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iPad mini Complete Apple Virgin: Is A 16gb Enough For My Needs?

F

finy

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 19, 2015
32
0
I've got to admit, apart from a first generation iPod I've never owned an Apple product. I've not even owned a smart phone, but I'm about to get my first iPad mini.

I just want to know if a 16gb will be good enough for my needs because I want to keep the costs down as much as possible and I need cellular.

Reason being I need something right now, but will likely get the mini 4 with at least 64gb storage when it's released.

3 main things I need to do are:

Write articles and save them in Dropbox
Shoot videos to edit in iMovie
Play some games

Being a virgin I don't know if I can keep most of the games in the cloud and only have a few on iPad at a time, swapping them over.

Also, shooting and editing videos then saving them to cloud instead of having hours and hours of unedited footage on device.

Do you think 16gb would be enough to get by for 6 months if I juggled things around with online storage?

P.S. I can stream movies and I don't have music so those won't take up any room.

Thanks a lot in advance, looking forward to join the Apple crew very soon.
 
Yeah I could get the 32gb if it was important enough.

Just thought it would be nice to store the extra hundred dollars away if possible.
 
finy said:
Yeah I could get the 32gb if it was important enough.

Just thought it would be nice to store the extra hundred dollars away if possible.
Click to expand...

You can't get the Mini 3 in 32GB. The poster was suggesting you get the Mini 2 in 32GB, giving you extra storage space and saving a hundred bucks. There is no basically no difference between the Mini 2 and 3. And you said you plan on upgrading to the 4 anyway.
 
Yeah I meant mini 2 16gb.

16gb = $459
32gb = $559

With cellular.

Do you think there would be no room on 16gb for a few games + 30 mins worth of movie footage?

Because that is all I need for 6 months.

I definitely know the 32gb would be better.

But like I said, if the 16gb is definitely too small I'll just get the 32gb.
 
finy said:
Yeah I meant mini 2 16gb.

16gb = $459
32gb = $559

With cellular.

Do you think there would be no room on 16gb for a few games + 30 mins worth of movie footage?

Because that is all I need for 6 months.

I definitely know the 32gb would be better.

But like I said, if the 16gb is definitely too small I'll just get the 32gb.
Click to expand...

If a few games and 30 minutes of footage is literally all that will be on it at a time, then a 16GB will be fine - especially if you are willing and able to stay on top of it. However, as the previous posters have stated, the 32GB would be your best bet. Between the OS, photos, apps, and whatever else is just does not take long to fill up 16GB.
 
jpgr15 said:
If a few games and 30 minutes of footage is literally all that will be on it at a time, then a 16GB will be fine - especially if you are willing and able to stay on top of it. However, as the previous posters have stated, the 32GB would be your best bet. Between the OS, photos, apps, and whatever else is just does not take long to fill up 16GB.
Click to expand...

All of the work I do on my laptop at the moment goes through Dropbox.

I basically just use it to write and publish to my blog, so everything gets thrown into Dropbox folders.

The video footage will just be to edit and throw onto Youtube, but I would like to then save the videos in the cloud.

I would also like a bunch of games, but just download 1-2 of them to the iPad at the same time.

I guess the last two sentences are where I'm running into trouble because I don't know how saving videos and apps works.

For example, can you easily move one game onto your iPad and move another one down onto it easily enough?

Thanks for all the replies so far.
 
If you're getting a Mini 2 and cost is something you want to keep an eye on, I highly recommend getting an Apple Refurb. Works like new, same warranty. The 32gb w/ WiFi & Cellular is $399. The 64GB is $449. I got the Mini 2 refurb when they announced the 3 and it really wasn't any difference except for TouchID. 16GB is really not much space at all.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/ipad/ipad_mini_2/wi_fi_cellular
 
Last edited:
finy said:
All of the work I do on my laptop at the moment goes through Dropbox.

I basically just use it to write and publish to my blog, so everything gets thrown into Dropbox folders.

The video footage will just be to edit and throw onto Youtube, but I would like to then save the videos in the cloud.

I would also like a bunch of games, but just download 1-2 of them to the iPad at the same time.

I guess the last two sentences are where I'm running into trouble because I don't know how saving videos and apps works.

For example, can you easily move one game onto your iPad and move another one down onto it easily enough?

Thanks for all the replies so far.
Click to expand...

The games will be available to you in the cloud once you've downloaded them once. Some offer back ups of the game data in the cloud and some don't. If you are willing to make 16GB work, then I'm sure you will be able to do it - it's not like it's impossible - just inconvenient. You'll just have to keep a closer eye on things then you would with a 32 or 64GB device.
 
Amazon is selling the iPad Mini 2, 32GB T-mobile version, brand new, for $349 shipped. It's a sweet deal. I've got one and absolutely love it. I've had dozens of Apple products over the past decade and this little iPad mini is by far my favorite Apple device.
 
I have the 32GB mini 2 and the actual Capacity is stated as 26.3GB. With the iOS and preinstalled apps, plus a few basic apps I downloaded there is only 16GB left.
That's without any music or videos.
So a 16GB mini 2 would not leave much space, if any. Unless you delete a few of the preinstalled ones.

But for peace of mind I would go with 32gb. Otherwise you may find yourself getting annoyed with lack of space.
I don't use my iPad Mini 2 for much either. Just books and MS Office documents.

Looking under General > Usage > Storage this is what is taking up some of the space on my mini:
PREINSTALLED
GarageBand 770MB
iOS 8.3 714MB
iMovie 701MB
Keynote 538MB
Pages 389MB
Numbers 375MB
iTunes U 48.9MB

MY OWN APP DOWNLOADS
MS Word 468MB
MS Excel 460MB
Google Maps 226MB

The abovementioned preinstalled apps can be deleted so 16gb may actually be just enough for you.
 
iLLUMI said:
I have the 32GB mini 2 and the actual Capacity is stated as 26.3GB. With the iOS and preinstalled apps, plus a few basic apps I downloaded there is only 16GB left.
That's without any music or videos.
So a 16GB mini 2 would not leave much space, if any. Unless you delete a few of the preinstalled ones.

But for peace of mind I would go with 32gb. Otherwise you may find yourself getting annoyed with lack of space.
I don't use my iPad Mini 2 for much either. Just books and MS Office documents.

Looking under General > Usage > Storage this is what is taking up some of the space on my mini:
PREINSTALLED
GarageBand 770MB
iOS 8.3 714MB
iMovie 701MB
Keynote 538MB
Pages 389MB
Numbers 375MB
iTunes U 48.9MB

MY OWN APP DOWNLOADS
MS Word 468MB
MS Excel 460MB
Google Maps 226MB

The abovementioned preinstalled apps can be deleted so 16gb may actually be just enough for you.
Click to expand...
iOS 8.3 is listed among the apps that can be uninstalled???? Regardless, the space occupied by iOS is not listed in Settings in a stock install of iOS (jail-broken iOS may be another matter).

The Capacity number in Settings > General > Usage refers to the space available to the user. In the example above, the OS and permanent apps are occupying 5.7 GB of the 32 GB, leaving 26.3 GB available for other purposes (apps and data for user-installable apps, data for the permanently-installed apps).

The numbers in Settings > General > Usage > Manage Storage reflect that. For permanent apps, the numbers refer only to data. For apps that can be uninstalled, it refers to app and data. In other words, it's a practical list of space savings available if you delete whatever can be deleted.

I've lived with a 16 GB first-generation iPad since the third day iPad was available. I currently have 8.3 GB Available. I lived with the same capacity on my iPhone 4 for over three years. It wasn't a huge chore to manage storage within those confines. Now, I didn't shoot/edit videos on those devices, but I've probably used space for things other people would not. The biggest space hogs for most people tend to be photos (stills and videos), text message archives, music, un-used apps, and movies.

Unless a game is an absolute hog, you should be able to keep more than a few games on the iPad at a time. A lot of games maintain game data on the device, rather than in the cloud. Since iOS deletes both app and associated data when you delete an app, you definitely do not want to delete a game that stores data locally.

If you use cloud-based services for photos and other data, understand that those do not deliver "pure" storage savings. A certain amount of your cloud-based data is going to be cached on the iPad, so that the data is accessible when you're offline. Fortunately, those caches are managed intelligently these days - data that has not been accessed in a while will be removed from the cache if the system needs that space for other purposes. For example, an iCloud Photo Library accessed from a 16 GB iPad will occupy less space than that same library when accessed from a 64 GB iPhone (that assumes you've selected Optimize Storage in Settings > iCloud > Photos on both devices).

If you have iTunes music, take full advantage of "iTunes in the cloud." Normally, iTunes streams your iTunes purchases. You have the option of downloading to the device. Unless you're always connected to wifi, it's a good idea to download music you're likely to listen to when you'd be using cellular data (and especially if you'll be somewhere where cellular data is likely to be spotty). So, I have a core library residing on my devices, and the less frequently listened to stuff I leave in the cloud. If you have a large library of non-iTunes music, iTunes Match can be a big space saver, as that music, too, will become streamable. Match costs $24/year, but depending on the size of your non-iTunes music library, that can be a small price to pay.
 
Definitely not! I have an old 16 GB iPad that is full with barely anything on it. You need at least 32 GB. Honestly, I don't even know why Apple is still selling a 16 GB.
 
I'll go ahead and get either a 32gb, 64gb or a 128gb version. Both will pay for itself and you won't have to worry about space. The 16gb version is a waste of money in my opinion.
 
Okay I'll get a 32gb, but I guess I'll lose my saved game data when I move to mini 4 anyway :D
 
Okay I'll get a 32gb, but I guess I'll lose my saved game data when I move to mini 4 anyway :D
 
finy said:
Okay I'll get a 32gb, but I guess I'll lose my saved game data when I move to mini 4 anyway :D
Click to expand...
When you upgrade, backup the old one to a computer and restore to the new one. Good to go!
 
Check for Apple Refurb if they have a good price range to match you. Anyway I don't think 16GB is a good idea for shooting video and work on iMovie. I used to have 16GB 1st gen iPad and iPad 2 I realized there is no more room for more apps and pictures/video clips so AT&T reps convinced me to trade in for 32GB iPad so I took a bullet and bought it. :apple:
 
No way. I think the 16GB models are pretty useless for most people except those who plan to use it only for web surfing and don't plan on installing apps or media content.

I had the 32GB iPad Air. I had no music, movies or videos on it and still had problems with space. iPad apps, especially games can be big space hogs. My husband's favorite game, a racing one, was several gigs in size! When I upgraded to the iPad Air 2 I got the 128GB one. :cool:

Since you want to do video, I strongly suggest the 64GB at the very least.

----------
finy said:
Okay I'll get a 32gb, but I guess I'll lose my saved game data when I move to mini 4 anyway :D
Click to expand...

Nope, just make sure you have iCloud backup on. When I upgraded I restored from my iCloud backup. Worked beautifully and my husband's games had all their data intact. :)
 
Thanks for all the help.

I had to get a mini 3 64gb in the end because of availability.

I guess I will be waiting for the mini 5 now, but I couldn't wait another 6 months. :D

Hope 1gb of ram lasts a while.

Now I'll need to search the boards to find out how to use it.
 
jimmirehman said:
16GB isn't enough for anyone's needs.
Click to expand...

16Gb is fine. I bought a 32Gb iPod Touch because everyone said you can't do anything with 16Gb but I've never come close to even halfway filling it so when, like you, I wanted an iPad I got the heavily discounted 16Gb iPad Mini 2 from the refurbished store and it's fine. The only time I needed to manage the storage was when I downloaded Game of Thrones in HD onto it and it would only hold three one hour episodes at a time but it was no big deal and since then I've never run into any issues.
 
finy said:
Thanks for all the help.

I had to get a mini 3 64gb in the end because of availability.

I guess I will be waiting for the mini 5 now, but I couldn't wait another 6 months. :D

Hope 1gb of ram lasts a while.

Now I'll need to search the boards to find out how to use it.
Click to expand...

Good, trust me, 16GB is nothing. I have a iPad 4 16GB LTE, I only have two games (Asphalt 8 and DomiNations) on it, and quite a few utility and productivity apps, and I only have around 3GB storage left. I barely ever take pics with it, never take videos with it, it has no music, just a lot of apps and two games.
 
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