As I suspected, the iPad mini is receiving the same plaudits as the Air. The same; it’s just a smaller Air. Here’s me thinking that the Air is the only kid on the block, with the mini now pushed into the gutter by a Weight Watchers’ Gold Star slimmer. To read the reviews of the past two weeks you would definitely conclude that only the Air will do, that buying a mini is a certifiable offence.
Far be it from me to seek to justify my own decision to wait for the mini. Having dithered, I realise only too well that such things are a very personal decision. It’s ike trying to choose between two equally alluring suitors and wondering which will be the most amenable in marriage.
It is therefore encouraging to see that the mini hasn’t been left in the gutter after all:
As much as I love the Air, I still find myself reaching for the iPad mini. The fact that it didn’t have a Retina display was a sacrifice I was willing to make for the diminutive device. Even when I landed in New York last night, I reached for the mini, even though I had the iPad Air in my bag. It was just more convenient at that particular time (Jim Dalrymple of The Loop)
This truly has come down to the question of how big do you want your iPad. Whether you want large or small, there is an excellent option for you. Bringing processor speed, weight, and retina screen parity between the two devices means everybody has a good option without having to compromise something. That’s right. I said it. This is the Apple version of \”no compromises\”. I suspect it’s going to be a very happy holiday for Apple. (David Sparks of MacSparky)
The screen itself is just what you’d imagine: A beautiful, bright display that packs every pixel found on the 9.7-inch iPad Air display into the mini’s 7.9-inch size. That means that the Retina iPad mini’s screen packs 326 pixels into every square inch, compared to 264 ppi on the iPad Air. The number of dots is the same; only the size of the screen is different. (Jason Snell, Macworld)
The screen is insane. I bought a third-generation iPad in March 2012 and used it until October 2012 when I switched to the iPad mini. I haven’t used a Retina iPad since then. It’s as if in the past year I’ve forgotten about how impressive Retina graphics are on the larger screen: there’s something amazing about seeing a large interactive canvas that resembles a glossy printed magazine in terms of text and picture quality, and I think it’s even more shocking on the mini’s 7.9-inch screen (probably due to higher ppi than the 9.7-inch iPad). (Federico Viticci, Macstories)