iPads have been on sale at discount prices lately, but one iPad that doesn't get marked down much is the iPad Mini. Fortunately, the 4th of July sale has arrived, and Amazon is slashing the price of your favorite mini tablet.

For a limited time, Amazon is offering the iPad Mini (256GB) for $499. That's a $50 discount and the lowest price this year for this excellent tablet. If you need an always-on LTE connection, Amazon sells the iPad Mini (256GB/LTE) for $629. This is also a $50 discount, which is unusual for an iPad Mini sale; only the 256GB model is on sale.

The iPad Mini has a 7.9-inch Retina display and Apple's A12 Bionic CPU. It didn't make our best tablets list, but rest assured that this tablet will not disappoint.

In Geekbench 4 (a benchmark that measures overall performance), the iPad Mini posted a multi-score of 11,515, matching the iPhone XS's score. (Both use the same CPU.) The iPad Mini also has an impressive battery that lasts for 12 hours and 40 minutes. the only thing we don't like about the iPad Mini is its outdated design, with the same large bezel look as Apple's now-defunct iPad.

Otherwise, this is a great bargain that may not come around again until Amazon Prime Day.