iPad Mini With Retina Display: 10 Compelling Reasons to Buy It

by Don Reisinger

If Apple’s Retina display didn’t matter, the company’s devices featuring that screen wouldn’t be so popular. That’s why Apple’s decision to bundle its high-res display with the new iPad Mini is important. According to Apple, the device has a 2,048 by 1,536 pixel resolution, delivering higher fidelity than a standard HDTV. If that’s not a device worth watching a movie on, what is?

The iPad Mini with Retina display starts at $399 for the 16GB model featuring WiFi-only connectivity. Granted, $399 is notably higher than the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX’s $229 starting price, but it’s still a solid value. Apple’s products are always more expensive than those from its competitors, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that customers would need to invest a bit more to get an Apple product.

When the iPad Mini launches in late November, Apple has promised that customers will be able to connect to Verizon, Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks. Since some customers are already paying certain carriers for smartphone service, having the ability to up that access with the iPad Mini is an attractive deal for many folks.

The iPad Mini with Retina display comes with up to 128GB of storage. As noted, the storage needs for consumers and enterprise users are changing as more users add things like video and large documents to their devices. Plus, tablets are starting to become PC replacements for customers, and that can only be possible if they have enough storage space. The iPad Mini delivers on that requirement.

There’s no debating that the iPad Mini with Retina display is a good-looking device. The tablet comes in the customer’s choice of black or white, and includes a chrome ring around the edge that adds just a little more design flair. Plus, its thin bezel gives the impression that the screen is larger than it really is.

For the average enterprise user or frequent traveler, mobility is everything. That’s why the thin, 0.29-inch frame of the iPad Mini with Retina display is so appealing. The tablet weighs just 0.73 pounds for the WiFi-only version and 0.75 pounds for the LTE option. That lightweight design, added to its less-than-8-inch height, makes the device a mobile user’s dream.

On the software side, Apple’s iPad Mini is a solid option. Much has been said about iOS 7’s features, but for corporate users, especially, the fact that iOS 7 is considerably more secure than just about every other mobile OS matters greatly. According to a study released earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, Android is by the far the top destination for malware creators, followed by Windows. Apple’s iOS is being targeted by less than 1 percent of malware.

The corporate world has warmed to the idea of running iOS. That has been due mainly to the realization that Android isn’t as secure as it could be and the Surface tablet has some growing up to do. But it’s also the result of Apple’s remote-device-management features, which allow the IT side to control the devices that employees are carrying in and out of the corporate offices. In a few months, a lot of those devices will be the iPad Mini with Retina.

Application availability is an important consideration for any buyer. While the Google Play marketplace is growing rapidly, Apple’s store is still tops in tablet-ready programs. On Oct. 22, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the Apple App Store has 1 million apps and hundreds of thousands of those are designed exclusively for the iPad. On the corporate side, companies can create their own proprietary apps and deploy them across the office.

Here’s a surprise: the iPad Mini comes with the same processor as Apple’s iPhone 5S and the company’s new iPad Air. That essentially means that the iPad Mini is about on par in terms of capabilities with the larger iPad and the iPhone. That’s an important consideration for those deciding between the iPad Air and the iPad Mini, and could only help the device secure more sales.