Before you ask: No, I wasn’t among the mass of people who, despite a city hobbled by Hurricane Sandy, lined up outside the massive flagship Apple store in New York City on November 2 to get their hands on the new iPad Mini. I can’t say I haven’t been intrigued by the diminutive tablet, but I don’t want to drop a few hundred dollars based solely on Apple’s slick marketing.

As I was researching the pros and cons of the Mini, I came across two must-reads for anyone in the market for a tablet. The first is this simple chart from the tech experts at Mashable that compares screen size, resolution, price and more for the top five tablets—including the Mini, Kindle Fire, Nook and others. The second is a more pointed product vs. product comparison from NBC News technology and science editor Wilson Rothman. He offers a helpful, detailed account of the ways the Mini stacks up against larger, more expensive gadgets such as the iPad 2 and Microsoft Surface RT. It’s especially useful if you’re considering replacing your laptop with a tablet.

His bottom line? Hold out for the inevitable iPad Mini 2, which will likely include Apple’s famous retina display. It doesn’t exist yet, but he’s sure it will be available in the next year.

Of course that doesn’t help me for this year’s holiday shopping…