The Air 2 is still ahead of the Mini 4 in terms of its hardware. Considering it "last year's product" is really missing the the fact that it was actually "next year's product last year."
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iPad Air 2 or iPad Mini 4
- Thread starter Wackery
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The Air 2 is still ahead of the Mini 4 in terms of its hardware. Considering it "last year's product" is really missing the the fact that it was actually "next year's product last year."
I wonder what will happen next year. With the current iPad Air and mini both using the A8, and the iPad Pro using the A9, will the mini and the Air always been 1 SoC generation behind the Pro? I think that's an easy answer for the mini as it's happened twice, but for the Air I wonder if it will jump straight to a potential A10 next year.
Or a three-core A10X? Air 2 is A8X vs. the Mini 4's A8 "second generation" (whatever that means). I think the Pro is always going to need more hardware to push that huge number of pixels.
ipad air 2. Why are you so torn about LAST YEAR. You should be happy that this model will last for a long time. It's like iPad 2nd gen...both are quality.
Unless..you have this apple disease meaning you need newest and greatest all the time.
Or to put it differently, if someone's hung up on the Air 2 being last year's product, they should definitely NOT buy a Mini 4, since it hasn't even caught up to last year's standard.
Or to put it differently, if someone's hung up on the Air 2 being last year's product, they should definitely NOT buy a Mini 4, since it hasn't even caught up to last year's standard.
It comes down to you, basically. I personally like new and greatest..and still bought air 2 on july when i heard that they will bring out iPad this year....still i realized that i had to give my old one and needed a new one...so i bought it..and happy with it.
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It's more easier than that. It depends on your tastes. Right now, apple has rop notch pipeline in all ipad sizes.
-iPad air 2 is a beast, don't think about absence of updates this year. It's perfect now(only has the problem with vibrations at high volume), and run flawlessly with ios 9/9.1.
-ipad mini 4 is finally(if the news are true and it has 2gb of ram and the new full-laminated display has the same colour gamut than air 2), the perfect ipad mini...don't think about 100 mhz more or processor names...if ipad mini 4's a8 has 2gb ram like new apple tv's one, is different that iphone 6/6 plus a8. A8 is not always the same processor with the same specks. It's only marketing. Apple could have named ipad mini 4 processor, a8x but the prefer to sell more ipad air 2 because it should have much higher profit margin....
-ipad pro has a9x. Ok. Brutal processor, with much better specs but... the ipad pro screen has more than 5 million pixels, and it has the force technology that needs the pencil to run... SO A LOT MORE REQUIREMENTS ...maybe the new oxide tft display has decoloration or worse gamut, maybe run worse than ipad air 2 or ipad mini 4(both with last year technology) ..
Think about. Apple has the perfect specs for each size right now(I repeat, if 2gb ram and screen quality of ipad mini 4 is confirmed). So, choose a size, depending on your tastes, and do not spend too much time thinking about specs or future-proof. Enjoy your choice and be happy!
-iPad air 2 is a beast, don't think about absence of updates this year. It's perfect now(only has the problem with vibrations at high volume), and run flawlessly with ios 9/9.1.
-ipad mini 4 is finally(if the news are true and it has 2gb of ram and the new full-laminated display has the same colour gamut than air 2), the perfect ipad mini...don't think about 100 mhz more or processor names...if ipad mini 4's a8 has 2gb ram like new apple tv's one, is different that iphone 6/6 plus a8. A8 is not always the same processor with the same specks. It's only marketing. Apple could have named ipad mini 4 processor, a8x but the prefer to sell more ipad air 2 because it should have much higher profit margin....
-ipad pro has a9x. Ok. Brutal processor, with much better specs but... the ipad pro screen has more than 5 million pixels, and it has the force technology that needs the pencil to run... SO A LOT MORE REQUIREMENTS ...maybe the new oxide tft display has decoloration or worse gamut, maybe run worse than ipad air 2 or ipad mini 4(both with last year technology) ..
Think about. Apple has the perfect specs for each size right now(I repeat, if 2gb ram and screen quality of ipad mini 4 is confirmed). So, choose a size, depending on your tastes, and do not spend too much time thinking about specs or future-proof. Enjoy your choice and be happy!
Or to put it differently, if someone's hung up on the Air 2 being last year's product, they should definitely NOT buy a Mini 4, since it hasn't even caught up to last year's standard.
Just hoping that they will do something different to Mini 4. Like..cooler A8 chip or maybe chassis with no vibration issue like iPad Air 2 before. These silent updates are what I hoped. Spec-wise I have to agree with you that Im buying last year's standard with today's price. *sigh* should have bought iPad Air 2 when it launched last year.
Hopeful additional update to Air 2 and Mini 4 this year: no chassis vibration.
I doubt there's ever a line of new iPads without the vibration at their current thickness; it's even noticeable at times on the Mini 2. It's just because of the slim design that the sound has reverb and I doubt it's something they could "fix" unless they make the materials thicker.
It's a non-issue for me, but I understand that others are driven crazy by that. So I'm thinking what you're thinking: wondering whether going to a thinner, lighter chassis in the Mini 4 is going to have a similar issue. (Same for the Pro, too...)
An speaker needs room for bass response. Normally this air gap is called air chamber.
In the air 2, both air chambers aren't enough insolated and vibrations are transmitted across the metal body.
The pro uses carbon fiber to close the four air chambers that it has. Maybe this solution can solve the problem. We'll see.
About mini 4, we have another thing to be intrigued about..(ram, colour gamut, oleophobic coating, and now the vibration gate, like an hater could say, lol)
That's very well said. This year has every size tablet running as they should. They all will out perform the competition so in reality there is no bad choice. Pick your size and enjoy.
I'm hoping for a mini 4 that has more volume. One of the few draw backs of my mini 2 is I can't depend on the alarms because the sound is so soft. For me that's a much bigger issue than the color reproduction, and I'd be willing to put up with some vibration in return for it.
Note that the Mini 4 is not on par with the Air 2. It has an A8 processor rather than A8X, which is going to be a factor given that both have the same 2048 x 1536 resolution.
Apple publicly state it has the performance of Air 2 packed in Mini form factor. Does it mean Apple is 'lying' then?
I feel there is a marketing spin that is going on. They never actually said it was on par. Saying "has the performance of" is really subjective, and I'm guessing they are going for the subjective interpretation, arguing that the difference in "unnoticeable" and the performance is "effectively" the same for most apps. Which is arguably true, until you get to graphics-intensive gaming apps.
I understand that based on specs, A8 & A8X have little difference in processing speed (1.3x faster vs 1.4x faster). But it has quite a big difference in graphic performance (1.6x faster for A8 vs 2.5x faster for A8X). iPad Mini needs to drive the same amount of pixels as Air 2 since they both have the same resolution. It would make sense for Apple to give the Air 2's graphic processing power to iPad Mini in order to have similar usage experience.
They may have considered issues such as cooling (likely not a problem) and battery life on the graphics side. Think of the A8X as an overclocked A8...it will require more power and release more heat. The heat is only theory, but the power is definitely a requirement.
For me personally the Air 2 is more appealing. And note that the Mini 4 has an A8 chip in it, not the same A8X as the Air 2. This means the mini might not have 2GB of RAM (I hope it does) and it's not as powerful as the Air 2, even though it's driving the same amount of pixels.
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I bet you're right, that seems quite logical. It'll be weird for the iPad Air to no longer have the newest SoC, but it likely doesn't need it given how powerful these things have become.