Overwhelmed with choice on the iPad front? After the most recent unveil of the new retina iPad mini and its mightier A7 chip-packing cohort, the iPad Air, you have more iPads than ever to choose from. Not sure which one you want? We’ve got you covered.
For almost everybody:
Get the 32GB iPad Mini with Wi-Fi in white.
- Why the mini? A 7.9-inch display is the sweet spot for screen size. It’s too big to be a phone, but not so big that it’s pointless to have one along with your laptop. It’s portable, but not too flimsy. And it’s not so small that you won’t want to stream TV shows and movies on it. Better yet, it’s finally got that retina display you’ve been waiting for.
- Why 32GB? 16GB fills up pretty quickly on an iPhone, so it’s going to be even more of a problem on your video-friendly tablet. Now that Apple’s upped the resolution on the now-retina screen and improved the iPad mini’s cameras, you’re going to need a little extra storage to accommodate for the extra pixels. 64GB might be overkill though, especially if you keep most of your media in external storage or the cloud.
- Why Wi-Fi? How often do you see yourself so desperate for an internet connection that you’ll actually have to use data? Most places you go have Wi-Fi, and if you really care, you could tether your iPad to your phone.
- Why second-gen? Sure, Apple dropped the price of the first-gen iPad mini, but that display still isn’t worth it.
- Why white? Because white is so fresh and so clean. We’d love to see an iPad mini in rainbow hues a la iPhone 5c, but in the meantime, white is nice. And for a little personality, pick whatever colour smart case matches your personality.
But there are exceptions:
Maybe you’re a salmon swimming upstream. That’s OK! Here’s why you might go your own way:
Why 16GB? You don’t have much media, you’re feeling cheap.
Why data? You travel a lot, and you need to be able to get online, even when you don’t have internet access.
Why space grey? You are boring or you want something to match the tinted windows on your town car.
Why iPad Air? You like things that are bigger, even if that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re better. You’ve got some extra cash to burn. They’re out of iPad minis (very likely!) and you need a new iPad right friggin now.