iPad Mini Retina Display Overkill For a Small Screen?

Is the iPad Mini retina display overkill for such a small HD screen?

In a related report by The Inquisitr, rumors of an Apple iPad Pro claim the release date will be in 2014 and that Apple intends on competing in the business market by creating a hybrid notebook/tablet.

Apple has been declaring the 64-bit A7 processor to be the biggest features worth talking about. Games are said to run just as fast as the iPad Mini’s bigger brethren. Of course, since there are very few apps that take advantage of the 64-bit CPU there’s not much bragging right to be had here.

But the new iPad Mini retina display is what had everyone talking. Apple upgraded the older 768 x 1,024 resolution display to a better-than-HD 1,536 x 2,048 resolution panel. They also upped the maximum brightness to 396cd/m2 with a contrast ratio of 792:1. While it was only a little thicker compared to the original version it’s about the same weight.

Due to the smaller display of almost eight inches it boasts a higher pixel density count of 324 ppi (pixels per inch), which almost matches the 326 ppi of the iPhone 5s. And that’s why the iPad Mini retina display is overkill. Smaller devices like the iPad Mini are being marketed on the strength of their new displays but it’s a feature that may be unnecessary and quite frankly a waste of money.

Why? According to scientists, the high pixel density of the iPad Mini’s retina displays only become noticeable because you are viewing the screens at extremely close distances. But even people with a 20/20 vision cannot resolve sharpness above 229 pixels per inch. For example, here’s a chart that shows when you might notice the difference between 1080p, 4K, and 8K on large screen HDTVs:

It’s not just the visual difference, though. The higher resolution of the iPad Mini retina display means the GPU has to work harder when rendering graphics in games without us really seeing a benefit. Really, the only real reason for having a retina display in a small device is that having a standard resolution across multiple devices makes it easier on developers to create their artwork and support all of Apple’s hardware.

What do you think about the iPad Mini retina display: overkill or just beautiful?