Apple iPad Mini w/ Retina Display

Apple is well-known for upgrades-which-are-not-true-upgrades among its much beloved iPad line of tablets. At first, it seems the latest Apple iPad Mini is more of the same: After all, it looks the same, the starting price of $399 is expected and all dimensions/weight remain identical to the original ‘Mini. But then there are two outstanding differences: A nice bump in processor speed and that gorgeous high-resolution “Retina” display screen.

Those accustomed to their present iPad Minis may have forgotten that the tablet includes “only” 1024 x 768-pixel resolution; above-average in the 7”-8” range of tablets, but a far cry from what iPads of larger size come equipped with nowadays. No matter: Apple now sets the standard for this size with a whopping 2048 x 1536px Retina Display screen, for images that could have even the most devoted of iPad Mini devotees setting aside their old devices for this step up.

Also a big plus: the ARM A7 processor included in the iPad Mini with Retina Display is two generations past the A5 CPU which powered the original iPad Mini and just a modicum of toying about with apps will demonstrate a notable ramping-up of speed and thus potential for multi-tasking and game-playing. As in many first-launch Apple tablet models, the standard Retina version of the iPad Mini includes 16 GB of internal storage. However, models of 32 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB are also available for about $100 more on each subsequent level.

So what does Apple have in the new iPad Mini with Retina Display? Nothing surprising – just another standard-setting device for the 7”-8” tablet is all. Go figure.