In Hardwired, AC Senior Editor Harish Jonnalagadda delves into all things hardware, including phones, audio products, storage servers, and networking gear.
My primary iPad is the 13-inch iPad Pro M4; the tandem OLED panel is a delight to use, and the size means I can get a decent amount of work done on it. I dock it with the Magic Keyboard if I'm just browsing or reading a book, and connect it to a mechanical keyboard (the Keychron Q5 Pro) whenever I need to write a post or review.
As much as I like the sleekness of the iPad Pro M4, it is an absolute unit, and it isn't the most comfortable to hold. That's where the iPad mini comes in; it is much more manageable thanks to a smaller 8.3-inch panel, and it weighs nearly half the size of the iPad Pro M4. It doesn't cost anywhere as much, starting out at just $399.
Apple nailed the sizing of the iPad mini; it's great to hold and use, and the 8.3-inch panel is just about perfect for reading comics and ebooks. While I can get a similar-sized display on a foldable like the Pixel 9 Pro Fold or Honor Magic V3, they just don't have the same in-hand feel. The iPad mini feels better to use, and it has become my go-to comic reader over the course of the last month.
Coming in at 6.3mm, the iPad mini is thicker than the iPad Pro M4, but that works to its advantage — it's easier to hold the sides of the tablet. I'm using the sixth-gen model with the A15 Bionic that debuted back in 2021, and it still holds up pretty well. The 2024 iteration of the iPad mini has the same dimensions, panel, and battery, with the only difference being the switch to A17 Pro.
While it doesn't have an OLED, the LCD panel on the iPad mini has good colors, and it gets bright during outdoor use. It is excellent as a comic reader; the size is perfect, and the Panels app on iOS is just about the best around. The iPad mini is just as good for reading ebooks — I use KyBook and the Kindle app.
Reading on the iPad mini is just as good as an e-reader, even though the tablet is heavier at 293g — my Kobo Libra Colour comes in at 197g — it isn't uncomfortable to hold in the least. If anything, most of my reading in the last month was on the iPad mini.
I wasn't sure about the bezels on the side when I got started with the iPad mini, but they're not as distracting as I initially imagined. Similarly, the 60Hz panel isn't a limitation while reading, and most of the time, I didn't even notice any difference. It isn't quite as good with multimedia or productivity — the OLED-toting iPad Pro has a distinct advantage in this area — but for every other task, the iPad mini has proved to be the ideal tablet.
It's also great for travel; I usually take the Libra Colour to read ebooks and an iPad Air for writing or streaming content, and the iPad mini is good enough at either use case that I switched to it as the default choice. Having used all the iPad Air and iPad Pro models, I didn't think I'd enjoy the iPad mini quite as much, and in the last month, it got more usage than just about any other device in my home.
I'd like the next variant of the iPad mini to have an OLED panel — that would just make it that much more enticing — but as it stands, the current-gen model is plenty great in its own right. I'd even suggest getting the iPad mini 6 if you can get it on sale.
The iPad mini is a fantastic option if you want a tablet to read and watch multimedia on the go.
