Every day, almost every moment, we make decisions for anything. And with each of them we accept one thing to say no to another. This is what is called “opportunity cost”, what you reject and often do not see when you make a decision.
Opportunity cost is also present in an electronic device. And in no other iPad I have found one that is as close to zero as with the iPad mini 2021 (549 euros in K-Tuin). This has been my experience after more than a month of use.
The iPad mini in everyday life
For someone who owned an iPad mini 2 in 2012, this new model is like reuniting with an old friend. One who has gone through a strict diet, went to the gym 3 or 4 times a week and had his chassis by a surgeon. It is the same, yes, but at the same time it is different.
For starters, Touch ID makes its appearance on the lock button, making it the busiest corner. It is convenient to configure it with the two index fingers, to avoid juggling both in portrait and landscape mode. Removal of the Home button add us an extra 0.4 inches, which are always welcome. Everything is bigger. And bigger is almost always better when we keep the overall size of the device.
The weight is also noticeably less. To the 331 gram iPad mini 2 38 grams have distracted you, leaving it at just 293 grams. And the lower thickness makes it more manageable with one hand.
Generally speaking, the iPad mini 2021 has improved in each and every one of its physical aspects. Often destroying apparent contradictions: smaller, but more screen; same battery life with less mAh; lighter but more powerful. With all this, the iPad mini 2021 destroys the biggest obstacle when using a device of these characteristics: laziness.
A truly multifunctional iPad: play games, browse and watch movies
Because of the little free time I have, I can hardly find it to play the shift game I’m hooked on. Before it was the Brawl Stars, now it is the Star Wars Battles from LEGO, in Apple Arcade. Quick games allow me spend a handful of minutes throughout the day, without diving into long sessions (although some do fall, very occasionally).
Therefore, speed is key. Opening the game, starting a game, and playing should happen as soon as possible. Otherwise, that little window of time slips away it is not even known when. This iPad Mini does its job perfectly, without fuss but with exemplary discipline.
Browsing, consulting social networks and writing messages via Slack with the Applesfera team is a delight. The screen is big enough like to do these tasks comfortably. And small enough to hold the iPad mini on the couch without weighing it down.
The A15 Bionic chip is largely responsible for the tremendous performance and great battery life of this iPad mini 2021
Watching movies and series alone on the sofa, armchair or bed is a great experience for the same reasons. Now, if you plan to use it in these situations accompanied by one or more people, there we will notice that it is too small for us. I expected the absence of ProMotion on screen to be a drama, but it has not been.
After years with ProMotion on a 2017 iPad Pro and a few months with the iPhone 13 Pro Max, it makes you miss it as soon as you do not have it in front of your eyes. However, not as much as I imagined. It is in the transitions, animations and closures of apps where its absence is most noticeable. Having ProMotion would have been a great addition to the iPad mini 2021, although it would have come with an associated cost in the price that would have alienated it from the public.
Working with 8.3 inch
I am of the opinion that the larger the space to work, the more comfortable we will be. You can place two apps on split screen, view web pages in all their glory and use spreadsheets without scrolling. For obvious reasons, the iPad mini is not a very good fit for these kinds of needs.
Despite this, I have been able to work acceptably on this iPad mini 2021. And much of the responsibility falls on having an external keyboard like the Logitech Keys-To-Go that we tested a few days ago. Thanks to him, you can have the entire screen To show your apps, have the iPad in a comfortable but fixed position and a keyboard that surprises when you use it.
With this keyboard wrote articles in iA Writer and wrote emails, at the same time I edited some photos lightly and chatted on Slack. All of them light tasks and that do not require more.
The iPad you always want to use
In short, my experience of almost two months using this iPad mini 2021 is that it is an iPad that you always want to use. Hold it in your hands. Even admire it, surprised by its capabilities and power. Take it with you everywhere.
Perhaps one of the funniest things about this model is that it fits in a coat pocket. And with that, I recall times when I took the 2012 iPad mini to work and read on it entire books and websites like Applesfera or Xataka. Although I have not ridden public transport in almost two years, I have taken out for a walk this iPad mini a few times. If you wear a robe, a suit or a coat with deep pockets in your day-to-day life, you can take it with you whenever you want.
This iPad is so compact and comfortable to carry that it’s hard to find an excuse not to do it all the time.
That is why this is the iPad where a 5G cellular connection is more natural. It is an iPad designed for total mobility, the most suitable model to dispense with a Wi-Fi connection and continue with leisure or business as usual. Our test model did not have this connection, although it is easy to see how the experience would benefit us in our day-to-day lives.
For power, weight, screen and manageability, we are facing an iPad that is not lazy to take it in hand. It’s the iPad you’ll always want to take with you, where the opportunity cost is almost zero. Many positive things that completely unbalance the balance, because on the other side there are hardly any negatives.
Where to buy | Space gray 64GB iPad mini, 549 euros at K-Tuin, Apple stores.
This product has been released for testing by K-Tuin. You can check our business relations policy.