How the new iPad Mini renewed my love for photo editing - and became a must-have for work

The iPad Mini has revived some of my old interests. Like most of us, I don't often get the quality time needed to immerse myself in my interests, like reading or photo editing. While I still find some time to lose myself in books, I'm guilty of neglecting the visual stories I've captured during my travels. I have bucketloads of photos on my SSD card that I've only recently revisited thanks to the iPad Mini.

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I've long considered the iPad Mini my favorite tablet form factor, and the new device is (almost) everything I could want in a tablet.

iPad Mini's perfect form factor gets better

I believe tablets are, by default, incomplete hardware. They can't be used effectively without buying an additional accessory, such as a folio or keyboard case. Any device above 10 inches (most tablets) requires you to keep it on a surface and make it stand because you won't be able to hold a big screen for long. 

That drawback is why my iPad Air 4 mostly stays in a drawer. I made a poor decision, assuming a larger display would make browsing and photo editing easier. However, I underestimated how unwieldy it would be to hold a tablet for my intended uses. 

Thankfully, that's not the case with the iPad Mini. The compact form factor allows for prolonged use without hand fatigue. Here, the cover serves more to protect than to make the device functional.  

Also: The iPad Mini 7 is almost perfect - except for one critical missing feature

I don't want to put my iPad Mini down. I can spend hours reading or editing photos in Lightroom, holding the device comfortably without propping it on a table. Transferring photos from my SSD to Lightroom and exporting the edited versions is a smooth experience. The latter task is snappy because of the A17 Pro chipset, while the SSD file transfer rate is quick because data transfer over USB Type-C is now 2x faster on the 7th-gen iPad Mini.

While it's quicker to export full-quality photos on my iPhone 16 Pro with the A18 Pro SoC, iPad Mini's processing is no joke. 

The new iPad Mini supports Apple Pencil Pro, with features like Squeeze, Barrel Roll, Find My, and more. Creatives would find the first two of those features particularly useful, while I'm thankful for the Find My support because I often misplace my Pencil. The hover functionality also comes in handy to preview my actions before tapping on something.  

With smooth performance and Apple Pencil Pro support, I can stay in Lightroom and learn more about editing without getting frustrated by file transfer times. With the new iPad Mini, I want to read or connect my SSD to edit old photos more than with any other tablet. 

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The device keeps the same 8.3-inch display, the perfect size for my reading and photo-editing needs. By comparison, the iPhone is good enough for browsing but not editing, while the bigger iPads are great for editing but not for reading. The new iPad Mini is the permanent device in my commute backpack.

One slight downgrade

The A17 Pro delivers outstanding processing power, but I've noticed the tablet getting warm on the right side when I am on my SSD-connected workflow for more than 30 minutes. As a result, the battery life takes a hit, which wasn't such an issue on the previous iPad Mini. While Apple claims similar battery hours for the 7th-gen iPad Mini, I've noticed shorter battery life for similar tasks. Yes, I'm editing more on the new model, but the battery life is still slightly worse than before.

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One more thing that has annoyed me is something that can be fixed with a future update. On tablets, iPadOS is arguably better than Android. However, the OS has quirks. For instance, I have three empty grids on top and the bottom three are filled with apps and a widget. When I rotate the device to landscape orientation, the apps and widgets shift to the top, leaving the bottom two grids empty, which is the opposite of the layout I want. This issue might be trivial for some people, but it annoys me every time I rotate the tablet.

The Mini remains my favorite iPad

The 293-gram 7th-gen iPad Mini packs a bunch of upgrades in the same form factor as before. The 2x faster USB-C, A17 Pro, and Apple Pencil Pro support are excellent improvements. I would've liked a better smudge-proof coating on the display but it gets plenty bright to remain readable.

I've used the new iPad Mini for browsing, reading, photo editing, online shopping, and keeping up with social media. While video editors might prefer an iPad Air or iPad Pro, the new iPad Mini is perfect if your primary use case involves reading and editing photos on the go.