Everything looks nice, but I really don't mind these devices if I can't install my own desktop software on them. Seems nice for things like casual content consumption though
iPads are good companions for making music, for making art, for non-casual content consumption like reading textbooks or reference manuals, drilling flash cards, watching lectures, et c. The mini's maybe not as good for the latter as an 11.9" Pro (great size for reading textbook PDFs, even large enough to do two pages at a time if you have good eyesight), but still. With an external wireless keyboard, they can be better than a laptop for writing, because you can position the screen separately from the keyboard (without having to wastefully carry around a whole attached keyboard that you're not using) and you can draw (e.g. diagrams) directly on them if you want to, plus the semi-modal operation is great for focus.