Apple iPad mini with Retina Display: Reviewed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 16, 2013 8:00 AM ESTFinal Words
When I concluded our iPad Air review I assumed the iPad mini with Retina Display was a true no-compromise, smaller alternative to the iPad Air. In many senses that’s true. Wireless connectivity is identical between the models, battery life is pretty much the same as well. Peak performance is close and you no longer have to accept a lower resolution display. Last year’s iPad mini was easy to recommend, and this year’s is even easier. To my surprise however, the iPad Air continues to hold some advantages that may resonate well with some users.
The biggest in my eyes is the iPad Air’s wider gamut display with full sRGB coverage. The mini’s Retina Display is good, the Air’s is just better. There’s also more thermal headroom on the iPad Air, which can come in handy if you’re doing compute intensive work on it. If neither of those things matters to you, then the decision becomes one of usage model and portability. I believe the iPad Air does a better job of approximating a primary computing device, particularly in its ability to give you a reasonable sized virtual keyboard to work on. The iPad mini on the other hand is substantially more portable. Although the iPad Air is light enough to come along with me more than any prior iPad, the mini’s form factor makes it even more likely that’ll I’ll bring it with me (the best tablet is the one you have with you?).
As much as I prefer the iPad Air’s display and as much as I love having more performance, I’d probably lean towards the mini personally. The lower weight and smaller form factor are just tough to give up. Apple could’ve made the decision a lot easier by giving the mini true display parity with the Air though.
The mini with Retina Display sits at an interesting point in Apple's iPad lineup. Priced at $399, the higher-end mini is priced identically to the iPad 2 - which Apple continues to sell. I honestly can't see a situation outside of having poor vision where I'd recommend the iPad 2 over the iPad mini with Retina Display.
If you're on the fence about upgrading from an older iPad (or even the first gen mini), the iPad mini with Retina Display is a tempting target. Compared to virtually all previous iPads you're going to notice a substantial increase in performance thanks to Apple's A7 SoC. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the performance improvement over the previous generation mini (featuring Apple's A5) can be just as noticeable of an uprade as the display. The new mini is a leap forward in performance compared to its predecessor.
While Apple has the 10-inch tablet market more or less locked up with the iPad Air, the mini faces stiff competition. The biggest comes from Google with the $229 2013 Nexus 7. You get an incredibly affordable device and a display with full sRGB gamut. What the mini offers is a faster SoC, a wider display (a Nexus 8 would be nice) and of course, iOS. I’ve heard varying opinions on iOS vs. Android when talking about tablet or smartphone use. Some users prefer Android on one and iOS on the other, vice versa or find themselves exclusively in one camp. This one is best left up to personal preference. At $229 the Nexus 7 is a great option. If you prefer iOS however, the iPad mini with Retina Display is quite nice. The price hike vs. the standard mini can be a tough pill to swallow, but the A7 and display are definitely worth it.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
345 Comments
View All Comments
Daniel Egger - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Not sure what you're referring to. I'm a WP user and I wouldn't switch to either Android (which quite frankly sucks totally in my eyes for various reasons) or iOS (because I tend to treat my phones as phone mainly and I expect nothing but the best voice quality and long standby times and best usability which quite frankly still sucks for all current smartphones but the Lumias still offer the best compromise of all -- I certainly don't need the features of an iPhone and I won't pay 4 times the price for the same value as a phone). On the other side my main workhorse is a MBP and there's no device I could be (and have been since 2001) more productive on than a Mac, I also have two iPod Touches for casual games and music and I'm looking forward to getting the new Mini as well (although I did buy a Surface RT some time ago which still really sucks for anything but Web browsing/Flash video watching and working with Office documents).Although Anand really appreciates Apple products for personal and professional I don't think this site has a particular strong bias towards them, especially given the flood of recent Android reviews by Brian that received glowing verdicts. Also there're plenty of reviews of displays reviews, windows laptops and misc hardware like PSUs, GPUs, games, etc. all of which are not in any way related to Apple products.
Scannall - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
The iPad is a much nicer device, and overall price is a wash. The ipad will still have great resale value in a couple years. The Nexus 7 will be a garage sale special. So upgrading will be cheaper, with the added benefit of using a better tablet.Brakken - Sunday, November 17, 2013 - link
A first time purchase seems to indicate a second time purchase. Which means spending even more money.The wonderful thing about the HTC's with dr beat and the Apple devices is great sound and (not so much for the HTC) a great music player. Android doesn't natively have such things, which means searching fro something that works. I know, I've tried.
And being at college and having to carry around a rather elongated thing that MUST have a physical keyboard for use, or a wonderfully misplacable OneNote item, seems like missing the point.
If you don't (or your daughter?) appreciate being able to whip out a device, make some notes, wherever one happens to be, and then get back to the next situation, then I'm not sure why you are bothering to cast aspersions here.
Failing to understand the pleasure of a product that was designed in a particular way, that has an integrated OS that functions remarkably smoothly (even on three year old devices!), and that such things cost more to develop and produce, simply means that Apple products are not for you (or your daughter?)
Please be aware that there are several million people who have different values, and 'nice' isn't what this review is about. It's about what the latest in SoC can achieve and the benefits of an integrated soft/hardware approach can bring. Perhaps Google/Android/Motorola/Asus/Whomever will get there one day, but not soon, I think.
melgross - Sunday, November 17, 2013 - link
Have you not considered that he switched because their products actually are better? I think so. I've used many products over the years, but have always preferred Apple's.akugami - Sunday, November 17, 2013 - link
I felt all of the important points were touched on. Anand mentions that the device is very pricey, especially compared to its closest competitor the Nexus 7 as well as other tablets. Anand also mentions flaws and I felt he touched upon any relevant ones. Lets be honest, Apple has built a very solid tablet that is arguably one of the best. It is up to the consumer to decide whether that price premium is worth buying the N7 or iPad Mini.You also mention that "Apple can do no wrong" in reference to the supposed blind love that Anand has for Apple products shows where you are coming from and shows you already have a bias against Apple. Furthermore, this is an iPad Mini review. This is not a tablet shootout. The reviewer does NOT need to compare multiple devices or even mention any other device.
Mahadragon - Sunday, November 17, 2013 - link
Apple sold 34 million iPhones in their last quarter, 9 million were sold in the opening weekend alone. Apple made $37 billion in revenue and are still the most valuable company in the world. You make it sound like the people at Anandtech are Apple fans. I have news for you, lots of people are Apple fans. Pull your head out of your behind. Apple has millions and millions of fans that buy their stuff every day.If Apple were some 2 bit company that made shoddy products then yes, I could understand your complaint about Anandtech being "biased" toward Apple products. That's not the case.
zeagus - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link
The love at AT is for well designed and performant technology. Apple nails this more often than not. The "Apple Love" here knows only the bounds of the facts. They get dinged for what they fuck up on.sundragon - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link
As an owner of the 2012 and 2013 Nexus 7 and an owner of the new iPad Air, there is a vast difference. My 2012 was replaced 3x and the 2013 was replaced once because it had an issue.You get what you pay for
2. The screen size difference between the Mini and 7 are a lot more than "almost identical" and the OS experience on a 7" display is horrible - it's not even close to being a "tablet experience" and feels like a large phone.
3. Apps on iOS look much better and are better designed than on Android - Blame the devs because it's noticeable and I have both platforms. Some games (fonts and buttons) are unusable on the Nexus 7.
4. I sold my Nexus 7 2013 because it just isn't there and I gave my 2012 to my niece and nephew.
Ultimately the comparison of specs doesn't cut it for those of us who use both platforms. Plus the A7 runs circles around the Snapdragon S4... I may come back to Google in a few years but currently the Apps and experience just aren't fully baked. That's why Samsung puts 3-4GB of bloat skin to make it "acceptable".
And before you go on about Open Source - None of the new Google apps are open source. Gmail, Calendar, Music, Movies, all the new Google apps are closed source... That's why every device is shipped with two email apps, the native android (open source that hasn't been updated in years) and Gmail. Google is slowly moving closed source for all their apps.
P.S. People comment about how awful one platform is vs the other and they don't own the device they are critiquing - Which is absurd.
Tetracycloide - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
The last paragraph where he still lists the display as an advantage for the mini retina even though the PPI is basically identical? Not sure if that's a good illustration of the point you're trying to make.KPOM - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
The iPad mini's screen is almost 43% larger with a virtually identical PPI, so in some respects it is an advantage. What amazes me is how so many Android fans harp on the iPhone's small screen size but treat a 43% screen area difference between Apple's 4x3 7.85" design and Google/Amazon's 16x9 7" design as if it's nothing.