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The iPad Mini UK Thread

I have to say, the Mini looks absolutely gorgeous.

If this thing had retina - it would be an absolute no brainer for me to buy it. I understand why retina is not there though, as it would definitely impact the sales of the '4' in a negative way as everyone would plump for the smaller, better looking (my opinion) option.

Alas, we don't have retina. And it's this reason why I am on the fence. Don't get me wrong, all this 'in 4 months we'll have a new one with retina' - doesn't bother me at all.
Call me a sheep or whatever but I don't mind selling my gadget to make way for the newest one. I only do it with the iPhone so it's not as if I'm doing it for every new MacBook / iPad / iPod / iMac lol.

So I would love to whack a pre-order down on Friday morning, but it's the retina that is holding me back.
My sister had an iPad 2 and I hated the screen what with having an iPhone 4/s at the time and seeing the retina goodness. The fact you could see pixels upset me. Haha.
So I just dont know. :confused:
 
Peter Harrison said:
I'm not, but I'll attempt to give some advice as a previous owner of the first and third gen iPads. What are you going to use it for, that's the question. They're both relatively powerful, they're both fairly portable. The real difference is that the 4th gen will be much better for games, and for being productive. Are you going to type often on it? Design graphics? Edit movies? If so, the 4th gen will probably be better for you than the mini. But if it's less of a computer and more of a consumption device (read books, watch movies, read blogs and RSS feeds) but with the added benefit of being able to check your mail etc, then the iPad mini looks like it could be better considering the weight and size too.

When I didn't have a laptop for a while, the iPads were the best things ever. Despite what some people say, you can get some serious work done on them. I did everything on my iPad. But now that I have a really portable laptop, the iPad has no need to be extremely productive anymore. Now it's for casually reading in bed, on the train, and these things I would rather do with a smaller device.

The iPad mini (based on my experience using iPad 2 in the past) will still be great for most tasks. It isn't really a debate about performance (unless you're all about the fanciest games). The real question is how practical it's going to be. What are your needs for the device? What are you going to do with it? When I had my 3rd gen iPad, I blogged on it, created a lot of media, and used it to do the same things I would do on a laptop. Now I want a smaller device to catch up with the news and to read books and academic papers. That's it.

So what about you?
Click to expand...

Many thanks for the post. That's given me an insight into what I need to consider when buying one. That's the trouble with me is that I would use the mini to for surfing, mail, games etc. But if I have the extra power and performance I would more than likely end up doing some productive stuff with it. I'm a guitar player and I think garage band would be great to have on the iPad for recording quick song ideas etc.

I do have an old macbook pro unibody 2008 model that I use for most of my day to day tasks while I'm at work and at home. I'd love to update that too to a retina macbook pro but I can't afford that just yet. I also like to watch movies etc. I would love an iPad just to pickup quickly and check things out via the web and not have to wait for my mac to boot up every time.

I'm not sure at the moment I think I'm gonna have to check out both models and see what they are like first. I'm not in too much of a hurry to get one. But it would be nice to get one for xmas as a present to myself lol.
 
Aneres11 said:
I have to say, the Mini looks absolutely gorgeous.

If this thing had retina - it would be an absolute no brainer for me to buy it. I understand why retina is not there though, as it would definitely impact the sales of the '4' in a negative way as everyone would plump for the smaller, better looking (my opinion) option.

Alas, we don't have retina. And it's this reason why I am on the fence. Don't get me wrong, all this 'in 4 months we'll have a new one with retina' - doesn't bother me at all.
Call me a sheep or whatever but I don't mind selling my gadget to make way for the newest one. I only do it with the iPhone so it's not as if I'm doing it for every new MacBook / iPad / iPod / iMac lol.

So I would love to whack a pre-order down on Friday morning, but it's the retina that is holding me back.
My sister had an iPad 2 and I hated the screen what with having an iPhone 4/s at the time and seeing the retina goodness. The fact you could see pixels upset me. Haha.
So I just dont know. :confused:
Click to expand...

I returned my iPad 3 as I could barely tell the difference in screen resolution side by side with my 2 and I thought the 3 was clunky.

The mini will look even better than the 2 because of the smaller screen size. Got to go for it! It may cost more then the competition but for general daily use it looks class rather than a speced up plastic brick.
 
hey guys, should pre orders go up at 8am on friday? Im getting one so dont want to miss out on friday!
 
richardmu said:
I returned my iPad 3 as I could barely tell the difference in screen resolution side by side with my 2 and I thought the 3 was clunky.

The mini will look even better than the 2 because of the smaller screen size. Got to go for it! It may cost more then the competition but for general daily use it looks class rather than a speced up plastic brick.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah I totally agree - You couldn't pay me to use a Nexus or whatever else is out there ha. And yes, I've had a hands on with one for those who may feel the need for a flame war. Again ha. It's just personal preference.

Hmm I have to disagree with the screen though. You can physically see the pixels on the iPad 2 screen and it just looks slightly washed out which puts me off. As you say, it may not be as noticeable what with the screen being smaller, but it may be the deal breaker for me.
I know what's gonna happen though - I'll end up preordering haha.

If I do, it's deffo gonna be the white one :D

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InfernoUk said:
hey guys, should pre orders go up at 8am on friday? Im getting one so dont want to miss out on friday!
Click to expand...

Yep - it's 8am Friday morning.
 
For me it's bloomin perfect. Been waiting for a long time for a smaller iPad.

I use ebooks in my car all night long (I drive a cab and in-between fare's I read a LOT).

I found the iPad too big for easy use (storing it etc was annoying) and then tried a couple of android 7"'ers but while they were a good size for reading; the OS is flakey and not at all as smooth and clean as iOS. I also found the 7" wide format was a bit crappy for websites etc. The ipad aspect is perfect.

Now that its finally here I must say my only disappointment is that they did not do a cheaper 8GB version; but then I guess that would be seen as trying to compete with Amaoogle.

I will deffo be getting a 16GB Wifi in White for my reading habbit.
 
I’m one of those who will be getting an iPad mini and selling my iPad 3. I’m going to get the iPad mini and use it for a short time before selling on the iPad 3rd gen as one of the things I use it for is watching Netflix/YouTube in bed so want to see what that’ll be like on a smaller screen.

The construction and look of the mini looks awesome and very similar to the iPhone 5 and iPod Touch which has got me excited. That combined with the lightness and thinness.

All I need to decide now is which version of the black/slate one I pick up - 16 or 32GB.

Roll on 8am Friday !
 
daveathall said:
There is that, I must admit that I am really tempted to get the 16GB WiFi flavour, as both of you point out, resale value should hold up well. Stop it fellas, I didn't need much persuasion as it is, you might have just cost me 270 quid.:D
Click to expand...

:)

I'm going for the 16GB WiFi black one, I've decided, screw the Android tablets (which are higher res, but aren't what I really want or would intend to keep once a gen 2 mini is released).

Someone once said (on this forum): buy a gen 1 Apple product, keep it and enjoy it for what it does today, then when gen 2 is released, sell your gen 1 and the (relatively small) difference in price you have to pay to get the gen 2, think of as a rental cost, that over the time you've had the item, isn't a lot of money per month to realise all that joy from having a product during that time vs. not having the product and waited (or gone with second/third choice alternatives). Wise words that my rationalising side just loves!
 
blergh! said:
... and in 4 months time when the new Ipad mini comes out???
Click to expand...

daveathall said:
I must admit that this is the only thing that has me dithering.
Click to expand...

It's not going to happen, Apple moved the iPad to match the cycle of its other products, it makes sense.

Unless Blergh is actually Tim Cook in disguise he has absolutely no idea of the future launch, and look at it logically, it's in Apple's interest to have September/October launches, keep them close together, get the stock out for the Christmas season, and stop alienating people who bought an iPad for Christmas by launching a new one 3 months later.
 
Aneres11 said:
Oh yeah I totally agree - You couldn't pay me to use a Nexus or whatever else is out there ha. And yes, I've had a hands on with one for those who may feel the need for a flame war. Again ha. It's just personal preference.

Hmm I have to disagree with the screen though. You can physically see the pixels on the iPad 2 screen and it just looks slightly washed out which puts me off. As you say, it may not be as noticeable what with the screen being smaller, but it may be the deal breaker for me.
I know what's gonna happen though - I'll end up preordering haha.

If I do, it's deffo gonna be the white one :D

----------



Yep - it's 8am Friday morning.
Click to expand...

My iPad 2 and 4s are white but I will probably go with the black mini for a change. Was going to get a black IP5 but I love the 4s so decided to wait for the mini to splash the cash.

Do I go for the cheapest WiFi version to keep the wife 'happy' is the big question.
 
I have the black iPhone 5 - my sis has white. For me the black is by far and away the better looking phone.

But with the iPad, I think white looks better.

So I'm all over the white!
 
Until this week, I never thought I'd think about getting a 7inch tablet. On Monday I took my ipad to work with me for first time, and did some reading on way home on the bus found it ever so cumbersome. I have a iPad 3 16gb wifi model. My brother was going to buy a iPad Mini but he is going to pay for an iPad Mini and Smart Cover for me and he's going to have my iPad. It's also got a scuff with a bit if the aluminium out of the bottom of it so it wouldn't fetch as much as I'd hope online anyway. Excited about mini.

Will pre orders start 8am as usual?
 
I'm getting one - I want it pretty much for one thing. As a remote control for my av setup which currently works via iRule (with a 1st gen iPad, which is a little slow now and quite heavy.) For once I have the money to buy it outright too, so 8am Friday I will be preordering.
I always buy black iOS products but for once I'm considering a white one - it will be easier to spot on the sofa, which is black.

I consider myself very lucky to be able to buy such a thing just because I want one, not because I need one, by the way. That's a new experience for me, due to the relatively low price point.
 
cambookpro said:
I'll hold out until it gets retina, but then I'll be jumping all over it.
Click to expand...

It's not going to get retina any time soon. Pushing 2000 pixels across on a screen as small as the iPad 3 was hard enough. They'll never manage it on a 7.9" screen.
 
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