iPad Mini 6 Review and Minimalist Setup

Now, it’s easy to get buyer’s remorse with almost any purchase, but so far a month in, I’ve been absolutely loving the iPad Mini 6. It’s only just over a year old since Apple released it and even today, Google Trends shows that this iPad gets higher search volume than the M2 iPad Pro. This article will be a dedicated review for the iPad Mini 6, as well as how I set mine up and use it personally.

This isn’t a article about how you should go out and buy one, since it’s not really for everyone anyways but as I’m not a pro user and sort of a wannabe minimalist, I figured the iPad Mini 6 is more fitting for me.

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iPad Mini Unboxing and Design

In the box you’ve got a 20-watt Type-C charger, a Type-C to C cable and the iPad itself. That’s it. And just to mention, the Gen 2 Apple Pencil is not included.

Talking about the build and aesthetic, honestly, this is literally what sets this iPad apart from all the others. Getting this thing in hand, it’s simply wild to think how such a powerful piece of tech is so light and thin. And one thing that Apple always seems to get right is product design and quality.

One of the alluring things about this is the ability to hold this thing with just one hand, and one-handed use is actually possible if you’re just scrolling through news or social apps. And trust me, I know most of what you can do on the iPad can also be done on your phone, but like I mentioned in my last video, I simply like being away from my phone sometimes. On this iPad, there are only three buttons: two volume buttons on the top end and the power button, which also acts as Touch ID.

Space and Size

I ended up getting the Space Gray 64-gigabyte version. The other colors do look super nice, and I actually got my wife the purple one just about a year ago as a Christmas gift. 64 gigabytes can be limiting for a lot of people, but honestly, I’m not storing a lot on my iPad, and as an Apple One subscriber, two terabytes of cloud storage is absolutely plenty. Mostly, I like to just download my Apple Music library on here if I’m on the go without Wi-Fi and the odd Netflix show.

Are you’re really curious about the size of this iPad mini 6, and honestly, this is what sets it aside from all other tablets. There’s a ton on the market, mostly larger screen devices with power most of us simply won’t use, and in that whole mix, there’s literally only one small tablet with plus performance, that being the iPad Mini 6. Look, it’s nice to hold, it’s the size of a small notepad, and you have zero arm fatigue, even if reading for hours on end. It’s the perfect tablet companion for people who just want to do tablet things.

It fits in pockets, bags, purses, and even in leather dop where I like to keep mine. And even with a case or folio, it still remains mini. I’ve worked with some of these accessory brands in the past, like MOFT and Pataka, and even today, I still use their products, and they complement the Mini super well.

Display

I do want to touch on the screen, since this sort of goes hand in hand with the size of the iPad Mini 6. Honestly, it’s fine. From a quality standpoint, it gets the job done for me. It doesn’t have the high refresh rate of the Pro line, or the same brightness, but since I’m not really doing “pro” things, I consider it to be pretty good.

Mostly on here, I’m indulging in content, taking notes, playing the occasional game, and trying my best to read more daily. I’ve been told I’m an incredible artist, and sketching on here has been great with the Apple Pencil. No, but really, shows and movies look fine, and with a max brightness of 500 nits, it does well inside and okay outdoors. I will say, having a smaller screen does keep this iPad from being a distraction on my desk setup while working. Particularly, I don’t really throw up content on there, but I do like having a dedicated music app open. It’s just a pleasure to navigate an album or playlist.

Setup

But how does the iPad Mini 6 perform overall? Honestly, for non-pro users, it’s absolutely perfect. Look, iPad OS has come a long way since just being a bigger version of iOS, and really, it has developed into being extraordinarily useful for my iPad setup.

As I want to be minimalist, I try to keep it really simple on my home screen. I have a calendar widget, music widget, my home app for controlling smart home items, my work folder, my creative apps folder, and books on my dock. The rest of my iPad is where I try to practice digital minimalism. I’m not always the best at it, but I try to keep it all on one page and purposely try not to fill it up. It also changes month to month.

The calendar widget is one of the most important things on my iPad since I really use this as my daily organizer. As a new dad, it’s insanely difficult to make time for my family, work, YouTube, and most importantly, myself. As silly as it sounds, each Sunday, I try to fill out my weekly schedule to give myself time to game as well as schedule out YouTube and the gym. If you’re struggling to make time for yourself, it might sound simple, but I definitely recommend trying to simply schedule it.

My music widget is just for music. It always shows me recent albums or playlists and some recommended stations. I really dig this for the two taps it takes to get music rolling. The home app is pretty sweet since I use it a lot as an intercom to my HomePods in my house, as well as controlling the lights in my office.

My creative folder is where I check YouTube Studio for all of your amazing comments and how my videos are performing. Although I might get rid of this since I do find myself checking in a little too often. And YouTube is YouTube; I think you know what that is.

I will say the stereo speakers on here are surprisingly great. Music and content both sound amazing, considering the size of this iPad. For me, foreign is one of Apple’s brilliant new apps, and honestly, I spend so much time in here. Every video I make starts in Freeform, from thumbnail design to titles and a rough scratch of my script. It’s new with iPad OS 16.2 and gives you a lot more freedom compared to the Notes app.

And of course, what’s an iPad Mini 6 without Books? I’ve been reading so much more just seeing this app on my homepage. I’ve been reading Atomic Habits by James Clear and trying to build the habit of reading more, which honestly is going super well thanks to my iPad Mini.

Other Apps

As for my other apps, I don’t use them frequently enough to justify removing them. However, I do want to give an honorable mention to Guitar Tuna, which is incredibly useful for tuning my guitar using the iPad’s internal microphones. I also often use the internal mics to capture riffs that I don’t want to forget, using the Voice Memos app. It’s worth noting that for the best quality, you should set Voice Memos to lossless.

Camera

When it comes to the camera, it gets a lot more use than I thought it would. I scan a lot of documents with the rear camera, and I also use the front camera a lot. I’m one of those people who uses FaceTime a ton, and the center stage camera is really cool for this. If you use an uncropped version of the front camera, though, it’s funny to see how wacky and thick your jaw can get.

Battery

I also wouldn’t worry too much about the battery, but I guess it depends on who you are. When I’m at the office, I’m usually gone for nine to ten hours a day, and even then, the lowest I usually see is about 30% in terms of battery life. When I’m at home, I use the pataka wireless charger stand (not sponsored). It’s just super useful to be able to set it down and have it wirelessly charge.

Conclusion

So, that just about wraps up my experience and review with the iPad Mini 6, and I totally think it’s underrated. Apple markets its other tablets to be pseudo computers, but only the iPad Mini is truly marketed as a tablet, and I love it for that. It’s not the best at computer stuff, but it’s truly the best notepad size tablet on the market. I appreciate that it lets me separate from my phone that has a lot more distraction potential while still allowing me to take a call or FaceTime. Let me know down below in the comments what you would use this for.