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iPad mini How slow is iPad mini 2?

powerbook911

powerbook911

macrumors 601
Original poster
Mar 15, 2005
4,009
398
I have never owned an iPad mini. As I have thus far always used my iPads at home, I didn't necessarily see a benefit to a smaller device.

However, Best Buy has the iPad mini 2 on sale for $249.99 Friday & Saturday and combined with a coupon, I could get it for approx. $225. It seems so cheap.

I'm not sure how much I'd use it in the long run, but I thought it would be fun to at least have that form factor available to me and maybe I'd even like it. However, many people report the iPad mini 2 (and original air) architecture are feeling slow on iOS 8, etc?

Is it pretty bad? Thanks.
 
It's a good buy @ $249. The Mini 2 is basically the Mini 3 without Touch ID. It will run a little quicker on iOS 7 than it will iOS 8 but it's still good performance.
 
My Air and rMini are both on 8.1.3 and they run fine. If they're running slower than on 7.1.2, I don't see it, and they don't have any other issues.

I bought the rMini as a sort of experiment and really love it. The smaller size makes it feel a lot more portable, and it's the one that goes back and forth with me to work in my bag now. You might find you really like it.
 
It's the 3rd slowest you can buy. That being said, it's a lot faster than a mini 1, 5x faster according to synthetic benchmarks. My mini 1 lags when typing and when surfing the internet, so the mini 2 is going to be lag-free or close to it comparitively speaking. The mini 2 and ipad air 1 were good sized leaps over the ipad 4 and ipad mini 1.
 
The rMini 2 and 3 are pretty descent on iOS 8. Of course compared to the Air 2 there is a definitely a difference in speed but it's expected.
 
I have the rMini 2 and it's on iOS 8 and it runs perfectly fine! It's fast and doesn't stutter at all. Everything runs beautifully on it. I think you'll enjoy the rMini 2 :) It's the best money I ever spent apart from my rMBP
 
I have the rMini 2 on iOS 7.1.2. It runs fine and I have no problems using it on a daily basis. However, I also do not go and compare with an Air 2, which will surely show that the rMini 2 is slower - but more importantly will make you psychologically unhappy with what you have. So, in short, don't compare and enjoy the system that can do anything that you ask it to do (sans touch ID).
 
It's still fast. I use my iPad Mini 2 every day at work. I don't feel that it lags, and while I wish that it were faster at certain tasks, I've felt that way since the day I bought it.

I also own an iPad Air 2, which I use at home. In regular usage, I don't notice any performance difference between the two, excluding application reloading. The iPad Air 2, with double the RAM, is noticeably superior to the Mini in that regard.
 
DiCaprioAngel said:
I have the rMini 2 and it's on iOS 8 and it runs perfectly fine! It's fast and doesn't stutter at all. Everything runs beautifully on it. I think you'll enjoy the rMini 2 :) It's the best money I ever spent apart from my rMBP
Click to expand...

Amazing how different human perception can be. Every time someone asks about stuttering with iOS 8, there is someone in this forum with a perfect device. Sounds highly unlikely to me since a lot of bugs are universal. Even the devices in Apple Stores suffer from it. So far 7.1.2 used to be smoother than every version of iOS 8 on the rMini 2. Even 8.1.3 didn't fix Safari Lags (tab switching/closing) and occasional stuttering in multitasking, spotlight, notification center and control center. If you are able to notice fps differences, than you will definitely see it. It's not a deal breaker, but it can be annoying as hell. Mainly because Apple seems not to care about it. The rMini 2 is still a good device. It is usable and most apps run fine. 225$ is a very good deal.
 
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If I can live fine with my iPad 3, you can be happy with an iPad Mini 2. ;)

Seriously though, the A8 was not the monumental leap that the A6 and A7 was in their time. It's definitely faster, but the Mini 2 (A7) is still plenty fast. I really think Apple will have to address performance in iOS 9 or 10 because it's getting out of hand.
 
Traverse said:
If I can live fine with my iPad 3, you can be happy with an iPad Mini 2. ;)

Seriously though, the A8 was not the monumental leap that the A6 and A7 was in their time. It's definitely faster, but the Mini 2 (A7) is still plenty fast. I really think Apple will have to address performance in iOS 9 or 10 because it's getting out of hand.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's almost like a return to the 90's with Intel and Windows. I remember how the OS would slowdown the hardware and Intel would make a newer processor to make the overall experience somewhat smoother for the end user. Then pc gaming caught on and until 3D graphics cards arrived on the scene the software would bog down the hardware even more.

iOS is starting to have more of an impact on the hardware. The A6/A7 should be enough to properly run iOS 8 and have a smooth experience. Meanwhile Windows has gone in the opposite direction where each new release has less of an effect on the hardware. I'm currently running Windows 8.1 Pro with 3GB of ram on a 2007 ThinkPad T60 and it's a super smooth experience.
 
Rodster said:
I'm currently running Windows 8.1 Pro with 3GB of ram on a 2007 ThinkPad T60 and it's a super smooth experience.
Click to expand...

Running Windows 8.1 via a virtual machine with 2GB of memory and even 1 processor core is often smoother than iOS on my iPad 3.

Even my iPhone 6 stutters occasionally, which my 4S NEVER did once on it's native iOS 5.
 
Traverse said:
Even my iPhone 6 stutters occasionally, which my 4S NEVER did once on it's native iOS 5.
Click to expand...
I remember flipping my Air from portrait to landscape in the App store, app running iOS 7 and the animation was like if it went from smooth to a stuttering mess. The Air 2 did not have that problem when I had one but no question, Apple needs to optimize the OS.
 
The iPad Air 1 & iPad Mini 2 use the same A7 processor with a slight clock difference (1.4 GHz vs. 1.3GHz respectively). Performance & benchmarks between the 2 are pretty close. I'm happy with my Mini 2. I really didn't need one but I got a good deal (Black Friday 2014) and apparently, it's the device I use the most cause of it's portability. It was well worth it I would say but that's just me.
 
Aaron from KY said:
It's the 3rd slowest you can buy. That being said, it's a lot faster than a mini 1, 5x faster according to synthetic benchmarks. My mini 1 lags when typing and when surfing the internet, so the mini 2 is going to be lag-free or close to it comparitively speaking. The mini 2 and ipad air 1 were good sized leaps over the ipad 4 and ipad mini 1.
Click to expand...

perhaps i'm less demanding, but the mini 1 is not bad at all. I use it as a bedside reader and it works great. it is a little pokey with big web pages.
Its a small detail, but the ring around the main button is ugly and has
put me from upgrading
 
The rMini is snappy. Also, I was using my Moms 1st Gen Mini, and I was surprised at how snappy it was. You should definitely take advantage of the Best Buy sale.
 
I'd suggest dropping into some place that has them on display (Apple Store, Staples, Best Buy, etc.) and give it a whirl. Lots of us who own one think it works fine. Check the OS version that's installed and see what you think. :)
 
powerbook911 said:
I have never owned an iPad mini. As I have thus far always used my iPads at home, I didn't necessarily see a benefit to a smaller device.

However, Best Buy has the iPad mini 2 on sale for $249.99 Friday & Saturday and combined with a coupon, I could get it for approx. $225. It seems so cheap.

I'm not sure how much I'd use it in the long run, but I thought it would be fun to at least have that form factor available to me and maybe I'd even like it. However, many people report the iPad mini 2 (and original air) architecture are feeling slow on iOS 8, etc?

Is it pretty bad? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Not bad in the slightest. I have a 32gb rMini 2 in my hand now when I could be using my Air 1 or a desktop. It runs smoothly for me and I do use it for 90 % of my computing needs, not just consumption. It was worth every penny that I spent on it at launch imo. At 225.00 you are way ahead of the curve.
It parallels the Air 1 in performance, but the form factor is what makes it my favorite. I do have the data model and it goes with me everywhere.
 
The Mini 2 isn't slow at all really. It's just as powerful as the Air 1. Obviously it's outclassed by the A8 in the Air 2, but honestly the sound vibration and some screen issues on the Air 2 are holding it back anyway.

Buy the Mini 2, but do yourself a favor and go for the 32GB at $299. For an extra $50 you get 26GB of usable storage compared to 11 on the 16GB.
 
I have a mini 2 and it is quite fast in performing tasks. However, UI stuttering is a pretty big issue for me, sadly. Graphical tasks in games sometimes can stutter it seems like, but it's not a big issue. So overall, iPad mini 2 is no slouch in CPU performance/general tasks, but graphical... Anything falls behind a bit.
 
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