iPad mini 2 or 4 as secondary iPad

[Chparigi]

Hi everyone

Lately, i have thought about getting a second iPad, as a complimentary working tool to my iPad Air 2. I have been looking at the iPad mini 4 from new, and on used iPad mini 2's. I have a hard time figuring out wether to go for the latest model, or the 'old' model, since it is hard for me to tell the difference when trying it out in shops. I Am wondering wether the processor and ram is sufficient on the iPad mini 2.

I am mainly going to use the iPad mini for reading ebooks and reading science books that I use for class (mainly ebooks with 1000-1500 pages with a lot of image content). Other that that, I will use it for casual gaming, sketching, watching movies and surfing in the web.

The camera is not important to me, since I am a photographer, and I hate phone-cameras

What are your experience? Is the iPad mini 2 a safe choice for the future?

 

[joeblow7777]

The Mini 2 is probably fine for such light usage, especially since you're just looking for a spare device to supplement your Air 2. But the difference in capabilities between the Mini 2 and 4 will probably become more pronounced as Apple and other app makers start to really take advantage of the 2 GB of RAM in the current iOS devices.

 

[Chparigi]

The Mini 2 is probably fine for such light usage, especially since you're just looking for a spare device to supplement your Air 2. But the difference in capabilities between the Mini 2 and 4 will probably become more pronounced as Apple and other app makers start to really take advantage of the 2 GB of RAM in the current iOS devices.

Thank you for yor answer!

It is mostet The RAM I'm afraid of not being sufficient. Anyone have tried the mini 2 and mini 4 who has made any thoughts about this?

 

[newellj]

Thank you for yor answer!

It is mostet The RAM I'm afraid of not being sufficient. Anyone have tried the mini 2 and mini 4 who has made any thoughts about this?

The answer above from JoeBlow7777 is a good one. Right now, the 1 vs 2 GB RAM will mostly affect iOS 9 multitasking (can't use split view) and things like page reloads with Safari if you have several tabs open. I have a Mini 2 and a Mini 4 and honestly for use like you're describing either would be fine. The question that no one can answer is what will happen next year or the year after with iOS and app updates. The Mini 2 is going to hit the wall a lot sooner than the Mini 4, but I can't tell you what that will actually mean in terms of actual years of future use.

 

[mtneer]

If you can afford to have a second iPad, then why go for the 2-year old model? Go for the Mini 4 with 2GB RAM.