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Should I buy original iPad Mini

T

tthip

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 16, 2012
46
1
I want to buy my two kids each an 'original' mini for Christmas (see link) and would like to know if it is still worth it.
The are 8&9 and only play Minecraft, Terraria, YouTube and stuff like that. I see them at Walmart right now for $199 a piece and that is what I would like to spend over a mini 2 at $270 each.
Should I do it? Are the updates going to be unsupported soon on the mini?
Thank you very much

http://www.walmart.com/browse/elect...ModuleZone&athmtid=AthenaPOVStory&athena=true
 
tthip said:
I want to buy my two kids each an 'original' mini for Christmas (see link) and would like to know if it is still worth it.
The are 8&9 and only play Minecraft, Terraria, YouTube and stuff like that. I see them at Walmart right now for $199 a piece and that is what I would like to spend over a mini 2 at $270 each.
Should I do it? Are the updates going to be unsupported soon on the mini?
Thank you very much

http://www.walmart.com/browse/electronics/all-ipads/3944_1078524_1077944?cat_id=3944_1078524_1077944&facet=special_offers:Special Buy||special_offers:Rollback&athcpid=AN0BHZ03&athpgid=athenaHomepage&athznid=athenaModuleZone&athmtid=AthenaPOVStory&athena=true
Click to expand...

I honestly wouldn't buy anything with an A5 processor at this point in time. If you can swing the mini 2, it would last a lot longer.
 
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tthip said:
I want to buy my two kids each an 'original' mini for Christmas (see link) and would like to know if it is still worth it.
The are 8&9 and only play Minecraft, Terraria, YouTube and stuff like that. I see them at Walmart right now for $199 a piece and that is what I would like to spend over a mini 2 at $270 each.
Should I do it? Are the updates going to be unsupported soon on the mini?
Thank you very much

http://www.walmart.com/browse/electronics/all-ipads/3944_1078524_1077944?cat_id=3944_1078524_1077944&facet=special_offers:Special Buy||special_offers:Rollback&athcpid=AN0BHZ03&athpgid=athenaHomepage&athznid=athenaModuleZone&athmtid=AthenaPOVStory&athena=true
Click to expand...

It would be throwing away your money if it has anything beyond iOS 7 IMO. I have one, and my personal experience was that it really didn't function well at once I upgraded to iOS 8 last September.
 
Last edited:
the iPad mini 1 has fewer pixels to push so it won't suffer as bad as people say provided the upgraded iOS software is limited in some way.
 
I'd wait a few weeks and see if the iPad Mini 2 gets a price drop. It has the A7 chip which is 2 years newer than what the original Mini has.

For me personally, my original Mini is showing its age. Lots of annoying tab reloading.

If you're going to buy a brand new device, at least get something that will be supported longer in terms of OS and hardware. The Mini 1 is old at this point and not worth a $200 price tag.
 
ipad mini 1 is very slow.

but even so, it has best battery life among all ipads, and best form factor (similar to ipad mini 4).

my ipad mini 2 gets warm very quickly after 10 mins use. Ipad mini 1 never had such issue either.
 
With the iPad Mini 3 axed from the iPad lineup, expect retailers to have discounts soon. This week Target has them for $299 this week and for $30 more than an iPad Mini 2 you get TouchID on a iPad Mini 3..but hey you did say it was for kids so that feature may not matter. OR you could get a iPad Mini 2 with more storage for just a few bucks more.
 
No way Jose. I would till November when the Black Friday sales are going on and go for the Mini 2. It will be a better investment to go for the newer models. Believe me you'll be saving your kids and yourself a headache.
 
I never had any problems with the performance on my 1st gen mini. But I stopped updating after 8.1.1 so I don't know if that makes a difference or not. I do think it's faster than it was on iOS 7. It's still pretty snappy aside from some larger web pages obviously.

That being said, I would recommend the Mini 2. $270 is a pretty good price. If they're kids and all they're going to do is play games, Alternatively you could get them a Kindle Fire tablet or iPod Touch 6th generation.
 
I know its tough if you have a budget, but you should really try to go for the mini 2. For $70 you're getting a device that's 2 generations newer. It'll easily last a few years longer. Imagine, by next spring the original iPad mini will be running on 5 year old hardware.

My kids have been using my older iPad 2 and an original iPad mini. They still work ok, but they're really showing their age. Buying one now you won't get many years out of it.
 
No unless you want your kids to suffer. Get iPad Mini 2 as a minimum and they go for about $150 on Craigslist.
 
I've been using my original Mini for the past 3 years. After IOS 7 it became slow and now with IOS 8 it is downright unpleasant.

I just ordered my Mini4 today and wouldn't give my original to anyone, even as a present.

Don't buy it!
 
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It would probably be ok as an e-reader, but the battery life wouldn't be as good as a Kindle. I'm not trying to be snarky, it's just old hardware.
 
tthip said:
I want to buy my two kids each an 'original' mini for Christmas (see link) and would like to know if it is still worth it.
The are 8&9 and only play Minecraft, Terraria, YouTube and stuff like that. I see them at Walmart right now for $199 a piece and that is what I would like to spend over a mini 2 at $270 each.
Should I do it? Are the updates going to be unsupported soon on the mini?
Thank you very much

http://www.walmart.com/browse/electronics/all-ipads/3944_1078524_1077944?cat_id=3944_1078524_1077944&facet=special_offers:Special Buy||special_offers:Rollback&athcpid=AN0BHZ03&athpgid=athenaHomepage&athznid=athenaModuleZone&athmtid=AthenaPOVStory&athena=true
Click to expand...
Because you are buying it for an 8 and 9 year old, they will be thrilled and the savings will be good. I still have my iPad first edition and it is fine by next weekend it will belong to my husband because I am getting the new 4. I would wait a few weeks and see if the price drops more from Walmart with the release of the 4 . My only suggestion would be to purchase this one from Apple rather than from Walmart where being refurbished from Apple makes more sense. The only reason to buy from Walmart would be if you had a credit card from them and needed to purchase from them or had credit. http://www.apple.com/shop/product/FF432LL/A/refurbished-ipad-mini-with-wi-fi-16gb-space-gray
Otherwise I think the original would be fine at 8 and 9 yrs old they will more thrill with getting one than worrying about how fast it is.. When they get older then you can invest in the more up to date version.
 
Mini 1 lags too much, I've seen a friend's not even open certain recently developed apps and games properly, as they are not compatible with the device. This would be a problem if you/anyone else is using updated and new apps. Mini 2 would be a better investment for you
 
I'm with most of the others. Since you are buying it for a Christmas gift, you have time. Sure they will be thrilled with anything, but at age 8 and 9, they have a lot of snap about this type of electronics than you think. The Mini 2 will be marked way down on black Friday. Make that your plan.
 
Wait for a price cut of the 2 or 3 gen. The A5 chips will likely see games dropping support for it in later updates, meaning as early as next week because developers have a lot of problems with it. There are some games that don't currently support it even.

Performance is on a per game basis. Terraria is great on it, Safari got stuck on me this evening though. Still, you're going to invest into something that won't see iOS 10, and like I said, developers will one by one stop releasing stuff for it.
 
gosh... i'm still using an original ipad mini and I still love it very much!

maybe because I have no other ipad to compare it to.... I don't consider it slow.... I have the latest ios on it (and I read somewhere that ios 9 should make it run better? can't remember whey I read it... probably on here somewhere? or what the reason was?)

I haven't had any issues with any apps YET.....

having said that.... if you are getting these as Christmas gifts... i'm willing to bet that the mini 2 will be available around black Friday for cheap if you're willing to wait and buy them then!
 
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