Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

max2

macrumors 603
Original poster
May 31, 2015
6,463
2,062
I am guessing the iPad Mini 4 by some. Any way to compare them online by specs and benchmarks ?
 
iPad mini 4 will also perform much better for longer due to the 2gb of ram. (Like it can multitask whereas the Air cannot).
 
Mini 4's 2GB DRAM will have a greater impact than any minor speed difference between the two.

Pro > Air 2 > Mini 4 > Air
 
  • Like
Reactions: Moi Ici
All benchmarks, tests, and anecdotal evidence I know of says that the Mini 4 is faster. It's processor is a generation ahead (with a slightly higher clock speed than even the original A8) plus double the RAM of the Air. According to Apple's official specs, the Mini 4 is supposed to offer a 30% increase in CPU and a 60% increase in graphics performance over the Air.
 
as far as CPU power, i think mini 4 with A8 'might' be a little better, but i doubt you will notice during normal use like web broswing and video streaming...

one other thing you should consider is that the mini 4 comes with 2GB of ram, so it supports a lot of iOS9 features that air doesnt. such as PIP, and multi tasking
 
iPad mini 4 will also perform much better for longer due to the 2gb of ram. (Like it can multitask whereas the Air cannot).

This would be my recommendation, too. I think the 2GB RAM barrier is going to be important in terms of length of future usefulness.
 
The mini 4 is faster, but is it $399 faster? That's the key question.
 
I had the iPad Air and ended up selling it, because it was useless. You couldn't have more than two tabs opening without reloading, nor switch between apps without waiting for reopening. I had had the original Mini, and even that was a million times better.

I've now got the iPad Mini 4 and it's amazing, so much more useful with multitasking to. I take it everywhere too, seen as its more portable than and iPad Air or my rMBP.

iPad mini 4 any day of the week.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MistrSynistr
I had the iPad Air and ended up selling it, because it was useless. You couldn't have more than two tabs opening without reloading, nor switch between apps without waiting for reopening. I had had the original Mini, and even that was a million times better.

I've now got the iPad Mini 4 and it's amazing, so much more useful with multitasking to. I take it everywhere too, seen as its more portable than and iPad Air or my rMBP.

iPad mini 4 any day of the week.

Nonsense. The original Mini had the same hardware as the iPad 2: A5, 512kb RAM. The Air, and the Mini 2, stepped that up to an A7 with 1GB RAM. I've owned them all and the iPad 2 and original Mini were not better, much less "a million times better" when running the same version of iOS.
 
Nonsense. The original Mini had the same hardware as the iPad 2: A5, 512kb RAM. The Air, and the Mini 2, stepped that up to an A7 with 1GB RAM. I've owned them all and the iPad 2 and original Mini were not better, much less "a million times better" when running the same version of iOS.

"Million times better" is a hyperbole, but I suppose if it had like you said "512KB" RAM, then it would be much worse.

We also have to take into account that the original iPad Mini did not have a retina screen, nor did it have a 64bit SOC. Both of which significantly increase the RAM requirements, meaning that the iPad Air with it's paltry 1GB was just running into memory issues all the time. A quick search on these forums will show you that, you wouldn't be able to count the amount of iOS System Logs people have posted that contain 'out of memory' exceptions.

I'm not talking about, say, graphics performance with games, where a game can load up eat the RAM and you don't notice. I'm talking about the inability to quickly flick back and forth between apps (copying and pasting, sending messages etc) without having to start from the beginning with them, where you can have several tabs open without them reloading every time you switch between them, or where you don't just get random app crashes because your iPad has come to the end of it's memory.

Yes on paper the A7 will "eat" the A5, just like Samsung phones "eat" iPhones, yet that's not really reflective of the real-world situation. One thing I will say, is that I cannot recall is what the highest iOS I ran on the original iPad Mini was. I believe it was iOS 7 (it had the Ive UI), but on iPad Air is was definitely iOS 7 then 8... Even giving time for optimisation though updates, it just got worse and worse.

My sister still uses that very same original iPad Mini, and it still works fine, despite its age. Certainly still runs better than my iPad Air ever did. My iPad Mini 4 is an absolute charm however! I think I definitely prefer the iPad Mini size anyway... Perhaps my mal experience with the iPad Air was a sign?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.