This holiday season will present an interesting shakedown in the tablet market, specifically those sized at approximately 7 inches. Yesterday Apple announced the iPad mini and it will begin shipping on November 2, 2012.

As rumors of the iPad mini has been swirling for a long time, there weren’t a lot of surprises in the announcement. One thing that wasn’t known was the price and we now know it starts at $329 for an iPad mini with 16 GB of storage. Can that price with other popular 7-inch tablets? Let’s compare the basic specs of the three biggest contenders.

• iPad mini is 7.9 inches diagonally and has a screen resolution of 1024 x 768. It weighs .68 pounds and is 7.2mm in thickness. Starts at $329 for 16 GB of storage.
• Google Nexus 7 measures 7 inches diagonally and has a screen resolution of 1280 x 800. It weighs .75 pounds and is 10.45 mm in thickness. Starts at $199 for 8 GB of storage and is $249 with 16 GB.
• Kindle Fire HD measures 7 inches diagonally and has a screen resolution of 1280 x 800. It weighs .87 pounds and is 10.3 mm in thickness. Starts at $199 for 16 GB of storage.

Obviously there are a number of other specs for the three tablets that anyone would need to factor into their buying decision. The iPad mini clearly weighs the least, is the thinnest and has the largest screen of the three. Both Google and Amazon provide a higher resolution screen and have a lower price. Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD has the lowest price for a 16 GB model, a full $130 less than the iPad.

Will you be purchasing any of these tablets and what is the deciding factor for you? Leave a comment and let us know.