First of all, tks to all that responded and it seems the Mini is the way to go. Regarding people making comments about how you should educate a 7 years old I believe that is a personal matter and my wife and I should decide what is good and bad for our kid. Just as a heads up, my son is very active and plays outside most of the time. He plays soccer, baseball, swims since he was 9 months old, has tennis and karate lessons and just to make it clear these were all his choices and we never told him what sports or activities he should do but we supported him on what he wanted. He goes to private school full time and while not in class he is in some sort of sport related activity in the school. When he gets home, after doing his homework, we play together outside, we have a basketball hoop in our driveway, he bikes, he has friends in our neighborhood, etc
However, we live in Minnesota and for those who dont know the place we get below 0 Celsius (32F) temperatures from October/November through April/May. Thus, although he also skis in the winter, there is not much a 7 year old kid can do in the winter other than being inside. Yes, we go to museums, we travel, we go to the movie theater BUT there will be times when he has to be inside.
Regarding the iPad, he already uses mine and uses in his school for learning activities. Thus, he already knows how to use and enjoys it. I think there are many things kids can do with an iPad today and reading books in one of them. There are also many apps that are educational and challenge them in math, science, history, etc
In my mind, the iPad is way better than having the kid on a computer or playing Nintendo DS or video games on the TV. Also, when using an iPad I make sure the device is not connected to the network (which is password protected) so it is very easy for me to control what he has access on the device.