Alongside a fresh lineup of Surface systems, Microsoft announced a new mouse at its fall hardware event. The name gives away the reason why it's interesting. It's called the Microsoft Ocean Plastic Mouse.

The shell is made with 20 percent recycled ocean plastic, which is created from waste that has been recovered from oceans and waterways and processed into resin pellets. Those pellets are added to the other materials that are used to make the shell.

Microsoft

The wood and sugarcane-fiber box that the mouse comes in is completely recyclable, and does not include any plastic. You can also send in your old mouse for free and Microsoft will recycle it. Microsoft says the Ocean Plastic Mouse marks a small step forward in its "larger sustainability journey."

There are three customizable buttons on the mouse, which supports Bluetooth 4.0 at a range of up to 33 feet. Microsoft claims the peripheral will run for up to 12 months on a single AA battery. The mouse also supports Swift Pair to help you connect it to your computer. The Ocean Plastic Mouse will ship on October 5th, the same day Microsoft will release Windows 11, and it costs $25.

Microsoft

Follow all of the news from Microsoft's fall Surface event right here.

At its annual hardware event today, Microsoft unveiled a new family of Surface devices ahead of Windows 11’s launch on October 5th. Refreshes of the Surface Pro and Surface Go aren’t surprising, and the company did show off the latest in both of those series. But the Surface Laptop Studio is the most intriguing. It’s meant to replace the Surface Book, which was a detachable 2-in-1 laptop. The Laptop Studio, meanwhile, is more like Microsoft’s Surface Studio all-in-one desktop, in that it features a pull-forward screen that can lay flat on top of a table or be propped up at a slant. It also has a 120Hz display, as does the new Surface Pro 8, which got a sleek redesign.

I was able to check out the Laptop Studio, Surface Pro X and a slew of new Surface devices at a recent (COVID-safe) demo event in New York and I have to say, these Windows 11 PCs are looking very promising.

Surface Laptop Studio hands-on

Let’s start with the Laptop Studio, which a Microsoft rep told me at the event will replace the Surface Book line. Like I mentioned, its new easel-style design is similar not only to its namesake Surface Studio, but also to notebooks from Acer and HP. I was very impressed with how thin the Laptop Studio’s 14.4-inch screen is, and it popped out of its frame without much force. The hinge connecting the display to the keyboard is sturdy, and kept the screen up at a variety of angles in laptop mode.

When I flipped the screen to face outwards, though, I had trouble trying to push the lid away from me to get it to stand at a gentler angle as the panel popped out of the frame. But in every other configuration, such as a conventional laptop mode or laid down flat like a tablet (which Microsoft calls Studio mode), the Surface Laptop Studio behaved as expected.

When the screen is pulled forward and propped up in front of the keyboard in what the company calls Stage mode, it’s great for digital artists. It’s easier to draw on, and you can use the new Slim Pen 2 to create your masterpieces. The new stylus offers haptic feedback with an onboard motor and also mimics the resistance you’d get with pen on paper. I did feel a sort of drag across the Laptop Studio’s screen when I started doodling on it with the Slim Pen 2. It felt odd at first, as I’m accustomed to other styli like Samsung’s S Pen. But I got used to it quite quickly, and kind of liked feeling the mild vibrations that served as an indicator that something had been enabled.

The Laptop Studio has a magnetic strip under the keyboard that lets the Slim Pen 2 attach easily and remain flush with the rest of the machine. The magnets were strong enough that I only had to roughly place the stylus along the edge and it flipped into place. I don’t feel like I’d need to worry about losing the accessory with this setup, which is nice.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

Microsoft also offers a 120Hz screen on the Laptop Studio, and a company representative told me at the demo that the touch sampling rate is 100Hz. This should make for a smooth drawing experience, but also make scrolling and animations look super buttery. There’s no adaptive refresh rate available in the system — you’ll just get the option to choose between 120Hz or 60Hz in settings.

For all the detailed specs on the Laptop Studio, like its new Full HD webcam, its screen resolution, dimensions, processor and memory configuration options, I encourage you to check out our news post. For this hands-on article, I’d like to focus on my initial impressions of the devices I got to try out. On that note, the last thing I’ll say about my experience with the Laptop Studio is that its keyboard and trackpad were spacious, and though its buttons were cushy and responsive, I prefer the keys on the Surface Laptop 4. For things like battery life, performance and other real-world observations, though, we’ll need to wait till we can test out a review unit.

Surface Pro 8 hands-on

Another device that got a visual overhaul this year is the Surface Pro 8. It’s not the only new Surface Pro unveiled today — there’s also the Surface Pro 7 Plus, which received a typical minor processor upgrade and looks very similar to older Microsoft tablets. The Pro 8, meanwhile, looks a lot like the ARM-based Pro X. But it uses 11th-gen Intel Core i5 or i7 chips and is therefore noticeably heavier. It also has a different ventilation design around its sides compared to the X, which was sealed.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

Still, the Pro 8 is impressively thin, with a 0.37-inch profile, and its built-in kickstand is even sharper. Its 13-inch screen is surrounded by an attractively thin bezel as opposed to the approximately inch-wide border around the Pro 7 Plus. The Pro 8 also features the same 120Hz refresh rate as the Laptop Studio, running at a 2,880 x 1,920 resolution.

Out of the box, though, the Pro 8 runs at 60Hz, and you can go into settings to bump this up to the higher rate. Meanwhile, the Laptop Studio refreshes at 120Hz by default. This difference is because the Pro 8 is designed to be a more portable device, and Microsoft expects people to want more battery life on the go. If your priority is smooth scrolling and inking (Slim Pen 2 is also supported here), then by all means go faster. But if you’re trying to squeeze every last minute out of the Pro 8, you might prefer to stick to the lower rate.

When you’re out of juice, you can charge the Pro 8 back up with Microsoft’s own connector or through one of the pair of USB-C ports. These support USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4, and can stream out up to two 4K displays at once. We weren’t able to test this during the limited time at our preview, and I can only really tell you that in general the Surface Pro 8 felt very much like a heavier Pro X. They use the same Signature Type Cover with the same comfortable keys and responsive trackpad, as well as onboard slot that holds and charges the Slim Pen 2.

Of all the other Surfaces Microsoft announced today — the Go 3, the new Pro X, the Pro 7 Plus and the Duo 2, only the last one is different in a significant way. The rest of the systems basically got incremental updates while maintaining a similar look to their predecessors. 

Surface Adaptive Kit

I did want to call out the new Surface Adaptive Kit, though. It’s a set of labels and stickers that are designed to make Surfaces easier for people with different needs to use. There are translucent keycap labels to make buttons identifiable by touch, bump labels that add visual and tactile cues to keys or ports, as well as colorful indicators with matching cable wraps to make it more obvious which wires go into which sockets. 

The colors I saw at the demo area were neon peach hued and I’m not sure if they’ll be appreciated by people with certain visual impairments (a pattern might be better for those who can’t distinguish between colors). But at least the keycap labels I saw came in different shapes and overall I appreciate the effort here.

Microsoft led the way for accessibility tech in gaming with the Xbox Adaptive Controller years ago and though the Surface Adaptive Kit seems like a small product, it shows that the company is thinking in meaningful ways how to cater to people with different needs.

Though most of the new Surfaces that were unveiled today feel like incremental updates, the Laptop Studio, Duo 2 and Pro 8 at least bring a low-key level of excitement. Plus, these machines (Duo 2 aside) will all run Windows 11, which is already bringing new life to a stagnating PC industry. As always, we’ll need to test all these devices out for ourselves to see if they’re worth spending your money on, but you can already pre-order all of them today.

As we continue to wait for Microsoft to release the Surface Neo, the company is already unveiling the second generation of its dual-screen Android phone. The Surface Duo 2 is a $1,500 device that’s slightly thinner than its predecessor and brings some serious camera improvements. Specifically, it now has three sensors instead of the lone 11-megapixel camera used in the last-gen setup. I had a chance to check out the Duo 2 briefly at a (COVID-safe) demo in New York, and I’m so far cautiously impressed by its updates.

Microsoft’s demo area wasn’t the best place to take memorable photos, but I did try out the Duo 2’s triple lenses on an Xbox controller. I easily switched from the main camera to the ultrawide and telephoto options, and also gave Portrait mode a go. I can’t judge the quality of these photos yet, since I could only view them on the Duo 2’s screens, but I already feel like the bugginess I experienced with the original Surface Duo is mostly gone.

That’s not surprising, since one of the biggest issues plaguing the Duo’s camera software was that it only had one camera that sat above the screen. You had to flip the phone so that the correct side was facing you when you wanted to take a selfie, and have the camera side face out for other shots. This meant the device needed to know which screen to activate based on how you were holding it.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

With the triple cameras sitting on the Duo 2’s back/outside and a 12-megapixel front-facing camera, there’s no longer a need to figure that out. It’s a shame, though: There’s also no longer a way to take photos without having the Duo 2 opened up; if you’re shooting with the rear cameras, you must use the device with both screens facing you.

The bulky camera bump also prevents you from flipping one of the screens all the way over to have both displays lay evenly back to back. I never really cared to do that with the original Duo since it was too wide to use as a makeshift phone, but it’s still disappointing that with this change, the Duo 2 will really mostly be used in Book mode. It’s no longer a phone-tablet hybrid.

I’m surprised at this functional shift, since one of the refinements Microsoft made with the Duo 2 is narrowing the device’s overall width. Each panel now measures 5.8 inches instead of 5.6 inches on the original, for a combined 8.3-inch screen as opposed to an 8.1-inch canvas. But they’re also taller, with resolutions of 1,344 x 1,892 instead of the older 1,350 x 1,800. This would have made the Duo 2 slightly more phone-like in shape, but in person I frankly couldn’t tell that it had changed in size at all.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

Speaking of, Microsoft claims that this is the thinnest 5G mobile device on the market. Indeed, at 5.5mm (or 0.21 inches) thick, the Duo 2 is certainly sleek. The company also introduced a slight curve on the inner edges of each screen — an effect that’s reminiscent of pages in an open book. This could potentially make it easier to drag apps across screens, which I was able to do quickly during my demo.

Another new feature that makes the Duo 2 feel faster than the original is its higher refresh rate. Both panels now run at 90Hz and are supposed to be in sync, too. I loaded up Engadget’s website and expanded it across the two displays, scrolling frenetically up and down on an article, and the two halves of the page did indeed keep pace with each other. I’m used to a 90Hz screen by now, thanks to long-term use of the Pixel 5, but it’s certainly a nice feature to see.

Microsoft also added support for its new Slim Pen 2, which offers haptic feedback so doodlers or artists can feel a vibration when they put the stylus to the screen. It also tries to mimic the feel and resistance of pen on paper, and I spent more time with this on the new Surface Laptop Studio than on the Duo 2.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

Frankly, the fact that I encountered so few hiccups with the Duo 2 surprised me. The original Duo was riddled with bugs, and even simple things like expanding an app to span both displays were difficult. During my preview, this went smoothly. Admittedly, I didn’t spend much time with the Duo 2, so I’m still cautious about the seemingly improved software, but Microsoft has indeed been working on fixing past issues.

That responsiveness could also be attributed to the beefy Snapdragon 888 processor that powers the Duo 2, though we’ll have to perform real-world testing to be sure. We’ll also need to run our own battery test to see how long the Duo 2’s 4,449mAh cell lasts, as well as how successful Microsoft was at fixing the flaws of the original. I’m curious to see if the new triple camera system and the problems it introduces are a bane or boon to the Duo series, but for now I’m cautiously optimistic about the second Duo. You can pre-order it now starting at $1,500, and it’ll be available on October 21st. That said, I suggest you wait until we can review one before spending any money on a device that’s still so novel.

Follow all of the news from Microsoft's fall Surface event right here.

Microsoft's first attempt at a dual-screen Android device wasn't exactly a success. Middling hardware and consistently buggy software held back what could have been a compelling experience. But with the Surface Duo 2, the company wants to change all that with a device that focuses on addressing the shortcomings of its predecessor. 

Take one look at the Surface Duo 2, and you’ll notice it has a substantial camera bump. That might not seem like much of an upgrade, but it is because it means the Surface Duo 2 comes with a far more capable and versatile camera system than its predecessor. The original featured a single 11-megapixel above its right display. That meant you had to use that one camera for both selfies and regular shots. Add some imprecise software for switching between camera modes, and the Surface Duo was never great at capturing snapshots.

With the addition of three new cameras, the Surface Duo 2 should at the very least allow you to capture a greater variety of shots. The triple rear camera array consists of a 12-megapixel wide-angle, a 12-megapixel telephoto and a 16-megapixel ultra-wide. The primary and telephoto cameras feature f/1.7 and f/2.4 aperture lenses, phase detection autofocus and optical image stabilization.

Less noticeable but welcome all the same are the tweaks Microsoft has made to Duo’s signature dual PixelSense displays. The new model features slightly larger 5.8-inch AMOLED screens that combine into a single 8.3-inch display. They’re also brighter and feature a variable refresh rate of up to 90Hz for smoother scrolling.

Other notable features include a new sound system Microsoft says delivers stereo sound no matter how you hold or position the Surface Duo 2. On the side of the device, you’ll find a nifty ambient display that shows things like how much battery life you have. Oh, there’s also a new Obsidian black that is quite fetching, and you can attach a Surface Pen magnetically to the device.

Developing...

Follow all of the news from Microsoft's fall Surface event right here.

We all know what to expect with new laptops: Upgraded chips, often thinner designs, and whiz-bang new features. But it's easy to ignore how some of those changes can affect people with disabilities. Making a notebook thinner can also make it harder to open, for example. So to better equip its PCs to be more accessible, Microsoft created the Surface Adaptive Kit, a collection of add-ons that can help you find specific keys, locate ports and flip open your PC or kickstand.

While they may just look like a collection of simple stickers, it still shows that Microsoft is actually thinking of people with disabilities. The Adaptive Kit comes from its Inclusive Tech Lab, the same folks behind the revolutionary Xbox Adaptive Controller. The impetus for the Surface kit is also very similar: It's all about making Microsoft's hardware easier for everyone to use.

In the box, you'll find a set of translucent keycap labels to highlight keys you use often, a set of three-dimensional bump labels for ports and buttons, and raised port indicators with matching cable wrap. To give you more leverage with cases and kickstands, there's also a ring opener and pull-tab opener. 

The company isn't saying how much the Surface Adaptive Kit will cost when it arrives later this year, but hopefully it'll come in relatively cheap. After all, an accessibility-focused product should work for all budgets.  

Follow all of the news from Microsoft's fall Surface event right here.

When Microsoft introduced the Surface Pro X in 2019, it promised the start of something new for the company’s 2-in-1 line. Unfortunately, buggy limited app compatibility due to the computer’s ARM-based architecture and Windows on ARM software meant the Pro X never quite delivered on its promise. 

Microsoft isn’t updating the Surface Pro X’s hardware. As before you can configure the computer with either the company’s original SQ1 chip or its more recent SQ2 chip. However, Microsoft is introducing a new WiFi-only model that starts at $899. More important here is that the computer now comes with Windows 11 out of the box and includes support for native 64-bit emulation.

It’s also compatible with Microsoft’s new Slim Pen 2, which you can store and charge in the Pro X’s Type Cover. Picking up the Slim Pen 2 activates an interface in Windows 11 that allows you to customize your inking experience.

The WiFi-only model is available to pre-order today, with in-store availability to follow on October 5th.

Follow all of the news from Microsoft's fall Surface event right here.

Microsoft's new Surface launches include a refresh for its smallest tablet, the Surface Go 2. The tech firm has unveiled the Surface Go 3, a performance-focused upgrade that brings faster chips to the 10.5-inch slate. You’ll get up to a 60 percent speed boost, Microsoft claimed.

Developing...

Follow all of the news from Microsoft's fall Surface event right here.

Microsoft's new Surface Pro 8 tablet can actually go toe-to-toe with most ultraportables. It features a 13-inch PixelSense screen, a significant upgrade from the previous 12.3-inch display. Even better, it's one of the first non-gaming notebooks we've seen that supports a 120Hz refresh rate, which makes scrolling through web pages and jotting down notes a lot smoother. And of course, it's built with Windows 11 in mind.

Together with some of Intel's latest 11th-gen processors, as well as long-awaited support for Thunderbolt 4, the Surface Pro 8 could tempt over potential buyers who were turned off by the limitations of previous models. As much as I've liked earlier Surface Pros, the last model made it clear that Microsoft seriously needed to change things up.

Thankfully, the Surface Pro 8 finally supports Thunderbolt 4 on its two USB-C ports. That means you'll be able to connect fast external hard drives, several 4K external monitors or even an external GPU. As for other updates, the rear camera is now 10MP instead of 8MP, and it also supports 4K video. The front-facing camera is still 5MP with 1080p video, but it should offer better low-light performance.

Developing...

Follow all of the news from Microsoft's fall Surface event right here.

MIT has unveiled a new toolkit that lets users design health-sensing devices that can detect how muscles move. The university's Science and and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) created the kit using something called "electrical impedance tomography" (EIT), that measures internal conductivity to gauge whether muscles are activated or relaxed. The research could allow for wearables that monitor distracted driving, hand gestures or muscle movements for physical rehabilitation. 

In a paper, the researchers wrote that EIT sensing usually requires expensive hardware setups and complex algorithms to decipher the data. The advent of 3D printing, inexpensive electronics and open-source EIT image libraries has made it feasible for more users, but designing a wearable setup is still a challenge. 

To that end, the "EIT-kit" 3D editor allows users to enter the device parameters and place the sensors on a device that may go on a user's wrist or leg, for instance. It can then be exported to a 3D printer and assembled, and the final step is to calibrate the device using a subject. For that, it's connected to the EIT-kit's sensing mother board, and "an on-board microcontroller library automates the electrical impedance measurement and lets you see the visual measured data, even on a mobile phone," according to CSAIL.

Where most wearables can only sense motion, and EIT device can sense actual muscle activity. The team built one prototype that could sense muscle strain and tension in a subject's thigh, allowing them to monitor muscle recovery after an injury. It also showed other possible uses, like gesture recognition, a distracted driving detector and more. 

The team is working with Massachusetts General Hospital on rehabilitation tech using the devices while refining the tech. The eventual aim is to develop "rapid function prototyping techniques and novel sensing technologies," said lead author Junyi Zhu. 

It’s almost comical how stagnant the iPad mini has been in recent years. The 2019 version sported an upgraded processor and a slightly nicer display, but essentially looked the same as the tablet that debuted in 2012 (which is dated, to say the least). That hasn’t stopped the iPad mini from gaining a loyal following though, and we even called 2019’s mini our favorite small tablet.

Now it appears that Apple’s giving the tablet the love that its devotees have been asking for. The 6th-generation iPad mini is really more of an iPad-Air mini with its new “all-screen” Liquid Retina design, TouchID-capable top button, second-generation Apple Pencil support and USB-C charging. It’s the most significant update the mini has received in years, and Apple’s hoping you’ll pay extra for it. The 2021 iPad mini starts at $499, $100 more than its predecessor’s starting price, and with that Apple is squashing any notions that “smaller” means “lesser.”

Design and hardware

Many people, myself included, were happy to see the facelift Apple gave the iPad mini. While the old design with the physical Home button isn’t necessarily bad (it’s still good enough for the new 10.2-inch iPad, apparently), it felt boring on the mini after seeing it unchanged for so many years. This year’s iPad mini has what Apple calls an “all-screen” design, which is just different enough from the “edge-to-edge” display that the iPad Pros have to warrant discussion.

I understand why Apple didn’t want to give the mini the same “edge-to-edge” moniker, but it could have come up with something a bit better than “all-screen.” The bezel surrounding the 11-inch iPad Pro’s screen is roughly 0.25-inches thick and that of the iPad mini is only about 1/8th of an inch thicker than that. That’s not a huge difference, but it’s more noticeable when you’re only working with an 8.3-inch display. Also, the previous iPad mini had a 7.9-inch display, so you’re not getting a ton of extra screen real estate on the new model.

That said, I found the bezels to be just the right size. Notably, they helped me get a better grip on the mini when I was using it as an e-reader, and I can only assume many mini owners will do the same. The same could be said for when I was watching YouTube videos while carrying the mini around my apartment — I never accidentally paused the playing video because the bezels gave me enough room to hold the device.

The new mini’s display size and the fact that it’s a Liquid Retina panel are the upgrades here, because the 5th-gen model supported TrueTone, 500 nits of brightness and the P3 color range as well. This year’s mini has a 2266 x 1488 resolution, 326ppi panel, which is only slightly higher than the old model’s 2048 x 1536 resolution, 326ppi screen. If you upgrade from the 2019 mini, you may not notice a huge difference in quality, but the rounded-rectangle shape of the new mini’s display and the revamped design overall gives it a fresh feel.

Otherwise, I felt like I had a small version of the iPad Air the entire time I was using the mini. Their designs are very similar, save for the location of certain buttons. The iPad mini now has flat edges with a TouchID-capable power button and volume adjusters at the top and a USB-C port at the bottom. Notably, its edges lack a headphone jack and that may be a key factor for current iPad mini owners in their decision to upgrade or not. It’s made of 100-percent recycled aluminum, weighs less than one pound and measures 6.3mm thick — just as portable as the last model, but with a much-needed modern aesthetic.

TouchID is nothing different from older iOS devices, although it may take you a tad longer to set up because of how narrow the fingerprint-sensitive button is. It’s exciting that Apple finally brought USB-C to yet another iPad as it makes charging more efficient but it also continues to feed us poor saps who yearn for a USB-C iPhone sometime in our lifetimes. Also, the new design allows the second-generation Apple Pencil to neatly and magnetically stick to the right edge of the tablet.

In use

I’ve been keeping the iPad mini by my side at all times for the past week or so, and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy that was thanks to its size. Every iPad is portable, but some are certainly more portable than others. I have a 2020 11-inch iPad Pro and, while it could come with me almost anywhere, I mostly use it in my home as a secondary device or as my main driver when I’m traveling. The iPad mini, on the other hand, could fit into almost any bag I own without hassle, providing a much-needed larger screen for activities like reading, watching videos and FaceTime calls. I didn’t find it super difficult to use my thumbs to type on the mini, treating it almost like a super-wide iPhone, but I also wouldn’t call it a comfortable experience.

Speaking of FaceTime, the iPad mini comes equipped with the new 12MP ultra wide front camera that supports Center Stage, the feature that automatically pans and zooms to keep you in frame during video calls. Each time I used FaceTime, I could move around my (admittedly small) kitchen and the mini’s camera followed me so my family could always see most of my face. There’s a limit, of course — I often stepped out of the camera’s field of view, but it followed me until I was nearly out of the camera’s field of view. This is a handy feature for anyone like me who’s often multitasking while catching up with loved ones over FaceTime.

The rear camera is also better than that on the previous mini, but I wouldn’t consider it a huge selling point. It’s a 12MP wide camera with an f/1.8 aperture, 5x digital zoom, Quad-LED TrueTone flash and Smart HDR 3 support. It can also shoot 4K 60 fps videos and shoot Slo-Mo videos at up to 1080p 240 fps. We’ve all seen a tablet photographer in the wild, but considering the shooters on our phones are far-and-away more capable than those on tablets, most people turn to the smallest screen in their pockets for photography. The pictures of my fiancé and my cat that I took with the mini were just fine, but I found myself more inclined to use the rear camera as a document scanner with Evernote’s Scannable app. And even in that case, was it better than using my iPhone? Not necessarily, just more convenient when I was using the iPad mini as my default device.

I may not have been taking a ton of photos with the iPad mini, but I use it for almost everything else that I normally turned to my iPhone for. The A15 Bionic chip inside makes the mini feel zippy, and it handled everything that I threw at it well. I spent most of the time watching YouTube and Netflix videos, answering messages in Gmail and Slack, taking notes in Evernote, saving wedding inspo in Pinterest, browsing e-cookbooks in the Kindle app and doodling in Procreate and GoodNotes. The iPad mini didn’t falter once and, in comparison to my iPhone, the tablet’s larger screen made it a much better work companion when I was trying to be productive on the couch. The mini smoothly ran games like Temple Run 2, Crossy Road and High Rise as well, even if my attempts at beating those games were anything but.

Valentina Palladino / Engadget

While it didn’t affect the performance of the iPad mini I had, the storage capacity on the model you choose may have a significant impact on how you use your mini in the future. The tablet comes in 64GB and 256GB models, with the higher of the two costing $150 more than the other. That’s a significant difference in both capacity and cost, and it follows an unfortunate pattern in the iPad lineup — you’ll find the same pricing structure in the iPad Air configurations. The previous iPad mini had the same minimum storage capacity, so we didn’t even get an upgrade here and that’s a shame.

While I don’t think most people will be using the iPad mini as a laptop replacement, it would have been nice to have a 128GB model just to have an in-between option for those with tighter budgets. I would also hesitate to recommend the 64GB model to anyone that wants to use their iPad mini as the digital file folder for their documents, photos, books, scans and more. Considering iPadOS 15 takes up 7.5GB of space already, those people may quickly eat up most of their internal storage.

With the Apple Pencil

Another area that could eat up storage over time are handwritten notes, scribbles, doodles and other artwork you make with the second-generation Apple Pencil. The previous iPad mini supported the first-gen stylus, but I was thrilled to see the newer Apple Pencil snap on to the side of the mini and line up almost perfectly. The Pencil is almost as tall as the tablet so it truly feels like the two were made for each other.

Since I regularly use the Apple Pencil with my 11-inch iPad Pro, I was not surprised to find that using it with the iPad mini is a similar, yet more constrained, experience. But that’s not a bad thing — I actually think the iPad mini excels at being a digital notebook. It’s portable enough to come with you everywhere you go and it’s much easier to balance in your palm while you jot down notes during a walking meeting. Apple makes it really easy to take notes in iPadOS 15, too, with the Quick Note feature that’s accessible by swiping up from the bottom-right corner of the iPad. It opens a small window on the screen into which you can scribble a quick grocery list or something you don’t want to forget. Those Quick Notes get saved in the Notes app, where you can retrieve and edit them at any time.

Apple’s made the Notes app more robust over the years, so much so that it could be your main note-taking tool. But there’s no shortage of capable apps in which to use the Apple Pencil and I was happy to find that two popular ones, Procreate and GoodNotes, work just as well on the iPad mini as any other iPad. Serious artists will probably want to spring for an iPad with a larger screen because it just gives you more space to play with, both in regular and Split View. But those who are visual thinkers, those who prefer to sketch out their thoughts, will probably find the mini’s screen to be sufficient. For example, I’m in the early stages of planning a wedding and I took the iPad mini with me on a few venue tours. Not only was it much less ostentatious to take around than my larger iPad, but I could also snap quick photos with it, bring those images into Procreate, pull out colors I liked in venue fixtures and decorations and experiment with them in concept sketches.

Valentina Palladino / Engadget

Battery life

One thing that hasn’t changed about the iPad mini is its estimated battery life. Just like the 2019 model, Apple estimates the slab should get up to 10 hours of battery life, and again, that’s a bit of a lowball. With how much I was using the device, I essentially had to charge it every other day. The mini lasted an entire afternoon and evening filled with doodling, video streaming, emailing, light gaming and more (I used it instead of my phone for almost every task), and I was able to use it most of the next day before the battery life dropped to around 10 percent. I also ran a makeshift battery test on it, playing a video clip on repeat until the tablet died, and the mini lasted just about 12 hours.

Unlike the previous mini, the new model uses a USB-C port for charging and it’s about time. It’s good to see Apple transitioning the iPad family to USB-C, even if most people looking to buy an iPad mini probably already have a few Lightning cables strewn around their home. The mini also comes with Apple’s 20W USB-C charger, which should help power-up the device quickly.

Wrap up

The iPad mini’s spec sheet has changed quite a bit, but the appeal of the tablet remains the same. It looks and feels different thanks to the redesign and the handful of new features Apple brought to it. Still, the iPad mini remains one of Apple’s most niche devices. But niche doesn’t mean less-than — with the iPad mini so similar to the iPad Air, you won’t be sacrificing much by choosing it. However, I don’t think most people will take a look at all the new perks — things like a camera with Center Stage, USB-C charging and even the A15 Bionic chip — and be persuaded to choose the iPad mini over any other Apple tablet.

What it will come down to, as always, is size. The iPad mini remains the best small tablet out there and you probably already know if an 8-inch tablet has a place in your life. It either solves a specific problem, or it doesn’t — and if you fall into the second category, you probably prefer bigger screens anyway.

But if you updated in 2019 to the 5th-generation iPad mini, the decision to upgrade now is not entirely cut-and-dry and that’s mostly due to cost. If the 6th-generation iPad mini had the same $399 starting price as the previous model, it would be a no-brainer upgrade. Sure, that extra $100 does get you a lot, but if your 2019 iPad mini is still going strong, the higher price of the 2021 model may be too great. But for those who have a hole in their lives where a small tablet could fit, you (still) can’t get better than the iPad mini.