Thoughts on iPad 4 and iPad mini
Mon, October 29, 2012 at 11:26 AM 
The rumours were true, the iPad mini exists, and will arrive in stores and in the hands of those who preordered on 2nd November. Perhaps the real surprise, though, is the availability of the next generation regular sized iPad on the very same day.
Pushing the iPad platform up
The new iPad, which we will be referring to as the iPad 4 from herein, is essentially the iPad we expected to see in March 2013. It's an impressive push upwards, doubling both the CPU and GPU power of the iPad 3 in just 8 months. With the iPad 4, Apple has created a tablet computer that is fully capable of running just about any collection of code that Apple or third party developers can realistically conceive of. We can't overstate how impressive the iPad 4 is on paper. It's a tablet computer with the general computing power of an iMac from just a few years ago and graphics power equal to the Playstation 3 and XBOX 360. Combine this power with a 3 mega pixel display and a 10 hour battery life and it's not at all hard to see why the iPad 4 is such an important piece of computing hardware.
Pushing the iPad plaform down
We believe that the smaller display of the iPad mini will restrict it's productivity for the kind of activities that we feature on iPad Creative. Having said that, we are completely confident that tablet computers are the future of general purpose computing, so expanding the range is the right thing to do at this time.
The iPad mini is the new entry level iPad. If Tim Cook felt that the best way of protecting the more profitable end of the range was to reduce the size of the display, then so be it. We think that many iPad mini owners will eventually upgrade to the full 9.7" experience, or perhaps even own both.
Where next?
In our next article we'll take a look at where Apple can push the iPad next. If the iPad 4 is the iPad we expected Apple to launch in 2013, where does that leave the possibility of a refresh in Spring 2013?
Reader Comments (3)
It was great to see all the new product announcements,specially the iPad 4 retina.
I'm very tempted to grab one but still a bit unsure of what to do. Get the iPad 4 or get an ipad 3?
Both are a great upgrade to me as I am still on an iPad 2.
I use it primarily for drawing and the 4 just looks yummie with the new CPU/GPU, but the second upgrade in a short time mean there are lots of nice deals on the iPad 3 , which is also a very nice upgrade .
Decisions decisions...:-)
iPad 4 is what iPad 3 should have been in the first place ie having same great or greater specs like iPhone 5, this year's iPhone. It's puzzling at first (before iPad 4 is announced) why iPad 3 has A5X while iPhone 5 has A6--a phone having a better chip than a tablet.
I fail to see how you think people will restrict creative activities? It will be like a notebook where people sketch in, and as far as music apps go, all iPad apps will work on it. It will also be far more portable, less conspicuous, and as such, easier to take outdoors
If anything, the mini could encourage even more creativity! I see far more people outdoors with iPhones than iPads, the mini could change things for the better.
It may well even be the tablet of choice for some!