Ok, after six day of waiting for the iPad that I was supposed to have on launch day it is finally in my hands. The first thing that strikes you when it comes out of the box is how light it is in compared to the previous model. The Air weighs in at just 1 pound, and the previous generation was 1.35 pounds. That 5.5 ounces doesn't sound like much, but the reality of it losing almost a quarter of it's weight is astounding. I ran PerformanceTest on both the iPad Mini and iPad Air, and here are the results:

Benchmark Results for iPad Mini

Benchmark results for the iPad Air

As you can see, the new A7 processor blows the A5X of the iPad Mini out of the water. Not a surprise, but this just shows how far performance has gained in the year since the Mini was released. The display is crisp and clear, and so much more responsive than I ever could have believed with the number of pixels it is pushing.

In all this is an amazing upgrade to anyoe with a previous iPad, and one that really has to be held and sued to be appreciated. If it had not been such a long struggle to get my order processed I would be comepletely thrilled with everything involved in this process, but even with the troubles getting the device I can't see myself letting this thing out of my hands...at least until the next one arrives.