Hi all
Has anyone got one of these? Apple are doing them for £234 today but its not the retina display

I cant stretch to a retina one, is it worth the cash?

Ta

It’s basically a small iPad 2 (same res, internals). So getting a bit long in the tooth now.

If it’s of interest, selling my 32Gb iPad 3 + bits for not much more than that – in Brizzle but do travel a bit.

I’ve got one but it’s been put away for Xmas as it’s my eldest’s present.

I’ve got one. Never ever noticed the ‘problem’ with the resolution. For my uses it’s absolutely perfect, our PC basically never gets turned on now.

i think so i have a ipad 3 and gf has the mini i dont think there is a great deal of difference in them she is made up with hers

I we mine every day. I love it.

I don’t have High Resolution eyes though. So I’m not sure I would benefit from the retina display.

The screen is stunning on the original, yes the new retina is better (although questionable as to whether its worth it on smaller screen vs normal iPad or a MacBook Pro). I have an iPad1 (which is getting long in the tooth at 4yrs old but the original iPad mini is still pretty new). Unless you hold it side by side with a retina it’s pretty hard to tell the difference.

We’ve imported lots of nonsense from the US but this Black Friday / Thanksgiving sale is a worthwhile development.

I’ve got one, it’s great. As above, I don’t notice that it’s not retina either. The smaller size is nicer for reading and it fits in bags without being intrusive.

We don’t use the PC too much since it arrived either.

Get it.

Cheers chaps

Sounds like the new “Retina” display isn’t that great anyway so save some money and get the original.

Display expert slams retina mini

We have just got one through my gritted teeth . The screen looks good the sound is fine . Cranbrat happily watching it while eating his dinner . Not had chance to explore all it’s functions and am more used to android but I certainly would not challenge the quality. I think ours may have been cheaper than that at currys.

It will be fine unless you want to play the latest (proper) games. Hovering over the buy button of an Air right now as my venerable iPad 2 just can’t handle XCom!

As I have no idea what XCom is i guess that wont be an issue!

Do it youl love it.

resolution is noticeably vs our iPad 3 (retina). But not outrageously so. IMO.

normally I would recommend the 1st gen ipad mini, cos once you add an anti-scratch/ glare coating the screen will look different anyway.

however, apple only offer the 1st gen in 16gb which isn’t much once you factor in the operating system.

so the smart money would be on at least 32gb, and the new version has more power which cant be bad.

I’ve got a 1st gen in 32gb and I cant fault it except that it makes the ‘rebirth’ app a bit akward for my clumsy hands.

I’m sure you can open an apple account without buying any of their products. This can give you the opportunity to select apps to add to your ‘wishlist’, which may in turn may give you an idea as to how much memory your future purchase requires.

best of luck 🙂

@xgb – if the original is only available in 16gb in my view thats a bigger question than retina screen. I have a 16gb iPhone and 64gb iPad1. You are more likely to store movies (500mb-1gb each) on an iPad and also more likely in my view to store more music. An iPad can change the way you use a mobile device so it’s quite hard to predict usage and storage requirements. 16gb is do-able, 32 is in my view min I would want as I now tend to take 4-5 movies when I travel, most of my music (lazy as it’s easier to click all/most things than filter what I do and don’t want, p,us I have lots of work documents).

If it’s just for home and browsing web, a few apps with occasional film download then 16 is fine

We have got Ipad mini, its main use is to entertain our eldest son. Grandma bought it for him. But, he preffers wife’s Ipad 3. Once you use retina, there is no way back. My eyes vomit at ipad mini shite screen.

Once you use retina, there is no way back. My eyes vomit at ipad mini shite screen.

#firstworldproblems
You must have spectacularly good eyesight! Pretty sure the greater majority of people won’t notice on the smaller screen. Storage capacity, for me, would be far more important. I copy photos from my camera straight onto my (standard) Retina iPad 3, it’s currently got nearly 6000 on it, along with nearly 400 ebooks, and the whole of the UK 1:50k OS maps in Viewranger. It’s 128Gb, so cost more, but worth every penny for me. If I bought a Mini, it would have to be at least 128Gb, the screen I reckon would be perfectly adequate for my eyesight.

Got both in my household, the gf has the iPad 3 and i have the first mini. Tbh i prefer mine, its easier to hold, plenty big enough screen and far more mobile, if we go away i can just keep it in the pouch of of my hoody. That said i only use it for music and films and internet browsing and its ideal. The only drawback is the smaller memory. I think it all depends on usage as to what you go with though.

I had an iPad mini now have an iPad4 retina. The screen is nicer on a bigger tablet but having gone between the two you get used to the non retina iPad mini quickly. I loved it for it’s size and weight, kind of miss it really. End of the day it is still a very good device despite Apple telling us otherwise! I had the 16GB and found it limiting, if you can afford a 32 or more it will give you the opportunity to use it in many different ways rather than cluttering it with apps and no space for music or video!

I like mine, bought it for travelling with and it was ideal. Now I’m home I do find myself thinking a big one would be nice, but you can’t beat it for portability. I think that’s a word.

So did you get one. I’ll hazard a guess if you did you are well pleased with it

I bought a 16gb iP mini just after release and it’s ace. It’s all I need, I don’t store music on it but I can download a few hours TV onto iPlayer if I like. It runs iOS 7 fine.
I looked at the retina version the other day and I would t bother swapping mine for one.

this pic was quite telling from a CNET article. It shows the new mini retina vs the air and the colour vibrance issues on the mini. People can draw their own conclusions but i’ve seen them side by side and the display on the mini was poor enough for me to reconsider which tablet to get. Yeah i know, first world problems…