For Most People, the New iPad mini 3 is a Waste of $100
Blink, and you could have missed it.
During Apple's event today, Tim Cook and crew barely mentioned the iPad mini 3; in fact, they uttered a few short words about the new device, despite previously spending at least 10 minutes fawning over the updates on the iPad Air 2. Why, exactly, did Apple downplay its own product announcement? Probably because the iPad mini was barely updated at all.
The update mainly seems underwhelming since Apple also declared that it would keep selling the iPad mini 2 (previously known as the iPad mini with Retina) at a lower price point; the mini 2 will now sell for $299, while the brand-new iPad mini 3 will check in at $399. But what does that extra $100 get you? Not a whole lot, it turns out.
Although the iPad Air 2 got some serious spec upgrades, including a significantly faster processor, the only difference between the mini 2 and mini 3 is the inclusion of a Touch ID sensor on the start button, and the fact that you can choose the color gold as an option. That's it.
The fingerprint sensor on the mini is admittedly cool, and if you're a fan of gold, then this new option is surely great. But for the vast majority of tablet seekers, these two upgrades don't warrant the extra $100. When it comes down to it, unless you really want those two perks, you'd be far wiser to save the money and opt for the cheaper iPad mini 2.
Readers, what do you think? Is the iPad mini 3 worth it?
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Yes the store will continue to sell both the 1st gen mini and mini 2 but only the 16 and 32 gb size (mini2 for the later) I was saying about the 64 and 128 of the mini 2 as they will be sent to the refurb section soon. That's why I picked one of the 64 for 399 and they had 128 for 499...
Where did you read that it has double the RAM? Most reliable tech sites are listing this as unknown still; Apple didn't announce RAM, it's not present as a spec on their website, and typically we can only know this information for sure once there's a teardown from the likes of iFixit, which hasn't taken place yet. So there's isn't yet confirmed proof that it has more RAM. Engadget, for example, lists RAM as N/A. And while we're unsure of whether this is reliable, GSM Arena is actually already reporting 1GB RAM which is the same as the mini 2.
As for the touch sensor, yes, we agree that this technology might be more useful in the future, but emphasis on "might be" and the nebulous "future." Is that worth $100 to most people? No. The touch sensor on my phone is cool but I would skip it entirely if it required an extra $100 to get. And as for the A7, we're not arguing that it's not sufficient; but again, the mini 2 also has it.
http://store.apple.com/us/ipad
Not quite right. The Mini 3 also has twice the ram compared to the equivalently-priced Mini 2. As for the touch sensor, it's is a pretty big deal, and will be even more usable in the future. One could complain that the Mini 3 doesn't have an A8 processor, but since the screen is smaller than the iPad Air, An A7 is •more• then enough processor. It will run very fast indeed.
A hundred bucks for twice the ram, a touch sensor and very capable processor (even if the same A7 as the Mini2) seems well worth the price to me.
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Basically, THIS!
You pay the extra $100 for the branding of getting a newer iPad mini 3 with the aforementioned items.
Owning Apple products is more of a status symbol and more about bragging rights than anything else.
"If it ain't broken, don't fix it!"
Like many businesses, Apple does NOT listen and tries to make consumers pay more just for the sake of owning one of its overpriced products.
Guess Apple has to release something as it finally has competition in the smartphone and tablet areas where it once dominated.
Around Xmas/Hanukkah I'll be grabbing whatever iPad Mini 2 refurbs are out there to replace my girlfriend's original Mini (which has gotten tired, and needs the digitizer replaced for $140 and change).
The new Mac Mini, though...may replace my older Mini with a single core 2.5 GHz i5 processor. Then I'll use that one as a glorified Apple TV or something on my sailboat.
I am waiting for Mini 2 to drop via a black Friday deal, I will keep checking dealnews :-)