Lately, a few people have emailed and asked, How I have an iPad mini 6th generation. Like, have I changed my opinion about him a year later.
If you are too lazy to read, I will say right away: no, it hasn’t changed.
All year long it lies in my backpack and rarely “stale” there for a long time. I generally stopped playing and watching videos on the iPhone. Already exciting “minicom” I get for this. Looking to work with him on the web, as “big” Safari seemed more convenient than “mobile”.
Just when they ask me is it worth it to take such a device, I basically react cautiously, exclude. And sometimes the likelihood is something else.
Two main pluses of the iPad mini. Size and Processor
I don’t even know why to write something about the size. You just need to take the iPad mini once, hold it in your hands, turn on the screen. And you will immediately understand everything. It doesn’t even feel like a gadget, it’s immediately less than 300 grams.
I have been walking with him for a year and still deep down I am surprised by him every time I pick him up. Or when I manually close it in a seemingly empty backpack.
Reading, watching, playing, working on an 8-inch screen is better than on an iPhone. The difference in weight between the iPhone Pro Max and iPad mini is approximately 80 grams. The difference in consumption and comfort of creation and consumption is heaven and earth.
The processor did not disappoint either. The 6th generation iPad mini has the A15 Bionic. I love the M1, it’s a wonder chip in laptops, but it’s of little use on the iPad yet. Therefore, A15 takes me completely here.
I play top games without lags, I work with images, text, and so on, without feeling the need for more powerful hardware. Better than modern iPhones because tablets cool faster.
Yes, this is definitely not an M1, and therefore the issue of RAM in resource-intensive applications (it is only 4 GB, while the M1 in the iPad has either 8 GB or as much as 16 GB of RAM) can become acute, depending on your requirements.
But the mini fits in the inner pocket of my jacket, its presence in a backpack or bag has an average statistical error.
This is a tablet that you can carry with you indefinitely and completely forget about it until it appears. This happened to me often, and many times he helped me out a lot when on the road, away from my MacBook or iMac, I urgently needed a larger screen than the iPhone, comfortable and / or a bigger keyboard.
The biggest downside of the iPad mini. Battery
Day exceptional performance with several hours of tablet use is the ultimate and harsh reality of the iPad mini 6th generation. If you use the device actively during the day, then I know in advance that it is unlikely to “survive” before charging.
If you do nothing really with it, except for scrolling sites with below average brightness, and accumulate 4 passions for an active view, then by the evening you will have no more than 15% of the charge left. There are five hours of “surfing” on the Internet.
Start actively communicating in Telegram, so the interest will melt before your eyes. 4 hours in such a protocol is the edge.
Games, especially demanding ones, can consume the entire battery literally in 3 hourssometimes even a little less.
Watching the video, however, does not load the tablet so much. Enough for 7 hours. If the video is stream from the Internet and from services not from Apple, like YouTube, can be calculated for about 5-6 hours. But, again, never not more.
During the year, the maximum battery capacity fell by 6%. Not so bad.
Moreover, iPad mini 6 can be considered the record holder for the rate of passive battery discharge. If you lie for three or four days without his cable, you will definitely find yourself in a disconnected and incapacitated state. You can delay this moment a little, but not much.
Like it or not, the tablet is very light and small, but with cool development and processor production. From it miracles of autonomous work are expected. But personally, I’m not used to using the battery saver mode on the iPad, which has long been famous for its “survivability”. This is a 12-year-old Apple tablet that motivates you to poke at the battery icon in Control Center.
The second minus of the iPad mini. Memory (and its price)
I may not be one of those who are “strangled by a toad” to pick up a “piece of iron” for a lot of money. Profitability of buying a tablet at the price of an iPhone of recent years from the Pro series.
memory in 64 gigabytes the basic version has approx. 40 thousand rubles – this is not seriously. If you take it for something more serious than a browser and a messenger, you need to “score” the tablet very quickly.
Modern games on iOS and iPadOS can consume 5, 10, and sometimes even 20-30 gigabytes. You put a couple, and there will be no free space.
The 256 gigabyte model is much more interesting, but costs nearly two frequency bands. We won’t talk about the cellular module at all, there some kind of space is obtained at a price. The 512 GB version does not exist. That is no special choice. You need to take a model for 256 gigs.
For professional software, the screen is still small, there are not enough “operatives”. For games you need 256 gigs. For mobility, well, a very useful SIM card slot. And the logical question arises: maybe just take the basic iPad Pro on the M1 or even on the M2? After all, their price in searches with the top mini configuration comes out the only one, about 75 thousand rubles.
In the end I’m satisfied, but I’m going to be better
What is objectively lacking iPad mini now?
Lacks beautiful prices. 20 percent, it seems to me, can be “cut off” with accuracy. And for almost the price of a mini, you can now get an iPad Air on the M1 or even an iPad Pro on the M1. And this another level.
Of course not enough iPad Pro display level. I mean Pro Motion. Somehow, those 60 hertz are already outdated, especially when all other Apple devices flaunt twice the frame rate.
And certainly not enough deep independent battery life. Somehow, the first thing you do is turn off the battery saver mode every time you leave the house early and for a long time.
But an excellent processor, almost all the functionality of iPadOS, a bright and colorful screen, and the weightlessness of the device make the current “minicom” really cool tablet. The Pencil also supports as expected, and not through fear and horror, which Apple offers to owners of the new basic iPad 2022.
iPad mini 6 is not for everyone and far from ideal. But in its niche it has no shortage. It does everything an iPad does and can be with you 24/7, completely invisible to your hands, back or inside pockets. Just hold it in your hands and catch it.
PS The original cover almost fell into disrepair
From the first days and always on the iPad mini, a proprietary Smart Folio – magnetic cover on the back panel and a display that transforms into a stand. To be honest, I can’t imagine using the iPad mini without it. It’s very thin, slips on and off instantly, is lightweight, quickly converts to a stand, and covers the tablet well from everything except drops. Ribs-toshel “naked”.
For a year of carrying in a bag, look at the surface of the Folio “worn” built-in magnets, which makes the case look dirty. Not particularly critical, but incorrigible. The surface is kept clean, but this is the reality: an absolutely small thickness and too pliable polyurethane sooner or later surrenders under the pressure of almost fifty small magnets.
📸 All photos in the article:
Source: Iphones RU
