My take after spending a bunch of the weekend with the iPad mini: This is the real iPad.

I'm still skeptical but I keep reading more reviews of people's experiences with the iPad mini and they all have a similar theme:

• They love the size and build.
• Having used a retina iPad does make it difficult to go back and forth.
• More people haven't used a retina iPad than have so they won't be turned off.
• There are more people who don't have an iPad than do and a less expensive iPad can only help sell more.

I'll be curious to see what people like Dan are using in a few weeks time once the novelty has worn off. My wife has a 1st generation 32GB iPad that we're toying with selling in order to buy an iPad mini. Having a camera for Facetime calls and taking the odd photo of the kids would be a nice upgrade - never mind the speed and easier portability of the iPad mini.

According to current Apple Store shipping estimates, we've got at least two weeks to decide.