Slashgear’s Chris Davies says that by all rights and intents the iPad mini should be nothing more than a mid-size gap-filler between the New iPad and iPod touch, and suggests that in the context of the tablet market and post-PC computing as a whole, Microsoft’s Surface is arguably far, far more important than the iPad mini.
Davies observes that a major distinction between Windows 8 as the centerpiece of Microsoft’s next-gen OS strategy is that it’s Windows-from-the-desktop scaled-down to tablet form, as opposed to In contrast, iOS on the iPad and Android on tablets running Googles OS both being smartphone operating systems scaled-up, maintaining that while Windows RT may be a pared-back version of Windows 8, its still Windows-from-the-desktop boiled down into tablet form, and that what will be really interesting and deserving attention how well full desktop apps translate to finger-use in the real world, and whether the detachable keyboard accessories Microsoft is so proud of turn out to be essential rather than just eye-catching.
However, he says that the iPad mini is hogging the spotlight, at least partly because of the late Steve Jobs’s forcefully-expressed put-down of seven-inch tablets, and wide-based curiosity as to whether Apple can repeat its tablet magic under the constraints of offering a substantially smaller form factor at a significantly lower price.
Microsoft’s Surface OS Entry Level Memory Advantage Over iPad Somewhat Illusiory
Incidentally, 9To5Mac’s Elyse Betters reports that Microsoft offering a 32 GB Surface tablet computer for the same $499 base price as Apple’s 16GB New iPad, may not amount to the value advantage superficially apparent.
Ms. Betters cites a note by Daring Fireball’s John Gruber citing Microsoft Surface RT Test Manager Ricardo Lopez noting in a Reddit Ask Me Anything thread that once the Windows 8 OS, OfficeRT, and a bunch of apps are loaded up, you’ll be down to more like 20GB on the 32 GB Surface, while the the iPad’s iOS consumes a modest +/- 1 GB of storage space.
