off topic tablet advice

[stardelta]

hi guys i thought this would be the best section for my question ,however if im wrong let me know and i will repost elsewhere.
so too my question i am looking at buying a tablet ,i have wanted one for a while but i can not justify an ipad
so i was just wondering what a good substitute would be.
list of reequirements:
web browsing
email
photo storing /viewing
large screen
music
etc etc

now i know i can get a used ipad but would like a new tablet ,i will be ready to get one in about 6mths.
i like the look of the motorola xoom 32gb.
i am not asking you guys to do my homework for me /i will review everything before i bite the bullet,but i just wondered if any one had any good alternatives to the ipad .pros/cons ,advice etc.
sorry nearly forgot budget of around £200-£250
thankyou in advance guys

[Donald]

I'm in the market at the moment as well, Glenn. But I'm very much looking at a Tablet for work purposes and any that I do get would be provided by my employer.

I'm looking at the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet because I want the stylus (pen) and keyboard folio case. All of which, of course, bumps up the price a bit.

So, I'm afraid I'm not really informed about the options you might want to look at.

[stardelta]

I'm in the market at the moment as well, Glenn. But I'm very much looking at a Tablet for work purposes and any that I do get would be provided by my employer.

I'm looking at the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet because I want the stylus (pen) and keyboard folio case. All of which, of course, bumps up the price a bit.

So, I'm afraid I'm not really informed about the options you might want to look at.

hi donald is that the one that docks onto a keyboard.

[Donald]

Yep, that's it.

[stardelta]

Yep, that's it.

looks a nice tool .
i also like the look of the asus epad transformer, same principal i think.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

I've been using the asus transformer for almost a year. It has my life in it - fantastic machine that does 90% of what you would use a computer to do.

[JohnR48]

Have a look at the new Asus Transformer Prime. Model TF700T. It's a monster. You can buy the tablet alone and add a keyboard later if you like.

[bigdog91]

I have the Toshiba Thrive and really like it. It has 32 gig hard drive and an SD slot, USB port, HDMI port and one other port. The battery is replaceable without sending it to the factory. I only have the WiFi model as I don't really use it that much on the road but I can tether my phone to it if I do need internet access.

The best part of the SD slot is when my wife and I were on our 20th anniversary cruise I was able to look at all of the pictures on the tablet without down loading them. Note you will need to shoot Raw/Jpeg or just Jpeg to view. You can also access the internet at most hotels, Starbucks, McDonald's so no pay plan works for me.

[Manfred M]

I have the ASUS TF101 Transformer with external keyboard. I've used it to replace my old MSI Wind U100 netbook when I am on the road; primarily because it is so small and portable. With the keyboard, ASUS claims a 16 hour battery life.

While I enjoy using it, I would not recommend it right now; it is a bit unstable and has been back to ASUS once already. It works well enough, but is a bit quirky.

[Colin Southern]

Personally, I'd reconsider the 2nd hand iPad option; you should be able to get a first generation one well under your budget, and it'll perform just like a new one.

I sold one of mine the other day for $400 (New Zealand) dollars - you'd have been hard-pressed to tell the difference between it and a new one - and battery was still just fine.

[stardelta]

Personally, I'd reconsider the 2nd hand iPad option; you should be able to get a first generation one well under your budget, and it'll perform just like a new one.

I sold one of mine the other day for $400 (New Zealand) dollars - you'd have been hard-pressed to tell the difference between it and a new one - and battery was still just fine.

cheers colin i do like ipads and i see what your saying about a 2nd hand 1st generation,maybe i will go down that avenue.
thanks for your input.glenn

[Colin Southern]

cheers colin i do like ipads and i see what your saying about a 2nd hand 1st generation,maybe i will go down that avenue.
thanks for your input.glenn

Hi Glenn,

No worries.

To be honest, when the 2nd generation iPad came out, I just couldn't see a reason to upgrade - sure, it was a few mm thinner (who cares) - graphics were 9x faster (9x faster than needed in my opinion - so who cares) - had a lousy camera (who cares) - so I just stuck with my version 1 (I had 2 of them - one I give to customers to look at photos). Now that generation 3 is out I STILL didn't find anything compelling to upgrade, but in the end I thought "what the heck" when an associate offered to buy one of my first generation iPads (plus an old iPhone 3GS).

They really are superb for displaying photos - listening to music - eMail - web browsing - watching movies. To be honest, although there are other tablets out there, I doubt that they integrate as well with everything that surrounds the iPad - eg I buy a song on my phone - it downloads automatically to my iPad; I take a photo on my phone - it's pushed to my iPad; I buy a movie on iTunes and put it on my phone and iPad - or stream it to Apple TV.