Ever since the iPad mini was announced I knew it was the iPad for me. Its, in my opinion, the perfect size to go between a laptop and iPhone. I have been planning on getting one next month, but I kept seeing people complaining about the resolution of the screen. I even saw someone on this forum saying it was terrible. That made me concerned, and so I decided to go back to the local Bestbuy after work and look at just the screen.
I spend my day going between my 326ppi iphone and 114ppi Macbook. And I dont have too much issue with that. May I also point out, I am in my early 20s and have 20/15 vision.
So here was my testing method, I would start with the mini. Use it for a few minutes and then use the iPad 4 and then back to the mini. Here are my thoughts from that experience.
I was kinda expecting the screen to be bad, after reading the comments I saw online. But I was a little surprised to find that it honesty did not look bad at all. It was no retina, but It looked nice! I went to several websites, text look better than on my laptop. Pictures look very sharp and colors were good, and only when I put it a few inches from my face, did I see lots of pixels. I even put my iPhone next to it, and at a lap distance, could really not tell that much difference. There was a difference, but I was not a big deal. I then moved on to the iPad 4, and wow! The screen looks amazing! Used it for a while, and went back to mini. I could tell more of a difference now, but still the iPad mini looked fine. I tried some more tests including some books and text was fine, even better when blown up on the screen (obviously). Yes, it is a little bit fuzzy, but not as bad as everyone seems to make it out to be. Text is really the only thing I could say was remotely close to being a flaw in regards to display on the mini.
So here is my closing thoughts. No its not retina, and you can tell, but compared to most computer displays it looks quite good. The only people I could see saying its a bad screen would be people switching from a retina iPad, but even then after a little time they would probably get used to it. Unless your going to be switching back and forth between them all day. I would say if you can, go look at one for yourself. As for me, I am still planning on getting one! The screen is not only perfectly usable, but in some cases (like photo viewing) it looks quite nice. Not amazing, but nice! I dont feel apple dropped the ball on this at all. Yes, Retina would be great to have, and I will be very disappointed If we dont see a retina mini in the next year or so. But until then, the current display is fine!
Now this is just my opinion, and some will disagree. Thats fine, and I respect your opinion. But hopefully this will help some on the fence about getting the mini due to the things they have heard about the display.
I spend my day going between my 326ppi iphone and 114ppi Macbook. And I dont have too much issue with that. May I also point out, I am in my early 20s and have 20/15 vision.
So here was my testing method, I would start with the mini. Use it for a few minutes and then use the iPad 4 and then back to the mini. Here are my thoughts from that experience.
I was kinda expecting the screen to be bad, after reading the comments I saw online. But I was a little surprised to find that it honesty did not look bad at all. It was no retina, but It looked nice! I went to several websites, text look better than on my laptop. Pictures look very sharp and colors were good, and only when I put it a few inches from my face, did I see lots of pixels. I even put my iPhone next to it, and at a lap distance, could really not tell that much difference. There was a difference, but I was not a big deal. I then moved on to the iPad 4, and wow! The screen looks amazing! Used it for a while, and went back to mini. I could tell more of a difference now, but still the iPad mini looked fine. I tried some more tests including some books and text was fine, even better when blown up on the screen (obviously). Yes, it is a little bit fuzzy, but not as bad as everyone seems to make it out to be. Text is really the only thing I could say was remotely close to being a flaw in regards to display on the mini.
So here is my closing thoughts. No its not retina, and you can tell, but compared to most computer displays it looks quite good. The only people I could see saying its a bad screen would be people switching from a retina iPad, but even then after a little time they would probably get used to it. Unless your going to be switching back and forth between them all day. I would say if you can, go look at one for yourself. As for me, I am still planning on getting one! The screen is not only perfectly usable, but in some cases (like photo viewing) it looks quite nice. Not amazing, but nice! I dont feel apple dropped the ball on this at all. Yes, Retina would be great to have, and I will be very disappointed If we dont see a retina mini in the next year or so. But until then, the current display is fine!
Now this is just my opinion, and some will disagree. Thats fine, and I respect your opinion. But hopefully this will help some on the fence about getting the mini due to the things they have heard about the display.
