The big chip and retina screen are great but it's TOO heavy. I went to an apple store and tried it for five minutes so I can definitively say it's no good. Mini or go home.
I will share my experience on a similar note
I played with both devices back to back in store yesterday.
I walked into the store and started with mini. Very impressed. Light, nice screen, I could work on it all day if I need to. Did not feel like any of the iOS experience was compromised, beautifully built. Loved how slim it is and easy to hold. Then heard some couple walk into the store and say, its just like Kindle size.
Quick Test: Viewed Photos, watched brief videos, browsed some news websites on Safari (smaller text is plenty on these sites). Then briefly read a page or two of some sample book on 'Moon' in iBooks. Overall I thought I was sold at this moment, I might be picking it up in the next few minutes. Then I went onto the iPad Gen 4.
First thing, felt like a brick, way heavier, as if I would not hold it for too long and found myself putting it down a lot while holding in one hand, navigating. Repeated the same things, did not really notice too much of a difference in photos, videos. Reading was a bit easier, and this one had some graphics in the sample/demo books too. 'Paper' was no much nicer to use on the bigger screen. Browsing was excellent, with smaller text being very crisp on CNN/BBC websites on Safari. I got used to the weight pretty quickly, was no biggie, felt solid in hands.
Not convinced and still confused I went back to the mini. Voila, world of difference 'suddenly'. Noticed now that the smaller text on the browser was not crisp enough for the news websites anymore, could easily tell the pixels apart. (I could always zoom in a bit if needed). The screen felt somewhat of lesser quality suddenly, which I had not noticed the first time I was playing with the device. Blame it on short term adaptation to the retina display.
Decision was made, reading books and smaller text during web browsing was much nicer on the Retina iPad.
Did some quick calculations, $180 difference in the price, iPad mini vs iPad 4, for same capacity, much better performance, and better aging with evolving apps and iOS, iPad 4 was going to be the choice. I am planning to keep my device for about 2 years at least. I do not travel that much, so portability is not a huge issue, and I quite like the real estate on the retina iPad.
Final thoughts: iPad Mini is an excellent device, but may be not for me.
I walked out of the store with a 32GB wifi-only iPad 4 in the silky/satin Apple shopping bag.