Apple iPad mini with Retina Display: Reviewed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 16, 2013 8:00 AM ESTBattery Life
Thanks to the mini’s integrated 23.8Wh battery (and the low idle power of the 28nm A7), the Retina Display’s power consumption is more than offset. Battery life in all of our tests is at worst unchanged from the mini, but at best we’re talking about a 21% increase.
Our web browsing test shows a 10% improvement compared to the original iPad mini. The new mini with Retina Display can even last longer than a 4th generation iPad, and it’s hot on the heels of the iPad Air (I'll be updating this section with LTE and LTE hotspot results).
Video playback is where we see the biggest improvement compared to the original mini. Here the new iPad mini lasts 21% longer on a single charge, once again outlasting even the iPad 4. The iPad Air doesn’t offer any appreciable gain in battery life over the Retina mini.
Our 3D battery life test is the only one where the old mini manages to beat the new Retina model. With a 1.31% margin of victory though, it’s pretty safe to say that for current 3D gaming workloads you’ll see similar battery life out of the Retina mini as the old model. This is also the only test where the iPad Air delivers better battery life on a single charge (~11%).
Apple ships the Retina mini with a 10W USB charger and lightning cable. This appears to be the same charger as what shipped with the 3rd generation iPad (but obviously with a different cable). Using the newer 12W charger from the iPad 4/Air has no impact on charge time as the mini still only draws a maximum of 11.7W at the wall (compared to 13.8W for the iPad Air).
The iPad mini with Retina Display completes a charge from 0 to 100% in a sliver under 4 hours. That’s a little quicker than the iPad Air, and similar to the original mini with its 5W charger.
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R0H1T - Sunday, November 17, 2013 - link
Too bad Apple fanbois need to be spoon-fed by this site & dozens like this one in order for'em to make an informed decision "to buy or not to buy" the latest iToy out in the market ):akdj - Sunday, November 17, 2013 - link
Sadly DBags like you wade though the review, 178 replies, and take the time to spew such drivel ONLY because your mother said "Hell No I'm not buying you one!! Get out. Get a job...buy one YOURSELF!"News. Flash. R0H1T....the iPad is no 'toy'. You certainly reveal your 12 maybe 13 year old age by calling it such. What was only a decade ago, even five years ago available only in lap or desktop form with two hours of batter life and spinning hard drives with less than a quarter the resolution has now become ubiquitous. Common place....and in many cases the ONLY computer many people need. Go on....feed you spider. Someday you'll be able to have one too
Grow. Up.
reggjoo1 - Sunday, November 17, 2013 - link
Let me get this out of the way, I think apple makes great tablets, but I won't leave android for ios. The Ipad mini, sounds great, and advances the game, hardware, and performance wise. I like android over ios, because you can make your device, your device. I can adjust how the memory performs, set permissions for my apps, change the look, and feel to my liking, etc.. Even if I see someone with the same model, brand, I know my android, is uniquely my own, you can't do that with apple, I like a os setup just for me, and look the way i want. Give apple it's props, but it's just not for me. In a few months, someone will come out with something anyway, I like the competition in mobile.tytung - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link
Easy, just jailbreak it, or wait until there's a jailbreak.hlovatt - Sunday, November 17, 2013 - link
Great review and amazingly quick after the device went on sale, it really must take a lot of time and effort to so comprehensively test a device. Great work.Pity that the iHater brigade are posting on AnandTech, the comments used to be so much more insightful. Rather than saying that Anand is biased for pointing out that 'a Nexus 7 isn't as good but is cheaper', it would benefit people who want to buy an Android tablet to say great product this is what I want for the next iteration of the Nexus. Competition is good, don't kill it.
Another alternative is that these people are paid to post negative comments on all good Apple reviews. If they are paid negative comments I hope they get found out and kicked off. That way we can all enjoy our geeking out without the painfully biased comments.
psyside1 - Sunday, November 17, 2013 - link
So this is why Nexus 5 review is not yet done, now its all clear.hlovatt - Sunday, November 17, 2013 - link
I think you are demonstrating that you are a one eyed iHater, e.g. in this very forum people are asking where reviews of the Apple MacBook Pro are. Does that make the site Dell biased? No, AnandTech have finite resources and such quality reviews take time so they unfortunately can't do everything and have to prioritise. Presumably they also rely on supply of product to review, they couldn't possibly afford to purchase everything they review.psyside1 - Sunday, November 17, 2013 - link
They cant afford? LOL!!!!!beggerking@yahoo.com - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link
exactly! i was wondering why Nexus 5 was not up while the the AIr went up the same day it was released.chubbypanda - Tuesday, November 19, 2013 - link
I'm afraid it's Brian, not Anand, who's working on Nexus 5 review.