New iPad Mini Compatible With Final Cut Pro, But Lacks Stage Manager

[Astuces iOS]

Yes, and once again, these comments prove that no one seems to get exactly what the “M” chips are.
They aren’t totally different from the “A” chips like a lot of people seem to believe. A lot of people seem to actually believe that if the iPad mini had the “M1” it would be a more capable, faster, longer lasting machine than the “A17”, when that just absolutely is not the case.

The A17 is on a newer process than the M1, has faster RAM than the M1, has a RT capable GPU when the M1 does not, has the newer AV1 decoders which the M1 does not, and will more than likely get three more years of support since it’s three years newer.

Meanwhile, the M1 is basically an A14 with more cores and RAM. Incredible chip, but still four years old, and has the most in common with the same chip from the iPhone 12 then it does the newer “A” chips.

The A17 is most comparable to the M3, but even then it would have made absolutely no sense to put an M3 in the iPad mini, because it’s a tiny thermal envelope with a small battery.

M1 is faster than a17 pro… you don’t need to compare all things…

 

[Haiku_Oezu]

I can’t imagine stage manager being pleasant or very useful on a 7 inch display, honestly

 

[grandchester]

Forget about that it will be fixed in iOS 18.1 bro…

I know. I said that.

 

[Astuces iOS]

I wrote this in the past, but in my opinion Apple should put stage manager on iPad mini only when it is connected to an external display in order to use it like a computer. Apple sells it with an high price, so they should give something more to buyers.
Instead on iPad 11 Apple should put inside the m1 to enable stage manager only on iPad screen so the students can do activities more easily, but the lack of external display support could differentiate it from Air and Pro.

To run stage manager you only need 6gb of ram on an iPad… So the iPad mini could do it but it’s not enabled by apple.

 

[Astuces iOS]

I know. I said that.

So it’s not the best idea, you will have stage manager but you will miss all new features apple is going to release

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

M1 is faster than a17 pro… you don’t need to compare all things…

A 2019 Mac Pro is also faster than the A17Pro…
Not comparing all things is absolutely ridiculous.

For the small form factor of the mini, the smaller battery of the mini, and the obvious majority of tasks being less demanding coming from an iPad mini, the older, more power hungry chip that will lose support sooner makes a lot less sense than the newer, more efficient, more up-to-date, but slightly slower A17 that just came out last year and will at least have five more years of updates.
Cmon now.

 

[Ctrlos]

It's really a shame they have intentionally hobbled the device by not giving it at least an M1.

Apple are selling AI as their core new feature. The M1 processor is only capable of 11TOPS whereas the A17 Pro is capable of 35TOPS (Trillion operations per second) making it over 3x faster at on-device AI processing. There is always a method in Apple's apparent madness. None of their design decisions are taken lightly.

As for Stage Manager? Nobody needs that on such a small screen. In any case unless you're connected to an external display the split view/slide-over still gives you a more intuitive interaction anyway.

 

[CarAnalogy]

It's really a shame they have intentionally hobbled the device by not giving it at least an M1. No true external display support. no stage manager, lack of access to likely several other major features during its normal lifecycle as all development is focused on M-generation iPads. Also means apps which require an M-series chip aren't going to work either (or at least as well). They patched Final Cut (for now) to run, but it's not the only M-series app.

This is like them dropping a new MacBook with an Intel i3 processor. Sure, it might still get security patches, but the entire focus of development is on M-series chips.

I think they want to kill the Mini (like they did the Mini phone) but simply can't because of overwhelming corporate usage... so they are trying to keep it fundamentally deficient so it can't be a consumer success (presumably to drive folks to larger more profitable iPads).

It's a shame too because I would pay 2x the cost of a maxed out 12.9 Pro (which I also have) for an iPad mini Pro. The form factor is absolutely PERFECT. Being able to travel with just that, a fold out bluetooth keyboard and flat mouse would be a game changer as everything could fit in a jacket pocket.

They keep making larger phones, and overpowered iPad Pros, so we know they have the technology. But they won't just make an iPad Mini Pro. Would people pay $1000 for a device that size as powerful as an iPad/iPhone Pro? They basically already do right?

Would probably eat into iPhone profits, or they think it will. Which would affect their network operator cartel relationships, which is the real danger.

 

[awshucks]

If you need to use Final Cut Pro just get a used M1 MacBook Air for the same or less price than the Mini 7.

 

[maxoakland]

The A17 Pro however is a more advanced chip than the M1/M2 and is fully capable of running Stage Manager via an external extended display, but they purposely disabled it, probably to upsell people to the 11" Air/Pro.

I'm so tired of Apple doing stuff like this

 

[jonnysods]

Man editing a video an iPad Mini with FCP - forgeddaboudit.

 

[Hank001]

All the iPads (including the mini) need to have full stage manager and external display support IN CLAMSHELL MODE. This would make a huge difference for a portable workstation, even if stage manager isnt enabled on the mini when not plugged in.

An iPad in clam shell mode. Now I’ve seen it all.

 

[maxoakland]

I can’t imagine stage manager being pleasant or very useful on a 7 inch display, honestly

Maybe not but people can decide that for themselves

 

[zedsdead]

An iPad in clam shell mode. Now I’ve seen it all.

Yes, when it is in the keyboard case (or Smart Folio) it forces the display on even when connected to an external display. So if you close the case, everything goes off.

Federico Veticci talks about this all the time. It's also just a name mean the iPad display would be off but still output to the monitor.

Obviously the iPad wouldn't be cut in half.

 

[snipr125]

I can’t imagine stage manager being pleasant or very useful on a 7 inch display, honestly

Its not really even that useful on a 11" iPad, however when used with an extended display it is really good, Mac like in fact. This is where it would have been useful on the Mini 7, and the A17 Pro would have no issue driving the external display at all, problem is the a17 Pro does not have an external controller just like other A chips.

 

[Haiku_Oezu]

Its not really even that useful on a 11" iPad, however when used with an extended display it is really good, Mac like in fact. This is where it would have been useful on the Mini 7, and the A17 Pro would have no issue driving the external display at all, problem is the a17 Pro does not have an external controller like other A chips.

Oh yeah I forgot about the external display support

 

[Astuces iOS]

A 2019 Mac Pro is also faster than the A17Pro…
Not comparing all things is absolutely ridiculous.

For the small form factor of the mini, the smaller battery of the mini, and the obvious majority of tasks being less demanding coming from an iPad mini, the older, more power hungry chip that will lose support sooner makes a lot less sense than the newer, more efficient, more up-to-date, but slightly slower A17 that just came out last year and will at least have five more years of updates.
Cmon now.

It’s obvious that the Mac Pro is better than M1

 

[histeachn81]

This feeds the debate that asks if this is a big cellphone or a small tablet. Apple really blurs the line in this device sometimes.

To be honest, if the iPhone SE 4 is priced higher than the mini, I may almost pull the trigger on a cellular model.

 

[subjonas]

the A17 Pro would have no issue driving the external display at all, problem is the a17 Pro does not have an external controller like other A chips.

Other A chips have external display controllers? You mean M chips?

 

[ipedro]

Well, that was it for me. I was going to pass because it wasn’t an M-series chip and couldn’t run Final Cut.

I’m not too worried about Stage Manager on such a small screen, the same way I’m not worried about not having Stage Manager on an iPhone. I’ll run full screen apps and can multitask with multitouch and swiping the home bar.

 

[Hank001]

Yes, when it is in the keyboard case (or Smart Folio) it forces the display on even when connected to an external display. So if you close the case, everything goes off.

Federico Veticci talks about this all the time. It's also just a name mean the iPad display would be off but still output to the monitor.

Obviously the iPad wouldn't be cut in half.

Ah, gotcha. I thought the nomenclature only applied to laptops.

 

[Astuces iOS]

Its not really even that useful on a 11" iPad, however when used with an extended display it is really good, Mac like in fact. This is where it would have been useful on the Mini 7, and the A17 Pro would have no issue driving the external display at all, problem is the a17 Pro does not have an external controller like other A chips.

iPad mini can’t run stage manager

 

[Astuces iOS]

Sad

 

[svish]

Don't think stage manager will be useful on a smaller display.

 

[darngooddesign]

More great info for potential purchasers... but where are the reviews of this device? I want to know 100% that they fixed the jelly scroll (more than Jason Snell repeating rumours on a podcast). Why hasn't Apple let people try this yet??

You should know by now how things work. Reviewers already have it, but they aren’t allowed to publish reviews due to NDAs until Apple says they can. Usually around when the product is available for sale.

Nothing nefarious is going on.