iPad mini Advice needed before switching to iPad mini

To state the obvious, you're the only one who can answer whether the mini is too small. Buy it, use it exclusively for a week, test all the apps you use on your iPad, then decide. If it doesn't meet your needs return it and get your money back.

If you have been using the iPad as a laptop replacement on the road why not just keep it? You can use it in the hotel & at events where you won't be moving around much. Get the mini to use on the plane, train etc.

I find it is a perfect replacement for my IPad 2. I don't miss my old IPad for a second. I would suggest sine you use it far more than I do is get a 32gb unit with LTE or whatever cell connection they use in Italy. It's not my primary device as you use yours for. I have a MBP , I phone 5 which I carry always so I went wi-fi only since I can either use my phone or my phones hot spot for getting any data I need at any time. Now if you had a IPad 3 or 4 you may miss the retina screen but myself coming from a IPad 2 the mini is actually better for my old reading glass eyes. So for me it works.

From what you posted I think it will be perfect for you. If I lived and worked in Europe it would be by my side all the time, especially when traveling.

Personally, I find my iPad mini to be multiple times better than my full-sized iPad. It's lighter, smaller, and just easier to hold. The screen size doesn't bother me with reading, gaming, business, or anything... overall, it's just a lot more pleasant to hold.

I always felt like the full iPad was a bit too large and heavy to comfortably hold. The mini has totally fixed that for me.

Same boat...

I had been using my iPad 2 as you describe your use of the iPad 3. Here in the states I bought and used the wifi mini at launch and ordered an LTE model which arrived yesterday.

My plan to return the wifi mini when the cellular arrived went bad when as my wife now loves the mini more than her iPad 3... .

Anyway, I have not looked back since he mini arrived a few weeks ago. I use the mini traveling for work and for light office work. In fact, I use logmein ignition and connect to my office pcs when out of the office very regularly or when I have to use flash on a website.

I read books on it and watch the occasional HBO Go movie.

Plus, since your in Europe (my mother is from Madrid) you can easily stuff the mini in one of those "European handbags" and be good to go.

Good luck, if you decide the mini is not right for you, I'm sure you can resell it for close to cost.

In a similar boat as you. I travel for work and am an iPad power user, usually leaving my MacBook Pro at home and opting for iPad only.

The mini has surpassed all expectations for me. It's light, comfortable and speedy (of course I'm coming from an iPad 1) and I find that typing on it is just as easy or easier in either orientation.

My only concern is if you use a keyboard and have to sit at a distance away from the screen, which I have not tried yet. The iPad was my companion, but the mini it my lover that I cannot part with for even a second.

I opted for a 64 GB version and shortly thereafter sold my MacBook (I have a backup work laptop). Hope this helps.

At home, the mini is the perfect size (to be held by hands), and it's great for everything I do at home (mostly for entertainment), and checking emails.

At work, when I am in front of a desk, I prefer the full size iPad. It is better for tasks like viewing documents, taking notes (typing), Remote Desktop.

The Mini display does not format webpages well, letters look tiny, blurry and jagged. It isn't just non-retina, it looks washed out. Also, the extra 50% larger screen of iPad makes a big difference. The iPad is about same size and weight as a hardback book, so it is not much more inconvenience than carrying a mini. Stick with iPad 3.

Awakener said:

The Mini display does not format webpages well, letters look tiny, blurry and jagged. It isn't just non-retina, it looks washed out.

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I'm sorry, but this is simply not true. i realize different people perceive images differently, but to say this is just outright wrong.

ZBoater said:

I'm sorry, but this is simply not true. i realize different people perceive images differently, but to say this is just outright wrong.

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I have to agree. Too much exaggeration on the ipad mini screen. I know we've been spoiled with Retina, but he manages to find ways to overdo it on his descriptions of the mini screen. It's getting quite annoying.

I also travel around quite a bit with my ipad 3; before I gave that away to an in-law and using my ipad mini as the primary tablet.

I'll put it this way - the ipad 3 was great with the retina screen; that's about it. The size, weight, and overall capabilities was the same as an ipad 2 but slightly thicker and heavier. I never really was able to "feel" pleasant using it in the car (any confined space, the ipad 9.7" will feel BIG). I was ok with using it at home, but outdoors, I always felt like it was too big to pull out at starbucks, at a movie theatre, restaurant, etc. Even visiting fry's, I had a hard time pulling it out to look up prices, etc. Not because it was embarrassing, it was just "wow, look at my tablet- big sized" sort of feeling.

Now with the iPad mini, I end up using it 100% more often than before. It's so discrete and whipping it out in public is not a big deal. It's sorta like an iPhone 5 but yet with the larger screen, I use the ipad mini as my go to device. It's only when I am in a crowded train do I feel the iphone 5 trumps the ipad mini. It's all about being able to use your device conveniently; that's why you see people use an iphone to shoot photos than their point&Shoot - it's just so much more convenient and discrete to do so!

Of course you will not have retina quality - but here's the thing, in portrait mode on the iPad 3, even though the text is completely legibile, I still have to pinch to zoom a bit to be comfortable. ON the ipad mini, I just use the safari large text javascript bookmark trick and it works great. One tap and voila, all the fonts are large enough to not require zoom (just change the script with a larger value).

And I have tons of manuals and other pdf's and they are fine. They all load up quickly and yes, you have to zoom to enjoy the quality of the pdf but that's the only area the mini would lack in; high quality pdfs vs the retina iPads which would render the pdf's looking great. But even the ipad 3 on some high quality pdfs would require a second or two to fully display.

You seem like you need portability over retina. I'm sure many will argue the display is the most important factor but what good is a display if you dont' use it everywhere? The point of a tablet is to be portable and to be used everywhere...but I still find the 9.7" tablet to be used mostly at HOME. Unless you are a business retailer like home depot, etc, you probably wouldn't like to hold an ipad 3/4 since does get tiresome very quickly. The ergonomics isn't that great on the retina ipads either. I'm sure home depot will buy up the ipad mini stock and distribute them to employees because that ipad mini would be so much more convenient than the full sized iPads!

TimUSCA said:

Personally, I find my iPad mini to be multiple times better than my full-sized iPad. It's lighter, smaller, and just easier to hold. The screen size doesn't bother me with reading, gaming, business, or anything... overall, it's just a lot more pleasant to hold.

I always felt like the full iPad was a bit too large and heavy to comfortably hold. The mini has totally fixed that for me.

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I agree. While I still enjoy my full size iPads for some web work, overall the mini is the most fun. For those who only want to buy one iPad, the mini is the one to have. At least that's my take on it. YMMV.

ixodes said:

I agree. While I still enjoy my full size iPads for some web work, overall the mini is the most fun. For those who only want to buy one iPad, the mini is the one to have. At least that's my take on it. YMMV.

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absolutely agree

ZBoater said:

I'm sorry, but this is simply not true. i realize different people perceive images differently, but to say this is just outright wrong.

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You obviously perceive it correctly while everyone giving honest negative reports are liars or ignorant.
Sorry, but saying it is simply not true doesn't make it untrue.

Awakener said:

You obviously perceive it correctly while everyone giving honest negative reports are liars or ignorant.
Sorry, but saying it is simply not true doesn't make it untrue.

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You are confusing a honest negative report with hyperbole and exaggeration. Blurry, jagged, washed out and incorrectly rendered are not adjectives that any reasonable person would use to describe the mini screen, unless you got a defective one.

CiccioAtSea said:

People already owning one... any advice? Do you think it could take the place of my full size ipad? Or, since I use it so much, it would be just too small? How do you feel it when reading and typing? What about playing?

I consider myself an "heavy" iPad user but I can't figure out if I could "survive" or even enjoy a mini more that a regular ipad.

Thanks to all of you for sharing your thoughts and helping me in this important but difficult decision.

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The mini feels a bit "cramped" as compared to the full size iPad. Everything seems a little squished down, letters and buttons are smaller, touch points are smaller, some text on dialogs are barely readable. It's a very nice device and a pleasure to use, but after putting the mini down and picking up the iPad it's like "wow, this is nice" lot's of room, bigger text, just more enjoyable in my opinion. I've also found that if I want to share something with someone, a photo, youtube video or whatever, I grab the regular iPad for a bigger screen, I think it makes a better "sharing" device.

The regular iPad is a little faster as well, not noticeable for some things, but if you use it a lot you will definitely feel it.

I really like them both, but they are different for sure.

ZBoater said:

You are confusing a honest negative report with hyperbole and exaggeration. Blurry, jagged, washed out and incorrectly rendered are not adjectives that any reasonable person would use to describe the mini screen, unless you got a defective one.

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The screen stinks! That is my honest negative report after owning one....

CiccioAtSea said:

Thanks to everybody for the advices,
At the beginning my main concern was about screen size to be too small for "all day long" use, but now reading here and in many other treads is kinda helping me to feel safer in my choice.. ;-)

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I'm packing up my iPad 3 as we speak. The Mini can do everything I used to do on my iPad 3. The smaller size and weight are fantastic, as I can use the iPad longer. Haven't run into any issues yet. And my retinas are still firmly attached after one day of use. I guess the reports of the Mini screen being terrible were a bit exaggerated...

CiccioAtSea said:

So my situation is that:

I travel A LOT; since I've got my 3rd gen iPad I'm using it as my main computing device (together with my iPhone), it is great for everything I need to do and I'm using my laptop less and less everyday since I got my ipad.

I use it for everything, EVERYWHERE... Sitting at my desk, during the lunch, in the bathroom, in the bed before sleeping, everywhere.

Now the mini is out and I feel I would love it; I saw it in a store few days ago but I couldn't play with it too much...

People already owning one... any advice? Do you think it could take the place of my full size ipad? Or, since I use it so much, it would be just too small? How do you feel it when reading and typing? What about playing?

I consider myself an "heavy" iPad user but I can't figure out if I could "survive" or even enjoy a mini more that a regular ipad.

Thanks to all of you for sharing your thoughts and helping me in this important but difficult decision.

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don't know what kind of user you are. for me, i like smaller more mobile products. There are plenty of people who have to have a ton of power with a giant screen they look at. I can get by with an 11inch MacBook Air as my main computer and a smaller iPad for the road. Everyone is different though.

The iPad Mini is super easy to hold as it is really lightweight and you can basically hold it like a book. I would suggest just buying one and if you don't like it you can return it. that's going to be the only way you find out if it fits your needs. Yes, the screen is smaller...but you'll be amazed the iPad experience in such a small form factor. It's a great device. I have no desire to own a big iPad again....even after owning all 3 generations.

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bigboar said:

The screen stinks! That is my honest negative report after owning one....

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since you have an iPad 4 you care more about screen quality than portability and form factor. the screen isn't anything different than an iPad 2

rmhop81 said:

since you have an iPad 4 you care more about screen quality than portability and form factor. the screen isn't anything different than an iPad 2

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You are correct. I shouldnt have been so harsh about it. It just didnt meet the needs of what I was looking for. I hope everyone who bought the mini enjoys it as it is still a great apple product.