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iPad mini Please convince me to get the iPad Mini 2 instead

N

negroswamy

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 15, 2014
72
2
ok so i already know this is going to bring some hate:

i am actually about to buy a 64gb cellular ipad mini 1 (A5, no retina) for $350 instead of any ipad mini 2. heres why:

1. it was the maxed out specs in its day (some kind of satisfaction)
2. its black & not gray (i loved that color)
3. i can use the cellular for free w my plan
4. cheaper somehow? (trying to convince myself)

ok so the reasons above are stupid but true and i was originally wanting to buy a maxed out specs ipad mini 3 before i learned the differences from v2 were very minor.

im coming from an iphone 4s & large ipad 3. my fam has the iphone 6p, so i get to play around w it if i ever want to...but will i regret not having the A7, M7 stuff vs the A5?

this ipad mini 1 will be used primarily to watch vids, record & listen to lectures (mp3), web browse, email, take handwritten notes (pdf annotations) - but basically NOT HARDCORE GAMING...

i will be using the 64gb of space to store an entire educations worth of knowledge hopefully...

will i regret this (esp going to non-retina)?
 
Truthfully I don't see the point in getting the original mini. It has very old technology in it (ipad 2). The mini 2 is night and day better then the first mini. Also I don't see the point in he mini 3.
 
You're using an iPad 3 now. Specs on the original Mini are equivalent to an iPad 2. The retina Mini 2 is equivalent to an iPad "5" (last year's Air), as an Apple Store employee put it to me recently. So you're taking a step backwards to start with.

I had a Mini 1, and right this minute, it's adequate for the usage you describe. Not great, but adequate. It will become less so very quickly as apps & especially firmware continue to upgrade; 7.1.2 degraded the performance enough on mine that I didn't dare take it to 8. I traded it in an a Mini 2 last night, and unlike the original Mini, I'm fairly confident I'll get two more years out of this device before I need to upgrade again.

The retina screen *is* a bit easier to read on for most people. I read plenty on the Mini 1, and again, it's adequate. But looking at the same pages on my new rMini, the difference is extremely noticeable.

If you'd never used an iDevice before and wanted the Mini as an entry level device, I could see getting it. But I think as someone coming from a higher level iPad already, you'll get irritated with its limitations more quickly than a new user iPad would.
 
I would go with a refurbished mini 2 over a mini 1. With cellular and 64 GB, it's about $450 currently, and a substantial upgrade over the mini 1.

P.S. I upgraded from the mini to the retina mini when it came out. My primary use for the device is reading pdfs with lots of equations, and while the original screen worked fine, I found the retina screen to be noticeably more pleasant for extended reading.
 
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Another vote for refurbished iPad Mini 2 with cellular. The Mini 3 doesn't offer enough in the way of upgrades in my opinion so you will save $100 right off the bat plus whatever discounts are for a refurb.

ETA: plus you get retina screen on mini 2 vs the 1
 
Maxed out iPad Mini Original. LOOOOOOOOOOOLZ.

It's on par with your iPhone 4s, with about an additional 200mhz of speed on the CPU. People don't like 1gb of ram in their iOS devices, you're about to buy one with 512mb.

Complete shiet if you want to run iOS8. But like others have said, your life broc. Do what you want.
 
RickTaylor said:
I would go with a refurbished mini 2 over a mini 1. With cellular and 64 GB, it's about $450 currently, and a substantial upgrade over the mini 1.

P.S. I upgraded from the mini to the retina mini when it came out. My primary use for the device is reading pdfs with lots of equations, and while the original screen worked fine, I found the retina screen to be noticeably more pleasant for extended reading.
Click to expand...

so i ended up smoking ciggs w the cool kids.

bought a used 128gb *cellular ipad mini retina gray from amazon for $605
- mint condition
- FULLY wrapped in zagg shield
- comes with red smart cover
- apple care on it until 2016
- tax free!

after gift cards & stuff, it came out to be ~ $345.

those stats will MAKE me like space gray vs slate black...
 
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negroswamy said:
so i ended up smoking ciggs w the cool kids.

bought a used 128gb ipad mini retina gray from amazon for $605
- mint condition
- FULLY wrapped in zagg shield
- comes with red smart cover
- apple care on it until 2016
- tax free!

after gift cards & stuff, it came out to be ~ $345.

those stats will MAKE me like space gray vs slate black...
Click to expand...


Not sure that's such a deal considering apple is selling a refurb for 439. But a better choice than the original mini for sure.
 
negroswamy said:
so i ended up smoking ciggs w the cool kids.

bought a used 128gb ipad mini retina gray from amazon for $605
- mint condition
- FULLY wrapped in zagg shield
- comes with red smart cover
- apple care on it until 2016
- tax free!

after gift cards & stuff, it came out to be ~ $345.

those stats will MAKE me like space gray vs slate black...
Click to expand...

Holy cow! 600$ for a 128gb version, mine was 550$ 32gb and new. Great deal you got.
 
rkuo said:
Not sure that's such a deal considering apple is selling a refurb for 439. But a better choice than the original mini for sure.
Click to expand...

ya but the 128gb + cellular refurb goes for $539...also, they dont have sprint ones available. (apparently, any cellular ipad mini works w all services except sprint cuz theres some extra antenna for the sprint ones...but a sprint ipad mini works on ALL other carriers...ipad mini 3 is a different story i believe)

the applecare is nice for peace of mind, the zagg shield is a nice touch, the smart cover could come in handy...tax free is great, tho...
 
negroswamy said:
1. it was the maxed out specs in its day (some kind of satisfaction)
Click to expand...
Are you sure about that. I recall the complaints on the first Mini because people felt that apple didn't put the latest and greatest CPU in the mini. They largely rectified that improved the screen with the second generation, i.e., rMini.
 
The Model T Ford was maxed out by specs in its day too. Somehow I don't think you'd want to drive one today as your regular driver. Live in today, not yesterday.

I bought a mini when they first came out and loved the size but hated the screen door display. The truth is, the mini wasn't maxed out by specs in its day. It had "last year's" guts and screen.

You clearly don't want an iPad mini and need us to give you justification for the mini 2. If not, you wouldn't have written this post and would have already bought a mini. Just go with your gut feeling.

($50 more for an infinitely more readable screen seems like a small price to pay)
 
negroswamy said:
ya but the 128gb + cellular refurb goes for $539...also, they dont have sprint ones available. (apparently, any cellular ipad mini works w all services except sprint cuz theres some extra antenna for the sprint ones...but a sprint ipad mini works on ALL other carriers...ipad mini 3 is a different story i believe)

the applecare is nice for peace of mind, the zagg shield is a nice touch, the smart cover could come in handy...tax free is great, tho...
Click to expand...

Didn't see that you got a lte model on top of all that. Yes, that is better.
 
ipad mini 2 is the best. Up til now no ipad mini can compare against big ipad except mini.
 
negroswamy said:
ok so i already know this is going to bring some hate:

i am actually about to buy a 64gb cellular ipad mini 1 (A5, no retina) for $350 instead of any ipad mini 2. heres why:

1. it was the maxed out specs in its day (some kind of satisfaction)
2. its black & not gray (i loved that color)
3. i can use the cellular for free w my plan
4. cheaper somehow? (trying to convince myself)

ok so the reasons above are stupid but true and i was originally wanting to buy a maxed out specs ipad mini 3 before i learned the differences from v2 were very minor.

im coming from an iphone 4s & large ipad 3. my fam has the iphone 6p, so i get to play around w it if i ever want to...but will i regret not having the A7, M7 stuff vs the A5?

this ipad mini 1 will be used primarily to watch vids, record & listen to lectures (mp3), web browse, email, take handwritten notes (pdf annotations) - but basically NOT HARDCORE GAMING...

i will be using the 64gb of space to store an entire educations worth of knowledge hopefully...

will i regret this (esp going to non-retina)?
Click to expand...

One point I think thats worth mentioning is the Slate color I don't believe is offered anymore by Apple. It was beautiful, but it showed wear and tear very very easily. Space Grey which is what they are shipping in it's place is actually nice. It's like the silver, but with a darkness to it. Not explaining that well.

If money is the issue, get what you can most realistically afford without putting yourself out. The iPad Mini 1 is actually 2 chipsets behind the iPad Mini 2 (A5 vs A6), and 3 behind if you compare it to the latest chipsets.

It's getting harder and harder for developers to write programs well for the A5, even if they aren't games.

What you get for the $50 more of the iPad Mini 2 is notable. It's something crazy like 4X more powerful for many tasks, with double the RAM. Plus that gorgeous display. Yes, I am just spouting out technical jargon, but the jargon does actually mean "you'll not be as disappointed 6 months later",
 
Refurbed rMini

negroswamy said:
so i ended up smoking ciggs w the cool kids.

bought a used 128gb *cellular ipad mini retina gray from amazon for $605
- mint condition
- FULLY wrapped in zagg shield
- comes with red smart cover
- apple care on it until 2016
- tax free!

after gift cards & stuff, it came out to be ~ $345.

those stats will MAKE me like space gray vs slate black...
Click to expand...

I too went back and forth on considering the Mini 3 vs the Air 2. Currently have a iPad 2 (used primarily now for a receiver for my audio system), iPad Mini first generation, iPhone 5s (recently purchased unlocked).

What I did decide on was the rMini 128g in slate grey purchased refurbed from Apple, it is not available new in the 128 g. With Apple Care 2016 it was $634, tax and shipping free. I had an extra iFroz glass shield which fits the original Mini, ordered a matte skin and I should be good to go this week!

I will take a look at the Air 2 before I open the package and decide for sure. I still think Apple had the best deal. I cannot seem to get the fingerprint sensor to work consistently despite doing the same thumb twice (fingers 1 and 2), think I tend to be too dehydrated most of the time for it to work and could give a rat about gold.
 
Dgail said:
I too went back and forth on considering the Mini 3 vs the Air 2. Currently have a iPad 2 (used primarily now for a receiver for my audio system), iPad Mini first generation, iPhone 5s (recently purchased unlocked).

What I did decide on was the rMini 128g in slate grey purchased refurbed from Apple, it is not available new in the 128 g. With Apple Care 2016 it was $634, tax and shipping free. I had an extra iFroz glass shield which fits the original Mini, ordered a matte skin and I should be good to go this week!

I will take a look at the Air 2 before I open the package and decide for sure. I still think Apple had the best deal. I cannot seem to get the fingerprint sensor to work consistently despite doing the same thumb twice (fingers 1 and 2), think I tend to be too dehydrated most of the time for it to work and could give a rat about gold.
Click to expand...

Nice pickup! Is it also a cellular 128gb? Is tax free due to your state or some other tricks u have up your sleeve?

Been borrowing an iPad mini 1 until Wednesday and I actually really like it (comparing to my large iPad 3). Feel like I could have actually been happy w this for a while or at least until the iPad mini 4's...but it will be nice to get the (almost) current version mini anyways. Also, the stress avoided of not having to look for deals everywhere/everyday is nice also...but the non retina is NOT a big deal like I thought it would be. After I thought about it, my MBP is nonretina anyways and I have no issues. I also googled it & there are some scientific opinions out there abt retina causing eye fatigue...didnt read enough abt it to form my own opinion...

I'm the type to take extra care of my expensive stuff so that's why I didn't care abt the scuffs to slate that much, but I realized that I have the latest model ipad nano in slate so I can just stare at the back of my nano when I need to satisfy that whole color thing.

Now I think I'm gonna upgrade from 4s to 6 so I can benefit from the integration of all these devices together...but I am gonna miss the small size of the 4s (to me, 6 is too big...6p is way too big). Since I am usually on my iPad 3 or MBP, my phone is used for voice calls almost exclusively...so it's becoming less important to me. Too bad I have to upgrade the phone to take full advantage of both of these new OS's out now...so basically I need to upgrade to 6 in order to stop relying on my phone for voice calls (thereby making it a useless thing I carry around to get more out of my iPad & computer - I was even considering keeping the 4s for weekends & stuff where I go out & want as little baggage on me as possible so I can just do ESN swaps to switch from 6 to 4s & back).

I'll prolly wait til Black Friday and use my best buy $50 off to upgrade & get the 6p on contract renewal for $150 or less (entry level specs). Prolly going for 16gb iPhone 6 space gray...

Then I'll be good on the gadget stuff for at least 18 months (prolly unrealistic)?!?!?!?
 
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Rosagreen said:
You guys convinced me to buy an iPad mini 2.
Click to expand...


The iPad mini 2 is fantastic hardware. The 3 from what I can tell holds limited value if you'd rather save $100.

I do my best to keep our household in current technology. More my wife if the difference is noticeable. I couldn't however justify an upgrade from the 2 to the 3 for her. I couldn't in reasonable understanding recommend it for anyone else.

ApplePay is truly fantastic but a tablet isn't feasible for these tasks and the limitation to ApplePay apps only kneecap that even more.

Get the deal while you can.

I almost expect Apple to have another event for the release of the Apple Watch that includes the iPad Pro and possibly the iPad Mini 4 early next year.
 
Choice for iPads is simple.

Either you get the iPad mini 2 or the iPad Air 2.

Anything else and you're wasting money.

No one should be buying a 1st gen mini or an iPad 2.

You WILL regret it sooner rather than later.
 
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