iPad Mini: Found a Mini at Best Buy

[guitarmandp]

There are a couple of problems with throwing in a retina screen. 1) I don't know that the iPad mini would be as light

The other problem is that they would either have to charge more money or lower the price on the iPad retina and I'm not sure they are willing to do that.

It will be interesting because I havea feeling if they do put out an iPad Retina and charge between $329 and $399, then they are going to lower the price of the older model and it might be the same price as a Kindle Fire HD

[NutsNGum]

Originally Posted by TJ61

Give it time.

Regards,
Tom

Agreed, it took me all of 2 minutes to get used to it. I've given my iPad 3 to m girlfriend. No regrets, whatsoever.

[kodeman53]

Remember everyone, the more posts and threads on this topic the closer we are to convincing strangers on the Internet that the Mini screen is/is not OK. Keep posting and keep starting threads on the same topic. Gotta drive up the MR click count.

[Ladybug]

The whole screen argument is silly in my opinion. I personally think its more than acceptable but that doesn't mean everyone will agree with me. So it's simple really...if you like it buy it, if you don't then buy something else. There really is no point in wasting time trying to convince someone else to see it your way. What is acceptable to me might not be right for you. Go somewhere and judge it for yourself.

[cardfan]

Originally Posted by RedCroissant

Have you used it, or did you just glance at one in a retail store? I have one and enjoy the screen. And yes, I can tell the difference between older and retina iPads and also between older LCDs and newer ones as well. The thing is, not everything has to be "retina" quality for it to be an awesome device. It's smaller, thinner, less expensive, same screen resolution, faster WiFi, and better battery life than the iPad 2. All that to me = awesome.

And yes, it's not retina, but it is better than the iPad 2(I have owned both and am comfortable making this claim). So I don't think that calling people idiots for defending the screen is appropriate since the people that have one and use it daily have no doubt that it is not retina but also know that it's not crap either.

I'm not calling these people idiots. It's really hard to describe. There are those that don't seem to care though. My wife humored me in getting an hdtv years back. Even now, she'll record shows in SD because she doesn't care if it's not HD. There's a whole lot of this market still left to tap into which the Mini and it's lower price is doing.

There's better headphones than others out there. I'd say most don't care about that either.

What's interesting is how Apple finally made a big deal about screen quality with their "retina" marketing and people bit on it. We're in the midst of PPI wars between the manufacturers. It's great for those like me who always wanted more resolution back in the Treo/early iphone days...these threads were often met with "are you nuts? this screen is great." Reviewers of the iphone 4 were saying idiotic things like "I didn't know i needed a better screen til Apple told me". I kept a Palm Pre around because its screen was a bit sharper than an iphone 1-3. The 3GS finally ruled that out with its speed/apps along with Palm's decline.

Here's an excerpt from Pogue's iphone 4 review:

The new screen, with greater contrast, is excellent. It packs in four times as many pixels as before; at 326 dots an inch, it’s now the sharpest phone screen on the market. Now, “the screen isn’t sharp enough” wasn’t exactly a common iPhone complaint before. But it’s easy to see, and appreciate, the improvement in clarity of text, pictures and videos.

Here's another from CNET:

Sometimes the best gift is something that you didn't know you wanted, and that's definitely the case with the iPhone 4's display. It features a 940x640-pixel (326 pixels per square inch) "Retina Display," which is four times the resolution of previous iPhone models.

You didn't know you wanted? Really? I guess some of us didn't complain enough prior to that..lol I hope we don't hear about how we didn't know we wanted a retina Mini later..

Now here we are with a Mini that's a reverse. A focus on thin and light, not screen. It'll again be interesting to see what Apple does. I don't imagine seeing a retina Mini next year as they'll want to milk some sales and increase that margin through scale. If they can lower the Mini price it'll tap even deeper into that vast mainstream that simply wants a tablet and doesn't care about screen quality. Despite what anyone says, you know it's hurting bigger ipad sales.

I also can't imagine many wanting to spend 200 more if they can buy a retina Mini at 329. A retina Mini is definitely a wanted item but it would really disrupt things especially for Apple's bigger ipad line.