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iPad Mini 2 Retina

W

Wirenut

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 6, 2016
198
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I bought my iPad Mini 2 Retina when it first came out which I think was 4 years ago. To this day it still works perfectly. I run my entire business off of it and it does everything I need it to do.

Now I see an update for iOS and it says that it's the biggest release ever.

I have always updated to the newest iOS in the past, but I don't want to press my luck with this.

Should I stick with iOS 10 to avoid the newer OS slowing it down! Or should I upgrade to iOS 11?
 
People will say stay but in my experience I ended up finding it snappier and gained over 1gb extra storage on a 16gb model getting close to capacity!

Do it and try it, if apple are still signing iOS 10 then you can roll back (check that before updating!)
 
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I’m in the same boat. I use it for work on a daily basis and I can’t afford for it to become a paper weight.

iOS 10 already lags as it is... I don’t want to make it worse.

Hopefully more good reviews and I may do it.
 
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This iPad was one of the best investments I ever made. I remember when it was released it had the same hardware as the full size iPad which was odd, so I figured it might lead to me getting more lifetime out of it, which it did.

A while back I remember being mad because the iOS update that gave other iPads multitasking didn't work on this one. But then I found out that the split screen option was all I needed.
 
I'm finding the final release of iOS 11 to be a little sluggish on my iPad mini 2. Nothing terrible, but I do have to wait for things to load and it didn't feel like I waited quite as long when using iOS 10.

If you really like the new iOS (which doesn't offer a lot for the Mini 2) it is still usable. Personally I like the new control center, new multitasking switcher (I hated that other tiled card thing they had as I found it very difficult to find my previously used apps in it), as well as the readily available dock.
 
At least for a few more days you can try 11.0.1 and downgrade to 10.3.3 if you don't like how it performs. Make SURE you ARCHIVE a backup on iTunes of the iPad on 10.3.3, and I would suggest encrypting the backup because that will trigger a complete backup. Apple will stop signing 10.3.3 at some point so if you want to try it yourself, don't delay.
 
Wirenut said:
I bought my iPad Mini 2 Retina when it first came out which I think was 4 years ago. To this day it still works perfectly. I run my entire business off of it and it does everything I need it to do.

Now I see an update for iOS and it says that it's the biggest release ever.

I have always updated to the newest iOS in the past, but I don't want to press my luck with this.

Should I stick with iOS 10 to avoid the newer OS slowing it down! Or should I upgrade to iOS 11?
Click to expand...

Ordinarily I would suggest upgrading - I have iOS 11 running on a Mini 2 and it runs fine. But if you’re running your entire business off a 4-year old iPad perhaps it’s time to consider an upgrade and transition slowly to the new device (ensuring full compatibility with your work flow), or to stick with what’s been working over this time period until an upgrade is appropriate.

Do you have any 32-bit (typically older, no longer updated) apps that you rely on to run your business?
 
Not sure the bits. But one of the apps I used had a warning come up about not being optimized for iOS 10 for a while but then the developer finally made a new update. Other than that everything that's been fine.

I was thinking about buying a new one, i wouldn't feel bad if I had to because this one has definitely gone longer than expected. But if I could keep using this one, that's even better.

Even the battery still seems to last as long as it always did. I'm truly amazed at this thing.
 
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Wirenut said:
Not sure the bits. But one of the apps I used had a warning come up about not being optimized for iOS 10 for a while but then the developer finally made a new update. Other than that everything that's been fine.

I was thinking about buying a new one, i wouldn't feel bad if I had to because this one has definitely gone longer than expected. But if I could keep using this one, that's even better.

Even the battery still seems to last as long as it always did. I'm truly amazed at this thing.
Click to expand...
Great to hear, I’m happy with mine as well. I also have a Mini 4 that gets much more use (at my side constantly on the road) but the Mini 2 is my couch staple.

The reason I asked about the non-supported apps is that they are not supported by iOS 11 whatsoever.
 
Wirenut said:
Not sure the bits. But one of the apps I used had a warning come up about not being optimized for iOS 10 for a while but then the developer finally made a new update. Other than that everything that's been fine.

I was thinking about buying a new one, i wouldn't feel bad if I had to because this one has definitely gone longer than expected. But if I could keep using this one, that's even better.

Even the battery still seems to last as long as it always did. I'm truly amazed at this thing.
Click to expand...

You can check in Settings whether you have any 32 bit apps. They will not work at all - they will not launch or run - in iOS 11.
 
If you can I would upgrade your self too the iPad mini 4 or iPad Air 2 the mini 4 has a A8 chip and 2GB of ram wish would be a major upgrade over the mini 2 you have and the air 2 has a A8X chip with 2GB of ram but I think you will noted a much better speed difference from mini 2 too mini 4
 
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