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appleroid

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 24, 2015
15
2
I'm going to be getting an Apple iPad Mini tablet. I was leaning toward the second-gen since touch ID isn't something I need. But after I saw the rumoured shell, it made me think: Should I wait out for the 4?
 
Ya I don't want a full size iPad and thanks for your help


Yeah the 2 year old specs I would just wait and see if they update the specs. If they don't I would jump on the older mini 2 imo or even mini 3 since both should be discounted
 
A8X or A9 chip; more ram; thinner design; better camera

The iPad Mini always runs the mainstream processors, so we'll probably see the A8, we might be lucky and get the A9
I doubt Apple would stick with 1GB after they moved to 2GB. However, the original iPad Mini had 512MB, 7 months after the iPad moved to 1GB, so don't get your hopes up too much
I think that a thinner iPad mini is something we might see, seeing as the iPad Mini focuses on portability. They should also make it lighter
I don't see a reason why they won't put the iPad Air 2 camera into the iPad Mini.
 
I'm going to be getting an Apple iPad Mini tablet. I was leaning toward the second-gen since touch ID isn't something I need. But after I saw the rumoured shell, it made me think: Should I wait out for the 4?

All things considered I think its on your best interest to wait. Since the internals of the mini 3 and 2 are the same it´s quite possible that your investment will stay relevant for less time when compared to a newly specced mini 4.

If you do go for gen 2 or 3, choose whatever you can get cheaper, since internals are the same.
 
A8X or A9 chip; more ram; thinner design; better camera

I would add to this that if you are getting a cellular version, the next iteration of the iPad should also support LTE band 12 which T-Mobile USA and some smaller carriers in the US are deploying.
 
All things considered I think its on your best interest to wait. Since the internals of the mini 3 and 2 are the same it´s quite possible that your investment will stay relevant for less time when compared to a newly specced mini 4.

If you do go for gen 2 or 3, choose whatever you can get cheaper, since internals are the same.

Right now I am leaning toward waiting. When do you guys think it may be announced? October? WWDC?
 
I'm going to be getting an Apple iPad Mini tablet. I was leaning toward the second-gen since touch ID isn't something I need. But after I saw the rumoured shell, it made me think: Should I wait out for the 4?

I have a 32gb Mini 2. A truly magical device to me. It is with me always. That being said, I will be buying the latest iteration if it lives up to its rumors.
Should you buy now is a hard question because you will be waiting 6 months to have the tech that you need now. lol
Yes, it would be worth the wait, but if money is not a factor, one can by the Mini 2 at a pretty reasonable price and should sell for close to the same in 6 months.
 
If you don't mind not having the latest technology and your not all about specs and slightly faster waiting times, then the iPad mini 2 is a great choice.

It's what I use now, but since I like having the newest technology I'm waiting for the iPad Pro coming out in the fall.

Life with the iPad mini 2 with retina:

- it's great having 32gb, i wouldn't go any lower cause I'm an app whore lol
- fast, no wait times noticed
- sexy, just as sexy as the iPad Air 2 and Mini 3
- apps are wonderful and I no longer need a computer. "Pages" is my writing tool for essays in college. If you're a college student then this will be great for your needs.
- MEDIA! Is great on the retina display. GO NETFLIX!
- Make sure to get a case, try Amazon ;)

Any more details you need just give me a message.
 
The iPad mini 2 is a iPad Air in a small package. So much that i call mine an Air mini instead. The 64 bit chip should mean it will last better than older devices for speed and iOS updates.

Mine is space grey THE best colour. I didn't even think about the mini 3, too little of a change for the price.

I'm an ex iPad Air user but my wife has it now. She is a full time iPad user so the bigger screen makes sense. I use my Mac most of the time (along with a windows machine for gaming) so the mini makes sense.

iPad Air 2 and possible Mini 3? The Air 2 is impossibly thin. I handled one and thought it was a made up demo for the store (o2 store) till i woke it up. :eek:
Too thin. I will stick to the Mini 2.
 
Love my iPad mini 64gb, just wish I had gotten the cellular version for the gps chip though. Perfect for trips.

Just torn between a an iPad air vs iPad air 2 for the house.
 
then the iPad mini 2 is a great choice.

Life with the iPad mini 2 with retina:
- it's great having 32gb, i wouldn't go any lower
- fast, no wait times noticed
- apps are wonderful and I no longer need a computer. "Pages" is my writing tool for essays in college. If you're a college student then this will be great for your needs.
- MEDIA! Is great on the retina display.
- Make sure to get a case, try Amazon ;)

- I bought my iPad Mini 2 last month. It came with iOS 8.0.2 installed and I haven't upgraded at this stage. Not sure if I should just yet.
- It runs fairly smoothly however there are a couple of notable glitches, one in the Notes app and one in Safari.
- 32gb is a must. I've installed a few apps, not a huge number of them, and added some MS documents and I'm already down to 16gb. :( And that's without any music or movies loaded. A 16gb Mini would leave you with no space for anything else, so I highly recommend that people go for at least 32gb.
- I like being able to use MS Word and Excel on an iPad. Awesome! And its free too. :D
- Retina display is great!
- Battery life is rather good - that is after going through a couple of power cycles and also ensuring no unnecessary background services etc were running.
- I bought a Mercury Goospery case - with smart cover function and card holders for USD17. Smart looking too. Bought 2 of them in-store but you can get them online for around USD10.

If the Mini 4 has an extra gig of RAM then I would go for that. If not then defo go for the Mini 2, or the Mini 3 if it comes down, considerably, in price.
 
- I bought my iPad Mini 2 last month. It came with iOS 8.0.2 installed and I haven't upgraded at this stage. Not sure if I should just yet.
- It runs fairly smoothly however there are a couple of notable glitches, one in the Notes app and one in Safari.
- 32gb is a must. I've installed a few apps, not a huge number of them, and added some MS documents and I'm already down to 16gb. :( And that's without any music or movies loaded. A 16gb Mini would leave you with no space for anything else, so I highly recommend that people go for at least 32gb.
- I like being able to use MS Word and Excel on an iPad. Awesome! And its free too. :D
- Retina display is great!
- Battery life is rather good - that is after going through a couple of power cycles and also ensuring no unnecessary background services etc were running.
- I bought a Mercury Goospery case - with smart cover function and card holders for USD17. Smart looking too. Bought 2 of them in-store but you can get them online for around USD10.

If the Mini 4 has an extra gig of RAM then I would go for that. If not then defo go for the Mini 2, or the Mini 3 if it comes down, considerably, in price.

I used a mini 2 on 8.1 and on 8.3, I noticed a marked speed improvement, a battery life improvement, and elimination of some bugs in notes, Safari, the keyboard, and multitouch gestures. Opens apps much quicker, much smoother operation.

From 8.1 to 8.3, also noticed an increase in available storage. Capacity increased by a GB or two. I noticed there are many, many apps installed, including Microsoft office. Overall, there is 7.6GB consumed by installed apps, music, and photos, and 4.3GB left. This is on a 16GB.

I don't see many users using up the whole storage of a 16gb iPad. With a 32GB, you would frankly be wasting money on 16GB more storage that you would never use.

If I buy a mini 2 refurb, think it'll come with an earlier version of iOS 8?

Yes, it'll probably have iOS 8.2, and might have 8.1. But iOS 8.3 brings such a huge performance increase over every other iOS 8 version, and fixes basically every single bug in iOS 8. You'd be incredibly foolish if you did not update!!!


I recommend getting an iPad, if you need or want an iPad now. (I don't need an iPad). I recommend getting it on sale or refurbished. Any iPad with an A7 chip or better will keep fast performance for a very long time. And apple supports its products for a very long time.

1GB is plenty, iOS 8.3 optimizes it even more. Can keep many webpages and apps in the background. And when an app or webpage needs to load again, wait a split second. But this doesn't happen often.
Don't decide to wait for 2GB unless you've actually used an iPad mini 2 with iOS 8.3. 2GB isn't very necessary.
And, if you wait until fall for the iPad mini 4, would you want to pay $400 for it, or pay $250 for the iPad mini 2?
 
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