Even at the risk of being called a fanboy, I still think the new mini is a winner. But even I am troubled by the price. The base price is well ahead of the competitors and spec it up and you are well into the price range of the full size iPad 4th gen which has the epic new A6X.
But having said that, I'll still be pre-ordering one for my mother as it is an ideal companion for her. She complains on occasion about not being able to fit the 10" ipad into her purse (yea.. I know). Specs wise, the A5 isn't going to be an issue as it'll just be a device for her to toss into her purse and when she is at home or on a longer trip she will likely take her laptop or the 10" iPad. The bigger factor is really how portable it is and that all her current software is compatible, the same aspect ratio, and the whole experience will be nothing new for her to learn.
But beyond this type of usage, I don't think I can see much to impress. It is a great looking design, and I suppose having an even cheaper iPad entry price is always a good thing in the Apple world given how popular they have become in education.
But to a certain extent it is obvious that they held things back a bit specifically so that they have something to improve next generation. The cameras are a prime example of that, and honestly with icloud they really could have done an even cheaper 8gb model. The new A6X really would have been overkill though, would be like running a GTX 680 on a 1080p monitor. The hardware is FAR more capable and would just go to waste having that much GPU power on a 1024 display. I would assume it is the 32nm A5 with 512mb of ram, but 1gb is where I would have gone...but I have a feeling we wont see that until the next refresh.
So I'm not excited or blown away, I'm a bit mixed on the hardware, but I really think the price at every point should be at least $50 lower. As much as I am always willing to pay extra for a better looking device, a solid warranty, and known compatibility with the existing software library, I see the mini as a companion device and these prices are just silly against things like the new Kindle.
But for people who have a large iOS software library, it really isn't an option to buy a Kindle or Android device and rebuy everything. So people are more likely to buy the mini than a cheaper alternative, even if the ~$100 difference could actually buy all the software they need.
