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ChazUK

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 3, 2008
5,393
25
Essex (UK)
What a beautiful piece of tech this is.

Everything seems better in the mini than our iPad 2 thanks to the smaller, more hand label size (for me at least), despite the near identical specifications. We'll be keeping the iPad 2 but I can't see myself ever reading for that to use over this.

My daughter has our iPad 2 for 90% of its use (hence the pink wallpaper) so it won't be too missed.

I bought the black iPad mini with the Product Red Smart Cover. The pair look great together! :D

img201igi.jpg


Apple have really excelled with this product, no doubt
 

TWO2SEVEN

macrumors 68040
Jun 27, 2010
3,531
741
Plano, TX
Looks great! I bought the same combination for my fiancee. I really like the red smart cover. I wish they made one for the fullsize iPad that wasn't leather.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,419
43,307
Enjoy your new baby :D

It is a great tablet and I've had zero regrets from purchasing it.
 

ChazUK

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 3, 2008
5,393
25
Essex (UK)
Thanks everyone.

The combo of the Smart Cover and actual tablet make it the perfect thickness to hold.

Learning to love it more each minute I use it. I'm rather glad Apple went with the 9.7 inch version first as its made me appreciate this model even more.

The 7 to 8 inch tablet is the ideal size for me. :cool:
 

AppleDeviceUser

macrumors 6502
Jan 7, 2012
492
10
Canada
What a beautiful piece of tech this is.

Everything seems better in the mini than our iPad 2 thanks to the smaller, more hand label size (for me at least), despite the near identical specifications. We'll be keeping the iPad 2 but I can't see myself ever reading for that to use over this.

My daughter has our iPad 2 for 90% of its use (hence the pink wallpaper) so it won't be too missed.

I bought the black iPad mini with the Product Red Smart Cover. The pair look great together! :D

Image

Apple have really excelled with this product, no doubt


It's nice but I didn't buy it because of one reason... No Retina Display!
If you use the Retina iPhone, the Retina iPod touch 5, the Retina iPad 3, and the 15" Retina MacBook Pro, using a non Retina device gets really annoying. Come on Apple, almost all your products are Retina and you release a product without Retina?! Anyway, I am glad you like the mini, it's a great little device!
 

charlituna

macrumors G3
Jun 11, 2008
9,636
816
Los Angeles, CA
I
If you use the Retina iPhone, the Retina iPod touch 5, the Retina iPad 3, and the 15" Retina MacBook Pro, using a non Retina device gets really annoying.

For you. But many folks don't have that issue.

As for why Apple didn't. If you stop and think for longer than it took to compute "No Retina = useless garbage" you might clue into why they would leave such a 'vital' feature out.
 

ChazUK

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 3, 2008
5,393
25
Essex (UK)
I'm not as much of a glutton for pixels as some others are. :D

I spend my desktop life on a 22 inch 1080p LED backlit display & my Chromebook has a 1280x800 display.

I've spent the last year using my Nexus7 which has a slightly higher PPI but I don't mind either of these tablets screens.

I'm sure come the next gen well have some retina love but I'll more than make do with the Mini for now. I will admit that I haven't been spoiled by much large screen retina action yet so I'm undoubtedly pleased easier than those that have.

It's all about the form factor for me and the iPad mini has a sublime one!

img201xwx.jpg
 

vmaniqui

macrumors 6502a
Mar 8, 2013
562
1
California
It's nice but I didn't buy it because of one reason... No Retina Display!
If you use the Retina iPhone, the Retina iPod touch 5, the Retina iPad 3, and the 15" Retina MacBook Pro, using a non Retina device gets really annoying. Come on Apple, almost all your products are Retina and you release a product without Retina?! Anyway, I am glad you like the mini, it's a great little device!

i don't know what's with this retina display complain with the mini. back in the days, when apple released Ipad 1, everyone was so amazed and didn't complain. i guess we're all gotten so spoiled and pampered that with just a small thing people do complain .... i have an Ipad 3 and a mini, yet never complain about the minis lack of retina display. it is what it is. you bought it and saw it without retina so be it...i am typing this on my old 2009 non retina display MacBook Pro 15" and am happy.......
 

Medic311

macrumors 68000
Jul 30, 2011
1,659
58
It's nice but I didn't buy it because of one reason... No Retina Display!
If you use the Retina iPhone, the Retina iPod touch 5, the Retina iPad 3, and the 15" Retina MacBook Pro, using a non Retina device gets really annoying. Come on Apple, almost all your products are Retina and you release a product without Retina?! Anyway, I am glad you like the mini, it's a great little device!

it is definitely hard going from an iPad Retina to an iPad Mini

i couldn't do it
 

Han Solo 1

macrumors 6502
Mar 12, 2013
495
11
i don't know what's with this retina display complain with the mini. back in the days, when apple released Ipad 1, everyone was so amazed and didn't complain. i guess we're all gotten so spoiled and pampered that with just a small thing people do complain ....

It's called getting used to something superior. If you have a nice bluray player, would you go back to VHS? Hell no.

Many of us didn't complain with iPad 1 because that's all we knew, just like when VHS came out, we didn't complain about not being able to see in HD. But once you see a vastly superior product and get used to it, the inferior product looks like crap.

Apple gave us HD, and then after a while said, "Here, remember how much you loved VHS when it first came out? Well it's back!"

No thank you.
 

thelookingglass

macrumors 68020
Apr 27, 2005
2,138
631
It's called getting used to something superior. If you have a nice bluray player, would you go back to VHS? Hell no.

Many of us didn't complain with iPad 1 because that's all we knew, just like when VHS came out, we didn't complain about not being able to see in HD. But once you see a vastly superior product and get used to it, the inferior product looks like crap.

Apple gave us HD, and then after a while said, "Here, remember how much you loved VHS when it first came out? Well it's back!"

No thank you.

People just have different preferences. I fall in the same boat as OP where form factor matters more than pixels. I love my mini because of how portable it is ad how easy it is to just throw in a bag and go. Obviously it'd be great to get a retina mini, but put I'm quite happy with the current one.
 

AppleRobert

macrumors 603
Nov 12, 2012
5,726
1,132
People just have different preferences. I fall in the same boat as OP where form factor matters more than pixels. I love my mini because of how portable it is ad how easy it is to just throw in a bag and go. Obviously it'd be great to get a retina mini, but put I'm quite happy with the current one.

It is not in my case more portable than the Nexus 7 I own so I decided to dump the mini and get the ipad4 instead and now no issue with the resolution/ppi as well.
 

Han Solo 1

macrumors 6502
Mar 12, 2013
495
11
People just have different preferences. I fall in the same boat as OP where form factor matters more than pixels. I love my mini because of how portable it is ad how easy it is to just throw in a bag and go. Obviously it'd be great to get a retina mini, but put I'm quite happy with the current one.
You do have a good point. I had the mini for a little while and fell in love with the weight and size of it.
 

AppleRobert

macrumors 603
Nov 12, 2012
5,726
1,132
You do have a good point. I had the mini for a little while and fell in love with the weight and size of it.

I was use to 7" Android tablets so the mini's size and weight attracted me BUT the price was what sold me to try it first instead of the 3 or 4.
 

pooleman

Suspended
Jan 11, 2012
1,769
425
Eastern CT
It's called getting used to something superior. If you have a nice bluray player, would you go back to VHS? Hell no.

Many of us didn't complain with iPad 1 because that's all we knew, just like when VHS came out, we didn't complain about not being able to see in HD. But once you see a vastly superior product and get used to it, the inferior product looks like crap.

Apple gave us HD, and then after a while said, "Here, remember how much you loved VHS when it first came out? Well it's back!"

No thank you.

My iPhone 5 is retina obviously but I have no issue at all with the iPad mini display. It's crisp and sharp and just fine.
 

ChazUK

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 3, 2008
5,393
25
Essex (UK)
I never realised the retina debate was such a hot topic! Great to read everyone's opinions so thank you all. :cool:

So, the 24 hour honeymoon is over and.. I'm still attached to this thing. I don't think I ever used our ipad2 so extensively, even when we first got it.

Browsing in bed on the mini last night was great and I'm currently slumped on the couch with it now. I was debating between the mini and the iPod touch yesterday when I bought it, switching between the two in the store before settling for the iPad. Glad I went with this.

I've got everything I want loaded onto here with 3.7 gigs left free so the lesser storage space to the iPod hasn't been as bad as I'd expected (I've been using gMusic to stream my music library so music storage isn't an issue luckily). I'll give safari a go to see how well that works with google music next.

Nothing bugging me with it at the moment at all.

The perfect tablet from my perspective. :D

Next thing to do will be to upgrade the iPad 2 to a retina one to see what all the fuss is about! (Unless a retina mini hits next gen) :p
 

vmaniqui

macrumors 6502a
Mar 8, 2013
562
1
California
I never realised the retina debate was such a hot topic! Great to read everyone's opinions so thank you all. :cool:

So, the 24 hour honeymoon is over and.. I'm still attached to this thing. I don't think I ever used our ipad2 so extensively, even when we first got it.

Browsing in bed on the mini last night was great and I'm currently slumped on the couch with it now. I was debating between the mini and the iPod touch yesterday when I bought it, switching between the two in the store before settling for the iPad. Glad I went with this.

I've got everything I want loaded onto here with 3.7 gigs left free so the lesser storage space to the iPod hasn't been as bad as I'd expected (I've been using gMusic to stream my music library so music storage isn't an issue luckily). I'll give safari a go to see how well that works with google music next.

Nothing bugging me with it at the moment at all.

The perfect tablet from my perspective. :D

Next thing to do will be to upgrade the iPad 2 to a retina one to see what all the fuss is about! (Unless a retina mini hits next gen) :p

Awesome! retina or non retina, the Mini has a placed of it's own it our daily lives.
 

mantan

macrumors 68000
Nov 2, 2009
1,742
1,030
DFW
I never realised the retina debate was such a hot topic! Great to read everyone's opinions so thank you all. :cool:

So, the 24 hour honeymoon is over and.. I'm still attached to this thing. I don't think I ever used our ipad2 so extensively, even when we first got it.

Browsing in bed on the mini last night was great and I'm currently slumped on the couch with it now. I was debating between the mini and the iPod touch yesterday when I bought it, switching between the two in the store before settling for the iPad. Glad I went with this.

I've got everything I want loaded onto here with 3.7 gigs left free so the lesser storage space to the iPod hasn't been as bad as I'd expected (I've been using gMusic to stream my music library so music storage isn't an issue luckily). I'll give safari a go to see how well that works with google music next.

Nothing bugging me with it at the moment at all.

The perfect tablet from my perspective. :D

Next thing to do will be to upgrade the iPad 2 to a retina one to see what all the fuss is about! (Unless a retina mini hits next gen) :p

Until the Retina version drops.
 
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