iPad mini What compromises would you accept to have a retina Mini today?

[ditzy]

I would pay more, but otherwise I would rather not have the retina than other compromises.

 

[children]

2mm thickness, 50g added weight and $30 price increase

 

[pasadena]

I wish people would stop equating small with cheap. Everything is geared this way; want a small car? then you must want a cheap car. 11 inch Air? you obviously wanted the 13 inch but couldn't afford it. Does my head in.

+1 and got to wonder where that "bigger is better" thing comes from

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I would pay more, but otherwise I would rather not have the retina than other compromises.

Me too. I could trade some battery life too, but not too much lol

 

[Noisemaker]

I'd accept no compromises.

This. I'd rather have a non-retina screen now, and wait a year or two for a full blown, retina Mini that keeps the 12 hour battery life, light form factor, and overall design.

There are plenty who would go for nonsense to have retina, but I prefer a quality product over specs that I can use to brag to some Fandroid.

 

[Night Spring]

What compromises would you accept to have a retina Mini today, assuming someone could actually make 2048x1536 7.9" screens?

Same form factor, Retina, 2 ½ hour battery life? 0.45" thick, 1.28 lbs, Retina, 10 hour battery? Price?

Where would you draw the line?

The point of having a smaller iPad was more portability, so, doesn't make sense to sacrifice weight and thickness. Battery life? Well, maybe, but I think you'd want at least 7 hours. Price? The number of people willing to pay more for smaller iPad is probably not enough to make it worthwhile for Apple. I think Apple did make the right compromise by putting in a non-retina screen on the mini.

 

[Phil A.]

The iPhone 5 has a retina screen and they found a way to make it lighter

I'm sure apple can find a way to do it add retina & keep the same weight

The iPhone 5 screen has less pixels than the mini, so that's not really a valid comparison - to make the mini retina would mean quadrupling the number of pixels...

 

[nuckinfutz]

This. I'd rather have a non-retina screen now, and wait a year or two for a full blown, retina Mini that keeps the 12 hour battery life, light form factor, and overall design.

There are plenty who would go for nonsense to have retina, but I prefer a quality product over specs that I can use to brag to some Fandroid.

Yup. I think Retina was really the only compromise this year that will end with next years model. I'm likely to buy anyways because once you start dipping down in the low $300's the investment is easier to make.

 

[orfeas0]

Nothing. Screw retina. It's all bunk anyway. Like the Blue Ray slobbers of years gone by.

What I want is battery. Take those resources and start developing battery technologies. Get 10, 15, 20 hours out of a charge, that'll be sweet.

++ totally agreed.

Especially on smartphones.
They're so damn thin like it's a big deal to be some milimeters thicker...
I would prefer a better battery and for the device to be a little thicker than what's going on with smartphones.

But on the iPad mini, I think the weight is really important. So they should have better battery technology, and not just a bigger battery.

 

[Noisemaker]

Yup. I think Retina was really the only compromise this year that will end with next years model. I'm likely to buy anyways because once you start dipping down in the low $300's the investment is easier to make.

I'm on the fence for whether or not we'll see retina next year on the Mini or not. We may, but might also see a battery compromise, which would prevent me from upgrading.

The fact is that it's $329 for a Mini. Resell value will be in the $250 range when a new model comes out.

Even if you keep the godawful, abortion of a device that is the non-retina Mini, you've only spent $329. Most people spend more in a month eating out. Or in gasoline. Or on clothing. Hell, it's only 3 months of an average iPhone bill.

I seriously don't get why people are so outraged.

And by "people" I mean the constant stream of whiners that make up the majority of the MacRumors forum.

 

[mcdj]

Why not? Next year Jony Ive, Tim Cook and others will tell you exactly how they did it.

Exactly. In fact, they can probably already tell you how they'll be doing it.

This is why Apple has nearly a trillion bones in cash. They sell very sexy but slightly underpec'd hardware for gen 1, then inch it towards competitive specs for gen 2, then bring it on full throttle for gen 3/3.5, then repeat the cycle with the even sexier redesign of gen 4/5.