How do you know? Do you work in Apple R&D? Marketing?
I'm astounded at how many technology and product experts post here.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPad mini I Want To Keep It...But I Can't.
- Thread starter ghsDUDE
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
How do you know? Do you work in Apple R&D? Marketing?
I'm astounded at how many technology and product experts post here.
rockyroad55
macrumors 601
I laugh every time I see a post about someone going dizzy or crazy about the screen. So much exaggeration here.
kas23
macrumors 603
It's no worse than people who are saying the Mini's screen looks "beautiful" or "amazing".
OTACORB
macrumors 68000
It's really funny in a way but what is sad these folks that post this crazy stuff are very serious. Clearly the iPad mini is not retina and this has been known since the keynote. While I would agree it isn't as crisp as retina I think it looks good. It isn't like people buying them were snookered, Apple fully disclosed this information. Expectations is a bitch!
I find it hilarious that people are arguing back and forth about the screen on a device sold by the richest company in America.
"Which is the best device to help Apple become even richer?"
"The iPad 4 retina! 261 PPI rules dude."
"NO! It's the mini! Form factor!"
"U R STOOPID. WTF WRONG WIT U? MINI SCREEN SUXXX"
"F U ***HOLE MORON"
"Which is the best device to help Apple become even richer?"
"The iPad 4 retina! 261 PPI rules dude."
"NO! It's the mini! Form factor!"
"U R STOOPID. WTF WRONG WIT U? MINI SCREEN SUXXX"
"F U ***HOLE MORON"
Not dizzy...eye strain.
And like I said, it may have to do with the small text too...not just lack of Retina (which would help).
That's what happens when you put a 2 year old screen in a product fanboy.
Sodner
macrumors 68020
I'm 47, wear glasses and the display on the mini is more than adequate. Maybe you'll toughen up as you age and be able to survive without a non-retina display. Poor thing....
I feel like most people don't understand the reasoning behind the 1024x768 display in the iPad mini. The sole reason for the display resolution is the apps. The App Store is Apple's silver bullet over its competitors and introducing anything other than 1024x768 or 2048x1536 would mean 275,000+ apps would have to be redone for the mini. Yes, the Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7 have higher res screens but they aren't using the same tech as the iPad mini, which is why they are much thicker than the mini. The technology for a 2048x1536 screen using the same manufacturing method as the iPhone 5 and mini isn't cheap enough for consumer consumption yet. Plus the battery tech and processor tech isnt there yet. You won't get 10 hours of usage from a 7.9" screen at a 2048x1536 resolution using the technology available today. The mass amount of 2048x1536 7.9" screens that would have to be produced is simply not plausible right now. And Apple isn't going to sacrifice the mass amount of apps just so they can introduce a different "retina" screen resolution for the mini to please the few that are disappointed. And, yes, in comparison to the number of iPad minis sold vs the number returned, there are very few that are "disappointed." You cant judge the success or failure of a product by threads in a forum. It's funny to me how people think they can call the mini a "disappointment" and "terrible device" but yet the original iPad and iPad 2 with the same screen res but lower ppi sold millions and continue to have a high resale value. So while the non-retina screen may be a deal breaker for some, there are millions of people who don't know the difference and/or don't care.
Apple devices may not always have the top specs available but they'll always have the best user experience. Battery life is part of the user experience. Thinness and materials are part of the user experience. Anyone who knows Apple products should not have been surprised by the screen and chip in the mini. It's just like when and why the original iPhone didn't have 3G and the iPhone 4 didn't have LTE. Apple won't sacrifice the user experience or app developer community to have the best specs on the market.
Apple devices may not always have the top specs available but they'll always have the best user experience. Battery life is part of the user experience. Thinness and materials are part of the user experience. Anyone who knows Apple products should not have been surprised by the screen and chip in the mini. It's just like when and why the original iPhone didn't have 3G and the iPhone 4 didn't have LTE. Apple won't sacrifice the user experience or app developer community to have the best specs on the market.
This. The lack of retina is noticeable when comparing to the 9.7 inch iPad 3. But lol at the overexaggeration that it's so terrible. I can understand someone who has bad eyes might have an issue with the smaller screen of the Mini. But everyone else...LOL.
mattopotamus
macrumors Pentium
Maybe I need to look back because most of the comments I've read only say that it's not retina but it's not bad. The only ones that say it's beautiful are the ones that are sick of hearing a million times that the screen sucks when it doesn't.
smallnshort247
macrumors 6502a
I remember when some people said that Apple was making too big of a deal out of the retina display when they added it to iPhones and iPads. Now Apple leaves the retina display out without a word and there are tons of complaints. Retina will most likely be in the next version. Just wait till then or get a different tablet. Problem solved!
kas23
macrumors 603
The iPad 1 and 2 sold so well because there really weren't any alternatives. It was either you buy and iPad or buy a ? Besides, people back then weren't as spoiled as people are now in terms of display quality. As for the Mini selling so well, we'll just have to wait for the numbers to come out. I live in one of the richest counties in the US and one could just walk into the Apple Store (1 of 2 in the county) this morning and buy one off the shelf. They had hundreds.
rockyroad55
macrumors 601
If you don't mid me asking, what age group are you in? I'm in my early 20s and while the screen isn't as good as a retina, it's perfectly usable and not disappointing.
This is not A PROBLEM, this is simply a personal preference. Complain away, but don't transform something into A PROBLEM just because it doesn't suit your need.
There are a few different ways to frame the situation so that it is coherent. I don't agree with your particular choice to frame it as Apple sticking it to the consumer. They're just engineering products, marketing them, and selling them. Reality distortion fields and other CEO myths aside, Apple is an extremely consistent company who just got to this particular party a little late.
Do people always want cheaper, better, smaller, lighter, prettier? Of course. Apple could accommodate a lot of these clamorings in slipshod ways, but they have an extremely conservative strategy that makes me respect them greatly. They make changes slowly, they launch relatively small, they present a relatively unfragmented profile to developers, they mark up their devices consistently, they support their products. If you look at the lineup, it makes perfect sense right now. Making the mini retina would either make as heavy as than the ipad4, most costly, or give it a ridiculously low battery life. Possibly all of the above. That's not usable and we wouldn't see it until next summer.
I've been to the store twice compared the leaden bezelbeast ipad4 to the mini, and I've decided to go with the mini to replace my 1st gen iPad. It wasn't even close, and I'm a retina fan. Apple has backed into a really great form factor that I believe is far superior to to the full sized iPad. Will I want a full sized iPad for other use cases, will I want to replace the mini with a retina Mini when it comes out? Yes to both. But meanwhile, I'll have at least a year with a very usable device. Though that's me applying my own typical use cases, YMMV.
But, if all things were equal, I believe that the retina Mini should be $100-200 more than the iPad4 if you wanted to maintain the same weight and battery life and release schedule. Assuming it was even possible.
After rationalization, that's the big thing that you forget when you make your accusations: Apple is about good product design first. Innovation is just one part of that, following consistency, coherence and a few other things.
But, yeah, here's hoping they manage to update to Retina soon.
Last edited:
You said it all. The only thing I can add is that people are asking a lot from what is currently Apple's value model. 329 gets you an iPad, that's a pretty cool development.
You can bet that if they could have waved a magic wand and pulled off Retina at the same size, weight, battery life, price and get it in the hands of people this fall, they would have done it. And they will do it, just give them time.
It would be an interesting experiment to see what people would sacrifice for a retina mini today. Pay $200 more than an iPad 4? Have it weigh an additional half pound? Have 2-3 hours of battery life? Bezels as big as the Nexus or Fire? Allow 6-8 MONTHS for delivery?
You could also give people another option: Increase the resolution by 1.5x instead of 2x. But then you have zero optimized apps at launch. After than, dribs and drabs that add up to slim pickings and slower app availability due to fragmentation. I know how many developers would go for this one.
The way Apple went is FAR better than any of these. It will be a minute before 1024x768 goes away, but meanwhile customers and developers have a consistent experience.
Hopefully I won't have to when I get older...but hey, who knows...Apple likes using old technology so I may have to 😛
Mini is "good." Apple has conditioned consumers to expect the "best" when they pay the premium and purchase an Apple product. Unfortunately, this time around, we paid the premium but did not get the best out there. I'm returning the mini.