We said. I think the mini is far better then the entry level iPad out now.
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Apple Begins Selling Refurbished 2019 iPad Air and iPad Mini 5 Models
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Other than a faster processor, front camera, display and Apple Pencil support, I am not seeing anything different?
Too bad now, Apple decided in Canada not to sell Americans products that are refurbished. Meaning we have almost nothing on the store, no watch, not much iPads etc... stupid decision...
Cameras are exactly the same. It’s True tone display (although many complain about red tint on Mini 5), A12 and 3GB of RAM. All good upgrades but Mini 4 still runs absolutely fine, see no reason to replace until a major redesign appears (doubtful) or the current one no longer works.
Edit. My bad, just doublechecked and indeed they bumped the front camera to 7mp. Still a non-essential upgrade, at least for me it does nothing.
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Because sometimes size is more important that price. Speaking for myself there is a limit to the size I'm prepared to carry around. In fact it's just as much to do with the bag it goes into as the device itself. The tablet needs to comfortably fit in the bag and I won't change to a big bag to fit the tablet. Additionally, I often use my tablet in bed on my way to sleep. The weight of the full sized ones when laying on my side holding it in one hand is too much. The weight of the bigger ones keep me away more as they require more effort to hold and they wake me up more often that not when I've fallen asleep and dropped it/half dropped it.
What does it matter what price something is if it doesn't suit your usage patterns and/or requirements?
While I agree the new Mini isn’t coming any time soon, still I think it can’t be a coincidence these refurbished models pop up so close to the March event, and not for Christmas or later on in the summer. In March they will almost certainly release something that would make these models less desirable
Am super tempted to get one of these. And would have bought one last year. But, I do not like the Pencil 1. At this point, regardless of the price, I'll wait and see what happens in Mar. My Air 2 seems to still be doing ok.
Her iPad was slow, and she can tell the difference. Tabs would reload all the time on her 4 and it was just slow. The 5 also has 1 more GB of RAM. She’s happy, that’s all that matters.
Consider the 2017 10.5” iPad Pro before the 2019 10.5” iPad Air.
the 2017 has more RAM, ProMotion display which is better on the eyes AND Apple Pencil, and stereo speakers - all absent from the Air. Concerned about the A10X processor? Well the 2019 10.2” iPad 6th gen has an A10 Fusion, so the 2017 iPad Pro should be supported just as long.
the 2017 has more RAM, ProMotion display which is better on the eyes AND Apple Pencil, and stereo speakers - all absent from the Air. Concerned about the A10X processor? Well the 2019 10.2” iPad 6th gen has an A10 Fusion, so the 2017 iPad Pro should be supported just as long.
I got the air 3 and am very happy I did. I’ll take the A12, Bluetooth 5, and flush rear housing (no camera bump) over pro motion, 1 GB RAM, and stereo speakers (the air does support the pencil). But, they’re very very close to each other; most users are unlikely to see much difference either way.
Other than a massively improved display, double the performance, 3 more hours of battery life, Pencil support, USB-C fast charging support, 7MP front camera instead of 1.2MP, Bluetooth 5, quadruple the base storage, yep nothing different at all 😂
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I love the mini form factor especially for reading books... gotta nail down my next laptop first, but the temptation to update my mini is stronger now knowing they're in the refurb section. I always get my Apple gear there.
How/Where did you find out about that great deal?! Last summer I was able to get a 2018 brand new MacBook Air 16gb/512gb for $1,149.99 at Best Buy, which I think is the best purchase I ever made.
As I have said at the very first reply to the thread, I cannot justify the purchase of the mini 5 because my mini 4 is still perfectly function. It is for MY use case.
Pencil support has no use case for me, so that is not a positive.
USB-C fast charging comes with high cost (up front cost of charging peripherals along with battery longevity) that is again not applicable for my use case where I leave it charge overnight as needed. Another meaningless change to me.
Not using the front camera for anything. Again...same point.
I do not even use the Bluetooth on it, even though I have too many Bluetooth headphones in the house. So the range improvement really is not applicable for my use case.
It is kinda sad that it has to come down to saying "quadruple the base storage". My mini 4 has 128GB, and still not even half way filled.
Meanwhile, the performance and battery life improvement maybe a welcomed positive for my use case.
But then again, these two alone is not enough to justify the purchase of $469.
On the other hand, if we are comparing the refurbished mini 4 with 128GB ($309) vs the refurbished mini 5 with 64GB ($339) that is being sold on Apple's website, then it is a more palatable.
No one’s trying to sell you a new mini 5. But the mini 4 is near the end of its useful life. It has an A8 (though 2GB); all the other A8 devices didn’t get iOS 13, since they only have 1GB. The mini 4 may or may not get iOS 14. But my mini 4 is significantly slower than my A9/2GB iPhone 6s, and that’s because of the A8.
The mini 5 is a smaller version of the Air 3, and with an A12/3GB it should be good for another four years or so.
How so? I say it has up to 5 more useful years left in it on iOS 13 until the app support becomes a problem. 3 more years for sure.
The notion that you have to throw away perfectly functional gadgets once they stop running newest software because someone is going to hack you seems so ridiculous to me. It doesn’t apply to 99,99% of users otherwise we would have been hearing stories about it happening, which we do not.
I’m not particularly worried about getting hacked. But it’s already on the edge of being too slow for me, and I value my time (and sanity) more than the money. I like to keep my devices for at least five years. $6-8 dollars a month is well within my budget.
Personally, I prefer to run the current OS. Everyone else is free to do what they want. I’m not trying to sell you a new mini 5, keep it as long as you wish.
btw, please don’t throw away electronics, at least recycle them. I pass mine down to kids in the family if they’re still usable.
The Mini is all about form factor. Apple putting an A12 in there was just so they could leave it 24 months before upgrading it again. People who compare it to the base traditional size iPad are missing the point.
Definitely all about size. Consumers like it, and it’s also used quite a bit in business for certain vertical markets, including point of sale, doctors/nurses and pilots.
It doesn’t sell all that many units though; I think 3-4 years is more likely than 2 years for a refresh.
Sure, if you’re not satisfied with performance upgrading makes sense if you can afford it. Personally my Mini 4 doesn’t bring any frustration so far, I’m surprised to hear that it does for someone. I guess YMMV with Apple products more than it should.
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I agree, I don’t see them refreshing Mini any time soon. And in 3-4 years I’m afraid they will neither be able to afford releasing same design all over again from marketing pov, nor justify the complete design overhaul from sales perspective. Which raises the question if the 5 is the last Mini.
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