Christmas is less than 2 months away. Looking to pick up a tablet.
Any suggestions?
You can't go wrong with the I-Pad2. Picked up one for my son and it just a great device. I am an Apple fan and others may disagree, especially with price, but it's the one.
I got the Nexus 7 a few months back, and I love it. It's WiFi only, the processor cooks, screen is great, and for $200 the price is right. Have owned and still own and iPhone, took a week or two to get used Andriod, but no steep learning curve. Google Play store is getting better too, still not as good iTunes store, but has most things...
Depends what you want to use it for. Movies, music, games, internet? If you don't need anything specifically requiring the iPad, I'd go with the Nexus. I received a Kindle Fire last christmas and have been happy and also heard good things about the Fire HD. Either way, I'm not sure there's much reason to spend more than $300 for a tablet.
I don't know anything about this tablet or many others for that matter but I did see this on Groupon for about half off. It's an ASUS tablet with a $470 retail price for only $239 right now. It is refurbished, not new.
http://www.groupon.com/deals/gg-asus-transformer-tablet-tf101-a1?ab=o&c=all&p=25
I've recently bought a couple of tablets.
To be honest, I didn't know if the family would use them, so .. the first one I bought was what's called a "China Tab" .. there are dozens of cheap tablets that perform pretty well. I picked up a 7" tablet for $65.
While the screen was pretty good, and it plays media well, it was not snappy for browsing or email. The kids? Love it. Plays games no problem, and I don't care if they beat up the $65 tablet. I'd rather buy 3-4 of them than a $200 one for them.
I did buy another one that was 1-2 year old technology .. and that one is great.
If you don't want to screw around with old tech .. to be honest, there's only one answer: The Nexus 7. It's $200, has a great screen, and is one of the fastest tablets out there .. and has good battery life. Made by Google.
Buying iPads .. I just don't see why people do that. The iPad Mini is 7" .. it's $330 versus the Nexus 7 @ $200. Good grief. Let's remember .. Android devices are now 75% of the phone+tablet market, and the app market on both sides .. well, let's just say there are hundreds of thousands of apps -- 90% of it is crap, sure. But they equal out.
Tablets, by their portable nature .. are somewhat disposable, in that .. eventually, you will drop them and crack them .. just a matter of time. I'd rather break a $200 pad than a $400 one .. especially when that $200 one performs equally as well.
Clearly .. the 10" tablet market is different. The Nexus 10 is arriving at $400, versus the iPad's $500. I think I'd go with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10" .. you can find that for $320.
tl;dr : iPads are expensive, and the other tablets that are 2-3x cheaper that do the same thing. Don't be a sucker.
Quote from: 77ncaachamps on November 05, 2012, 01:17:52 AM
Christmas is less than 2 months away. Looking to pick up a tablet.
Depending on your price point, I'd go with a Nexus 7 ($200ish) or Nexus 10 ($400ish). They're both very fast, have great screens, and all the features you'd generally want in a tablet.
Unless, you're looking to connect to a cellular network, in which case neither of those will work (wifi only). In this case, I'd stick with one of the Samsung Galaxy Tablets, or the ominous iPad. iPads are nice (though I still laugh when I hear the name), but at this time they've got no features which justify the premium price.
Finally, the Microsoft Surface *may* be something to look at. Microsoft is certainly putting a lot of effort into getting into this market, and even tech heads are slightly excited to try Windows 8 RT. Of course, too early to tell if it can really complete with Apple and Android.
.. I'd look at the MS Surface in 12-18 months. They need a critical mass of apps, and that is not a given.
Even odds on 18 months from now, Microsoft says "we are pulling out of the tablet market.."
Picked up the ASUS Transformer T700 about a month ago, very nice so far. I am probably stretching the functionality of a tablet since I use it sometimes for work when on the road and enjoy the functionality of the "clip in" keyboard and ability to use a mouse with it. (I know, I know kinda defeating the purpose of the touchscreen tablet). But...it's so light and easy to pack that I can take it anywhere for work, without being bulky at all, and can just leave mouse and keyboard at home when I am just reading or surfing/e-mail. Very quick and snappy response on surfing.
Quote from: Strokin 3s on November 05, 2012, 08:59:54 AM
Picked up the ASUS Transformer T700 about a month ago, very nice so far. I am probably stretching the functionality of a tablet since I use it sometimes for work when on the road and enjoy the functionality of the "clip in" keyboard and ability to use a mouse with it. (I know, I know kinda defeating the purpose of the touchscreen tablet). But...it's so light and easy to pack that I can take it anywhere for work, without being bulky at all, and can just leave mouse and keyboard at home when I am just reading or surfing/e-mail. Very quick and snappy response on surfing.
Why not use a netbook instead?
Like to be able to leave keyboard when not using.
Wife and I have been talking pros and cons on tablets too... the ability to interface with all of our devices at home is a big plus for the iPad, but neither my wife nor I is technologically inept, so a couple hundred dollars seems like a lot for the presumed "ease of use."
Basically it boils down to which tablet is cheaper/easier/better for video-chatting with a PC, iPad or Nexus? My wife and I travel a moderate amount, so we'd like to be able to video-chat with the family back home when either or both of us are on the road.
Still running my HP Touchpad from when they decided to pull out and dropped them to $99/$149 a year ago in August and couldn't be more pleased with it. I use it for just the basics- web browsing, e-mail, Skype, music, light Office files. Extremely fast (particularly with overlocked processor). I wouldn't go on eBay and buy one now; I would say Nexus 7 is probably the most comparable in terms of performance and price, and you'll get a hundred times more apps with a leading OS rather than one that is phased out.
I have read, the nice thing about upcoming 4.2 Andriod OS update, will allow the user to set up multiple profiles, and homescreens. For example, you could design your homescreen with the apps you wanted, your own Twitter/Facebook feed, live apps of your email and calendar, then another family member could log and have their own user experience. If you have kids, you could set up kids profile...seems pretty cool.
My wife has a Samsung Galaxy, and absolutely loves it. Great for browsing (fast and easy to use) Android App market, (so basically everything you could want), great cameras (on the front and back), great screen. A great device all around.
Quote from: mu_hilltopper on November 05, 2012, 08:14:55 AM
.. I'd look at the MS Surface in 12-18 months. They need a critical mass of apps, and that is not a given.
Even odds on 18 months from now, Microsoft says "we are pulling out of the tablet market.."
love the surface, but i'm not an app guy...i want something that is portable for more work related uses than anything. that said, carrying my macbook air isn't much different. i do enjoy being able to link everything with sky drive...so much easier than going between microsoft and google doc files.
the ultrabooks look cool, but i haven't had a chance to play with them yet...gave a google chrome to my nephew a week or so ago...he's loving it...paid $250 for it...he uses google docs and google drive for all his school work.
Quote from: mu_hilltopper on November 05, 2012, 08:00:49 AM
If you don't want to screw around with old tech .. to be honest, there's only one answer: The Nexus 7. It's $200, has a great screen, and is one of the fastest tablets out there .. and has good battery life. Made by Google.
It's actually made by Asus for the Google Nexus program. Like the Nexus 10 is made by Samsung and the Nexus 4 is made by LG.
Thanks for the info everyone.
It's a help when you know where a nerds' oasis is located. ;p
Leaning toward the Nexus 7...but will see what else is out there.
Nexus 7. 16 GB. That is all.
Quote from: mueron on November 12, 2012, 08:16:18 PM
Nexus 7. 16 GB. That is all.
Looking at the 32 GB Nexus 7.
Have some store credit to burn.