After using and living with full-sized iPads every since they've been sold, I was expecting the iPad mini to feel a little "small". It turns it doesn't: It feels very _light_, but not at all _small_. This lightness is definitely welcome, and allows me to use it one-handed for much longer than my 3rd-gen iPad for example. After a few days of use, the full-sized iPad feels too hefty, but the mini also does, ironically: I now yearn for a device of this kind that's lighter still (e-paper Kindle/Nook-like devices don't appeal to me though).

For browsing and e-mailing, performance is "snappy" enough not to notice a difference with the 3rd-gen iPad. A few of my creative apps that require non-interactive rendering are noticeably slower, but it's not bad at all. (I don't play 3D games, so I cannot comment on performance there.)

The display is not as nice as the retina display, but it's actually quite a bit better than that of the 1st-gen iPad that I own. Overall, it's quite decent.