Well, my laptop is about to give out after a long life so it's time for me to get a new one. I really like the idea of a table for the ability to use it as an e-reader, but I don't think I would be able to use it to type my notes in class without a real keyboard. Thus, tablet PC's seem like they might be a good answer. I've never used one before though and was wondering if anyone had any impressions of them. My budget is ~$500 USD, though I could go a bit higher if absolutely necessary.

The two that I'm currently looking at are the DELL Inspiron Duo and the ASUS Eee PC. They both seem to be getting around 4/5 stars on average and both seem to have some pros and cons associated with them.

The other option I suppose would be a new laptop and a Kindle Fire. But, I would need to keep the price in the $500 range anyway, and it doesn't seem quite as convenient. Any help is much appreciated.

 

Rather interested in this myself. Been looking at a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, myself (without a carrier, just going WiFi).

Though, the ones Elvin listed look they are better overall at the same price. Trying to figure out why someone would go for an iPad or Android tablet when those exist.

Advice?

 

Let me just straighten something up here:

If you want something to read on, get an e-reader. I've read on every imaginable LCD surface: laptop screens, 36 inch widescreens, phone screens, tablets and none of them are in the same league as my Kindle or Sony reader. And the cheapest Kindle is now $79, which is awesome.

If you need something to take notes on, you could do a lot worse than a mid-priced ASUS EEE or, well, pretty much any other netbook

 

I want both is the think nmb ^-^ I really like the idea of having them combined into one, but have no idea if they're reliable. If they are, which you seem to imply the ASUS is at least, I'll probably go ahead and get that. If they aren't then I would go ahead and get them separately haha.

 

Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear; my advice was that you should buy two discrete devices. One for reading and one for computing. Staring at an LCD screen for long periods of time isn't good for your eyes.

 

Ah ok, gotcha. Thanks for the advise.

 

Bumping the thread.

I'm hesitating between waiting for the iPad3 or buying a Samsung Galaxy. I've had the latter for a couple of hours under my hands I was somewhat disappointed by its reactivity, especially when reading pdf's (with 3 different apps). Scrolling wasn't smooth, had to wait a couple of secs for the next pages to load.

What makes me hesitate is that the iPad 3 sound very sweet from the rumours (oleophobic screen, very high resolution).

Basically, what I'll use them the most are for reading pdf's, ppt's, surfing and taking notes.

So, iPad or Galaxy?

 

Go play with an iPad 2, compare it to the galaxy then consider than the iPad 3 will be a step above that. See what you prefer etc.

Also, expect the ipad 3 to be announced in around a month or so.

 

The Asus Transformer Prime is widely considered the best android tablet on the market at the moment, yes better than the Galaxy 10.1, by the majority of techblogs/sites such as cnet, Engadget and gizmodo. It also is the only tablet with Ice Cream Sandwich on it, without rooting and flashing a ROM that is, and had a Tegra 3 processor with 5 cores. At the same time the iPad 2 is still the most popular tablet and had about triple the amount of apps and debatably the best tablet on the market according to who you ask. The best part about the Transformer Prime is probably the dock but that cost extra and will bring you out of your budget.
In the end it's your decision, I would definitely look into the Transformer Prime, NVIDIA's keynote at CES really turned me on to it.

 

What's interesting is that the iPad 3 is supposed to come out with a quad-core processor like the Transformer Prime, but it'll have its own set of intangibles that will appeal to a different subset of tablet users.

It really depends on what you want, and the research into what kind of capabilities you want your tablet to have. Long battery life? Good graphics? Fast GUI manipulation? Multi-tasking? 3G connectivity? A wide apps market? Form factor? Camera? Portability?

The thing is, tablet manufacturers everywhere are converging, and at a certain point, all a potential buyer can say is, "What do I personally like?" and then choose. Just be sure to do your research.