First off, let me caveat this by saying that I do not own and iPad of any generation. Yet. I plan on fixing that over the summer. However, for the interim, I’m perfectly content with my iPhone.

Tomorrow, Tim Cook et al will take the stage in Cupertino and announce the next generation of iPad, supposedly called iPad 3, or possibly iPad HD. Or, as I’m hoping, iPadS. The strong rumor is that an iPad Mini is coming down the pike–a 7-8″ tablet that would have all the functionality of a typical iPad, just in a smaller form factor. I would much prefer the smaller version for any number of reasons, but the over-riding factor is sheer size management.

My iPhone already has a 3.5 screen. I like it. It works for my needs, and it does the job just fine for the apps I use. However, a 7″ screen on an iPad would give me 4 times more real estate. Using Garageband would be *so* much easier. The real kicker would be a 128GB model. I think that would probably push me over the edge to getting one.

As far as the new regular sized model goes, I really have no expectations. I mean … at this point, NOT having a retina display is almost laughable, and from all the regular Apple pundit websites (e.g. TUAW, Cult of Mac, 9 to 5 Mac, et al), there’s no reason to assume that it won’t. However, all that means is that every iPad app out there is going to have to upgrade to look semi-decent on the new iPad.