iPad 4 v Mini

[Sanjøy]

They put a retina display on the 4" iPhone 5, and a VGA screen on the 7.9" iPad mini.

That is the lowest resolution of virtually any tablet other than sub £100 ones. Do not understand the logic.

tut

It's called planned obsolescence. Chip manufacturers have been doing it since the 50s. Listened to a good podcast recently that discussed it.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence

[robin]

Tut,

Depending on how much "office" like stuff she plans on doing on it, the new Samsung Chromebook is worth considering. It beats the iPads in terms of web browser performance, has a proper keyboard/touch pad so form filling and general editing/typing work is much easier.

I just bought one to play with and I am generally impressed.

Of course Google docs is not Microsoft Office, so if you need the heavy weight features of office you need to step up to something like the air or similar ultra-books and run OS-X or Windows and install real Microsoft Office.

Google docs works well enough for what I need it for, but that's not much as I don't do multi-media presentations, etc.

Cheers,
Robin

ETA one major benefit is zero-maintenance/support - if it breaks, just buy a new one, and you'll never have to worry about software installs, etc. They cost 229 from John Lewis with 2 year warranty, though I got mine from Amazon as JL were out-of-stock (predictably they came into stock as soon as I ordered from Amazon ).

[tut]

Looked at the Chromebook Robin as I quite liked the simplicity and concept of it, and I am quite a Google fan, used it for years for my e-mail after changing from Outlook. Also liked the pricing.

Verian's needs are simple, after all she is satisfied with me, web browsing, e-mail, letter and doc writing, spreadsheet occasionally, mostly opening as opposed to producing, Skype, printing out, and that is about it.

From what I can see it will handle that no problem. She has an old inherited Dell Inspiron that was being thrown out but I sorted it out, though now the hinge has broken and the keys are playing up, so no loss using it as a door stop.

I really do not need anything else other than my Macbook Air, brilliant piece of kit, however they are mithering me to come up with an Xmas present list. Always thought it was selfish of him not being born on Feb 29th. The Apple mini appeals especially for use in bed, which probably amounts to two hours at night and the same in the morning, the Air is propped up on my knees and is over three times the weight.

Plan to go into Aberdeen next week, so will go and give the mini and the Chromebook a try out.

tut

[Andy G]

CBA reading this thread, but as mentioned screen is sh*t. It can even run a 720P movie.

My cousin just reviewed it for Scotland on Sunday this weekend - was baffled by it.

Conclusion was fine for apps & browsing etc i think.

[max1966]

Got to add my 2p worth.........my wife fancied a tablet but didn't like the the full size ones so we picked up a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 a few months back.

It has the same screen resolution as the ipad mini and given the speed of wireless streaming, in my experience, and using as an example 'The 6hr Spa video Chris Harris' did for Drive on YouTube I doubt any improvement over the resolution is needed at all.

It is only a 7" screen, only a few years ago we were happy to watch 480P DVD on our 28" CRTs and most 42" 1080P resolutions are no better in scale terms, though that may not be technically correct. Proximity makes a difference but I find it perfectly acceptable, after all Wi-fi and so many of the mobile apps, iplayer especially, make any greater resolution unnecessary IMHO.

I'd still say in real terms the 7" looks as good as a 10" ipad 3, not technically but in my eyes and if you watch the iplayer app the 7" looks better as the low res streaming is tighter.

In case you never watched it..........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJkYDol6vW8

[rossybee]

Brilliant vid