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iPad mini iPad mini best value for in 2023
- Thread starter Beejan181
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Unless your budget is really limited, it makes no sense to get the iPad mini 5 when the mini 6 is newer and readily available. The real question is storage size, in my opinion.
It's mainly a matter of price, if you find a mini 5 at a great price, it's still a great device, very powerful.
Forget the mini 4, that thing is crap.
I had a cellular mini 5 bought at launch and found an identical one at $150 and got it right away as a spare one. Will not be getting a mini 6 as it's still too expesive for what it offers.
The mini 7 will hopefully offer more RAM (and maybe a better screen). Personally I am not buying any 4GB RAM device for over $200 anymore...
Forget the mini 4, that thing is crap.
I had a cellular mini 5 bought at launch and found an identical one at $150 and got it right away as a spare one. Will not be getting a mini 6 as it's still too expesive for what it offers.
The mini 7 will hopefully offer more RAM (and maybe a better screen). Personally I am not buying any 4GB RAM device for over $200 anymore...
Is this the last year the mini 5 gets ios updates? Thats something that would play a huge roll in determining which iPad mini to get. At the most the iPad mini 5 gets another year of updates but its time is just about up.
I have written previously about trying the Mini 6 and going back to the Mini 5, buried in my post history somewhere. But if I had to buy one today, I would begrudgingly go 6. The Mini 5 I am currently using has been experiencing more RAM-related slowdowns in the last few months, so its functional life as a daily-use tablet is nearing the end if you care about speed. It’s not full-on slow yet, but you can tell its about one iOS update away from being there.
The actual answer is to wait until March for a likely Mini 7 refresh. That’s what I’m doing. But again, if buying today, it would be the 6, or it would be a very cheap 5 to hold me over until March.
Edit - found the comparison post here:
Post in thread 'Are you happy with the iPad mini 6?'
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/are-you-happy-with-the-ipad-mini-6.2338369/post-31108596
The actual answer is to wait until March for a likely Mini 7 refresh. That’s what I’m doing. But again, if buying today, it would be the 6, or it would be a very cheap 5 to hold me over until March.
Edit - found the comparison post here:
Post in thread 'Are you happy with the iPad mini 6?'
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/are-you-happy-with-the-ipad-mini-6.2338369/post-31108596
Last edited:
No. I’m guessing it’ll get around 3 more years of major iOS updates.
That said, iOS 17 is already pretty RAM hungry so odds are not good for performance on future iOS updates.
great comparison in the linked post. I am really wondering what kind of "RAM-related slowdowns" are you referring to? Do you mean reloads of tabs and apps? Those are regular, just like the are on the iPad 9, but I have experienced zero slowdowns, the device is fast like in 2019, A12 is still a beast, definitely faster than my 10.5 pro, which is no slouch either, and very close to the 2018 iPad pro.
I have iPads with 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 GB of RAM and while 3 GB reload more often than 4 GB, 4GB reloads pretty often too, so the difference is not huge. Between 4 and 6 GB instead it's night and day. My 6GB iPad pro reloads are much closer to my M1 pro than to the iPads with 4GB RAM. So personally I would not spend the money on a mini 6.
If I find a cellular Mini 6 at $200 (maybe I could stretch to $250 if in mint condition and with great batter health), then sure, but honestly I see those devices over double that price, which is waaay higher than what is worth coming from a mini 5. The mini 7 will have at least 6GB of RAM if it has A16, which is the minimum, so that would make it much better than the current mini and Apple is rumored to be correcting the Jelly Scroll issue. Not much more unfortunately, I would love to see promotion on the mini 7, but that's not happening...
As for OS updates, the mini 5 should get at least a couple of years more, but I don't care about OS updates and even less about security, that's a iPad not a Windows laptop, it's virtually impossible to get malware without social engineering or someone having physical access to your device. And it takes another couple of years after end of support before some apps cannot be updated or installed. So the mini 5 should be fine for at least 5 years and probably more.
iPad Mini 6 on sale
The current IPad Mini 6 is on sale for 331 dollars on Amazon but who knows how long that will last.
The current IPad Mini 6 is on sale for 331 dollars on Amazon but who knows how long that will last.
No one knows when the next Mini will come…
The correct Mini 6 is a great device, special if you can get good price for it.
I’ll happily take a RAM bump. The mini 6 has too many Safari reloads and out of memory crashes for my liking.
I think my use case is basic. I have the mini 6, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPad Pro 2018 and I’ve just got the M2 iPad Pro and I honestly can’t see any difference in performance between all those devices.
The Mini 6 performange is great, and you won't feel the RAM problem if you only use a few Safari tabs at the same time and/or with few apps open in the background.
I had an iPad Mini 6 for 3 days in 2021, but I had to return it because the display was crap. I had an instant headache every time I looked at it. It was the worst display I have ever seen on an Apple device. My Mini 5 had a much sharper display and no eye strain, so I kept that unit, but it is starting to run slower after 5 years of use, and the battery life is declining. I eventually bought an iPad Air 5 as my primary iPad and have relegated the Mini 5 as a secondary device. If the iPad Mini 7 fixes the display enough to get rid of the eye strain and headaches, I may consider purchasing it at some point to replace the Mini 5. If the Mini 7 does not fix the display issues, there is no way I would ever purchase one.