Apple iPad mini 8.3" A17 Pro Blue 2024

The iPad mini with A17 Pro is a pocketable powerhouse that nails portability and performance. The 8.3-inch display is gorgeous for reading and media, though the 60Hz refresh rate is a bummer at this price. Battery life is all-day solid, and Apple Pencil Pro support makes it a stellar note-taker. If you want the best small tablet and can stomach the cost, this is it.

The A17 Pro chip inside this little guy is a 6-core beast that chews through everything from Genshin Impact to DaVinci Resolve with surprising ease. In our benchmarks, the CPU and GPU land around the 60th percentile, which sounds middling until you remember this is a fanless tablet that weighs less than a paperback. Real-world use tells a better story: apps open instantly, multitasking with Slide Over and Split View is buttery, and even demanding games run at high settings without frame drops. The 8GB of RAM helps a lot here, keeping apps in memory way longer than the old 4GB models.

Where the performance really shines is in sustained creative tasks. Editing a 4K video in LumaFusion or sketching with hundreds of layers in Procreate feels responsive and fluid. The storage speed is solid, landing in the 84th percentile, so loading large files or exporting projects doesn't leave you staring at a progress bar. Just keep in mind that this is still a passively cooled device. If you're pushing it hard for 30 minutes straight, the back gets warm and you might see a slight dip in peak brightness to manage thermals. For 95% of what people actually do on an iPad mini, though, this thing absolutely flies.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 is the most direct competitor here, and it brings a 120Hz AMOLED display that makes the iPad mini's 60Hz LCD look a bit sad in side-by-side scrolling. Samsung's DeX mode also gives it a leg up if you want a desktop-like experience. But the iPad mini fights back with a more polished app ecosystem for creatives, longer software support, and that seamless handoff with iPhones and Macs. If you're deep in the Apple ecosystem, the choice is already made. If you're platform-agnostic and screen smoothness is your hill to die on, the Tab S11 deserves a long look.

Then there's the iPad Air M4, which is basically the mini's bigger sibling. You get a larger screen, the M-series chip, and better keyboard support for not a huge price jump. But you lose the one-handed comfort and pocketability that makes the mini special. The Microsoft Surface Pro 11 is a completely different beast, a full Windows machine in tablet clothing, but it's heavier, pricier, and overkill if you just want a reading and note-taking device. The Xiaomi Pad and Lenovo Idea Tab Pro are solid budget alternatives, but they can't touch the mini's raw performance or accessory ecosystem.

Pricing on the iPad mini is a bit of a rollercoaster depending on where you look. The official Apple price starts at $499 for the 128GB Wi-Fi model, but we're seeing a wild spread across vendors, from $380 to $1,049 for various configurations and cellular options. If you can snag one at the lower end of that range, it's a fantastic deal for the performance and build quality you're getting. At full retail, it's a tougher sell when the iPad Air with an M-series chip and a larger display isn't much more.

For the best value, keep an eye on Amazon and Best Buy, where discounts tend to pop up regularly. The 128GB base storage is generous enough that most people won't need to jump to the 256GB model unless they plan to load up on games or download a lot of movies for offline viewing. Compared to the competition, you're paying an Apple tax for the ecosystem and build quality, but the resale value on iPads holds up way better than any Android tablet, which softens the blow over time.

The iPad mini has always been the Goldilocks of Apple's tablet lineup, and this A17 Pro refresh keeps that streak alive. It's not trying to replace your laptop like an iPad Pro, and it's not the budget pick like the base iPad. It's for people who want something that disappears into a bag or even a large jacket pocket, but still has enough horsepower to edit 4K video or play AAA games without breaking a sweat. We're talking about a 297-gram slab that packs the same chip architecture as the iPhone 15 Pro, and in our database, that puts its connectivity and social proof scores near the absolute top of the charts.

Who's this actually for? Frequent flyers, students who read a ton of PDFs, digital note-takers who love the Apple Pencil Pro, and anyone who finds the 11-inch iPad Air just a bit too awkward to hold in one hand for long reading sessions. The 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display is sharp and vibrant, and with 128GB of storage starting, you're not constantly playing the 'delete apps to take a photo' game. It's a premium companion device, not a primary computer, and it owns that role completely.

But here's the thing that'll make you pause: that display is still a 60Hz panel in a world where even mid-range Android phones have moved to 90 or 120Hz. For a device starting at $499, that's a noticeable omission, especially when you're scrolling through long articles or drawing with the Pencil. It's not a dealbreaker for everyone, but it's the one spec that keeps this from being a no-brainer for every single person looking at a small tablet.

If you're someone who needs a single device that can handle everything from spreadsheets to serious photo editing, look elsewhere. The screen is just too cramped for all-day productivity work, and iPadOS's multitasking feels constrained on an 8.3-inch canvas. You'd be better off with an iPad Air M4 or a Surface Pro 11, both of which give you more room to breathe and better keyboard accessory options for getting real work done.

Also, if you're sensitive to display refresh rates and you've been spoiled by 120Hz screens on your phone or monitor, the 60Hz panel here might drive you nuts. Scrolling through Twitter or long web pages will feel noticeably less smooth. In that case, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 with its 120Hz AMOLED display is a much better fit, assuming you're okay with leaving the Apple ecosystem. And if you're on a tight budget, a base iPad or a used iPad Air will get you 80% of the experience for a lot less cash.

If you're a reader first and everything else second, the iPad mini is the best small tablet money can buy right now. The combination of that lightweight build, the sharp display with low reflectivity, and access to every reading app under the sun makes it a Kindle killer for people who want color and versatility. Throw in the Apple Pencil Pro for note-taking and you've got a digital Moleskine that also happens to play AAA games and edit video. It's the ultimate personal device for people who already have a laptop and just want something more intimate and portable.

For artists and designers who need a portable sketchbook, this is also a strong pick, but the 60Hz screen might bother you if you're used to the 120Hz ProMotion on an iPad Pro. The Pencil latency is still excellent, but the visual feedback isn't as fluid. If you're a student on a budget, consider a base iPad or even a used iPad Air instead, you'll get more screen real estate for split-screen textbooks and notes. But if you've got the cash and you know you'll carry this thing everywhere, the mini is a joy that no other tablet quite replicates.