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Reno7
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join:2008-10-26
Keller, TX

Reno7

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I don't get why people want Tablets


My company recently gave me a high end Android tablet for testing purposes (just hit the market - around $800 I believe). I've never used or played with a tablet. I do have a Samsung Infuse phone with a 4.5" screen though.

I cannot figure out why anyone would want one of these things or would spend several hundred dollars on one when a much more powerful laptop would be cheaper. I definitely don't understand people using them as eReaders when the whole point of eInk is to remove the eyestrain LCD causes. I can't think of anything I would want to use this tablet for where I wouldn't prefer to be using another device.

Maybe I'm just old. It is nice to have a brand new high end one to play around with, even though it's nothing more than a giant cell phone to me. And the thing I think is odd is that of the dozens of people I know with tablets, all but one of those is a company device. Like no one seems to be privately buying them while a lot of companies are needlessly wasting money on them.

GeekNJ
Premium Member
join:2000-09-23
Waldwick, NJ

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GeekNJ

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An iPad is a tablet unless you're specifically speaking about Android tablets. How many of those are purchased by consumers vs companies? I'd guess a lot.

You sound a bit like my neighbor across the street from me when I was graduating high school in the early 80's that bought a computer and called me over and said "I got a computer, what do I do with it?". If you don't have a need, which it seems you don't, I can understand you wondering what to do with it.

I think the tablet is a compromise device. Sure you can carry an expensive high powered small size notebook or much less expensive netbook, an eReader like a Kindle and a some other device like an iPhone or Android phone, but that is 3 devices. What if you can get most of what you wanted in a netbook and an eReader + apps for other things such as games or your hobby? That's what a tablet is.

But since you didn't want it in the first place and it was just given to you, I guess that is why you don't really have a need.

FastEddie

join:2000-12-29
Channel Z

1 edit

FastEddie


I like to read and always got my books from the library. I was reluctant to switch to an e Reader but I got a deal on a Nook Color and find reading easy on it. It also has e mail and web browsing but limited apps.

So I turned it into a tablet. »[Mods] Turn Nook Color To Android Tablet and found that Android Market has a lot of apps that will let me be more productive when I'm not reading. I have a old cell phone (Nokia 3310) that has just a green LCD screen.

So a tablet lets me access the web and look up info without having to get off the couch and got sit in front of a computer or carry a laptop around.


darcilicious
Cyber Librarian
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join:2001-01-02
Forest Grove, OR

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For non-business travel, I prefer my iPad over any laptop. Lighter, does what I need for travel (music, video, surfing, email), and just generally easier to travel with.
tcope
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join:2003-05-07
Sandy, UT

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I think the question can also be... what do you need a laptop for? That is, most people _don't_ need a laptop as the tablet will do everything they need it to do. Many people these days don't need complicated/nitch programs for most of their work. They need an email reader, a documents creator, a web browser, a movie player, photo program and a few others. All of those things work great on a tablet. The tablet is much smaller and usually they run for 6-8 hours without a problem.

I think for many people a tablet might not replace a laptop but I think many people have both and prefer the tablet when they don't want something as big and power hungry as a laptop.

Would I spend $800 in a tablet? Nope. But to each their own.
93388818 (banned)
It's cool, I'm takin it back
join:2000-03-14
Dallas, TX

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Mine is very convenient for reading Kindle books, browsing, etc in non-traditional settings (in the car, bed, etc.).

Sarah

join:2001-01-09
New York, NY

2 recommendations

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I think part of it is whether you use computers and the internet as a content creator or a content consumer.

Creator: You write, or you edit audio/video, or are making spreadsheets, or doing other productive stuff. Tablets are going to seem like a useless pain in the butt with no mouse, an on-screen keyboard, limited software and limited specs.

Consumer: you read, you watch videos, you surf the web, you listen to music, maybe a little shopping and googling. You're checking out other people's content rather than creating your own. Tablets are great for this.

As someone who does a lot of writing and audio editing I never saw the appeal of a tablet until I realized just how many people use the computer like I use a television - passive content consumption.
lmacmil
join:2001-01-26
South Bend, IN

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I would never have paid $400 or more for one but got an HP Touchpad for $99 and it's pretty cool. Next time I go on vacation, I will take it instead of my laptop to keep up with email. It's certainly a lot easier to carry and for email and light web surfing, it will be just fine.
Babuloseo
join:2010-03-13
Brampton, ON

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Some tablets like the ep121 and the samsung 7 series tablets that range around for $1000 are actually pretty good. They are the REAL tablets for now, and then there is the axiotron modbook.

If tablets allow you to take down notes, and help you with content creation on the go. Than that is really great I believe.
dave
Premium Member
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio

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said by Sarah:

I think part of it is whether you use computers and the internet as a content creator or a content consumer.

Or if you have more than one computer

My real computers are desktop machines. On the other hand, I have a 'couch computer' which I use for frivolous activities such as this.

Right now the couch computer is an oversized and heavy laptop. If I were to replace it, I'd probably get a 10" tablet on the grounds that it's lighter. (Hell, I could buy three for the cost of this laptop)

Clearly I have too much disposable income, but household computers are bought with a particular aim in mind. I'm only in this forum because mrs. (acting) dave needs/wants a portable computer in addition to her pretty-damn-fast desktop, and for a while I was thinking she might be interested in a tablet (she isn't: a netbook won out).

r81984
Fair and Balanced
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join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX

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Because all people want to do is surf the internet, watch movies, listen to music and read ebooks.
The stupid ones pay $600 for a touchscreen only netbook like the ipad.

I for one bought a real tablet PC, an HP tm2t. It a regular laptop, but the screen is touch with a wacom pen and the screen is reversable so I can flip it around to turn it into a screen only tablet. It is perfect for writing notes.
A tm2t touch screen is useful as it runs windows 7 so it runs everything.

For some reason companies are not really making a reversible tablet pcs anymore. They are making touchscreen only netbooks like the ipad instead.

Gomez
ha ha, charade you are

join:2001-02-21
Atlanta, GA

1 recommendation

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said by Reno7:

My company recently gave me a high end Android tablet for testing purposes (just hit the market - around $800 I believe). I've never used or played with a tablet. I do have a Samsung Infuse phone with a 4.5" screen though.

I cannot figure out why anyone would want one of these things or would spend several hundred dollars on one when a much more powerful laptop would be cheaper. I definitely don't understand people using them as eReaders when the whole point of eInk is to remove the eyestrain LCD causes. I can't think of anything I would want to use this tablet for where I wouldn't prefer to be using another device.

Maybe I'm just old. It is nice to have a brand new high end one to play around with, even though it's nothing more than a giant cell phone to me. And the thing I think is odd is that of the dozens of people I know with tablets, all but one of those is a company device. Like no one seems to be privately buying them while a lot of companies are needlessly wasting money on them.

Never thought I would get one.. but one week into to it, it's pretty cool.

I no longer carry a laptop to work, and I doubt I'll travel with a laptop much. The inly thing I can't do in the iPad that I can do with my laptop, is use my development tools.

The odd thing I found is that a lot of things I used on the laptop are much more useable on a tablet, likely because there has to be some extra usability work to make it work.. it pays off.

Boricua
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join:2002-01-26
Sacramuerto

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said by FastEddie:


So a tablet lets me access the web and look up info without having to get off the couch and got sit in front of a computer or carry a laptop around.


said by lmacmil:

I would never have paid $400 or more for one but got an HP Touchpad for $99 and it's pretty cool. Next time I go on vacation, I will take it instead of my laptop to keep up with email. It's certainly a lot easier to carry and for email and light web surfing, it will be just fine.

This.
IanR
join:2001-03-22
Fort Mill, SC

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I have worked out that by cancelling my physical newspapers and getting them on a tablet the money I save would pay for my high end tablet within 18 months.
Then I can add monthly car magazines etc and save the wife beating up on me for the cultter the physical mags create.
On top of that I have a communications device for web browsing, emails and skype etc.
All for the weight of 1 1/4 lbs so traveling with one is so easy.

darcilicious
Cyber Librarian
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join:2001-01-02
Forest Grove, OR
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darcilicious

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said by IanR:

I have worked out that by cancelling my physical newspapers and getting them on a tablet the money I save would pay for my high end tablet within 18 months.

Love that factoid
IanR
join:2001-03-22
Fort Mill, SC

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Refurbed Color Nook is at buy.com this week for $135.00
Vizio 8 incher Costco $190

November 7th New mk II? Color Nook rolled out
November 9th New Transformer Prime rolled out (uses Tegra 3)
December Archos G9 10 incher with 1.5Ghz cpu rolled out

There will probably be other events in this final 2 months of the year.

DownTheShore
Pray for Ukraine
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join:2003-12-02
Beautiful NJ

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My 6 year old niece has an iPad. Her favorite movie at the moment is "Gnomeo and Juliet". She can take her iPad and watch it as many times as she wants without driving the rest of the family crazy - which is what would happen if it was always running on the TV.

I've noticed that she only seems to use her iPad when she's not in the mood to play with her toys or read her books or watch TV. It's not the "toy" that she immediately picks up. The type of games she plays are the hidden object games like "Hidden Expedition - Amazon", Barbie games, and all those physics games like "Angry Birds" and its clones. She's learning to read, so the inventory items in the hidden object games have to be read to her (though she is starting to recognize the names of some of the items). She is a whiz at doing pipes puzzles, spot-the-differences, jigsaws, and those puzzles where you have to fit various-shaped items into a square/rectangle. She beats me all the time at Angry Birds. It's going to be interesting to see how those skills translate when she gets into the grades where the science courses are going to involve putting them into play.

mm
I Did It My Way
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join:2001-04-07
Summerville, SC

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I love my iPad 2. I am a Unix guy, programmer and DBA but I love the simpleness of the iPad. It's maintenance free. No virus non-sense to deal with and it just works. Most laptops I have used can't touch the battery life or weight of a tablet, especially the iPad.

In the past few months I really found the iPad to be very helpful. I had to make several trips to Sloan Kettering Hospital and eventually had surgery. I never would have dragged a laptop on a train with me, but a tablet it's so easy. While at the hospital the iPad really kept me entertained. The battery lasted all day and it was so entertaining to download new apps and just have some fun. I love all the free stuff. I did some Facetime calls, emails and puzzle games.

And then apps like Flipboard really make reading your favorite sites like Engadget so easy. The touch screen interface is so nice. I recently have been looking at moving, you have to try some of the real estate apps like Zillow or Trulia, it's such a huge improvement to use a touch interface over a mouse.

Tablets have there place. I don't feel it will replace a Windows PC but for some basic stuff it's way superior. I still use Quicken and Photoshop on my PC, but for everything else it's a tablet.
JBear
join:2005-02-24
canada

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We have a Netbook and are thinking long and hard about giving it to my mother and replacing it with an iPad2 if the opportunity ever arises. We mainly use the Netbook for surfing, checking email, some spreadsheet and word processing work, and easy access for synching the phones and cameras. In the end I doubt we will buy the iPad, instead, maybe just upgrade the Netbook with an SSD and 2GB of RAM. It's not really doing rocket science or anything so it'll probably useful for a few years more.

cob_
1310nm Of Goodness
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join:2003-07-08
Tulsa, OK

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Tablets are one of those things you either see the value in or you don't.

Personally, I don't think calling people idiots because they want tablets is constructive at all. That said:

I have an iPad 2. I have had an MSI Wind netbook, and use laptops and desktop computers nearly all day, and have an LCD in front of my face nearly every waking hour.

The iPad is effortless, lightweight, quickly accessible, always on, and has phenomenal battery life. I think of tablets as the next generation's newspapers, books, and TV. You just pick one up and do what you want, no opening a lid, turning it on and waiting for it to boot up, logging in, and having something sit on your lap. When you get up to do something else, you don't have to find a special place to lay it down (or as we do in my house, lid open and precariously set on the floor sideways). It's small and light, so I just set it on an end table or toss it on a couch cushion. It's the convenience factor.

Boricua
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join:2002-01-26
Sacramuerto

Boricua

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said by cob_:

It's small and light, so I just set it on an end table or toss it on a couch cushion. It's the convenience factor.

I use mine to surf the net and read books on my bed. It's a little difficult using a laptop in bed especially when you have to be worried about covering any vents for it to overheat. Having the HP TouchPad is so convenient and light weight. The only thing you have to worry about a tablet is sitting on them.
krazyboi
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join:2008-06-27
Mckinney, TX

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said by cob_:

Tablets are one of those things you either see the value in or you don't.

Personally, I don't think calling people idiots because they want tablets is constructive at all. That said:

I have an iPad 2. I have had an MSI Wind netbook, and use laptops and desktop computers nearly all day, and have an LCD in front of my face nearly every waking hour.

The iPad is effortless, lightweight, quickly accessible, always on, and has phenomenal battery life. I think of tablets as the next generation's newspapers, books, and TV. You just pick one up and do what you want, no opening a lid, turning it on and waiting for it to boot up, logging in, and having something sit on your lap. It's the convenience factor.

+1.

On mines I have ebooks, games, apps for whatever I want to search (news, movies, weather, etc), and can quickly sort through my email. I can take the iPad just about anywhere and do-school, work, anytime I know I will be faced with a wait (waiting for car repairs, hospital, events, etc) and don't have to worry about plugging it into an outlet. I am using my desktop much less now because of the tablet and my wife will grab it too, unless she really needs her laptop.

darcilicious
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Forest Grove, OR
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darcilicious

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I've pretty much quit using my laptop (which I used in the house and when out and about) in favor of the iPad. The only time I find myself using the laptop is when I have some serious writing to do and don't feel like being tied to my desk/desktop... If there were an OpenOffice/LibreOffice app for the iPad, I'd give my laptop away.

disconnected
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Here is my reason for wanting a tablet: so I can browse the net at the kitchen table and not have to worry about my two parrots prying the keys off a laptop keyboard. If you've every tried to put laptop key caps back together, you know what a headache it can be..

signmeuptoo94
Bless you Howie
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NanoParticle

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I don't own a tablet or ereader, but I inherited an iPhone and before I had it, I was bewildered by why people would even CARE about them.

Now I watch TV (Cablevision) since there is no cable to my room yet, I'm reading a book (great book), do OCCASIONAL web surfing, mostly for information, a Tiny amount of texting (I don't care for on screen typing, it is too slow and cumbersome for someone that knows how to touch type), check the Huffington Post, keep an eye on craigslist (there's an app for that), listen to iHeart radio and about 3 other radio links, let's me listen to my liberal content since no local stations provide that, and so very much more.

So I figure if I had an Android tablet, or even a kindle or nook, I'd be as happy as a kid in a candy factory now.

No, they won't take the place of a computer, but recently we went without power for over 8 days here due to storm Alfred, and I was sick with a fever at the time (sick again, now, BTW), and while we lost cell tower for about half that time, I was able to yahoo messenger (yes, there's also an app for that) my sweetie overseas so I could know she was ok and so that she could know I was ok. I ADORE my iPhone, its sole annoyance, other than battery life, is that when I try to hang up up on a call, the screen goes black EVERY time, and when the screen finally reappears, the moment I try and end the call, it disappears and it keeps cycling that way, until, after 5 cycles, I can finally hang up. Weird bug.

I have hopes I might get a Kindle for Christmas, I really really want one, primarily so I can read books. I have lost several thousands of dollars of books over the years to flooding, emergency moves, and lack of space. The thought that maybe I wouldn't have had to lose those books (many of them school books, so many, very expensive ones).

I don't want to see libraries go out of business, but to be frank, I've always been very bad about getting books back within 2 weeks, and one thing I liked about netflix was that there was no fine for returning late because there was no late, there was the incentive of getting something new, instead.

Since I was a very vocal opponent who was bewildered by the iPhone craze, but now a big convert, I would suggest to the OP, you won't know what it means to you until you get something and the conditions for it to prove its value present themselves. For me, being able to go online even with the power out for over a week was a big bonus. I went somewhere to charge it up, and I could do a little bit of necessary online stuff.

To fully appreciate these things, you need to see the number of apps for them and see how they revolutionize life. Imagine going to college and only having to carry books occasionally. When I went to school, I had not one, but TWO book bags, I had to carry as much as 8 HUGE books at a time. Oh what a joy to have it all on a tablet! Kids today are so lucky!

EDIT: Ever seen a Floyd's electronics book?, they are so heavy they'll put a dent into the floor!

My auntie is a librarian, so these devices worry her. But I don't see libraries disappearing, sure, there may end up being less of them, but if they adapt to new technology somehow, they might even thrive.

Anyone think of the talking disks in The Time Machine? Luckily, no Morlocks to worry about.

Alpha Phoenix
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join:2001-06-15
Brooklyn, NY

Alpha Phoenix

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Great post.
ke4pym
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Charlotte, NC

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If you're an orangutan, you Skype with other orangutans!

»www.extremetech.com/extr ··· th-ipads

signmeuptoo94
Bless you Howie
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NanoParticle

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Well, an adendum to my post above: I now have, not a tablet, but a cheap eReader, an original (version 1) nook and I am absolutely in love with it (sorry Alain, there's another woman in my life now, hah hah). I named it "nookie" (I know, TMI).

As I implied in my previous post, you don't know what you'll want until you really have it and try it.

I've lost so many books over the course of my life, thousands of dollars of them, do to the fact that I've had to scramble from home to home, state to state, all over the USA in persuit of jobs and security. During each move, I shed more and more valuable possessions, including all my hideously expensive and irreplaceable college textbooks that I miss horribly. Rare books you cannot buy today.

If they had been electronic as well as print, maybe I'd still have them.

Also, I can't explain it, but I much much prefer opening my eReader and reading over the cumbersome opening of a book and turning pages. And my eReader uses eInk so, just as would be the case with a print book, I need a booklight still for it as it is not backlit.

tablet_user
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I got a 7" tablet because it is very portable and small in size, more so than a laptop (can be put in a pocket & battery lasts longer than my laptop too ). And because it is very versatile - can be used to go online, play movies, listen to music, play some games, read ebooks, video chat, take pictures/record video, act as gps unit, etc... all in one small unit. So, I don't have to buy one of each of these devices separately and pay a lot more. But it still has a big enough screen so I can use it to watch movies and read ebooks.

I like the idea that we have a lot of choices these days like larger laptops, medium sized net books, 10" & 7" tablets and even the smaller tablets and other smaller devices. The more variety, the better if you asked me. One size does not fit all.

Also, I got my tablet for a very good price - around $250 and it is fast and works great for my needs.
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Oh, and I forgot to say I use my tablet as an on the go/travel device for the most part. When at home, I still prefer to watch movies on my regular tv and do online business on my desktop pc with larger screen, but for travel, the tablet is a great portable device.