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Kindle just died, plus I need PDFs... It'd be dump to buy a Mini 1, right?

James.K.Polk

James.K.Polk

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 31, 2015
867
333
Edit: I am dump. **Dumb, in the title.


RIP 8 year-old Kindle Keyboard. With law school, I read a lot fewer books and a lot more PDFs/web pages, and a neighbor is selling their Mini 1, 32 GB + Cellular for $100. Is it going to be too slow to do what I need?
 
If you just need it for single tasks, it should be fine. But don't expect to really do any multitasking on it.
 
Channan said:
If you just need it for single tasks, it should be fine. But don't expect to really do any multitasking on it.
Click to expand...

I don't really foresee that, no. iMessage, email, light browsing, and PDFs. Not even huge ones. For $100, I can manage some slowdowns.

Are Minis unlocked? She used it with ATT, I still have a SIM from T-Mob...
 
James.K.Polk said:
I don't really foresee that, no. iMessage, email, light browsing, and PDFs. Not even huge ones. For $100, I can manage some slowdowns.

Are Minis unlocked? She used it with ATT, I still have a SIM from T-Mob...
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Yeah, all iPads are unlocked. IIRC, the Verizon iPad 2, I believe, was locked to Verizon, but that was the only model.

If you stick to one, maybe two browser tabs at a time, you should be good with those uses. You might see some lag and stutter, though.
 
Channan said:
Yeah, all iPads are unlocked. IIRC, the Verizon iPad 2, I believe, was locked to Verizon, but that was the only model.

If you stick to one, maybe two browser tabs at a time, you should be good with those uses. You might see some lag and stutter, though.
Click to expand...

Fantastic. I can deal. Might offer $80 anyway, just to see if I can. Thanks!
 
James.K.Polk said:
Edit: I am dump. **Dumb, in the title.


RIP 8 year-old Kindle Keyboard. With law school, I read a lot fewer books and a lot more PDFs/web pages, and a neighbor is selling their Mini 1, 32 GB + Cellular for $100. Is it going to be too slow to do what I need?
Click to expand...
No, don't buy it! It is to slow. I would recommend to buy an Mini 2 . Or if you prefer a cheaper 9.7 inch. U can buy an IPad Air 1 or IPad 4
 
Please do not get the Mini 1. If you're going to do a significant amount of reading text, the lack of a high DPI display is going to stand out enormously unless you magnify the text. Get a Mini 2 at the minimum.

I admit this is subjective - some people still tolerate the non-Retina iPad 2, but after the iPhone 4 I can't stand any non-retina display, and can barely tolerate using a 27" 1440p monitor.
 
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You would have to be cautious about upgrading your reading apps or IOS beyond the hardware's optimum capability.
I think also that the 8 inch screen is a little small for PDFs.
 
I concur with the others, get at least an iPad Mini 2 because of the retina screen, especially for reading PDFs. For $50 more you will get four times the pixels, and it will be much faster too.
 
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Also consider battery life. The battery may be getting weak at this point, and the cost to replace it could exceed the purchase price.
 
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The latest versions of iOS have crippled the iPad Mini 1. You're going to be frustrated. You can spend just a bit more for a Mini 2 or Air 1 and get much better performance, even with iOS 10.
 
I like the iPad mini for reading PDFs. It's a bit small, but for me the portability is worth it. But for other people, it's too small for that. Of course the retina screen of the mini 2 makes that much nicer.
 
The mini 1 probably doesn't support T-Mobile well. The iPad 3rd generation didn't have the right LTE bands for T-Mobile, and I think the Mini 1 was older.
 
Okay - didn't go through with it. Still very much in the market for a cheap iPad, if anyone has any leads.
 
James.K.Polk said:
Okay - didn't go through with it. Still very much in the market for a cheap iPad, if anyone has any leads.
Click to expand...
A lot of people are saying not to get it for the resolution, but if you were fine with the Kindle Keyboard which had a lower resolution screen with almost the same PPI you should be fine with the first gen mini.

I would honestly not recommend any iPad with less than 2GB of RAM to most people, but I think the first iPad mini would serve your needs fine, especially for $100 for a cellular model. But you ever want to do more than iMessage, very light browsing, and reading PDFs, and if you care about future software updates, I'd recommend splurging and getting the iPad mini 4.
 
Avoid buying the Mini1...Mini2 is the bare minimum.

Even then, it has limited life.
 
Honestly, for what you want a used Kindle HDX on EBay will work great and is really cheap (~$50-$60 if you shop around.) The screen has pretty high DPI, and it is more than fast enough for reading PDF's (and other documents of course.)

An iPad Mini 1 would be fine too, but for PDF's I think a higher resolution screen will make a big difference.
 
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Channan said:
A lot of people are saying not to get it for the resolution, but if you were fine with the Kindle Keyboard which had a lower resolution screen with almost the same PPI you should be fine with the first gen mini.

I would honestly not recommend any iPad with less than 2GB of RAM to most people, but I think the first iPad mini would serve your needs fine, especially for $100 for a cellular model. But you ever want to do more than iMessage, very light browsing, and reading PDFs, and if you care about future software updates, I'd recommend splurging and getting the iPad mini 4.
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I would not recommend to buy any iPad and iPhone with 1GB of RAM . It's waste of time . Buying an iPhone 6 or lower now is waste of money
 
Channan said:
A lot of people are saying not to get it for the resolution, but if you were fine with the Kindle Keyboard which had a lower resolution screen with almost the same PPI you should be fine with the first gen mini.
Click to expand...

You are right- it would be fine. But for reading PDF's which come in all shapes and sizes, a higher resolution screen is definitely much easier on the eyes.

Compared to his Kindle Keyboard, an iPad Mini 1 would be an improvement in many ways. I do think if the main use is reading docs, a Kindle HDX would be the best budget choice.
 
iPad mini 1 is unusable. Slow . OP, buy mini 2 at least . Don't buy mini 1 . Apple stopped to support it. And it is losing app suport too. Which means that you will be no longer to update your apps.
 
There are a lot of good comments here, certainly the original mini is getting old. But:

DavidLynch said:
The latest versions of iOS have crippled the iPad Mini 1.
Click to expand...

Math889 said:
iPad mini 1 is unusable.
Click to expand...

These statements are ridiculous. I have an original mini, and I use it every day. I also have a mini 4, which I also use every day. Side by side, running the last iOS 9, there is no practical difference in their performance while flipping around the home screens, or opening small apps. The mini may be a slower device, but it has a fraction of the pixels to push around.

Where the original mini fails is opening large apps or running apps that require a significant amount of CPU. The News app is a good example of this - you do not want to be using that on an original mini. iBooks is acceptable - I have read hundreds of books on my original mini and have never been distracted by poor performance.

What is an original mini worth? I think that is a good question. I am not sure I would pay $100 for a used one. With cellular, maybe, but that would be an upper limit.

A.
 
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