It's hard to believe that the iPad has been with us over two and a half years. In that time a whole new industry has sprung up, businesses are now encouraging employees to use the iPad in their workflow, and it's become a centerpiece of the living room. Despite protesting its existence, the iPad family has extended with the iPad mini giving a wide range of options available for all of those now testing the waters in the tablet world. However, not all iPads are created equally in the eyes of the user, so let's take a look at which model is the best option for you.

The iPad mini is better for...

Kids

The smaller bezels to the right and left of the screen (holding it in portrait) are easier for kids to reach past. And it’s so much lighter, you won’t be gritting your teeth and muttering “two hands!” each time they pick it up--plus, it’s easier to hold for long sessions of paging through storybooks or flinging Angry Birds around.

Readers

The iPad mini’s easier one-handed grip makes it the best iOS device for reading ebooks. You get a bigger screen than the iPhone, and much less arm fatigue than the twice-as-heavy iPad 4. Plus, apps like Instapaper and iBooks 3 let you read (and read, and read) totally one-handed by just tilting the device to scroll the text.

Thumb Typers

Holding the iPad mini in portrait mode, it’s only 5.3 inches wide, making it much easier to type quickly with your thumbs. The keys are as easy to reach as on an iPhone, but bigger--the best of both worlds. If that starts to feel cramped, just tip over to landscape mode, where the iPad mini’s keys are slightly larger than the keys on a big iPad held in portrait mode.

Photographers
 
The cameras in the big and little iPads are virtually the same, specs-wise, and in our testing both produced pretty fair pictures. But the iPad mini’s size makes much more sense--it’s more portable, of course, and we also didn’t feel quite as nerdy holding up to compose images.

The iPad with Retina Display is better for...

Gamers

Just like PC gamers are forever upgrading their processors and graphics cards for the most power-hungry games, people who play first-person shooters or photorealistic racers on the iPad want all the performance they can get. The big iPad with Retina Display smokes the iPad mini thanks to its quad-core graphics, better processor, and twice as much RAM.

Artists

Most of the artists we know prefer a roomier canvas. For drawing and painting, the bigger iPad has around 45 square inches of screen, compared to the iPad mini’s 30. Editing photos and videos is also easier with a little more room--and a Retina display can show a lot more of your work at pixel-for-pixel resolution.

Power Users

And by that, we mean people who use pretty complicated apps that cram a lot of buttons and controls onto the screen. Musicians, for example, might like having more room for virtual instruments, DJ apps, tablature, and sheet music. And if you design and create content rather than just read it, the Retina iPad can really let you stretch out.