iPad mini 7 two-month review: The iPad mini isn't perfect, but it might still be the best iPad for you. Two months of usage later, the iPad mini 7 is still a great compact media and gaming tablet, though there are certainly some areas for improvement. I owned the very first Retina iPad mini way back in 2014, but it was only ever a Netflix machine for me. With the release of the new seventh-generation model that's all changed, and it might just be the defacto iPad from here on out.
The new 2024 iPad mini is the smallest tablet in a lineup dominated by superfast, super-big tablets. But after spending a few weeks with the new A17 Pro-powered, I think I finally get why you should buy one. The thing with new hardware is that you really need to spend a prolonged amount of time with it to truly understand what it's all about. It gives you time to go beyond the initial excitement, to dive in and get a feel for what it has to offer.
Never has that been more true than the latest iPad mini. A tablet that I was excited to get my hands on not because I thought it would be great, but because it's a decade since I last used one. Now, spending time with Apple's diminutive iPad I'm here to say it's the only tablet I intend to buy from here on out.
But two months on from its release, that's likely to be a controversial opinion in a world where the iPad Pro is the pinnacle of Apple's attempts to turn the tablet into the laptop of tomorrow. I'd wager that the iPad mini really comes into its own when you ignore the noise and just accept it for what it really is — a screen that's bigger than an iPhone without trying to do too much.
