iPad mini How future-proof is the Mini 4?

[wesley8631]

Hmm that's interesting to hear! I heard that some people had lag even when typing though, is this major?

 

[wesley8631]

I don't know but to be i really delibrate a lot when buying a nee device, because i'm still a 15 year old student and in Singapore the iPad Air 2 would be roughly half the monthly wage of a normal worker, hence i really see a need to consider all fronts , not wanting to regret ltr

 

[PBMB]

Hmm that's interesting to hear! I heard that some people had lag even when typing though, is this major?

I have yet to do any heavy typing, but in the cases I tried (mostly typing URLs and passing some commands in SSH connections) I did not notice any lag. I can try something specific, if you wish so, after I get back at home.

PS: I see that will be tomorrow for you.

 

[joeblow7777]

In that sense you will have no problem with the new mini. I bought one recently and I see that it is a very nice little machine. Using it is a pleasure, I did not expect that level of ease of use. Regarding battery life, I have yet to thoroughly use it (I have it for only a few days now) but I did the following test. I left the display brightness to automatic and I used it in very dim light, almost dark, to see what is the maximum you can get. The brightness dropped really low and after 40 minutes of light use (25 min of App Store, web browsing and fooling around with settings, and 15 min of YouTube videos) the battery was still at 100%! This confirms that the display eats a large part of the charge pie, despite its small size. But it is an impressive little display, very crisp with vibrant colors. Under normal lighting conditions in a room, charge will drop much faster, like 1% every 5-10 minutes.

Actually, I've noticed on all iOS devices that the first percent (from 100 to 99) always takes deceptively long. Mine's at 100 now after 43 minutes of use. I do not expect it to keep this pace!

 

[PBMB]

Actually, I've noticed on all iOS devices that the first percent (from 100 to 99) always takes deceptively long. Mine's at 100 now after 43 minutes of use. I do not expect it to keep this pace!

I don't expect it either; I guess that the rate of discharge is not constant. In the beginning I thought that there was some misreporting. But when I tried again under normal light, I noticed that, starting again from 100%, the charge dropped much faster simply because the display got much brighter.

 

[Wahlstrm]

I still run the iPad2, and the main thing wrong with it is the lack of RAM. It´s not fast but the degradation in speed creeps on you that you don't think about it that much. But Safari reloading websites while you read them is hard to miss..

Thanks to Apple keeping older stuff supported dev.s keep there apps quite optimized, since releasing an app just for the latest model keeps 90% of the customer base out..

That being said, the A8 is already the great grandfather of the A9x..
And, that bothers me a bit..

The iPad Pro might have ruined the iPad line for me, I will always see the other ones as "last years tech"..

 

[joeblow7777]

That being said, the A8 is already the great grandfather of the A9x..
And, that bothers me a bit..

The iPad Pro might have ruined the iPad line for me, I will always see the other ones as "last years tech"..

But you really have to look at the Mini for what it is. I don't expect the Mini line to be on par with the Air/Pro line, and you need to know that going in. For me the question is, is the Mini 4 likely to be able to do what I want a small tablet to do for the next few years? And I think that for most people looking for a 8" or smaller tablet, the answer will be yes. The OP brought up gaming, so processing power down the line is a legitimate concern. But if you're going to be using your tablet for web surfing, watching videos, and reading/editing documents, there's no reason to worry that much about future proofing.

 

[rkuo]

But you really have to look at the Mini for what it is. I don't expect the Mini line to be on par with the Air/Pro line, and you need to know that going in. For me the question is, is the Mini 4 likely to be able to do what I want a small tablet to do for the next few years? And I think that for most people looking for a 8" or smaller tablet, the answer will be yes. The OP brought up gaming, so processing power down the line is a legitimate concern. But if you're going to be using your tablet for web surfing, watching videos, and reading/editing documents, there's no reason to worry that much about future proofing.

Thing is that the iOS device line has only just switched from 1GB to 2GB of RAM, so RAM exhaustion is not a major consideration yet for the iPad Mini 2 or 3. And given how poor of an improvement the A8 is over the A7, I think waiting for the A9 generation is not out of the question.

 

[Commy1]

The whole concept of future proof is ridiculous. Will an iPad Mini 4 do what you want for the foreseeable feature? Of course.
I would bet that 3-4 years out of a recent device is a very safe assumption. I just retired my iPad 4 to my mom, with the most recent version of iOS 9 it's still running well enough to be useful.

 

[crammedberry]

Many folks like to bash the iPad 3 as being severely underpowered and having to manage a Retina display. While some may have a point, a device is only as future proof as you want it to be. The iPad 3 was a great iPad — Retina display, first with 1gb RAM. There were many good things about it. The GPU was also beefed up significantly, although many complained it still wasn't enough. The iPad 3 was not a speed demon, but it did have more staying power than the iPad 2 due to its additional ram. See all the threads of everyone complaining about the iPad 2 after iOS 7/8.

The iPad mini 4 has 2gb of RAM, which I believe will make it very future proof if you're willing to put up with the normal aging and slowing of a device as new and more demanding software is released. The A8 is also by no means a slouch. Even the A7 was so powerful that Apple didn't even feel they had to modify it to put it into the iPads.

 

[mtneer]

I don't know but to be i really delibrate a lot when buying a nee device, because i'm still a 15 year old student and in Singapore the iPad Air 2 would be roughly half the monthly wage of a normal worker, hence i really see a need to consider all fronts , not wanting to regret ltr

Why don't you consider a big phone - the "phablet"? After all the most common explanation for the phablet phenomenon is the drive from Asian consumers not being able to afford to purchase a phone and a tablet separately.

 

[wesley8631]

Why don't you consider a big phone - the "phablet"? After all the most common explanation for the phablet phenomenon is the drive from Asian consumers not being able to afford to purchase a phone and a tablet separately.

Hello, thanks for the suggestion. However i already have an iPhone 6, which i use for everyday use. I just need to replace my iPad 4, which my school uses for study, so i am trying to make a decision between the Air2 and the mini4.

 

[wesley8631]

Should i be concerned about the much worse GPU performance compared to the Air 2 on the Mini 4 if i also intend to play iOS games like Modern combat 5?

 

[wesley8631]

Bump! Last question before making my decision..