It's nice! In my case I have 2 setups. One is with the Novation Launchkey only. If I had a bigger desk I might not need the Minilab. But for what it is, I find it useful. Usually this is using the Launchpad Pro and the Minilab as a pair. You basically have a Push (minus the screen, but plus the keys and some faders) for a fraction of the price.
The keys are the selling point here, and are in a different league to the Novation Launchkey Mini (strange really as the full-size LK49 is fine.) The pads aren't really as good as the Novation ones though. The encoders are big and easy to use. I will say that as I was trialling Logic, this keyboard failed to be recognised (and searching on Reddit it seems this is a bit of an issue), where it works seamlessley with Ableton. Integration with Analog Lab is flawless as you'd expect.
I'd say if someone starting out didn't want pads, then this is probably one of the best options out there, and the quality for the money is very high. It's not perfect, and it doesn't have the smarts of some of the other controllers. I'd love to test an M32 as I hear that has similar quality of keys.