Technology is all about tradeoffs, film at 11. But seriously, I held a Mini yesterday. As an iPad3 owner I can say I'd trade my retina and larger screen for the weight of the Mini any day. The weight of the 3 is really difficult to hold for long periods of time. Of course, I'd highly prefer a full-sized iPad that was as light as the Mini (or "proportionally light", like the iPhone5 vs 4). I'm not sure if battery tech…
>The weight of the 3 is really difficult to hold for long periods of time. I have to say I've never really understood this complaint. Do people use iPads standing up or something? I have the iPad in my lap or on my chest if reading in bed. The amount of time I spend using it while I have to hold it unsupported is minimal. The iPad 3&4 weigh about the same as a large hardcover book. Do people find the weight of hardco…
Not much, because it's too heavy to use standing up. Or rather, in the usual stand-up use cases (e.g., on a bus, boat, or train) you usually want to one-hand the device, and its weight prevents you from doing so.
> "The amount of time I spend using it while I have to hold it unsupported is minimal."
Is that because tablets naturally don't have "unsupported" use cases, or because the current implementation fulfills said use cases poorly, and therefore you don't use them that way?
> "Do people find the weight of hardcover books difficult to hold for long periods of time?"
While standing or one-handing it? Yes.
> "Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon is about twice the weight of The Hobbit."
And how many times have you seen someone reading a book that size on the subway/bus/ferry? ;)