iPad Mini (6) vs iPad Air... or Pro. So confused and need advice.

[vindibona1]

I just had a big birthday and my significant other just bought (ordered) and iPad Mini 6, w 256gb (probably floating off the coast of Santa Barbara, with expected January deliver). I'm having second thoughts about the Mini 6 having visited the Apple store wondering if an iPad Air or an iPad Pro might be better. But besides screen size, they all have different specs.

So I need help sorting out difference, advantages of the Mini, iPad Air and iPad Pro. I definitely would like to go bigger than a phone on my drones, but might like something large for general purposes.

I'm so confused and could use some advice. TIA

 

[TwoSticks]

Well, what is it that you value most? I have the 12.9 Pro and the Mini 6. We have Air equivalent iPads around the house serving different tasks. The mini is bigger than the phone, and like the other iPads tops out about 500 nits. Not super bright for daytime flight. I use it and like it but if you could sand the weight of a bigger screen you could give yourself an even bigger display.

If I knew what all you used it for I could give you more info. My large Pro lives on the counter with a magic keyboard and is my desktop when I’m not in my office using my Mac. My mini is for flying and lives in my car. It goes in stores with me and travels with me. My phone is always nearby doing what a phone does. Not sure that helps any.

 

[Starz]

Something that I saw recently tells me to wait on the six.
A new version is rumored to be on the way citing some form of screen issue with what is available now.
I have always thought anything bigger than a mini was just too much for me and how I use what I fly.
Tough choice.

 

[Jonathantuba]

I just had a big birthday and my significant other just bought (ordered) and iPad Mini 6, w 256gb (probably floating off the coast of Santa Barbara, with expected January deliver). I'm having second thoughts about the Mini 6 having visited the Apple store wondering if an iPad Air or an iPad Pro might be better. But besides screen size, they all have different specs.

So I need help sorting out difference, advantages of the Mini, iPad Air and iPad Pro. I definitely would like to go bigger than a phone on my drones, but might like something large for general purposes.

I'm so confused and could use some advice. TIA

I bought the iPad Mini 6 for my drone flying and it works great. In fact it is now my most used device period - perfect size for a tablet and has virtually replaced my iPhone as much better to use.

The iPad Pro and Air are superb devices, but I think too big for drone flying

 

[vindibona1]

Other than flying I wish I knew what I would be using it for mostly. The one thing I know that I hate with iPads is typing. And though someone disagrees with me, Siri is horrendous at transcribing vocals. You can see an example in the previous sentence “someone disagrees“ as I am responding to this on my iPhone XR.

Perhaps to dial in my question a little bit narrower, I know that the iPad mini has a new faster processor, but are there any other technical specifications that should be aware of in terms of choosing one over the other? For what it’s worth, I think sometime in the second quarter of next year I will be buying an iPhone 13 pro max. My plan for that is to be able to do some supplemental filming rather than trying to update my DSLR.

 

[vindibona1]

I bought the iPad Mini 6 for my drone flying and it works great. In fact it is now my most used device period - perfect size for a tablet and has virtually replaced my iPhone as much better to use.

The iPad Pro and Air are superb devices, but I think too big for drone flying

Another music geek? (Tuba?)

 

[TwoSticks]

Something that I saw recently tells me to wait on the six.
A new version is rumored to be on the way citing some form of screen issue with what is available now.
I have always thought anything bigger than a mini was just too much for me and how I use what I fly.
Tough choice.

The screen issue is jelly scroll. All LCDs have it to some degree. You can look into the details but in portrait orientation there are times when scrolling that one side of the screen is lagging behind the other. I noticed it out of the box and it bothers me but not enough to ignore all the other great features. You dont notice it in landscape. If at some point they make a mini pro with OLED or Micro LED and 120Hz it should go away. I will replace mine if they release that update but until then the updates from Mini 5 are worth the change for me. Oh, I do wish it had Face ID versus touch or even better both but what can you do.

 

[vindibona1]

While I'm thinking about going bigger than the Mini, the Mini does have some technical advantages, one or two over-due. OMG... it's got a USB-C plug rather than the Apple-centric lightning plug that nobody uses. Great for charging. I'm not sure how I'll be able to plug a wired headset in. And the A15 Bionic chip will make it faster than the A14... But I'd prefer to have the M1 chip. Apple seems to have become so inconsistent across the board on current iPad models. Their iPhones seem much more straight forward to compare to each other.

 

[brett8883]

I just had a big birthday and my significant other just bought (ordered) and iPad Mini 6, w 256gb (probably floating off the coast of Santa Barbara, with expected January deliver). I'm having second thoughts about the Mini 6 having visited the Apple store wondering if an iPad Air or an iPad Pro might be better. But besides screen size, they all have different specs.

So I need help sorting out difference, advantages of the Mini, iPad Air and iPad Pro. I definitely would like to go bigger than a phone on my drones, but might like something large for general purposes.

I'm so confused and could use some advice. TIA

I really think the M1 is extreme overkill in an iPad. Having said that the #1 feature of the M1 iPad Pro is the XDR screen. I have one and I’m blown away by it. It’s the best screen I’ve ever seen full stop and it’s bright as hell. Honestly it blows the retina displays out of the water. At the same time the iPad Pro M1 is noticeably heavy and would certainly be unwieldily on the RC.

 

[vindibona1]

I really think the M1 is extreme overkill in an iPad. Having said that the #1 feature of the M1 iPad Pro is the XDR screen. I have one and I’m blown away by it. It’s the best screen I’ve ever seen full stop and it’s bright as hell. Honestly it blows the retina displays out of the water. At the same time the iPad Pro M1 is noticeably heavy and would certainly be unwieldily on the RC.

Yeah… Weight is an issue. It’s not even so much the money. If I didn’t mind how heavy it was going to be I might have gone for the Tripltek. I did recently purchase a new laptop with an OLED 4K display. So perhaps I’m foolish to think about anything other than the mini which I can fly with and use for general purposes. If I need a larger screen I suppose I can use the laptop, but it’s just heavy and the resolution gives me only about three hours of battery life.

Thanks Brett. I think you’ve helped me think through this issue and got me to be able to think about what I already had fit into the picture.

 

[brett8883]

Yeah… Weight is an issue. It’s not even so much the money. If I didn’t mind how heavy it was going to be I might have gone for the Tripltek. I did recently purchase a new laptop with an OLED 4K display. So perhaps I’m foolish to think about anything other than the mini which I can fly with and use for general purposes. If I need a larger screen I suppose I can use the laptop, but it’s just heavy and the resolution gives me only about three hours of battery life.

Thanks Brett. I think you’ve helped me think through this issue and got me to be able to think about what I already had fit into the picture.

Yes in my honest opinion the Mini is the perfect size for a dedicated drone flying device. It’s a good size for general use too. I got the 12.9” iPad Pro for general use and it’s too big for me, I should have gone for the smaller one. And that’s just for general use, for me, it’s too big and heavy to be used as a drone flying device at all. I still use my crystal sky for that though I wouldn’t recommend the crystal sky to anyone because it’s too slow now a days.

 

[vindibona1]

Yes in my honest opinion the Mini is the perfect size for a dedicated drone flying device. It’s a good size for general use too. I got the 12.9” iPad Pro for general use and it’s too big for me, I should have gone for the smaller one. And that’s just for general use, for me, it’s too big and heavy to be used as a drone flying device at all. I still use my crystal sky for that though I wouldn’t recommend the crystal sky to anyone because it’s too slow now a days.

My other half has a giant iPad and that sucker is big and heavy. She's still working and her company buys them for her, so I suspect when she is tired of it I'll get it, not that I will need it.

500 nits seems a little dark for flying, but I don't suppose it is any darker than my iPhone XR. If nothing else the touch screen will be easier to manipulate than a smaller phone screen.

You wanna hear something funny? The way Apple has illustrated the Mini for the longest time I thought there was a protrusion that stuck out where the camera resided and wondered why Apple designed the Mini like this??? I now know that they are trying to illustrated the rear of the iPad peeking out from the front. But until I saw on in person I thought it was all the front. I've done commercial/product photography for the last 20 years or so and I never would have displayed front/back this way and would have probably angled the rear a bit to so as not to confuse the uninitiated into thinking that's how the front looks. I definitely would not have shot it like this. I'm not real fond of the Mini "logo" on the screen either, but at least I sort of know what it's trying to tell me.