For the wife...help

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mrmagoo_83

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I was looking at getting my wife a laptop for her 30th next week; however, I have since changed my mind and believe its a bad idea. She only needs something to surf the net, and she uses the heck out of her phone, so now I'm thinking a tablet.

I looked at a netbook, but seems they are a bit bulky and do the same stuff as a tablet does these days.

My problem is I'm not a rich man and cannot afford an iPad, not that I would give to Apple anyways. So I'm thinking a tablet under $200, but have no idea where to begin. I have seen folks with the Coby tablets, Vizios, Pandigital, knock-off China pads, and everything else.

But what actually works right now for a good price? I want it to be able to stream movies from my home network, surf the net, and take her recipes so maybe I can get rid of the 8000 cookbooks in my kitchen :) or maybe so she'd actually look at a recipes. It does not have to have 3G or anything, just wireless is fine.

So any suggestions?
 
I would go for a laptop... just bought a K53 for my misses
relatively light, 4 hours battery and powerful enough
I have an iPad , and only use it on the train and while Im eating lunch.
 
get the kindle or a cheap laptop. personally I find the laptops much easier to use. the ipads are great, easier to hold, etc, but a pain in the ass when it comes to typing. they also do not have a cursor, making it a pain to continuously grow the window to select things.
 
Get her a Nook Tablet or a Kindle fire if you can't afford an iPad. The iPad however, is great because there are so many cool apps. I have several laptops and they are no where near as nice and easy to use as a tablet and you can do many different kinds of things...on the couch, in bed, or in the john. Oh...and you can save some money if you get an iPad 1 rather than a 2.
 
I'd look at an iPad 1 if money is the issue. I think the web surfing experience will be better on the original iPad than on any of the sub $250 tablets.
 
Shoot, the Kindle Fire and Nook completely slipped my mind, I was for some reason thinking Android only. I will look into the two and see which is better for her, and I know there are Android Roms for both these days so then she can use the same apps that are on her phone.

But first I have to look at this Hoover Floormate she just called demanding I buy her, really, a house hold appliance over an electronic toy...sometimes women drive me nuts. But I guess if it gets the baby's bananas off the floor easier than her crawling around its a good thing.
 
Get her a Le Pan:
http://www.amazon.com/Pan-TC-970-9-7-Inch-Multi-Touch/dp/B004PGMFG2/

Shockingly overlooked Android tablet for bit over $200. It has the same 4:3 form factor, resolution and size as the iPad. Works well without the smaller size and hiccups as the Kindle Fire. The 4:3 ratio is way more preferable to surfing the internet and reading vs the 16:9 form factor used in most other tablets, which would be mostly useful for watching movies. I was pretty close to buying one of this before I asked the important question: Why in the heck do I need one of these?

Please note that this tablet is stuck to Android 2.2 only and will not be upgradable to the 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It will probably not be an issue since most apps work with 2.2 and you said she would be primarily just surfing the internet.
 
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You really don't want one of those no-name chinese tablets... They are great on paper but horrible in practice. The Kindle Fire is a very good product and will be well supported in the ROM community, if that's your thing.
 
Peteman100 said:
You really don't want one of those no-name chinese tablets... They are great on paper but horrible in practice. The Kindle Fire is a very good product and will be well supported in the ROM community, if that's your thing.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. There are only a handful of tablets I would recommend, and Chinese knockoffs never make the list.

iPad 1/2
Samsung Galaxy Tabs
Xoom
Nook
Fire

If web browsing is the turning point, I'd personally get the Fire over the iPad 1. It just doesn't have enough RAM in my opinion. I love my first gen iPad...but I like my Dad's iPad 2 just that much more. I'll probably be picking up the iPad 3 whenever it drops.

I have a Touchpad, and it almost never gets turned on. I'm just waiting for Android 4.0 to get ported over.

My .02
 
Peteman100 said:
You really don't want one of those no-name chinese tablets... They are great on paper but horrible in practice. The Kindle Fire is a very good product and will be well supported in the ROM community, if that's your thing.
Click to expand...


Wow...talk about painting with a broad bush...have you used either le pan? There seem to be plenty of people who actually have used one of them and the reviews are good. And with Amazon, if the thing does turn out to be a lemon you can return it.

It only takes a few second to learn up on products, rather than making blanket assumptions:

http://www.youtube.com/results?sear...421l1289l0l1581l6l5l0l0l0l0l265l793l2.2.1l5l0
 
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I read Le Pan also has US based customer phone support. That is getting rarer nowadays.
 
Le Pan TC970 has a 1Ghz A8 the KF will walk all over it. I suggest KF > Le Pan at the same price.
 
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