I've been converted! -- how iPad Mini is changing the world

I'm utterly convinced, after my own experience and from what I've gathered in the technology columns, that tablets will one day replace all personal computers. Desktop, laptop, phone even.

[caption id="attachment_4339" align="aligncenter" width="646"] ipad and ipad mini tablets - repair_labs - cc sharealike[/caption]

It's a safe bet too that we'll have more than one each, certainly every household will, and not before too long either. Here's why.

Last month, we were going to Lanzarote for my birthday. Who wants to spend the middle of October stuck in the West Midlands when you can be in the Canaries, right? Too right!

Anyhow, prior to our vacation, I'd been commissioned to write an e-book and, conscious of having a bit of cash in my account when we got home, I bought a tablet. I never even gave it a second thought: it was, after all, a means to an end.

The idea of taking a tablet PC on holiday didn't phase me

I'd never even considered taking our chunky laptop anywhere with us before, no matter how much work would be waiting after the vacation was over; getting the laptop to load in the UK was bad enough. In Spain? Nu-huh! More trouble than it's worth.

However, after my wife had taken the plunge and bought a tablet to enhance her HTC Wildfire experience earlier this year, I'd no reservations about buying one, too. Well, certainly not with the concept of taking a tablet pc to work on in the sun,anyway.

My better half had opted for a 7" - I've just not been the same since the op - and my old, squinty eyes are similarly not what they used to be. So I went for a 10" tablet. It was Android, yes. But a top-named brand?  No.

It does seem that I'm in the minority when it comes to being budget-conscious about tablets if the scant details revealed in recent research into tablet-buying habits have merit.

iPad and iPad Mini tablets look set to rule the roost

Ben, over at TechPinions, was summarizing a study they'd undertaken into market conditions and consumer opinions regarding tablets of all descriptions. Whilst there was an element of those on lower incomes going for non-Apple models, the iPad and iPad Mini were clearly on the wish-list of the majority.

Of those Apple devotees, price only became a consideration when the factor decided whether it was the full-blown iPad experience the individual could afford or if they'd settle for the smaller Mini version. Even the fact that the next generation was expected to have retina display had not put Apple fanatics off buying their favourite brand.

The ecosystem must be so overwhelming that one becomes instantly intertwined and a die-hard fan the moment they commit to the iCloud. Am I being tight?  Or unfaur?  If you're into your i-everything, be sure to let me know what I'm missing, won't you?

I digress; when I was growing up, my brother (and sometimes sister) got my hand-me-downs. It looks as if the iCloud generation has taken that tradition to a whole new level.

Rather than a pair of hardly-worn trainers (he was brave, my brother) or a "Frankie say Relax" t-shirt, tablets are now the commodity being passed down through the saplings of the family (Apple) tree to the siblings.

The overriding factor for those surveyed, in Ben's opinion, was summed up in that time-honoured adage: you get what you pay for. So Lord help me if my good lady wife finds out I've been palming her off with a standard 7" when there's more active tablets that give you a longer battery life at hand.

Did that sound like an ad for Viagra? Come on, keep up.