I would put the success of the iPad mini down to a lot more than just resolution. But that wasn't exactly my point - my point was that the every day consumer has become a lot more aware of technical differences because they are bullet-point-features in a huge market of tablets and smartphones.
With the huge amount of information available on the internet, it's pretty easy to come by articles that covers pretty much anything. If one game looks less sharp than another, the chance is pretty high that it's not only picked up by forum warriors, but that these things make it into fan sites and from there into big scale publications.
As an example, I'll name a post I did a few years ago on the performance of SSDs in the PS3. I bought one, used a simple stopwatch and did a few benchmark using GT5. Eventually, there was an article on one of the gaming sites about it, quoting my post and my numbers. Information like this spreads.
There are some big newspapers here who have had articles on the supposed "inferiority" of the Xbox One compared to the PS4. Not facts, but pretty much articles picking up on hot topics like 50% more CUs etc. Or that the PS4 supposedly has a huge headstart in pre-orders nex to the graphical advantages. These things aren't as factual as it once was and a lot of these articles originated probably in some technical orientated forum like B3d.
While the most basic consumer might be pretty ignorant, he's also that ignorant to believe what he reads in his local newspaper. And a lot of what he reads originated in some forum.
