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All iPads When the iPad Mini Retina is released will it be the perfect iPad?

Aluminum213

Aluminum213

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 16, 2012
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I have a habit of buying an iPad and selling them an year later (at a $100 loss), I did the same thing with the iPad 3 to the iPad 4. I ended up just returning the iPad 4 for a complete refund because I felt it was just too clunky and heavy for a device in 2012. The mini form factor is amazing but I think the screen is disgusting compared to the iPad retina screen, which is gorgeous. With the mini retina release likely in March I feel I can finally be happy with an iPad for a couple years.
 
There is no perfect device. When Apple includes a retina display on the mini it will be excellent. Especially if Apple speeds it up so its as fast and smooth as a Nexus 7.
 
Aluminum213 said:
With the mini retina release likely in March I feel I can finally be happy with an iPad for a couple years.
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How is it likely in march ??

These are MARKET ANALYST predictions. Spouted mostly by suits in boardrooms, with only the interests of stock markets being served.

They do not take into account any technical facets that production of an ipad mini with retina display requires.

1) AU Optronics have reportedly stated production of the ipad Mini retina display will not be till Q3/Q4 2013

So the company in charge of producing the retina display say it wont be ready in march as that would require a production Q1 2013 and not Q3/Q4

2) Current A5X and A6X are power hungry chips. In an ipad it requires a 42 Watt battery and still generates heat despite having a bigger enclosure.

The iPad mini has a 15 Watt battery, if you just grafted an A5X or A6X in its current form into a mini shell it would undoubtably lead to a dramatically reduced battery life and hotter device (less surface area for heat dispersal).

So we need a new chip or at least a dramatically re-engineered chip to drive the 2048 x 1536 resolution in an ipad mini.

An A6 chip (without the power hungry quad graphics cores 'X' variant) on its own wouldn't be enough, the current iPhone 5 has less pixels despite a retina display than the ipad mini current.




So the realistic chances of a mini with retina in march is as slim as an anorexic supermodel.
 
Upgraded ram and processor for the mini in March. Retina will come with the mini 3 in October. Yes it will be the ultimate iPad and Apple's best product.
 
Apple will always figure out a way to make the latest release less than perfect, otherwise, they couldn't sell you the next device.
 
It would be the upgrade to convince me to upgrade from my iPad 1.

Will not buy if the iPad Mini 2 if it does not Retina.

Thinking about it now...the iPad Mini 2 might not get Retina. Apple might want to milk their users again.
 
AdonisSMU said:
Or retina will come and people will bitch about something else.
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look what they did with the fat iPad! Retina iPad mini will be twice as thick with half the battery life! I can already see the macrumours headlines and the endless forum posts.
 
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maxosx said:
There is no perfect device. When Apple includes a retina display on the mini it will be excellent. Especially if Apple speeds it up so its as fast and smooth as a Nexus 7.
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I have a nexxus 7 and it isnt smooth at all.

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mcdj said:
Apple will always figure out a way to make the latest release less than perfect, otherwise, they couldn't sell you the next device.
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Or retina will come and people will bitch about something else.
 
I for one suffer from a chronic illness and my eyesight is ever more deteriorating so I don't even see a difference between the retina iPhone and the older models. My plans are to buy an iPad mini when the next one is out. Only reason to buy a new one would be vastly improved battery life.
 
When the iPad Mini Retina is released will it be the perfect iPad? Short answer: No.

I use Scorch for displaying music sheets on my iPad. While the non-retina iPad 2 handles the program fairly well I don't think I will ever want to run this program on a mini iPad simply because the notes will become very very small. They are small enough on the 2.

I can't really fathom why people get so carried away by the iPad mini. Everything is smaller on the mini - the virtual keyboard, pictures, text, whatever. I am one of those who actually want a larger, 11" or bigger, iPad. Besides, they should find a way to reduce the iPad weight and get rid of that huge bezel. The mini is exceptionally thin and light and that's the only thing I like about it.

That's just another point of view.
 
You will always compare the iPad mini with the regular iPad at any given time, the iPad always having more or better features that you may or may not miss in the mini.

If any iPad mini should be considered a "perfect" iPad, it would need most of the newest features of the regular iPad at the time (retina display, performance, etc). The regular iPad will always have a natural "advantage" this way since there's more space for cramming in extra components and larger batteries in it; therefore the "big brother" will always be ahead and the "little brother" never catch up.

There will never be a "perfect" iPad mini, it can only be more or less optimal for your needs.
 
TrollToddington said:
I can't really fathom why people get so carried away by the iPad mini. Everything is smaller on the mini - the virtual keyboard, pictures, text, whatever. I am one of those who actually want a larger, 11" or bigger, iPad. Besides, they should find a way to reduce the iPad weight and get rid of that huge bezel. The mini is exceptionally thin and light and that's the only thing I like about it.

That's just another point of view.
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I agree for the most part. I do find the compactness of the mini useful sometimes when I'm out and about. It fits in smaller bags, and is easier to handle in crowded trains, for instance, than the regular size iPad. But the smaller size of the mini makes me miss my touch targets a lot more often than on the bigger iPad, so when I'm at home, I usually prefer the bigger size.

Also, about smaller bezels and touch rejection, I find touch rejection works nicely when I put my thumb down on the screen and keep it there, but it doesn't work against accidental brushes. I find that I often inadvertently flip pages while reading ebooks when shifting my hold on the mini.
 
TJ5921 said:
Upgraded ram and processor for the mini in March.
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Why would they do that when they can't keep up with *current* demand? March is only 1-1/2 months away, why would they go to the expense of a refresh of any sort when the demand for the product exceeds supplies? People are buying it as it is so there is no need to do anything to the product since sales aren't lagging. There is no customer requirement to do anything right now except give it retina, and others have stated more eloquently than I why that is not happening in a mere 1-1/2 months.

As for whether retina will make the mini the perfect iPad, mine right now is pretty close to perfect for me (today, based on my criteria today) but I can always be made happier with more of what it does well today (thinner, more lightweight, better display, more storage, faster connections, etc.) - I'm extremely happy with my current mini, but at the same time I'm always excited about and yearn for the next iteration of any device I own.
 
While I have an iPad 3 and a Mini, for me, the perfect device would be a full size iPad that weighed the same as the mini. Little bigger screen is nice, light weight is hard to beat.
 
WilliamLondon said:
Why would they do that when they can't keep up with *current* demand? March is only 1-1/2 months away, why would they go to the expense of a refresh of any sort when the demand for the product exceeds supplies? People are buying it as it is so there is no need to do anything to the product since sales aren't lagging. There is no customer requirement to do anything right now except give it retina, and others have stated more eloquently than I why that is not happening in a mere 1-1/2 months.

As for whether retina will make the mini the perfect iPad, mine right now is pretty close to perfect for me (today, based on my criteria today) but I can always be made happier with more of what it does well today (thinner, more lightweight, better display, more storage, faster connections, etc.) - I'm extremely happy with my current mini, but at the same time I'm always excited about and yearn for the next iteration of any device I own.
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A refresh won't be an expense it will only make them more money. There won't be retina until October but in march they will have a slight refresh to phase out the iPad 2 and make the 1st gen mini $299.
 
fleabite said:
This sounds more stupid every time I read it.
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I'm (just a little) ashamed to admit that not only did I laugh at your post, but even worse, that I completely agree with it.

I find it amusing people actually think Apple *could have* incorporated retina into the mini without incurring a cost to themselves, without having to pass on that cost to us consumers. It's as if Apple sat there with two products side by side, exactly the same in all ways except that one was a retina and the other was not; both cost the *exact* same to build and sell, and both had the same end user price tag delivering the same profit margin to Apple, so they obviously choose the one with the reduced feature set, just to be evil and give people *another* reason to upgrade in a year's time when they refresh the product.

"Tee hee hee," said Apple all way to the bank. Really?
 
TJ5921 said:
A refresh won't be an expense it will only make them more money. There won't be retina until October but in march they will have a slight refresh to phase out the iPad 2 and make the 1st gen mini $299.
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I don't follow. There is always a cost to any company to make any change to any product, but what I think you mean is that their revenues from any refresh will surpass any costs associated with an upgrade to the product. I don't disagree with the basic maths of the equation, but what I can't agree with is that Apple will upgrade a product ("slightly" to use your words) and this upgrade will allow them to phase out a different product entirely (i.e. iPad 2) and at the same time they'll suddenly decrease the price of the gen 1 mini (a product for which supply isn't currently meeting demand, meaning people are paying for this unrefreshed product at its current price point in such numbers that Apple can't meet demand) to be even less in profit margin than what it already was (and they have publicly stated it makes them less money than what they would normally want from a product like this).

None of that makes any sense to me, but I must be missing something?
 
maxosx said:
Don't cheat yourself, return it for a new one. My Nexus 7 is very smooth & fun to use.

I enjoy my mini as well, it's just not quite as versatile. That's not a complaint as I knew that before I bought it.
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I've used several before I bought it so I went in expecting what I got. I just wanted the size. However after a few weeks I still went back to my iPad 3 and then the mini came out and I went for that instead.
 
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