New York Times Says iPad Mini is “By Far the Best iPad.â€

[epb]

Being a guy that used to lug around a laptop for many years, I feel the regular iPad is extremely portable, easy to carry, and not heavy at all. Guess its a perspective thing!

I can sort of see the appeal. I've got a 7" Kindle Fire HD as well as an iPad, and the fact that it will ft in a jacket pocket or the back pocket of a pair of jeans is significant - it means you can carry it with you and still keep both hands free like a smart phone, but you've got a more usable display. If you're constantly on the go, it's very appealing. If you're typically stationary when using your iPad, like you would be when using a laptop, the full-size version is better - ironically, for many of the same reasons Apple themselves said a smaller iPad is a bad idea, before they realized they could make truckloads of more money.

 

[s2mikey]

I can sort of see the appeal. I've got a 7" Kindle Fire HD as well as an iPad, and the fact that it will ft in a jacket pocket or the back pocket of a pair of jeans is significant - it means you can carry it with you and still keep both hands free like a smart phone, but you've got a more usable display. If you're constantly on the go, it's very appealing. If you're typically stationary when using your iPad, like you would be when using a laptop, the full-size version is better - ironically, for many of the same reasons Apple themselves said a smaller iPad is a bad idea, before they realized they could make truckloads of more money.

No doubt that apple tapped into a market that's quite lucrative. Just shaving a few inches off the screen size of the iPad 2 has made a new hot item for them. Great marketing! You are correct about usage though. I'm not much a of a traveller so the portability improvements don't help me as much. Even so, I'm so giddy about how easy the regular iPad is. For years I had laptop shoulder drag syndrome....walking with a noticeable lean or dip in my shoulder from years of lugging around 20 pounds worth of laptop crap!

 

[tlbaker]

A pop up toaster.....actually that's a great idea, a slice of toast pops up from behind the screen while I'm doing my morning catch up, hmm, now, where did I put Jonny Ive's phone number.......

The Archangel

One that would clean my house and do my laundry - cook dinner too!!!


Sent from my Wi-Fi Black 64GB iPad with Retina Display using Tapatalk HD

 

[AQ_OC]

No doubt that apple tapped into a market that's quite lucrative. Just shaving a few inches off the screen size of the iPad 2 has made a new hot item for them. Great marketing! You are correct about usage though. I'm not much a of a traveller so the portability improvements don't help me as much. Even so, I'm so giddy about how easy the regular iPad is. For years I had laptop shoulder drag syndrome....walking with a noticeable lean or dip in my shoulder from years of lugging around 20 pounds worth of laptop crap!

I remember the day I crossed the line had developed a serious case of "back problems". I had been holding a heavy back full of books and laptop over my shoulders, which standing around chatting for an hour or so. Upon walking back to my office, unbelievable pain shot down my right leg into my big toe. Woe is me! Over time, you can do yourself a great disservice toting too much stuff over your shoulder. And I'm sure those deadlifts I was doing at the gym didn't help much (though, at the time I thought they work...but I probably had bad form which likely added to the problem).

 

[epb]

I remember the day I crossed the line had developed a serious case of "back problems". I had been holding a heavy back full of books and laptop over my shoulders, which standing around chatting for an hour or so. Upon walking back to my office, unbelievable pain shot down my right leg into my big toe. Woe is me! Over time, you can do yourself a great disservice toting too much stuff over your shoulder.

In the 90s, I had a website called Laptop Central, one of the earliest buying guides for laptop computers. In my buying guide, I stressed the importance of light weight for anyone that would be carrying the laptop around a lot, as at the time there were laptops that clocked in at 10lbs (laptops were also 4 or 5 grand, but that's another story). I pointed out that 1) your laptop is additional weight - you'll still be carrying all the other crap you always hauled around and 2) your laptop's weight isn't just the laptop - there's the adapter, accessories, extra battery, and the cases often weighed as much as the laptop itself. I've still got a portable printer that weighs about 3x what my iPad does - then there's the ream of paper for it.

I got so much mail from supposedly macho guys telling me what a wimp I must be that I didn't want to carry an extra 20lbs through a mile of O'Hare walkways. I wonder how those folks are doing now.

 

[AQ_OC]

In the 90s, I had a website called Laptop Central, one of the earliest buying guides for laptop computers. In my buying guide, I stressed the importance of light weight for anyone that would be carrying the laptop around a lot, as at the time there were laptops that clocked in at 10lbs (laptops were also 4 or 5 grand, but that's another story). I pointed out that 1) your laptop is additional weight - you'll still be carrying all the other crap you always hauled around and 2) your laptop's weight isn't just the laptop - there's the adapter, accessories, extra battery, and the cases often weighed as much as the laptop itself. I've still got a portable printer that weighs about 3x what my iPad does - then there's the ream of paper for it.

I got so much mail from supposedly macho guys telling me what a wimp I must be that I didn't want to carry an extra 20lbs through a mile of O'Hare walkways. I wonder how those folks are doing now.

Yeah, I would have been in that crowd of macho dummies! And we have back issues now!

 

[webjoe]

I agree that the "new" mini definitely needs to have the Retina.

 

[s2mikey]

I agree that the "new" mini definitely needs to have the Retina.

Very soon it will, me thinks.