In a nutshell and because you hate to read anything with lots of them word thingies: It’s expensive. If you can afford the iPad Air, go for it, but if you can’t then Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire HDX offer better deals. Is that why Apple gave this product a quiet launch?
There hasn’t been much fanfare, long lines, and general Apple fanboy hysteria when it comes to the iPad Mini with Retina Display. The product was announced on October 22 with no firm launch date where the iPad Air stole all the thunder.
But, here we are, today, Tuesday November 12, and the Minis are on sale online for delivery or pick-up in store. It can be assumed that the quieter roll out may have something to do with Retina Display supply shortages. Or, it could be that the company realizes that isn’t really worth the price.
The reviews are in, and the general consensus seems to be that if you can shell out the dough for an iPad Air, go for it. If you can’t, there are plenty of lower cost options.
However, some people, ie, Washington Post, don’t seem to care what it costs. They are like, well, like Apple fanboys.
There are plenty of cheaper choices out there, including tablets for just $229 from Google and Amazon. None of them match Apple’s iPads in app selection, design and cachet.
But, PC Magazine, which has never seen a brand name it didn’t carefully tiptoe around, is less sanguine.
Also, $399 is a harsh price to pay for the Mini. Unlike with the larger iPad, the mini has good-enough competitors that are much cheaper. The Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire HDX are powerful, easy-to-use tablets with a good array of apps. Phablets also compete with small tablets, and the Samsung Galaxy Note III and 6-inch Nokia Lumia 15206-inch Nokia Lumia 1520 will likely run $299 or less with contract.
And even BloombergBusinessWeek, a brand that just screams big money, errs on the side of parsimony.
It’s difficult to spend nearly twice more than Google Inc.’s Nexus 7 or Amazon.com Inc.’s 7-inch Kindle Fire HDX. Both are excellent tablets with a screen resolution that’s about the same as the new iPad Mini. (Those two devices have fewer pixels, but also smaller screens, so their densities are comparable.)
We can only afford a Nook so, suck it, capitalist tablet consuming bourgeoisie, we are not getting anything as fancy shmansy as an iPad, or Nexus, or Kindle Fire. That’s not for the likes of us.
