Should I upgrade my wife's iPad Mini?

I was at the Apple store last week with some issues on my MacBook Pro updates, and mentioned that I recently (about a month ago) purchased a New iPad Mini retina 2 for my wife, replacing the very first iPad which no longer even upgrade several apps. It was locked in at iOS5 that had no upgrade path and was getting crash happy.

ANYWAY, he offered to exchange the mini to a new model that was just released. Is it worth the aggravation of upgrading? She has things pretty much where she wants them, and I have no idea how to put all the apps back on a newer iPad.

I have no idea OTHER than fingerprint security what other changes there are. Is the processor or memory faster? Is there a hardware change that would make the upgrade practical?

She is very happy with the mini, but if I can get an extra year or two out of it because of improved hardware, I'd be willing to make the change.

thanks,

ken

The answer to this question very personal. What one person finds aggravating…another person finds easy.

Just a guess…but I'm thinking that the majority of folks having the opportunity to upgrade a piece of their electronic hardware for FREE to a newer model…would JUMP at the chance…regardless of the hassle involved setting up the new model.

There are lots & lots & lots of DIY procedures & tools on the internet to help with this. Just got to make an effort to search for them & read them!

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

The answer to this question very personal. What one person finds aggravating…another person finds easy.
.........

- Nick

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I agree if its FREE, other wise myself I wait until there is an issue to make you want to upgrade. I.E, Cant upgrade OS..

That said all purchased apps will be listed on you account and can be downloaded with little hassle, depending on your net speed that is..

Exodist said:

I agree if its FREE, other wise myself I wait until there is an issue to make you want to upgrade.

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Exactly…FREE is almost always an easy decision. If the upgrade costs money…then this upgrade falls into the "normal" upgrade category. Which is…it will be done when the situation deems it necessary…and the money is available.

- Nick

hempomatic said:

I was at the Apple store last week with some issues on my MacBook Pro updates, and mentioned that I recently (about a month ago) purchased a New iPad Mini retina 2 for my wife...

ANYWAY, he offered to exchange the mini to a new model that was just released. Is it worth the aggravation of upgrading? She has things pretty much where she wants them, and I have no idea how to put all the apps back on a newer iPad.

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Hi Ken - agree w/ Nick, i.e. a personal decision that only you (and your wife) can make, but sounds like she already has one of the newer models - take a look HERE and tell us the specific model she owns (along w/ the storage capacity & iOS - assume she is on iOS 8.1) and also the model that was offered to you - the specs for each iDevice are given there.

Also, if her iPad is backed up on a computer, i.e. to iTunes and/or the cloud - then transferring (or restoring) the current backup to a new iDevice is easy - look here for an explanation - also, Apple has its own support articles on the process. Good luck! Dave

Well, it DOES appear that the mini3 has quite a few upgrades to it over the mini2. More than I anticipated. Upgrades, as far as I'm concerned are not necessarily a no-brainer. Sometimes the additional complexity and computing power raise other issues. Neither my wife nor I are particularly competent when it comes to computers. I laugh at all of the things some of these units can do, versus how many of those features I even understand.

If I can in fact get it at no cost, I think I'll go for it. If I'm lucky, I'll have a a few years to figure it out before it REQUIRES another upgrade to run the then current programs.

hempomatic said:

Well, it DOES appear that the mini3 has quite a few upgrades to it over the mini2. More than I anticipated...........

If I can in fact get it at no cost, I think I'll go for it. If I'm lucky, I'll have a a few years to figure it out before it REQUIRES another upgrade to run the then current programs.

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Well, I'm still on my iPad 2 (spring 2011 and soon to turn 4 y/o) which was recently upgraded to iOS 8.1 and working fine - my needs really have not changed that much - would like a 'retina' screen and a better camera, but I'll likely replace my aging iPod w/ an iPhone 6 toward the end of the year, so I'll obtain the latter. Dave

Dave, her original iPad1 still runs flawlessly with programs written for iOS5. It won't upgrade to 8.0. I still use it to stream video from Amazon and Netflix, it works fine for email, stuff not all that CPU intensive. Using Safari, it crashes pretty regularly, even just using Facebook.

BTW, is that the Blue Ridge Parkway?

ken

hempomatic said:

Dave, her original iPad1 still runs flawlessly with programs written for iOS5. It won't upgrade to 8.0. I still use it to stream video from Amazon and Netflix, it works fine for email, stuff not all that CPU intensive. Using Safari, it crashes pretty regularly, even just using Facebook.

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Hi again Ken - it's amazing that the iPad 2 remains the most popular model in use (see attach pie diagram) and great that Apple allowed iOS 8.x to be installed on the aging device - I suspect the next iOS w/ leave my device an orphan, so will then consider a new one.

hempomatic said:

BTW, is that the Blue Ridge Parkway?

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YES but much more specifically the Linn Cove Viaduct which snakes around the base of Grandfather Mountain (near Blowing Rock which we visit often - just 90 mins from home for us) - it was the LAST portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway completed - the year was 1987 about a half century after the parkway was started in the 1930s. It is an amazing engineering feat (information HERE) - there is a small visitor's center w/ pictures of its construction and a short trail under the structure which is the best way to appreciate the construction. Dave
.

Upgraded the iPad today, everything restored normally. Life is good.

hempomatic said:

Upgraded the iPad today, everything restored normally. Life is good.

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You didn't confirm (to us) that it was a free upgrade...which seemed to be the main motivator for the thread.

- Nick

Yep, the upgrade WAS free. It was purchased on 10/5.
90 days free apple care, 1 yr wty, given my bad luck with warranty issues, the extra 3 weeks warranty alone was worth the aggravation.

For the record, the mini 2 and mini 3 are identical except for the fingerprint sensor. The mini 2 is a much better value now @ $100 less if you have no use for the fingerprint sensor. I was under the impression (mistakenly) there were other differences, but they are identical under the hood.


ken

hempomatic said:

Yep, the upgrade WAS free. It was purchased on 10/5.

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So just to be 100% clear. The folks at your local Apple Store were nice enough to upgrade you from the iPad mini 2 to the iPad mini 3 (for free) since you only recently purchased the iPad mini 2...and because of the iPad mini 3 being released recently?

I know that you mentioned most of this in the first post (after rereading it)...but I guess I didn't quite pick up on the fine details initially! Initially I thought that you owned the iPad mini 2 for quite a while...so I was (initially thinking why the heck Apple would upgrade you for free to the iPad mini 3)...after having the iPad min 2 for a while. Then I realized (like you mentioned)...the iPad mini 2 was only purchased on 10/5 (about 23 days or less ago).

I guess I'm a little dense sometimes!

Congrats again!

- Nick