Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Swampfox10mm]

I just went in to buy an I-pad Mini, and decided against it (bought Retina model for my wife, instead).

I was able to try the Mini side-by-side against the other 2 I-pad models and found that certain pages that had not been pre-loaded would hang or load far slower on the Mini than with the other I-pad models. It was weird, so I tried over and over again with different pages that were not already in cache (if Apple has one?)-- same problems. The first page I noticed this on was the eslcafe front page, followed by clicking on the Korean Job Forums link. Yeah, I know that this page tends to slow and hang sometimes, but I tried multiple times and found the same issue happening on the Mini but not on the other models. Same issue with some other sites.

I figured I had some anomaly germane to the particular unit I was using, so I tried the same thing with all of the Minis in the store -- same issue! Either this is a ram problem (they have half of the Ram of the older I-pad 2), or an issue with differing wifi bands and the router. The mini supposedly does not do "N" band, and I know that some routers have had issues sharing two bands at once. I believe the other models will do "N" signals, and they were sharing the same router. Not sure what the issue was, but it scared me off of buying one!

I also noticed that buffering Youtube videos took considerably longer.

I loved the form factor of the mini, but the lower resolution screen didn't make it worth the price, and the wifi issue really killed it for me. The Retina is WAY more expensive than I wanted to pay, but I figure it will have a longer usage life and better resale once the "improved" minis are released next year.

[swigs]

It does have the slower processor that I believe is two generations old, helps keep down the price. I would not get a first gen iPad Mini, as the next gen will be twice the resolution with a faster processor. The iPad 3 is a great value, as the iPad 4 should have knocked its price a good bit, but still snappy and has the retina display.

[Swampfox10mm]

Agreed... the form factor on the mini is great. The internals just suck. And they should have put a minimum of 1gb ram in it, IMHO. I didn't want to buy a mini, because I think it will really take a resale value hit compared to other models at a later date.

[jdog2050]

[Gnawbert]

Funny, I tried it side by side and iPad 4 for over a half hour and saw very little difference other than application load times and, of course, the difference in display. Maybe they units were funky or something but I was particular impressed with the mini.

I was very tempted to pick one up but I have a Kindle and an iPad 3, so I did about the dumbest thing I could have done.

I bought an iPad 4.

[Swampfox10mm]

My mistake.... The mini will do N speed wifi. Still wonder what was wrong.

[fosterman]

[Swampfox10mm]

Fosterman, go for the Google Nexus 7.
$199 in the US or 299,000 in Korea.

[fosterman]

[Swampfox10mm]

Well the 10" has not received the most stellar reviews. It's also made by Samsung. The 7 inch model is made by Asus.

If you do not need a camera, look at the NOOK HD+ offering. It works well with multiple users and kids.

[Gnawbert]