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iPad mini iPad Mini Retina $399 - Thoughts? [POLL Added]

Is the $399 iPad Mini Retina a rip off or well priced?

  • It's ridiculous! $399?!

    Votes: 103 24.5%

  • It's well priced for a great new upgrade with 64bit + retina!

    Votes: 201 47.7%

  • It's ok - I'd rather pay another $100 for the $499 iPad Air!

    Votes: 93 22.1%

  • Not impressed with either - I'm keeping my current iPad.

    Votes: 24 5.7%
  • Total voters
    421
I think the price is OK. It's not an attractive price, but neither a ripoff.

Nonetheless I don't find a compelling reason to upgrade. The fact that they will still be selling the original ipad mini, sends the message that it still has a long life in Apple's plans.
 
CoolSpot said:
"Quality" and "effective" are terrible metrics because they allow you to subjectively define both.

The problem I see for the mini is the $70 price bump (21% increase) is pretty significant and prices the mini out of the competition for smaller tablets. When you are looking at a $200-250 Nexus tablet, a $330 mini is a doable stretch upgrade. If you are looking at a $400 mini, you're less likely to make the jump.
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I agree - the Google tablet is plenty effective and made just fine. Those arguments are dubious at best.

Whats up with 16gb too? That is a totally useless amount of storage space. 32GB ought to be what yyou get at that price point.

But, Apple LOVES margins which means they charge a LOT for everything. Oh well. The iPad Air is a MUCH better buy IMO.
 
I have been waiting for this. I sold my Mini a couple of months after purchasing it because I just couldn't get used to the non-Retina screen. Everything else about it was awesome, but the screen turned out to be a deal-breaker for me. Switching to it from my rMBP and iPhone 5 simply made my eyes tired very quickly. I wouldn't care if the Mini 2 and Air cost the exact same amount, I'd still pick the Mini, because its size is absolutely ideal for me, while the bigger iPad I have never really had any interest in.
 
iPad Air for me

I was pretty certain that I was going to get the Mini, however with the slimmer and lighter Air, I am really torn but for another $100.00, I think that I am getting the Air.....I think🙂

FTR, I think the Mini is well priced, given the upgrades.
 
It's positioned to make the full sized iPad seem like a better deal. That's the one they are trying to sell. iPad mini is just to draw people into iOS. The price point makes sense. The full sized iPad specs in the iPad mini are just to satisfy the techies. The regular iPad mini with its entry level point will be stellar I think.
 
Hankster said:
Too expensive? Find me another tablet with the quality and effective OS of this device at the same price point.

It is well priced. If you can't afford $500 for a tablet that pretty much doubles as a laptop you shouldn't be purchasing one at all.
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In hardware terms you would be paying $170 more then a Nexus 7 for a aluminium back and a slightly higher resolution screen which is a bit pointless with the size of the screen. Software is subjective and a 64-bit processor does not have any real advantage over a 32-bit one right now. But if you feel it's worth it then it's up to you.
 
Last edited:
Hitch08 said:
The link you posted is for the iPad Air. The person you quoted was talking about the release date for the Mini.
Click to expand...

I wonder if Apple will give a release date in advance for the Retina iPad mini or just become available without notice? Anybody familiar with how this will work?
 
I have no idea what public reception will be, but it cost them a sale to me. I was waiting with credit card in hand and now I won't be buying.

I don't mind the huge price increase, but for $400 I want it all... TouchID, 2GB memory, the best camera, and an LED flash.

I feel like Apple is asking for a premium price (which is fine), but then leaving out all the premium bits (which is not fine).

Outrigger said:
the new mini will have the exact same hardware as the ipad air so its NOT just a retina display.
Click to expand...

Until we see memory size, we don't know that. Memory size is not trivial, and it is currently the biggest problem I have with the Mini.
 
richardbb85 said:
overprice but no surprised, it's apple
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Except that the original iPad was vastly underpriced compared to what was predicted. Apple's products are only overpriced if you don't care as much about quality and design (many people don't and that's fine). Also, iPads are considerably more useful than most other tablets (specifically Android ones - Android-based tablets will catch up at some point but for now they are far behind in usability and usefulness).

Further, the new Mac Pro isn't particularly overpriced for the specs it has (plus if you add in the cost of "bundled" software, it makes it even better if that software has value to you).
 
stretch80 said:
I wonder if Apple will give a release date in advance for the Retina iPad mini or just become available without notice? Anybody familiar with how this will work?
Click to expand...

Apple's website says "Coming later in November". So, sometime after the 1st and before December. 😀
 
betabeta said:
Should have went to 32gb for $399, it would have only cost apple $10.

I think $399 is on the high side, especially without TouchID and no comera upgrade.

I think sales to new buyers will be good since they get all the great software, but for someone who already has an iPad, I don't know.
Click to expand...

Actually that would have sold me for sure - $399 starting price but with 32gb
 
I think its fair considering you are getting all of the bells and whistles from the bigger iPad - Retina, A7, M7, 64bit

I was going to pre-order an iPad mini as soon as I could but now I don't know I want to go to the store and play with the iPad Air first to see if that interests me more..... Oh these crazy first world problems.
 
I'll be anxious to see performance scores. Since the Mini w/ Retina has the same processor and has a smaller architecture, does this mean it could be faster? Or do they use less RAM than the Air.
 
I completely understand where the 399 price tag is coming from and the differences between iPad Air/mini2 and iPad2/mini1. But still when you introduce a product at price A and next years version is 21 percent more it is hard to swallow. I guess i will be waiting for the refurbs to show up.

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AlvinNguyen said:
Actually that would have sold me for sure - $399 starting price but with 32gb
Click to expand...

I could have gotten on board with that. I honestly thought 32 would have been minimum this gen.

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s2mikey said:
I agree - the Google tablet is plenty effective and made just fine. Those arguments are dubious at best.

Whats up with 16gb too? That is a totally useless amount of storage space. 32GB ought to be what yyou get at that price point.

But, Apple LOVES margins which means they charge a LOT for everything. Oh well. The iPad Air is a MUCH better buy IMO.
Click to expand...

I was looking for the mini to have the same DPI not the same resolution I know that would have been a pain on developers but the price could have been more attractive. For someone who wants to just read, such as myself, I think the nexus 7 will be just fine at half the price.

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Gix1k said:
Too expensive. The 329 point was perfect. No touch ID, not AC. Hard sell for me, but I'm buying it.
Click to expand...

If ur buying it then No in your mind it is not to expensive.
 
If the iPad Air is not overpriced then neither is the iPad Mini which has the same functionality for $100 less. The old iPad Mini was a crippled iPad. The new one is a full fledged iPad. It is worth twice what the old Mini was worth. It is only $400. That's a couple nights out on the town.
 
I think the price they chose is fine given that

A.) It is current gen hardware
B.) Retina Display
C.) Doesn't have the specs of a 2 1/2 year old iPad.

Will I buy one? Probably not. I hate the screen and the paltry amount of ram of the first one but it does what I need it to do ok.
 
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