iPad Mini 6: First Impressions

On a week when I was laid low with a ferocious cold and cough, the arrival of my new iPad Mini 6 was a definite high point!

I’ve had just over 24 hours to get it set up and put it through its paces, and it’s safe to say I’m in love. This is the fastest, most responsive, cutest and most fun to use iPad I’ve ever owned. I’m smitten.

Some standout advantages for me, so far:

• It’s so nice and light, reading with one hand is a breeze
• The Apple Pencil 2 support is great for note-taking and highlighting text
• Touch ID on the ‘top’ of the iPad makes perfect sense
• It’s my new favourite comics reader
• The stereo speakers are surprising good and blow the previous model away

Did you really need to buy this?

So with a MacBook Pro, an iPad Pro and an office-based iMac already in my gadget collection, what is this iPad mini for? How will it be used?

Owing to size and weight, this is going to be my ‘on me at all times’ iPad for when I’m not at home. This puts my Kindle books, comics, news, YouTube, task lists, calendar and everything else at my fingertips while I’m on the move. And all on a bigger screen than my iPhone 12 Pro can offer.

Using the Apple Pencil 2 with it makes the iPad mini 6 the ultimate electronic notebook. Quicknotes with iPadOS 15 means creating the iPad equivalent of post-it notes is instant and involves no paper.

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On future work trips (whenever they start again) and for holidays when I need to do some work, this will be the perfect accompaniment to my MacBook Pro. iPad mini 6 for entertainment and organisation, MacBook Pro for heavy lifting work: writing, editing and so on.

I bought the cellular version, so it has 5G. My iPad mini 5 had to live off my iPhone’s data connection when out and about, so this is a nice step up in the connection stakes.

What next?

As I’ve been stuck indoors for the past few days, I haven’t had the opportunity to take this little gem out and about.

But from tomorrow morning, it’ll be my ‘commuter iPad’, keeping me connected and productive while on the short journey to my office. I can use the 30 minutes to firm up my task list in ToDoist, double check my agenda in Fantastical, do any pre-meeting reading and all while listening to something pleasant via Apple Music.

In the words of the contemporary Japanese philosopher Marie Kondo, this is one little gadget that definitely sparks joy.