How The New iPad Mini Stacks Up Against The Old iPad Mini

Unlike the new MacBook Pro line and OS X Mavericks, the brand new iPad mini with a high-resolution “retina” display won’t be available in stores today, which means you have a little lead time to think things over. Beyond numbers on paper (or on a 326 ppi screen), the new iPad mini features some pretty substantial updates that make it well worth considering for fans of the 7.9-inch form factor.

Let’s break down the meaningful differences.

Tech Specs Compared:

Notable differences between models are in bold.

Old iPad mini:

• 7.9-inch display
• 7.2mm thick
• 0.68 pounds (Wi-Fi), 0.69 pounds (Wi-Fi and Cellular)
• A5 processor
• 1024 by 768 resolution display (non-retina)
• 163 ppi (pixels per inch)
• 5 megapixel, f/2.4 back-facing camera
• 1080p video recording
• Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n), dual channel (2.4GHz and 5GHz)
• Bluetooth 4.0
• 10-hour battery life
• Updated Pricing: $299 for 16GB Wi-Fi, $429 for 16GB Wi-Fi + LTE

New iPad mini with Retina:

• 7.9-inch display
• 7.5mm thick
• 0.73 pounds (Wi-Fi), 0.75 pounds (Wi-Fi and Cellular)
• A7 processor with 64-bit architecture
• M7 motion processor built-in
• 2048 by 1536 resolution display (“retina”)
• 326 ppi (pixels per inch)
• 5 megapixel, f/2.4 back-facing camera
• 1080p video recording with 3x video zoom
• Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n), dual channel (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and MIMO
• Bluetooth 4.0
• 10-hour battery life
• Wi-Fi-only: $399 for 16GB, $499 for 32GB, $599 for 64GB, $699 for 128GB
• Wi-Fi + LTE: $529 for 16GB,