iPad Mini V iPad Mini Retina am I missing something ?

[FOX160160]

I went down to the local Apple store to buy the iPad Mini Retina.

The Chap was very helpful and asked if he could demo the difference
between the iPad Mini and the iPad Mini Retina.

He went through the same Movie clips/Pictures/ and Print, side by side.
But I just couldn't see the actual difference, nothing stood out and wowed me
between the two.
Even in movie mode I was expecting some lagging in the lower priced
iPad mini due to the smaller processor. But there was none.

The guy kept saying if you look closer you can just see a little difference
between the two, but to be honest I couldn't.

So what went wrong !

 

[Rodster]

The most noticeable difference is the clarity of the text. The iPad mini text will look pretty bad with a fuzzy look especially if you don't zoom in. The retina Mini will display sharper text in a zoomed out mode.

Also the A7 runs smoother with certain features turned on where the SD will struggle and present a certain amount of choppiness. If you didn't notice any of that and are fine with the fuzzy text then save your money and go with the original mini.

 

[FOX160160]

Thanks Rodster
But I couldn't see anything to say Yeah the Retina rocks
Unsure if its down to the smaller dot per inch

maybe as you say go for the standard Mini
But certainly a shame not to see a massive difference as its a
7chip with motion coprocessor and the other is a standard A5 chip

As I say I wasn't blown away but gutted. Maybe await the new version

 

[Rodster]

You would have to put them side by side. I can tell the difference between the two. In any event I purchased the regular iPad mini because I bought it for half the price over the retina version. Gotta love Walmart

 

[Night Spring]

As I say I wasn't blown away but gutted. Maybe await the new version

Well, if you don't see any difference between the iPad mini original and retina, it's doubtful that the next version will bring any visible differences, either.

Speed, you don't really feel a difference unless you do something like search through a 1000+ page document. And retina vs non-retina screens, some people see the difference while others don't. When the first retina ipad, the 3, first came out, I had one friend who thought the difference was clear as night and day, and another couldn't tell them apart at all. I could see a difference when reading text, but pictures looked the same.

We now have an Air and a 3 in the house, and function-wise, they don't feel much different. Well, the 3 is still on iOS 6, so it's possible if we upgraded it to iOS 7, it might feel a bit slower, who knows? The point is that 3 and Air, two generations apart, don't feel much different. Come to think of it, my mom is using a 2 and an Air (she likes to compare two documents side by side), and I haven't heard her complain that the 2 is slow.

So the benefit of buying the latest model isn't that it will be blazing fast compared to earlier models, but it's for future-proofing. At some point Apple will stop providing iOS updates for older iPads, so the older your iPad model, the shorter its lifespan. But if you aren't concerned about keeping it that long, and you are looking to save a $100 or so bucks, then get the older model. It'll work as well for most uses.

 

[midwestfisherma]

Are you missing something? Yes, pixels!

 

[deadolive]

Besides the retina, you will notice the A7 will do a much better job with gaming. If your not gaming, they will perform similar.

 

[Bacong]

I don't know how it's possible to not be able to distinguish a display with double the pixels compared to one with half, short of eye problems.