I traded in my big iPad for an iPad Mini and I can't believe what I was missing

I was an early iPad adopter.

My initial iPad was the first-generation model, and it served me well for a couple years until it got too slow. I sold it (Apple devices really hold their value) and upgraded to the third-generation device when it came out.

I've had the same iPad ever since, and I hadn't really thought about upgrading to any of the newer models.

But recently I've noticed that I started using it less. Sure, it's gotten a little slower over the years, but it still had a fantastic retina display, great apps, and could mostly keep up with new iOS iterations. What I began to realize is the real reason I wasn't using it much anymore was simple - it's just too big.

The large screen was great for video, and certainly it doesn't have a laptop's bulk, but I still felt that it was unwieldy. Retrieving it from my bag and getting comfortable using it wasn't all that fun. And holding it with two hands in landscape mode is just a little unnatural. It's a tough thing to explain, but I felt like it was turning into a burden.

So I sold it for $220 (it was a 32GB model) and used the cash to get a refurbished 32GB iPad Mini 2 for $299 from Apple.

I love this thing. It feels natural in my hands in both landscape and portrait orientations, and never really feels cumbersome. Typing is more natural, gaming feels more intuitive, and reading even feels closer to the experience of a book.

And you still get a much larger screen than your phone to watch videos and play games.

While my old big iPad increasingly spent its time gathering dust in my room - or never leaving my backpack - my iPad Mini is a constant companion. I have an Apple Watch that gets me all the alerts coming from my phone, so I just leave the 6 Plus in my home office and carry the iPad Mini around the house with me. With the bigger (but not too big) screen, and the light weight, it's the perfect companion device for a range of activities. The big iPad felt like it was only perfect for a few things, and got in the way on many others.

I'm playing more games, watching more video, and doing many more day-to-day tasks on my iPad now and it's become a much more seamless gadget to fit into my life.

Maybe it's not a change everyone would love, and the internal specs of the iPad Mini 2 are much better than the third-generation iPad, which admittedly helps a lot. But I honestly feel like this preference really comes down to size, and I would recommend the smaller device to anyone who asked.