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orfeas0

macrumors 6502a
Aug 21, 2010
971
1
Athens, Greece
All of those products sold well because they were the best thing available at the time. Whenever Apple releasees a new product, it pushes technology to the next level. With the iPad Mini, it just doesn't feel that way. It's MUCH nicer than other 7" tablets out there, but the screen is just not up to par IMO.

Like I said; I knew exactly what to expect but, to those who are like me and still on the fence about it, they should see it in a store before committing.

I'm not trolling and don't mean to start some kind of war here, just stating my honest opinion. I love Apple as much, if not more, than the next guy but felt compelled to post this.

It's called marketing.
They release the iPad mini, they sell like crazy.
In 6 months (1 year TOPS) They will release a mini with Retina display, and sell even more, and keep the old mini at a lower price which will sell too.
It's all business, apple isn't here to do you a favour. They're here to make money, and they're good at it.
If you want the best product, you should research and think before you buy.
It's obvious they're going to release a retina mini soon. If you can't do without retina, just wait (or buy a 10" ipad).
 

seajewel

macrumors 6502
Aug 31, 2010
385
76
Probably very forgiving since I don't believe any competitor has retina tablets.

competitors have 216 PPI tablets, compared to the mini's 164. it depends on what you think is "retina" but the Nexus 7 and KF HD certainly have significantly better screen resolutions. and I believe the Nook HD is even higher PPI. Of course.. all of this comes with a drawback, namely android (and even worse, Amazon or B&N Android in some cases).
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,415
43,304
competitors have 216 PPI tablets, compared to the mini's 164. it depends on what you think is "retina" but the Nexus 7 and KF HD certainly have significantly better screen resolutions. and I believe the Nook HD is even higher PPI. Of course.. all of this comes with a drawback, namely android (and even worse, Amazon or B&N Android in some cases).

Its my understanding that only apple is advertising retina enabled tablets, they don't need to use the word retina but at the very least have that type of technology. A higher PPI then the iPad mini does not indicate a retina quality display AFAIK.
 

drew0020

macrumors 68020
Nov 10, 2006
2,334
1,234
Just got my mini. The screen is a blurry mess. All the letters look pixelated. Very disappointing. Not sure what some of these people are seeing/not seeing but it looks bad.
 

seajewel

macrumors 6502
Aug 31, 2010
385
76
Its my understanding that only apple is advertising retina enabled tablets, they don't need to use the word retina but at the very least have that type of technology. A higher PPI then the iPad mini does not indicate a retina quality display AFAIK.

Retina refers to a ppi at which pixels are indistinguishable to the eye (at specific distances). It's not a "technology" that Apple alone owns. the Nexus 10 with ~300 ppi is certainly "retina" even if it's not advertised as such.
 

HelloMikee

macrumors 6502a
Jun 16, 2009
984
477
San Diego
It's called marketing.
They release the iPad mini, they sell like crazy.
In 6 months (1 year TOPS) They will release a mini with Retina display, and sell even more, and keep the old mini at a lower price which will sell too.
It's all business, apple isn't here to do you a favour. They're here to make money, and they're good at it.
If you want the best product, you should research and think before you buy.
It's obvious they're going to release a retina mini soon. If you can't do without retina, just wait (or buy a 10" ipad).

Marketing, yes. Bad marketing yes and no. I get it. They're going to make a lot of money with this version and the next with retina. But pushing out something to battle other e-readers with a less stellar screen that they currently posses is a bit odd and if you can't see that (no pun) you qualify as a fan boy.

And apple IS here to do favors for their customers. Duh. We're why they're so successful.
 

glen e

macrumors 68030
Jun 19, 2010
2,619
2
Ft Lauderdale
:confused: It looks better than the iPad 2 to me. Same resolution, with higher dpi. It looks great, I've had all the iPads so far and it's not worse than the iPad 2.

x2...been on all my sites and my books and screen is fine - is it retina? no but it'll be more than satisfactory for travel and what I intend it for....I really like it...
 

OSMac

macrumors 65816
Jun 14, 2010
1,451
6
Apple stayed away from the Netbook race to the bottom.

Is this mini screen is too close to the bottom for Apple ?
 

drew0020

macrumors 68020
Nov 10, 2006
2,334
1,234
Apple stayed away from the Netbook race to the bottom.

Is this mini screen is too close to the bottom for Apple ?

It sure is. Luckily I'm giving the mini to my mom. Picked up the iPad 4 and love it!
 

skyler286

macrumors member
Mar 17, 2011
47
0
Just got my mini. The screen is a blurry mess. All the letters look pixelated. Very disappointing. Not sure what some of these people are seeing/not seeing but it looks bad.

Returning mine. Even though I loved the size and weight, the display was too pixelated while reading / websurfing. Will keep my iPad. I'm sure they're get it right on the next gen. Although I question if Steve would have let this one go through.....
 

Quantus

macrumors regular
Apr 2, 2012
171
1
My laptop's screen is about 130 PPI yet renders text far crisper than the Mini which is 165 PPI. Very disappointed.
 

xraydoc

Contributor
Oct 9, 2005
10,740
5,169
192.168.1.1
My laptop's screen is about 130 PPI yet renders text far crisper than the Mini which is 165 PPI. Very disappointed.

You sit further away from the laptop (most likely). Hold the mini at the same distance and see if it's still disappointing. Granted, I do not have an iPad mini, but published reviews suggest that the screen isn't bad. Just old school.
 

akiraboi

macrumors member
Jun 21, 2010
58
14
USA
While I'm on board with the general disappointment that the iPad mini is not a Retina display, I purchased one after looking at them in the store because in the grand scheme of what I want it for the screen resolution is a negligible fault. My iPad mini will be my strictly productivity and convenience tablet. It has great feel in the hand, more than enough power for business productivity apps, and has great battery life potential.

I loaded a few contracts and other documents I use for work on my iPad mini and while the difference between it and a Retina display are noticeable, it is no way unusable or annoying to me.
 

bobbba

macrumors regular
Jul 7, 2008
211
7
Saw the mini today when I went to get my ipad 4g and was very impressed. The resolution is just enough crisper than the iPad2 to make it work just fine.

After seeing it I don't think that there will ever be a retina version, it just doesn't need it.
 

drew0020

macrumors 68020
Nov 10, 2006
2,334
1,234
Saw the mini today when I went to get my ipad 4g and was very impressed. The resolution is just enough crisper than the iPad2 to make it work just fine.

After seeing it I don't think that there will ever be a retina version, it just doesn't need it.

No disrespect but you must have very bad eyesight. The display is a disgrace in 2012. I noticed it as soon as I went through the setup process. All letters were pixelated. Looks awful. Apple should be ashamed. Apple apologists will love the Mini and say the screen looks as good as the iPad 4 lol
 

OSMac

macrumors 65816
Jun 14, 2010
1,451
6
Saw the mini today when I went to get my ipad 4g and was very impressed. The resolution is just enough crisper than the iPad2 to make it work just fine.

After seeing it I don't think that there will ever be a retina version, it just doesn't need it.

A retina version in a device the same size and weight would be a dream.

324dpi !!!

It would look perfect. That is what we have come to expect from Apple.

Higher prices but clearly better products, that why this one is surprising.
 

lianlua

macrumors 6502
Jun 13, 2008
370
3
By all means discuss but don't sensationalize. The thread title and the label of "unusable" is pretty over the top don't you think?
Yes.

It might actually look worse than the iPad 2, from what I remember, for some reason. It almost looks like it's not at its native resolution.
I love the form factor, but this screen is awful. Even the iPad 2's screen looks better in my opinion.

Turning up the brightness does help, but wow this is terrible.
Straight-up false. Here's a side-by-side comparison of my SO's iPad 2 and the iPad mini showing the front page of Macrumors, with the mini scaled up so the text is as close as I could get to the same size on both. 50% brightness for both iPads.

You can still see the pixels on the mini if you look closely, but the thing that shows most in the photo is the touch grid. Not true of the iPad 2.
d0Eke.jpg


Did you complain the first time you used the original iPhone? Maybe we should all go back to using the original iPhone and give up our iPhone 5?
That's exactly what you're doing now, though. The iPad mini has never existed; it's never had a retina display. Lots of Apple products have been introduced since the retina display in 2010. Most of them don't have one. It's one thing to be disappointed that it's just not feasible for this release. It's quite another to take a perfectly usable, high-quality display and pretend it's of bad quality or unreadable because it's missing one feature.

The retina display wasn't just about the resolution--it's about setting high performance standards for color, clarity, viewing angles, contrast, and all of the things that make good displays but are hard to explain to the public. Collapsing it all down to a single criterion is a disservice to everyone.
:confused: It looks better than the iPad 2 to me. Same resolution, with higher dpi. It looks great, I've had all the iPads so far and it's not worse than the iPad 2.
Very much so. The text is a little better on my Kindle HD, but everything else is worse.
 

Quantus

macrumors regular
Apr 2, 2012
171
1
You sit further away from the laptop (most likely). Hold the mini at the same distance and see if it's still disappointing. Granted, I do not have an iPad mini, but published reviews suggest that the screen isn't bad. Just old school.

Same distance. The problem is how small text appears on the Mini. Unfortunately, there is no option to override a website's font size. Even if a third party browser allowed me to do this, I'm still stuck with tiny fonts in other apple apps like mail and calendar.

----------

To all the apple fanbois:

Look at the Mail preview bar. Do you not see tiny, fuzzy and barely decipherable text? Most websites display text at a similar size unless you zoom in.

Reading google news is a more pleasant experience on my iphone 4.
 

RichyB

macrumors regular
Dec 8, 2010
125
0
Well I flipping love it, so easy to use and the screen is okay for me. From now on I'm only buying minis.
 

dopeytree

macrumors regular
Jan 9, 2007
148
16
UK
Jesus

For gods sake what are you on about: "Returning mine. Even though I loved the size and weight, the display was too pixelated while reading / websurfing. Will keep my iPad. I'm sure they're get it right on the next gen. Although I question if Steve would have let this one go through....."


Too pixelated? I find browsing the internet on the iPad 3 is pixelated because no-one is yet serving up photos in the high resolution.

Text might look nicer on the ipad 3 / 4 but I'm ok with having an ipad mini that has a slightly better res that my macbook pro (non retina)

To top it off I'm actually selling my ipad 3 because I find it:
1) too heavy
2) size equals awkward to hold
3) takes all day to charge the battery
4) I get sell it and get an ipad mini and have £150 spare.
 

spinstorm

macrumors 68000
Sep 14, 2007
1,619
146
So I'm going the other way. I have a 3rd generation and I decided today to buy a Mini to replace it.

I already preordered a 4G version but after playing with it tonight in the apple store I'm going to buy a wifi version and sell my iPad 3 with 3G immediately and then just sell the wifi only mini when my 4G version comes.

Why?

Because I always use the iPad everywhere I go and the 9.7 inches is large and heavy to carry around. If I only used it at home or occasionally in Starbucks I wouldn't mind. But I love my iPad.

And the smaller form factor and how light it is amazed me.

My only concern was losing the retina display but I can safely say that the smaller screen size takes away my concerns. Yes there is some pixelation but its far less than the iPad 2 and not enough to put me off.

The convenience is far more useful than the retina display.
 

dthree36

macrumors regular
Feb 4, 2008
218
2
Geez... Just buy the iPad 4 for all those complaining. Its not like you didn't know the mini didn't have a retina display. So much whining is sickening. But hey... to each his own for the dollars they burn.
 

penajmz

macrumors 68040
Sep 11, 2008
3,797
4,029
New York City
WOW that's crazy! The display looks great in my eyes. I've had retina for a while, iPhone 4, 4s and now 5 and honestly it doesn't bother me.

If you find it unusable then you should definitelty return it.
 

QCassidy352

macrumors G5
Mar 20, 2003
12,028
6,036
Bay Area
[/COLOR]To all the apple fanbois:

Look at the Mail preview bar. Do you not see tiny, fuzzy and barely decipherable text? Most websites display text at a similar size unless you zoom in.

Reading google news is a more pleasant experience on my iphone 4.

You lose credibility by using terms like "fanboy" and by describing the text as "barely decipherable." If you want to have a reasonable discussion about how the screen is not as good as it could be - and what that means for the product - then fine. It seems like you just want to bash however.
 
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