iPad Mini 2 or Mini 4 For My Toddler??? HELP

[kanewtz]

HELP!

Looking to get my 4 year old his own iPad...debating on Mini 2 or Mini 4....catch 22 as the Mini 2 is cheaper...but will it be able to handle the next few years of updates, etc?? It is the A7 vs A8 in the Mini 4.

What would you do and why? His birthday is early October...so hoping to pull the trigger soon. Price difference is about $200 in Canada on apple's website.

He would really only be using Netflix, YouTube kids and some games for kids of course. I saw it was 64bit so it should handle new things that come out??

iOS 11 is supported...but how sluggish would it make it?

I have an iPad Air and am running iOS 10 and find it to be pretty sluggish. I am assuming the TouchID (which he wouldn't use) and the A8 wouldn't be a huge game changer?

 

[Dave-Z]

I have iPad Mini 2 and an iPad Air 2 (more or less like an iPad Mini 4).

I would strongly recommend against the Mini 2. It does work, and it's fine for reading and general surfing. But games, etc. would be very slow and video apps like YT Kids would probably be a bit sluggish to load thumbnails, etc.

There are some great kids apps out there. Some of them aren't exactly well coded and don't run great on the best hardware, let alone older devices.

Definitely go with the Mini 4, it will have a longer usable life for your kid.
[doublepost=1505269096][/doublepost]Oh... and get a good case. I've used these styles in the past and seem impervious to toddlers:

https://www.amazon.ca/Ocuya-Kiddie-Shockproof-Weight-Handle/dp/B072N7S1P7/

 

[Farsider]

We have a Mini 2 for our 4 year old. Plays games designed for 4 year olds fine. YouTube kids is fine as is Netflix.

iOS animations stutter a fair bit. Turning on "Reduce Motion" really helps speed up the UI.

If you can get one cheap, it's a great little device (I got one new for £159 last year). If not go for the Mini4.

 

[rui no onna]

Why not the 2017 iPad 9.7? It's faster and cheaper than the mini 4. When I let my 2-3 yr old nieces and nephews play with it, they don't have a problem with the size.

 

[Farsider]

You can find Mini 2's sub £200 in the right places