The iPad I want isn’t here yet. But my complaint is not what the general tech pundits argue about.

Still absent in this year’s lineup is an updated iPad mini. I find it to be the perfect size for “tablet” things. My one wish is that Apple would bring external monitor support and the light desktop experience that comes with it. I doubt that it would need a M series chip to do this, certainly an updated A series could probably be up to the task but I guess I wouldn’t complain if it had the M1 chip in it.

The portability it affords is the big draw for me. I would easily find myself “computing” with it on the go sans keyboard or other contraptions, just onscreen interaction. But combine this with ability to plug in a monitor and external keyboard/trackpad, man, what a powerful combo.

I know the iPad Air or Pros already achieve this, but there is something magical about the size of the iPad mini that I think works well for reading, movie watching, general input and shifting to occasional long form productivity with monitors and accessories plugged in would be a powerful addition.

Maybe the only other addition I would want is an enhancement to file management in iPadOS.

So I sit here and wait for Apple to take my money, staring at my fictional shopping cart on Apple.com with a fully loaded cellular iPad mini that will allow me to occasionally connect to a monitor for a more enhanced computing experience while maintaining the tablet experience constraints I still find empowering.