The iPad Mini sits squarely between the 3GS and 4 in "closeness to retina"

It is indeed exactly the same ppi as the 3GS, but the effect will be different because you're focusing on a wider array of pixels overall, from a greater average distance.

Here's a pretty good article about it:

http://www.tuaw.com/2012/03/01/retin...oing-the-math/

And as a nice bonus, there's a spreadsheet link in that article that has a row dedicated to the iPad mini.

What's the "closeness to retina display" for the mini?

At a distance of 16 inches away, 76%. This is compared to 61% for the ipad 2, and 123% for the ipad 3/4.

Spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...=0&output=html

So accounting for average viewing distance, the ipad mini sits squarely between the 3GS and the 4/4S/5 for perceived sharpness.

So I have some hope this this thing will be acceptable given the advantages in portability.

mcdj said:

Interesting. But how is the ipad 3/4 at 123% of retina, when it's defined as retina? Shouldn't it be 100%? Of course retina is just a random marketing name anyway...

But this report does illuminate what I suspect about the mini. There are times when I look at my ipad 3 quite closely...shorter than arm's length. At that distance, I think the mini will show its pixely retro face.

Click to expand...

I think you're right. I really don't know how it's going to look until it's in my hands. I preordered just the mini betting that if I want to return it and get a 4, the 4 will be widely available because of the 6 month upgrade cycle. I checked the ship date for the 4s and it seems that theory is holding up.

dmelgar said:

Your links didn't work for me, how about this one. http://www.tuaw.com/2012/03/01/retina-display-macs-ipads-and-hidpi-doing-the-math/

Looks like both the links end up pointing to the shortened version, not the real URL. I could find the TUAW article but can't guess the link to your google doc.

Click to expand...

Not sure what happened, sorry. The google doc link is in the tuaw article.

dmelgar said:

Not sure if using 16" for the Mini makes sense. Its a smaller device, seems that you're likely to hold it closer. That would counteract the higher PPI making the % retinaness the same.

I hope they've done something else to the screen to help. I don't normally see pixels but I've always thought the iPad1/2 looked extremely pixelated. The iPad3 was not a minor upgrade to me but a night and day difference.

I have one on order. Will see if its any improved over an iPad1. There's something about the iPad1 that looks really bad to me. I can see the colors that compose each pixel. Looks very grainy. I don't notice it on my Macbook air.

Click to expand...

Maybe. It was a night and day difference for me too... just trying to assuage my doubts here as I really, really prefer the form factor of the mini.

There are indeed lots of other factors in display tech than pure pixel density. Josh Topolsky of the Verge made a note that the mini display looked brilliant despite its ppi; I trust his opinions.

Only thing to do now is wait and see (literally)...