couldn't quit being curious about the 4. So after work, I picked one up to try.

She says I'm nuts, but I asked her to list my mini for sale tonight. So long... It was a fun 3 weeks. She's still clinging to hers.

The main reason, is aiming my thumbs accurately. Probably easier for her, understandably.

In the end I really like both units. But I learned that I can operate the 4 with less needed corrections.

Gonna miss that lightweight size.
 

FrozenDarkness

macrumors 68000
Mar 21, 2009
1,723
964
We bought two minis on the preorder and have been using them heavily ever since delivery. But last Thursday I couldn't quit being curious about the 4. So after work, I picked one up to try.

She says I'm nuts, but I asked her to list my mini for sale tonight. So long... It was a fun 3 weeks. She's still clinging to hers.

The main reason, is aiming my thumbs accurately. Probably easier for her, understandably.

In the end I really like both units. But I learned that I can operate the 4 with less needed corrections.

Gonna miss that lightweight size.
bro you can still return it
 

akdj

macrumors 65816
Mar 10, 2008
1,186
86
62.88°N/-151.28°W
I'll buck the trend. I own a '4' and a mini...we also have a pair of 3s, specifically for our business. My wife's daily driver is the iPad 2--we've handed the original iPad down to our son. I like having both the big iPad and the mini--I honestly DO use both and for completely different situations. The iPad 4 is my morning newspaper with Early Edition and it goes with me to the studio in the morning. The mini is excellent for reading in bed, lounging, or on road trips to our cabin. The ONLY reason I bought the 'mini' was because I had shoulder surgery. Rotator cuff, SLAP repair (labrum) and a SAD (sub-acromial decompression). Pretty extensive surgery and it made it impossible to hold the 'big' iPad those first couple weeks (surgery was almost six weeks ago)

I love the mini. I bought it at Best Buy as I've got sixty days to return it. That was my plan all along as I bought it on launch day so I've got til the beginning of the year to return. It's not going back. Ever! I'm using them both constantly.

We may represent a different and niche situation as we run a mobile audio and video production business. We are out doing 125 events over the course of the year. The iPad has transformed our business. From client contracts to music for wedding ceremonies. Redundancy for live shows and a backup to the main rig, slide shows and recording bands. We are also getting ready to buy into Mackie's new love mixing rig. So we aren't just buying iPads to have them around the house. We do use them a lot.

I do see different purposes for the mini vs the larger iPad, especially with the A6 update. Much easier and quicker to edit on both GarageBand and iMovie...fast app switching and no delay in our primary music playback program dJay when loading tracks from the library to the decks. The power in the iPad 4 is amazing in comparison to the '3's we have. Just seems effortless in all tasks. I'm considering sell the pair of 3s and grab another couple of the 4s as the Mackie rig will allow mixing on up to 8 iPads simultaneously. 8 tracks per iPad and another to mix live from anywhere in the venue. It's an incredible way to set up sound.

Business aside, I can see the allure of having both. Even in 'just' an individual or family situation. The mini is much more of a media consumption device for me. Surfing, email, casual gaming, media, and FB. Easy to carry, able to run every current app, convenient, light weight, discrete, et al. The iPad 4, IMHO is starting to really come into it's own (for us and our situation) as a 'creation' device. It's just as powerful as laptops only a couple years old...but with much faster data access and an incredible amount of awesome software.

Sorry. Didn't mean to go on like that. But if you're a budding photographer, dabbling in video, enjoy painting or drawing...even coding, writing a book, checking wifi networks, the list goes on...but in these situations I can very much see the justification of owning each.

I didn't know I needed the iPad. Never dreamt of such a device pre 2010. However, since owning the first one I've made it a cornerstone in my life. As well, the integration with the iPad, iPhone and our Macs is unreal. iCloud works great for what we are doing!

Jer
 

JS3

macrumors regular
Apr 15, 2010
203
1
I have a iPad 1st to 4th gen and just got the mini. Plus a MacBook Pro and Mac mini. Looking into a new iMac.
 

christophermdia

macrumors 6502a
Sep 28, 2008
829
235
I had a 4, my wife has a 3, after using the mini, I took my 4 back, no need to keep it as I just don't know why I would ever use it. I bought my wife a mini for Xmas and will keep the 3 as a house iPad, however, it will probably collect dust. I even got our 3 year old a wifi Mini for Xmas so I could load all his movies and games. People complain about resolution, but size beats all other factors. I absolutely love mine.
 

puma1552

Suspended
Nov 20, 2008
5,559
1,947
Luckily people don't make purchasing decisions based on your opinion.

Yet here is this very thread.:rolleyes:

Redundancy extraordinaire.

It's hard enough for the majority of the public to see a place for the original iPad, let alone two that are less than 2" apart in size. I stand by my comment that having both is just fanboyism for the sake of fanboyism. Justify it however you want, but there isn't a person alive who needs both and you are lying to yourself if you think you need two.

Want is another story, but then it's just wasting money for utter redundancy.
 

akdj

macrumors 65816
Mar 10, 2008
1,186
86
62.88°N/-151.28°W
Yet here is this very thread.:rolleyes:

Redundancy extraordinaire.

It's hard enough for the majority of the public to see a place for the original iPad, let alone two that are less than 2" apart in size. I stand by my comment that having both is just fanboyism for the sake of fanboyism. Justify it however you want, but there isn't a person alive who needs both and you are lying to yourself if you think you need two.

Want is another story, but then it's just wasting money for utter redundancy.

What a goof!
 

IbisDoc

macrumors 6502a
Apr 17, 2010
527
371
I have both. Use the 4 every day, LOVE the retina display. The mini was a nice novelty for about a week, but given its obsolete display and processor, it's not used much anymore. In fact, its only use now is as a nightstand display for my iBaby monitor. So it's not completely worthless.
 

TheSpeaker

macrumors member
Nov 30, 2012
47
0
Having both is ridiculous, IMO.

I own two 4s, and two Minis. It's not ridiculous at all actually. One four stays in my pack for road travel. The other at my desk for Netflix/Plex/Hulu watching, and both for transcon flights (I like to game and watch movies at the same time).

One mini is for secondary travel and or for my Tesla and one controls my home automation and theater.

Again, not ridiculous at all for my needs.
 

davideotape

macrumors 6502a
Nov 16, 2012
530
144
I own two 4s, and two Minis. It's not ridiculous at all actually. One four stays in my pack for road travel. The other at my desk for Netflix/Plex/Hulu watching, and both for transcon flights (I like to game and watch movies at the same time).

One mini is for secondary travel and or for my Tesla and one controls my home automation and theater.

Again, not ridiculous at all for my needs.

Don't take this the wrong way... But that does seems bit... Ridiculous.

You know these things are portable right? They can move from a travel bag to a desk in mere seconds.
 

TheSpeaker

macrumors member
Nov 30, 2012
47
0
Don't take this the wrong way... But that does seems bit... Ridiculous.

You know these things are portable right? They can move from a travel bag to a desk in mere seconds.

Maybe, but they're capacities are for different purposes. My travel 4 is always full of movies and tv shows for instance, my desk one is for streaming and full of games/other apps, my car mini stays in there, and my backup mini has work-related projects and stuff on it.

So having them all for different purposes saves me having to spend time syncing and resynching for their uses.
 
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