News - Apple launches iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display

[HEXUS]

Both new tablets sport the 64-bit A7 chip and M7 co-processor.

Read more.

[Lil-Diabo]

I'm quite liking the iPad air to be honest.

I was hoping they'd make the mini a little thinner.

[cptwhite_uk]

If I could've got the Mini for the original price of £280 I would have probably upgraded from the Dell Venue 8 I'm planning to get (roughly same size screen for same weight as original mini ~ 300g, note the mini 2 is 330g). It's a beautiful device with ultra high res display and the same A7 chip as the full iPad. But at £330...nah...its just too much for a toy. The Venue 8 is going to likely cost me £120ish which is around right for a throw around internet browsing device.

[63jax]

i think the iPad is the only product i like from the whole Apple range, nothing else they're just to expensive for what they offer.

[zdn1042]

An iPad Mini with retina display, I would have bought one without any hesitation if you we're priced differently. Shame.

[flufflogic]

Retina Mini with a screen 3ppi better than a Kindle HDX or Nexus 7, but £130 more. Pass.

[cptwhite_uk]

Thing is I think for a tablet that's might to be rotatable for both landscape and portrait use Apple got it right with the 4:3 aspect ratio. Both orientations feel right. The slew of Android tablets are only good for landscape use practically. That's not a problem 90% of the time but the option to switch is nice. new iPad takes the crow for lightest ~10" tablet, great weight - even lighter than the Tablet Z

[3dcandy]

Still too much when other tablets do so much for a lot less...

[3dcandy]

I'm glad you have money to waste

[kingpotnoodle]

How does it being 64bit or whatever suddenly make it "desktop class", it's a light year away from anything AMD or Intel throw out for actual desktops, the A7 is a TDP limited mobile chip, what the hell are they smoking? Funny how the A7 is desktop class but actual Apple desktops and laptops are Intel based...

[Brewster0101]

Interesting pricing considering its expected that by the end of the year Android tablets will have more market share than Apple devices.

Apple seem intent on ripping people off for as long as possible...

[mtyson]

[crossy]

Retina Mini with a screen 3ppi better than a Kindle HDX or Nexus 7, but £130 more. Pass.

My thoughts exactly. The iPad Mini always struck me as a bit of a rip off, and the new one (Mini 2?) is even more so. That said, £399 for the Air seems like a justifiable price, although these days it's far from being the "no brainer" that it might have been previously.

Oh, and new iPad Mini is "thicker" than the old one - isn't that an instant "fail" by Apple's standard (Thinner = Better)?

Thing is I think for a tablet that's might to be rotatable for both landscape and portrait use Apple got it right with the 4:3 aspect ratio. Both orientations feel right. The slew of Android tablets are only good for landscape use practically. That's not a problem 90% of the time but the option to switch is nice.

Don't agree - I REGULARLY use my Galaxy Note 10.1 in portrait orientation and don't think anything of it. Similarly old Asus Transformer - although obviously not when it's docked to it's keyboard! If I'm trying to read an eBook (actually eMag) then landscape feels silly - and with something like Linux Magazine I find I can get an entire page on the screen whilst still being able to read it.

And yes, I know that - technically speaking - 3:4 is closer to a sheet of A4's ratio than the 2:3 that the Note 10.1, Transformer etc use (both 800x1200)

[soudazhou]

ipad mini catches up with the spec, seems to be a good choice.

[spraint]

If I could've got the Mini for the original price of £280 I would have probably upgraded from the Dell Venue 8 I'm planning to get (roughly same size screen for same weight as original mini ~ 300g, note the mini 2 is 330g).

Was never going to happen since the original Mini was based on the iPad 2 with just Siri added. This one has bumped up hardware to match that of the full fat iPad, which is needed to drive that retina screen with iOS7 properly. Miniaturisation costs, too. The cost bump was predictable, if unfortunate.

I reckon that Apple wanted to have an interim non-retina A6 based Mini this time round with the retina version coming out in 2014 when hardware prices would have dropped so that the price levels could have been kept, which is how Apple usually does things. It looks like the Nexus 7 mk2 pushed Apple into an early release.