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All iPads What's wrong with the iPad Mini w/ retina display?

S

skillwill

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 12, 2008
480
661
This time last year people were all over these forums with how much they absolutely love their mini - it was the "perfect iPad", in fact people said they loved their iPad Minis so much, it didn't even matter that it had year-old processing technology and a poor resolution display - even at a time when retina-class displays were the expected standard.

Now this year's mini is as powerful as its big brother and has the retina display, but I'm actually yet to read anything positive about it - people are saying they loved their iPad Mini 1's, rushed out to buy this one as it was seemingly all they had ever wanted, and are disappointed with it.

So what is fuelling this disappointment? I find it hard to believe its a slightly rare image retention issue that hardly anyone will ever notice or a slightly faded colour display which, unless pointed out to you and held up next to a display with better colour, wouldn't necessarily be noticeable - and even if these were issues, I can't see they are worse than the ones people were willing to put up with last year - so what's really wrong with it? I haven't got/used one so I can't answer this myself.
 
Beats me. My mini retina is great, have no problems at all with it. Screen is great. The only I have noticed is that when I play music on it the screen tends to vibrate a little bit which I have not noticed before except on the air. My Air is also great except the vibration is really bad on it and I am getting a little zing when I move my finger across the screen while the music is playing and the screen is vibrating. So will take it back as I have never had that issue before on any other device.
 
People are just PITAs. I was one of those who thought the first mini was ALMOST the perfect tablet and lacked only a retina screen to reach perfection. I have my rMini now and it's everything I wanted. Very happy camper here.
 
Love the new retina mini. Best iOS device I have had. Fast, light, powerful, screen is awesome. Not sure who you are referring to concerning negative reviews. There are always going to be a small percentage of people with issues. Remember, this is technically a first generation device, in terms of the new retina display coupled with new internals.
 
I'm happy with my rMini. Colors are fine for my needs (haven't compared side by side, don't do much with photos, and don't do any color critical stuff), and I've seen no screen retention with any of what I do on the thing.

I've had an ipad3 since launch, saw no need to upgrade to ipad4 as I'm not a gamer and so the cpu/gpu stuff never mattered to me. I liked the size of the mini1 but retina is important to me as I'm often reading small font text; I knew I'd likely try a mini as soon as they provided retina.
 
That's good to hear - I guess it's just another case of those who are happy with theirs are getting on with it and those who aren't are shouting the loudest
 
I've got both the Air and the new mini. Sure the mini looks a little dull or washed out when compared side by side with the Air but that's only because the Air has a unbeatable display. There really is only a very small difference.

On it's own the mini is excellent. A beauty to behold in it's brown leather smart case.
 
Happy as can be with my new mini ! I changed from the 1st generation because I wanted 4G for travel. I find the colors more natural than in the Air , too saturated for my taste. Retina is a plus for reading fine print.
 
I'm struggling to get one that has an even tint screen. All the ones I've tried have had yellowing at the bottom left of the screen. Which is pretty distracting.
 
Dlanod said:
I'm struggling to get one that has an even tint screen. All the ones I've tried have had yellowing at the bottom left of the screen. Which is pretty distracting.
Click to expand...

All of the three Retina Minis I've had were having the yellow tint at the bottom. Left bottom seems a bit more predominant too.

All these threads/posts combined with my own experience makes me think that Apple has a new way of producing the displays. I'm not well versed in uneven tints but my guess would be that the backlighting is done in a new inferior way compared to older units. The Minis seems to be very affected of viewing from a "perfect angle".
 
People's expectations also change over time. Most people were blown away by the first iPhone. If some company provided a phone with the same screen and internals today, it would be considered a joke.
 
skillwill said:
I'm actually yet to read anything positive about it
Click to expand...

I love my iPad mini-R. There are a few things I'd like to see improved in iOS, but overall it's an awesome device and I'd not give mine away for anything.


(Well I guess I would for cash exceeding the pricetag of the Mini-R and just order a new one.)
 
I think maybe expectations were just too high.

My expectations were low - before it was announced, I figured the retina Mini would still be a processor generation behind the flagship full-size device (iPad Air), so the fact that they gave it the same A7 chip and basically made the internals on par with the Air, but still $100 cheaper, is pretty awesome to me.

For the record, I'm pretty happy with my mini despite it failing the image retention test and having slightly uneven screen colouring.
 
WashupDawg said:
All of the three Retina Minis I've had were having the yellow tint at the bottom. Left bottom seems a bit more predominant too.

All these threads/posts combined with my own experience makes me think that Apple has a new way of producing the displays. I'm not well versed in uneven tints but my guess would be that the backlighting is done in a new inferior way compared to older units. The Minis seems to be very affected of viewing from a "perfect angle".
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I ran into and why I opted to just stick with my 1st-generation Mini.
 
brent1977 said:
That's exactly what I ran into and why I opted to just stick with my 1st-generation Mini.
Click to expand...

Heh. I'm back on my iPad 3. After 3 Retina Minis, I feel like I'm done for now. Might try again in 2014 to see if manufacturing and QC has improved.
 
I just got my first rMini and was lucky to get a great screen. I returned 3 iPad Airs with yellow screens so I sympathize with those who are getting the yellow tint problem on their rMini. I couldn't be happier with mine. I waited to be sure it was ok before getting a smart case, but have that now and all is good. The color saturation isn't as good as the Air's but still very good and overall it is a great device. I can now relate to those who praise it because of it's portability. I love my rMini!
 
Not a damn thing -

I bought an Air and it was perfect, but I returned it for a rMini, which is also perfect. I love it and have no regrets. The display is beautiful and it's so lightweight and ultraportable. :D
 
I spent alot of time looking at the regular and mini retina Air's yesturday at Best Buy and was dissappointed by the lack of sharpness and detail resolution when viewing still photos and high def. videos.

But I was impressed with the sharpness and detail resolution of the 13.3" retina Macbook Pro $1299 notebook. So because I am into photography, the displays of the retina iPads are not good enough for me to do a half professional job of editing photos and videos. I'll need to get the retina Macbook Pro.

Bottom line is that just as the image quality of non-retina displays varies greatly from model to model, so does the image quality of retinas.
 
Most rMinis are fine but some have shipped with piss yellow caca screens. I've owned both. To the ones who haven't seen a yellow screen rMini then lucky you and shut the F up about people being OCD. Now to skillwill, don't let what you read hear stop you from purchasing a rMini. If anything, you're better informed than most and can detect if your device is satifactory to you or not. Apple has a great return policy and there are plenty of rMinis being shipped now to pick the perfect one.
 
Nothing..... Ok sure, people may find some faults - it's not quite as powerful as the big brother, and apparently the screen isn't as great as the air either..... But I love my mine retina, I upgraded from a iPad 3 and it's a great jump in processing power, the screen looks beautiful, I love the size of the mini.... Much more portable than the full size. :) :)
 
I have both rmini and Air, and no complaints about either one. No tint, no bleed, only faint image retention on the rmini, not worth exchanging and definitely not noticeable in normal use. No screen stability issues on either one.

The only thing that I can say about the color gamut is that colors don't "pop" on the mini they way they do on the Air. It really isn't noticeable unless you compare them side by side. I do prefer the Air for web browsing because of the larger screen size and larger type size, but browsing wasn't a primary purpose for my mini anyways.

The only complaint I have against either machine is that Safari really is less stable, compared to the iPad 3 with 1GB memory and also running iOS 7.0.3. The only thing I can attribute that to is the larger footprint for addresses in 64-bit mode.
 
I was hyped for the mini until I saw the price increase so went for an Air instead. Couldn't be happier - my main problem with the other iPads were the size and weight. Now both have been quashed it's perfect again!
 
Dlanod said:
I'm struggling to get one that has an even tint screen. All the ones I've tried have had yellowing at the bottom left of the screen. Which is pretty distracting.
Click to expand...

There is a slight yellowing as you move down the screen but it is consistent across the screen and hardly noticeable. I can see it if I look really intently but not something I would consider a reason for exchanging it.
 
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