Should you buy the iPad Mini?

Yes.

OK, now that we're past that, let me explain in a little more detail in my reasoning behind this.

I've owned the original iPad, the iPad 3, and now the iPad Mini - so I feel I have a pretty good baseline to recommend one of the products over another.  I am also an iPhone 4 owner and my overall appreciation for Apple's ecosystem with iMessage, FaceTime, and the App Store really keep me from considering a Kindle Fire or a Nexus 7.  So with that said, this is not a comparison of these tablets over the Mini, rather an Apple lover's take on what to buy next.

My iPad Mini purchase started out with the desire to have LTE on my iPad 3 WiFi only- at the same time the Mini was announced.  When I compared the price options, the Mini was really a no-brainer purchase.  It's $170 less, and well, smaller.

Since I read the entire internet so you don't have to ® - I read all the pundits, good and bad and decided to make the move.  A trip to Verizon Wireless last week and the deal was done.  A new 16GB iPad Mini with LTE for $459.00, in white.

First impressions

It's light.  Wow, very light.  At .69 lbs compared to the iPad 3 at 1.46 lbs, it's lightness is very noticeable right out of the box.  Now that I've used it for a week, the light weight gets more noticeable as I use it.  It's really the perfect weight.

Resolution. What happened to the perfect retina display pixels of my iPhone 4 and my iPad 3?  This is going to be an issue I thought.  I actually squinted to see if it was my eyes.  As I continue to use it more, the lower resolution means less and less.  Because of the screen size, the resolution really doesn't matter as much in the Mini - and for those who have never seen an retina display - they won't be bothered by this at all.

Screen Size. It was never an issue - it just feels comfortable reading with it and I never once thought it was too small.

LTE.  It's crazy fast from Verizon near me, crazy.

Lighting Cable:  It's small, and can be flipped and inserted either way but - damn you Apple for making me buy 3 adapters at $30 a piece.

Overall: 9.2/10. The only thing that would make it a 10 would be retina display - which will only bring it up a few tenths of a point.  As of today I honestly don't even think I would get the retina if it were available because the display is that OK.

I predict that in the same way that the iPad cannibalized Mac sales, so will the iPad Mini cannibalize full-size iPads, it's that good.

What are your thoughts?  I'd love to hear them.