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I think people are looking at the value of the mini all wrong

M

mellofello

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Original poster
Feb 1, 2011
1,259
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OK you are spending your valuable time on a site called macrumors.com. Chances are that you are already very entwined in the apple ecosystem. Some people are contrarians, and will threaten to leave. Some even do, and keep telling themselves that whatever apple did to step on their tail, justifies them using a half baked competitors device.

I will be purchasing the ipad mini because it's a great deal. My rational is that there is no competition to the iPad at this moment, and as far as ipads go I will get a lot more for my money, with the mini. There is absolutely nothing android could do, or offer to pry me away from all the apps I have, and all the compatibility I have by sticking with ipad. I'm not the iosphere leaving anytime soon, and my guess, mr patron of macrumors.com, neither will you.

For the record I bought and sold a kindle fire, plus my work phone is a android so this is not a blind apple fanboy rant. I deal with android every day, and hate every moment of it.

I budget about $1500 per year for gadgets. I tend to buy the latest ipad every year, around $500-550 is my discretional spending cap. Need about $1000 for a phone, saving for computer etc.

So with my +-$500 I could buy either a:

Base model stripper 16 gb ipad 4 with no trimmings

or either

32 gb AT&T LTE ipad mini

or

64 gb mini

Some people like to drive stripper luxury cars, without HIDs. I like loaded up regular cars with all the good options.

I personally prefer the smaller size of the mini. Using it in bed will be greatly improved because of the size, and throwing it in my bag to take with me will be easier because of how light it is.

The ipad mini being the best ipad my budget can buy is just icing on the cake.
 
mellofello said:
OK you are spending your valuable time on a site called macrumors.com. Chances are that you are already very entwined in the apple ecosystem. Some people are contrarians, and will threaten to leave. Some even do, and keep telling themselves that whatever apple did to step on their tail, justifies them using a half baked competitors device.

I will be purchasing the ipad mini because it's a great deal. My rational is that there is no competition to the iPad at this moment, and as far as ipads go I will get a lot more for my money, with the mini. There is absolutely nothing android could do, or offer to pry me away from all the apps I have, and all the compatibility I have by sticking with ipad. I'm not the iosphere leaving anytime soon, and my guess, mr patron of macrumors.com, neither will you.

For the record I bought and sold a kindle fire, plus my work phone is a android so this is not a blind apple fanboy rant. I deal with android every day, and hate every moment of it.

I budget about $1500 per year for gadgets. I tend to buy the latest ipad every year, around $500-550 is my discretional spending cap. Need about $1000 for a phone, saving for computer etc.

So with my +-$500 I could buy either a:

Base model stripper 16 gb ipad 4 with no trimmings

or either

32 gb AT&T LTE ipad mini

or

64 gb mini

Some people like to drive stripper luxury cars, without HIDs. I like loaded up regular cars with all the good options.

I personally prefer the smaller size of the mini. Using it in bed will be greatly improved because of the size, and throwing it in my bag to take with me will be easier because of how light it is.

The ipad mini being the best ipad my budget can buy is just icing on the cake.
Click to expand...
Or if you own an iPhone5 that means you can do what I do: Buy the top of the line iPad3 (or, next month, the iPad4) but without any 4G-LTE, then use the iPhone as a wireless hotspot so you can get 4G LTE on the iPad wherever you go and save a truckload of cash while you're at it.
 
The value for me would be that I don't have to put it in my backpack, but I can just put it in my jacket pocket. I have had a Kindle Fire and liked that I could put in my back pocket, but other than that I wasn't really impressed; the screen was just too narrow for browsing and it felt heavy for its size. The screen on my iPhone isn't big enough to read digital books comfortably, but I feel like the mini will be a good "in-between" size and be more mobile than my full size iPad. I will probably end up selling the full size, but we'll see.
 
Pro: easily carry around with you
Con: maybe the pricing...but that's expected from APPLE>
 
I think this is a good way to get all the bells and whistles next time. With apps so big I cannot manage with 16 gb anymore. I just can't bring myself to cough up the $6-700 for the full size.
 
A reasonable statement. I'm not an upgrade-every-year gadget person, so when I buy my first iPad, which my next major purchase will be.. I want it to last a good long time. I highly value being able to look at photos and text in very high resolution, so the non-retina display of the mini (which you know will become retina next year) is out. I'm pretty sure I'm getting the iPad 4.. though, I would like the likely reduction of weight the 5 will bring. If only I knew if Apple is bringing the 5 out in March (I would wait) or next fall (I wouldn't)....
 
I think it depends what people are going to do with these devices, don't you?

I chose a 10 inch pad. I can't type emails on a 7 inch device... I can't read magazines on something that small, or browse as comfortably.

Also, for basic tablet operations where a 7 inch would be ok, the nexus 7 will be 199 and the mini will be 329 ... For those not in the iosphere, buying the ipad is pretty questionable to me.

R
P.s... I have a win7 pc for my real work, an MBP that I love, an ipad 3 (now obsolete) and a Razer Maxx android phone with a 4.7 amoled display. Life is pretty good!
 
I found it hilarious that Apple said that the iPad mini is 35% bigger than a Nexus 7. If people wanted a bigger tablet in the first place they would have gone with a bigger tablet. All the iPad mini is a iPad 2 in a smaller body that's larger than competing 7 inch tablets.
 
cdmoore74 said:
I found it hilarious that Apple said that the iPad mini is 35% bigger than a Nexus 7. If people wanted a bigger tablet in the first place they would have gone with a bigger tablet. All the iPad mini is a iPad 2 in a smaller body that's larger than competing 7 inch tablets.
Click to expand...

You missed the point. The screen real estate is 35% bigger, on a device that is almost the same size. If you need as big a screen as possible, then OBVIOUSLY the standard iPad is a better choice. But if you want a smaller form-factor (better for reading, better for putting in a pocket, worse for being productive on etc) then you get more on your screen with the iPad mini than the Nexus 7.

Personally, I'm still deciding what I want to do. I had the first iPad and recently sold the 3rd gen. I loved them, but with the MacBook Air I really want something just for reading and a little smaller and lighter. An ordinary Kindle isn't an option for me as I read a lot of academic papers and I'd like to read RSS feeds too, plus ordinary ebooks. The Kindle Fire makes no sense when you see the price of the Nexus 7. So for me, it's between the Nexus 7 and the iPad mini. I keep going back and forward. I'm in the Apple ecosystem, but there is a big saving. I know apps are generally worse on Android, but since all I'll be doing is reading really, the Google and Kindle apps are perfectly adequate on the Nexus 7.

What I'm thinking now is I should go for the cheapest of the decent options (probably the Nexus 7) and wait to see what happens with the iPad mini. A retina screen will surely appear at some point. Will it push up the price? Or will they sell it for the same price as non-retina, like they did with the standard iPad? If I'm reading on a smaller screen, I'd like a higher resolution. Nexus 7 beats the iPad mini for screen resolution, but has a smaller screen. iPad mini will probably be brighter and have better colours.

No impulse buying, that's the rule! ;)
 
People keep comparing the mini's price to the Nexus 7, which is $200 for half the storage, with a 35% smaller screen on largely the same form factor, running blown up phone apps for the most part, outside the Apple ecosystem, on a screen that's a pretty awkward ratio (I know 16:9 is standard but I don't like how it feels on a tablet especially in portrait).

It's apples and oranges, or rather, Apples and ASUSes/Googles.
 
ipad mini with LTE cons.

CONS

It's an iPad2 under the shell.
It has 512megs of Ram
Safari will have checkerboarding.
Webpage tabs will have to reload again because there isn't enough ram
to hold them and you will waste precious cellular data reloading...pages
and checkerboarding.... that lovely checkerboarding loverly...

You are re-purchasing an iPad2 in a new case with a slimmer bezel.

The device NEEDS 1 GIG of RAM to be worth the price. never mind not having retina...If it's an IPAD2 with twice the RAM then i say go for it just for the sake of the form factor. but if 512Mb then it's seriously not worth the value asked.
 
I agree people are looking at it wrong, it is a fantastic price. The A5 is beautiful and more than enough for the foreseeable future. The A5 is going to be like the 3GS, supported for yonks!

Just sad to see the iPhone 4 still sold with the A4 lol.
 
tann said:
I agree people are looking at it wrong, it is a fantastic price. The A5 is beautiful and more than enough for the foreseeable future. The A5 is going to be like the 3GS, supported for yonks!

Just sad to see the iPhone 4 still sold with the A4 lol.
Click to expand...

The A5 is great. it's the RAM, RAM will determine the whole experience.
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
 
There is nothin wrong with the mini. It is a fine device, and within the Apple ecosystem, it is priced about right, even considering that (like the iPod Touch) it carries outdated components.

Step outside the Apple ecosystem, though, and you definitely find worthy iPad competitors (several being released this week), and devices that blow the iPad Mini and iPad away in several respects. The Android marketplace lacks the same depth, but if you can find the apps you need / want there, it is a wonderful alternative. The Nexus 7, for example, is a beast for its price.

I love my iPad 3, but only have it because I have a few particular work requirements that make Android inadequate. If I were in another line of work, I'd be Android. The Mini is uninspiring and the iPad 4 is a slap in the face to iPad 3 owners.
 
Red05 said:
Or if you own an iPhone5 that means you can do what I do: Buy the top of the line iPad3 (or, next month, the iPad4) but without any 4G-LTE, then use the iPhone as a wireless hotspot so you can get 4G LTE on the iPad wherever you go and save a truckload of cash while you're at it.
Click to expand...

I have iphone 5, can I buy the ipad mini and be able to use the iphone as a wireless hotspot to get connected when not in WIFI areas.
 
sineplex said:
ipad mini with LTE cons.

CONS

It's an iPad2 under the shell.
It has 512megs of Ram
Safari will have checkerboarding.
Webpage tabs will have to reload again because there isn't enough ram
to hold them and you will waste precious cellular data reloading...pages
and checkerboarding.... that lovely checkerboarding loverly...

You are re-purchasing an iPad2 in a new case with a slimmer bezel.

The device NEEDS 1 GIG of RAM to be worth the price. never mind not having retina...If it's an IPAD2 with twice the RAM then i say go for it just for the sake of the form factor. but if 512Mb then it's seriously not worth the value asked.
Click to expand...

Never once seen checkerboarding on the iPad 2. iPad 2 for the most part is actually a little faster then the iPad 3 since it doesn't have to push a retina display.
 
Exactly OP. if this thing has 512, which lets be honest, it does, that will be a disappointment. A lack of RAM causes tabs in safari to refresh and apps to crash, which is extremely annoying. When I had an iPad 2 it always had to refresh pages if more than 3 tabs were open.
 
Rhyalus said:
P.s... I have a win7 pc for my real work, an MBP that I love, an ipad 3 (now obsolete) and a Razer Maxx android phone with a 4.7 amoled display. Life is pretty good!
Click to expand...

Obsolete? Yes, your iPad 3 isn't the latest and greatest but it doesn't mean it doesn't have any usefulness left. I just gave my original iPad to my 11 yr old daughter and it probably has a couple of years life left before it leaves our house. The 16GB wifi versions are going for over $200 on ebay so after 2 1/2 years of being on the market, and a couple of upgrades later, it's still holding over 40% of its original value. I'm pretty happy with that.

I think that's as good of an indication as anything that consumers want Apple products over anything else... People are willing to spend over $200 on a 2 1/2 yr old used iOS device rather than buy a brand new Nexus 7 or Kindle, for less money.
 
tann said:
I have never experienced any issues with only 512mb on my 4S or iPad 2?
Click to expand...

so you've never got checkerboarding in safari and all your webpages are retained in memory and the ipad never has to reload pages... and it doesn't start to slow down when there's lots of apps in the task bar.

....right?

They didn't give us retina, they didn't give us A5x, A6 or A6x
but they could have at least just given us an extra 512mgs of measly RAM.

Just download the front page of "The VERGE" it's a 5 MB page. it's the size of a full MP3 track... the web is getting power hungry... you need RAM.
 
sineplex said:
ipad mini with LTE cons.

CONS

It's an iPad2 under the shell.
It has 512megs of Ram
Safari will have checkerboarding.
Webpage tabs will have to reload again because there isn't enough ram
to hold them and you will waste precious cellular data reloading...pages
and checkerboarding.... that lovely checkerboarding loverly...

You are re-purchasing an iPad2 in a new case with a slimmer bezel.

The device NEEDS 1 GIG of RAM to be worth the price. never mind not having retina...If it's an IPAD2 with twice the RAM then i say go for it just for the sake of the form factor. but if 512Mb then it's seriously not worth the value asked.
Click to expand...

I agree, waiting for tear down. If its 512 mb I'll be getting a Nexus 7.
 
512MB of RAM. $320?? For only $50 more one could get a refurbed 3rd Gen iPad from the Apple Website. Should have been $250. I know Apple charges a premium for their products but I really feel they missed the mark with this one. People would've chosen this over the Kindle and Nexus at $250 or maybe even $280. $330 is just too much for a smaller iPad 2.
 
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