Can't decide between Air and Mini 2

py2006

I just can't! lol

I never owned either but my father does have the Mini. I am just looking for a device to have beside the bed for those lazy Sunday mornings. Well may be I will find more use for it once I have it. I like the look of the Air and the fact that it is lighter etc. Whereas I am hearing the Mini 2 is heavier and bigger than the first incarnation?

Also, is the Air merely bigger Mini? Oh wait, that was a stupid question...

Any advice?

EDIT: Actually if rumours are to be believed (and I am a sucker for an aul rumour or two) there may be quite a limited supply of Mini 2's.

Sad Professor

The Retina Mini is slightly heavier and a tinsy tiny bit wider than the first gen Mini. Nothing worth talking about.

As for Air vs Mini, it depends on your usage. If it's never going to leave the house then I think the Air is the better choice. The larger screen is good for games and makes typing easier. But if you are going to be carrying it around a lot, say for reading eBooks on the commute, etc, then you should consider the Mini with cellular.

Zcott

For reading websites and magazines, the Air wins for me. If you were taking it everywhere and wanted something to out in your pocket, the Mini would be best but for your usage it sounds like an Air would be best.

py2006

I probably won't be bringing out of the house. Although, I am saying that now.

I'm just thinking the full size might be big and awkward in the hand while lying in bed. (don't go there, too easy).

How is the Air for Youtube and the RTE Player etc?

murpho999

Had 3 days with the air, and love it.

Been on couch, public transport, bed etc and I think the size is just right and it's very light.

Personally don't see the advantage in the mini as the Air is not too big, but that extra screen makes videos look really good.

whitebriar

The air hands down.
Perfect for bed watching.Its so light,it will rest against a crumpled blanket or is easy for hand holding in bed (which is all you should be doing there anyway )
The keyboard is the best tablet one I've had.So good,I'm settling for a Smart Cover rather than a USB keyboard cover.

py2006

whitebriar wrote: »

Perfect for bed watching

well I don't plan on watching beds on it.

jester77

How are you going to use it?

Have a look at the Nexus 7 as well, it's more portable than the ipads and has a better screen aspect ratio for watching video. My company ipad was due an upgrade last week and I had the choice of the Air, mini retina or nexus 7. Ended up going with the Nexus 7, it's smaller and lighter than the ipads, easier to hold in one hand and even fits in the pocket of my pants. I really only use it for watching a movie when travelling, everything else I do on my phone or kindle.

py2006

jester77 wrote: »

How are you going to use it?

Have a look at the Nexus 7 as well, it's more portable than the ipads and has a better screen aspect ratio for watching video. My company ipad was due an upgrade last week and I had the choice of the Air, mini retina or nexus 7. Ended up going with the Nexus 7, it's smaller and lighter than the ipads, easier to hold in one hand and even fits in the pocket of my pants. I really only use it for watching a movie when travelling, everything else I do on my phone or kindle.

Well like I said, just some lazy social media, youtube and general crap while in bed may be beside me at my desk in work.

jester77

py2006 wrote: »

Well like I said, just some lazy social media, youtube and general crap while in bed may be beside me at my desk in work.

In that case I would go with the bigger screen, sounds like the air would suit you better.

lertsnim

Air for sure. The bigger screen is more than worth it.

PADRAIC.M

I was same as you, first time ipad owner, up until air was released I was dead set on a mini but after using both in store I went with air! And delighted with it!

py2006

Yea I am leaning towards the Air now. I may pop into PC World after work to have feel of it.

I am just thinking if I was to bring it to a cafe or bar that has wifi is it too big for that? As in can people all around see what you are looking at? Not that I would be looking at anything I shouldn't be.

murpho999

py2006 wrote: »

Yea I am leaning towards the Air now. I may pop into PC World after work to have feel of it.

I am just thinking if I was to bring it to a cafe or bar that has wifi is it too big for that? As in can people all around see what you are looking at? Not that I would be looking at anything I shouldn't be.

Really what are you worried about?

Unless you are going around the bar taking photos then non one will look at your screen.

It's smaller than your average magazine, light and very portable.

Stop over thinking it and just get it!

py2006

murpho999 wrote: »

Really what are you worried about?

Unless you are going around the bar taking photos then non one will look at your screen.

It's smaller than your average magazine, light and very portable.

Stop over thinking it and just get it!

Hah, I'm in PC world now giving it a good grope.

py2006

py2006 wrote: »

Hah, I'm in PC world now giving it a good grope.

Seem to only have 16gb models in which is fine but I'm suddenly scared of handing over 500 smackeroonies

Zcott

py2006 wrote: »

Seem to only have 16gb models in which is fine but I'm suddenly scared of handing over 500 smackeroonies

You can do it!

murpho999

I think you'll have given in and your next post here is from a shiny iPad!

String

I have been waiting for retina to buy a Mini for ages.. When air was announced in keynote I was thinking maybe with the smaller form factor and lighter it might be a better option but after holding it, I decided against it. The mini is perfect size and weight for me and since the specs are the same but with more ppi on the mini!, I can get 32GB mini instead of 16gb air which makes it great value.

py2006

Chickened out!

Although I may go back tomorrow.

adox

DrMorphine wrote: »

I have been waiting for retina to buy a Mini for ages.. When air was announced in keynote I was thinking maybe with the smaller form factor and lighter it might be a better option but after holding it, I decided against it. The mini is perfect size and weight for me and since the specs are the same but with more ppi on the mini!, I can get 32GB mini instead of 16gb air which makes it great value.

Have you held the air in store without it being attached to the counter by a cable? The pull cable in the likes of PC World make it feel heavier.
I couldn't believe how light the air felt when I got home compared to picking it up in store.

String

adox wrote: »

Have you held the air in store without it being attached to the counter by a cable? The pull cable in the likes of PC World make it feel heavier.
I couldn't believe how light the air felt when I got home compared to picking it up in store.

I didn't actually.. ugh! I will just wait and see what people think of the mini retina before I make a final decision.

Spipov

adox wrote: »

Have you held the air in store without it being attached to the counter by a cable? The pull cable in the likes of PC World make it feel heavier.
I couldn't believe how light the air felt when I got home compared to picking it up in store.

Did you get a voucher for 50'euros? If it ws a 16gb of course. If 32gb then definitely 50 euros the norm

The One Who Knocks

I'm trying to decide too,

I would go for the air, but I only recently got a 2013 macbook air, ..is there really a need for a tablet a few inches smaller?

Whereas the mini retina could be my go to device, lighter with a better screen. Given that they're the same spec, it makes sense for me to go for the mini instead, right?

Creamy Goodness

iPad mini retina, if you are carrying it with your macbook air there's no need for the iPad air.

I'm glad I held out on the mini last year, mini retina going to be amazing.

Dublinstiofán

The One Who Knocks wrote: »

I'm trying to decide too,

I would go for the air, but I only recently got a 2013 macbook air, ..is there really a need for a tablet a few inches smaller?

Whereas the mini retina could be my go to device, lighter with a better screen. Given that they're the same spec, it makes sense for me to go for the mini instead, right?

I bought an Air at the weekend. Highly recommend it over the iPad Mini.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Dublinstiofán

Captain Morgan wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

They've essentially taken all the bulk away from the full size iPad so I'd see no reason to buy a mini other than cost anymore.

ArthurG

I'm going to replace my iPad 3 with an Air. I had my heart set on a mini, but the fact it got heavier and thicker (marginally) reminds me of what happened with the iPad 3. Retina display, heavier and thicker. Replaced by the 'new' iPad 6 months later. Given the rate at which Apple are now making iPads obsolete, I can't but assume the same fate awaits the Retina mini.

Zcott

ArthurG wrote: »

I'm going to replace my iPad 3 with an Air. I had my heart set on a mini, but the fact it got heavier and thicker (marginally) reminds me of what happened with the iPad 3. Retina display, heavier and thicker. Replaced by the 'new' iPad 6 months later. Given the rate at which Apple are now making iPads obsolete, I can't but assume the same fate awaits the Retina mini.

Apple's history with the retina display always starts off a bit shaky. On the MacBook Pro the first retina display device was underpowered and a bit sluggish. The same happened with the iPad 3.

The same might happen with the new mini but because the internals are largely similar to the iPad Air it should be ok. I doubt they'll come out with a new one a few months later.

Hobbes

Zcott wrote: »

Apple's history with the retina display always starts off a bit shaky. On the MacBook Pro the first retina display device was underpowered and a bit sluggish.

Citation needed. I have a rMBP and I have never seen what you describe.

The same happened with the iPad 3.

Again citation needed. There is no difference in the retina of iPad3 vs iPad4.

Sad Professor

I actually think the Air (and new Mini) may be a little underpowered in the RAM department. Safari keeps crashing and reloading tabs. Apple might have gone 64bit too soon.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Sad Professor

Captain Morgan wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

As few as 2 or 3. I switch away from a tab for a moment, switch back - gone. But it obviously depends a lot on other factors like how much memory is being used by other apps, how big the sites are, etc.

I consider iOS 7 for iPad to be basically unfinished, though. I think we'll see a a big performances boost in 7.1.

Stainless_Steel

I might be wrong here but I thought the iPad Air is more powerful than the mini? So it's not just about choosing what screen size suits.

Sad Professor

Stainless_Steel wrote: »

I might be wrong here but I thought the iPad Air is more powerful than the mini? So it's not just about choosing what screen size suits.

The Air is more powerful than the current Mini. But Retina Mini has (as far as we know) identical internal specs. Same processor, same RAM, etc.

copacetic

Dublinstiofán wrote: »

They've essentially taken all the bulk away from the full size iPad so I'd see no reason to buy a mini other than cost anymore.

They haven't taken 'all the bulk' away, it's still a lot bigger. If you carry it a lot and don't want to have a bag all the time the mini might suit a lot of people.

It will fit in the outside pocket of a lot of jackets nicely, whereas the air wouldn't come near.

Certainly the air reduction in weight and thickness has made it a closer thing, but for people who travel a lot the mini certainly has it's place.

Zcott

Hobbes wrote: »

Citation needed. I have a rMBP and I have never seen what you describe.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4157768

http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/1/3585082/13-inch-macbook-pro-with-retina-display-review

The 2.5GHz Core i5 in the 13-inch Pro offers terrific raw CPU performance in benchmarks, running Geekbench at a solid 6700-6800 range, but the integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics chip can struggle driving such a high-resolution display. Oddly, it showed up for me more during day-to-day usage than under any crazy test situation I came up with: RAW files in Aperture scroll around just fine while QuickTime is playing back 1080p movie trailers, but Safari and Chrome both stutter a little while scrolling simple web pages. And they stutter a lot with image-heavy sites like The Verge and Polygon.

Again citation needed. There is no difference in the retina of iPad3 vs iPad4.

http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1262937

The Apple iPad 3 is an unbalanced design with an underpowered graphics processor for its high-end display, according to an analysis released Wednesday (Jan. 2) by technology watcher David Kanter. Apple’s quick move to the iPad 4 with a graphics chip bolstered in part by Samsung’s new 32-nm process technology showed that Apple recognized the fault, he said.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1478335


There's no difference in screen between iPad 3, 4, Air but there's a difference between what's driving the screen. And for each first edition of the retina display the display has been a year or so ahead of the GPU.

FourFourRED

Hobbes wrote: »

Citation needed. I have a rMBP and I have never seen what you describe.



Again citation needed. There is no difference in the retina of iPad3 vs iPad4.

He didn't say there was a difference in the retina, he said that the first generation with retina was underpowered.

There was numerous reported issues with the first gen rMBP too but were sorted with software updates.

Plates

How about the Surface 2?

adox

I'm getting Safari crashing too on my ipad air. Hopefully a software issue that will be resolved with an update.

Hobbes

Zcott wrote: »

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4157768

If you read that link you would see that issue was fixed over a year ago and only impacted certain machines that were updated via Time Machine. It had nothing to do with the hardware.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/1/3585082/13-inch-macbook-pro-with-retina-display-review

Yes, the 13" inch. The first rMBP released was 15" and didn't have this issue. The 13" is an intentionally lower spec machine (due to size).

Hobbes

Sad Professor wrote: »

I actually think the Air (and new Mini) may be a little underpowered in the RAM department. Safari keeps crashing and reloading tabs. Apple might have gone 64bit too soon.

Go to Settings->General->Reset->Reset all settings (it shouldn't erase the device).

This fixes a known issue where people restored from another device.

That said Safari iOS7 is badly designed IMHO (vs iOS6). The find is painful to use. Trying out Chrome/Atomic.

Sad Professor

Hobbes wrote: »

Go to Settings->General->Reset->Reset all settings (it shouldn't erase the device).

This fixes a known issue where people restored from another device.

That said Safari iOS7 is badly designed IMHO (vs iOS6). The find is painful to use. Trying out Chrome/Atomic.

This was one of the first things I tried. Made no difference.

Yeah, I miss the old find field in the iPad version of Safari. Hopefully it will return in 7.1.

munchkin_utd

Oh, I hated the search field in old safari and ended up using chrome on the old ipad as a result.

I couldn't be happier with the new I pad air and being able to use safari is one of the many many plus points

Oh, and I setup the ipad air from a backup of the old ipad 1 and haven't a problem. Chrome crashed once but on a very heavy image site and lots of crazy formatting, which is fine compared to most apps crashing literally every 5 mins on the old ipad

banquo

Tried an Air today in CompuB.

Jesus Christ, Safari was fast. Like really fast. Like wow.

munchkin_utd

banquo wrote: »

Tried an Air today in CompuB.

Jesus Christ, Safari was fast. Like really fast. Like wow.

tis quick all right

all in all theres very little I can fault it on, and even external apps like the new google mail or maps are more than acceptably fast, especially in comparison to how idiotically slow they were on an iPad 1.

theres a basic side to side overview on you tube, and you can see about the 1 minute point how painfully slow the ipad 1 is for rendering web pages
http://9to5mac.com/2013/11/01/want-to-see-how-the-ipad-air-benchmarks-translate-to-real-life-use-heres-the-video/
the difference between the others is actually not that much.

I'd like to see what the various ipads are like compared to each other with a more demanding new app like google maps or mail though

Hobbes

munchkin_utd wrote: »

I'd like to see what the various ipads are like compared to each other with a more demanding new app like google maps or mail though

I tested with NOVA3. The game starts up in half the time it takes the iPad4.

The thing with the games though is most are still running in compatibility mode on the A7, so the chip isn't using all the features.

Plates

munchkin_utd wrote: »

I'd like to see what the various ipads are like compared to each other with a more demanding new app like google maps or mail though

For an alternative option - if you're looking for speed / performance - take a look at this video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=wG1b0yBJHLM#t=250

whiterebel

Plates wrote: »

For an alternative option - if you're looking for speed / performance - take a look at this video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=wG1b0yBJHLM#t=250

You know that isn't an iPad, right?:rolleyes:

Plates

whiterebel wrote: »

You know that isn't an iPad, right?:rolleyes:

The key word was "alternative"