The iPad Mini is out and they are selling like pancakes. Because of that, you might also be considering going to the nearest Apple store and buying one for yourself. After all, if thousands of people are already buying it, then it must be a great product.
But hold your horses, maybe you should reconsider it and think about it some more. Not saying that the iPad Mini is not great but it would not hurt if you research the product first before shelling out your money.
In fact, let us do it for you. Here are the top – things you should know before buying the iPad Mini.
It has No Retina Display
Since the iPad 3 already have the fabled retina display of Apple and it came out before the iPad Mini, you would think that the iPad Mini will also have the retina display. If your line of thought was the same then you will be disappointed. Not to say that the iPad Mini do not have a great screen, because it does with its LED backlit screen. However, the quality of course is different with the retina display. The Mini’s screen is actually more iPad 2 than iPad 3 so instead of having the latest, it got the screen from an older iPad model. Not to mention, there are rumors going around that Apple might be releasing an iPad Mini with Retina screen soon, so you might want to wait if that is going to happen then opt for that instead.
It’s the A5 not the A6
Another aspect where Apple decided to use older tech instead of their new ones is the processor. One of the things we love about the iPhone 5 is their latest chip, the A6, which significantly improved the performance of the iPhone from the 4S model especially for browsing and VoIP services. You would expect that they would use it for their iPad Mini, but like with the Retina display, they decided to use the A5 chip as well. This is similar to what they did with the 5th generation iPod Touch. If you think about it, if you look at the specs of the iPad Mini, it looks more like a bigger version of the iPad Touch 5th gen than a smaller version of the iPad 3. It is not that the A5 is not adequate, because it is; it just feels like they are using parts from their older models to construct a new product, which it turns out is the iPad Mini.
It is Expensive
The deficiencies above would have been easier to swallow if it was marketed at a relatively reasonable price, or at least as reasonable enough for an Apple product. The iPad Mini, however, is priced way above the other Android 7-inchers in the market. Put it this way, the Google Nexus 7’s 8 GB model can be bought for $199 while the 32 GB model with HSPA can be had for $299. The most affordable iPad Mini is the 16 GB model that is WiFi only and the price is a whopping $329. It has lower memory and has no cellular capability and it is $30 more expensive than the Nexus’ best tablet. The only real advantage is the rear camera.
After reviewing these concerns, this is when you decide if the iPad Mini is actually worth its price.
