Why a budget tablet might be the best Christmas present you buy this year
If you’ve been holding off buying a tablet these past few years, now might be the best time in history to get into the game. Prices are lowering, used stock is rising and the quality of tablets is just getting better each day. Here are a few reasons why you might want to start paying attention to all the hype surrounding them if you haven’t bought one yet.
Like a lot of people, I’ve been patiently waiting for the quality of tablets to reach the perfect balance of price versus performance. After waiting over two years, last week I finally judged that the time was right, breaking down and buying myself a seven inch tablet. To my surprise, it’s a 32Gb BlackBerry PlayBook that I picked up on sale for $118. Yes, some tablets are now that cheap.
I’ve actually owned an iPad since it was launched a few years ago. When we first picked up our iPad we were skeptical how a tablet would fit into our lives. With smartphones, laptops and desktops a-plenty, we weren’t sure how another piece of technology would fit into our lifestyle. To our surprise, my wife and I both fell in love with the iPad and it has been in constant use.
Most nights you’ll find one of us sitting on the couch with it reading a book, checking out the daily news feeds from around the world or catching up on some of our favorite sites. On a regular basis it’s our recipe book while we bake or attempt our hand at exotic cuisine. When we’re watching the kids in the bath or are sitting beside them for hours when they’re feeling ill, it’s our portable workstation. When the kids have done well or are so bored they’re driving us insane, it’s a great treat for them to play a game. In short, it gets a ton of use.
The biggest problem with it is that even three years after the iPad was first introduced, it is still considered a premium tablet device. To put it simply, it’s amazing – but at a price. In the past few years, as more and more companies have gotten into the market, cheaper tablets have been surfacing regularly. Though a few can match the iPad’s 10" size, none can touch its lead as the tablet champ. Of course, with no Apple products in the smaller size categories best suited to travelers (yet), this is where the real deals can be had.
In the past year, it seems that the 7" tablet market has really taken off. Whether this is because of mass market value products like the Amazon Kindle Fire or because of flagship products like the Google Nexus 7 with its high powered CPU and newest Android operating system, the truth is that this year tablets have become a part of our daily lives.
The good news is that the tablet market is finally getting to the point where you’re going to get a tablet that will have the power to do almost anything you want to do, anywhere you want to do it, regardless of whether you’re picking up an iPad or one of the dozens of lower priced alternatives.
With Microsoft Windows 8 coming to tablets later this month, the competition (and therefore the price) should really start heating up as we get close to the Christmas season. Dozens of companies are vying to carve out a niche in the tablet market, so the deals will be fast and furious and the biggest winner will be the consumer who can take their time to choose the product that best suits them. Whether it’s for the avid reader who wants to do a little more than read books, or the videophile who wants to watch everything in 1080p quality wherever they happen to be, there’s something for every budget.
While big name companies like Samsung, Acer, Asus, Motorola, Sony and others each have their own versions of tablets, some of the best deals these days can be had from smaller, lesser-known companies like Ainol, Coby, Cube, Onda, Hyundai and Sanei. Though you’ll find customer service and repair issues harder to deal with, dollar for dollar these tablets can offer as much – and many times even more – than their bigger brand name cousins.
No matter which way you go or how much you spend, a tablet can change how you work, play and interact with the digital world around you. Bigger than a smartphone, more mobile than a laptop, perfect for travel or sitting on the couch, a tablet could fill that hole that you never knew existed. Do yourself a favor and, this Christmas, think about adding one to your list.
Images via gilipollastv and bertconcepts
Hi! That’s a choice I don’t understand. Yes, the Playbook is on sale everywhere… because its maker is on its way to bankruptcy and they abandoned the product… Plus… if you compare the features and choice of apps to add to the device, the Blackberry store is by far the most limited (and usually most expensive) of the 3 major players around.
In my opinion, with its “features” list and dying announcement, the Playbook should be considered as an eBook reader than a tablet computer.
But if you want to do is have a tablet to say you own one, and limit yourself to emails and Web, I guess that’s a good choice, even though the Chinese clones will offer you more for the same buck and on a platform that is growing, not dying.
While make this post today? It’s rumoured that Apple will announce its mini-iPad next week, which will have a great impact on the market for the Holidays. Yes, the iPad is still a premium device… but which Apple product isn’t?
Hi Sylvain, you bring up some good points and I do agree with the majority of your views regarding the Playbook. Here’s some of the reasons the Playbook worked for me.
First off, since I already own an iPad and 2 iPhones I already have access to millions of apps and, in truth, have several hundred already on those devices. I do wish the Playbook had more though. However, besides for a working version of Skype, with sideloading I have all the important ones I need.
I chose the Playbook for a few specific reasons as well. I needed another Tablet to check email, surf the web (with Flash ability a huge plus), watch movies (with HDMI out so I can hook it to a TV when I travel), play the occasional game, store and listen to my large collection of music, and yes, to read eBooks. That last one was very important to me and the fact that the Playbook is in a more portable, 7 inch version than the iPad appealed to me as well.
I don’t think RIM will go under in the next few years though the company is definitely hurting these days. However, in 2 or 3 years there will be a multitude of faster, better and cheaper devices on the market that I will upgrade it to. At $118, it will be a lot easier to put in the back of the closet than the $250+ that the Nexus will cost or the $400+ of the iPad.
This post was simply a statement that Tablets have come a long way in the past few years in terms of quality, functionality and price and that people that have been sitting on the sidelines waiting to get in the game should start taking notice. When the iPad mini comes out and when Windows 8 gets officially released later this month there will be a flurry of activity in the Tablet area and if people want one, they should start researching them now so when the deals hit beginning next month(and they will) they’ll be ready for it.
Thanks for the comment!
The nexus 7 gets a thumbs up from me. They are now offering a 32gb version, plus they seem to be on top of the build quality issues. I use it far more than I thought I would.
Dave, the Nexus 7 is a great device. To be honest if it came with HDMI out and the 32 gb was an option when I bought mine there’s a chance I would have gone in that direction as well. The OS is the best Android Tablet OS by far and it’s nice to see Google finally designing their operating system with Tablets in mind.
I find I use our Tablets way more than I expected as well. Good to hear you’re enjoying yours. Thanks for commenting!