Follow-up: And yes, I know that Samsung etc is an “Asian tablet”… but it’s a quality Asian tablet. I’m talking avoiding the “amazing stats” $100 clunkers that aren’t so amazing after all.
Okay, I’ll leave the first comment. Even a serious one.
I’ve checked out several tablets on the market. The quality tablets I’ve found, from cheapest to most expensive:
Amazon Fire 10 or 11, 128 gig. (You definitely want the higher memory on all tablets.) This is great for people who love Amazon ‘cos it’s got Amazon-specific things on it. It’s powerful, reliable, and Amazon has a bend-over-backward support policy ’cos they really want people to buy these. It will do pretty much anything a standard Android will do (there IS Android hidden under all that stuff), and you can download a Google Store APK that brings it right up to snuff. Now has a high-rez drawing pen available on the 11.
Samsung. You will need the 128 gig because they stuff this thing with Samsung-specific apps (of questionable use— why do they FORCE “kid” apps on Adults— and can’t get rid of them?). That said, its quality, fast, reasonably priced and some models come with a high-rez drawing pen.
Apple i-Pad. Undeniably hands-down the best hardward on the market. Super-fast, reliable, great screen and speakers. For people who love Apple. Those who hate Apple will need to stick with the other two tablets, because this is definitely a “do things our way” tablet. Plan on paying for everything. But they cut no corners. The best screen best RAM, best CPU, best everything. The drawing pen costs, but it’s an excellent pen. And chances are you’ll find you didn’t need to draw on a tablet as much as you imagined.
Quality costs, but then there’s Black Friday sales… ;D
Okay, probably more than you wanted to know about tablets. Avoid Asian tablets. Cheap batteries that wear out. They get very hot. Lousy slow RAM. Terrible screens. One to two years life, max. “Poor quality is remembered long after low cost is forgotten.”
I have to admit I am astounded at marketing. There are some things I would have never even imagined: such as charging $5 for a cup of coffee (agreed fancy coffee, but still)…
There’s a virtual computer world that charges over US$200 a month for a piece of virtual grass the size of a postage stamp. (Okay, hyperbole, but you get the idea.) That people would pay this is astounding to me. I understand the principles behind it. I know that people run businesses there and have social groups and create 3-D objects on that virtual grass but still…
I guess it’s no crazier than paying $70,000 for a pickup truck or $1 million+ for a house. Still, I can’t help but be astounded at how much people will pay for things.
On the other hand, computer prices have gone way down. I just bought a 1 TB solid state drive for $60 and a 12 gig high-level graphics card for $280. If car prices had gone the way of computer prices since 1980, we could buy that pickup truck for 5 grand. Go figure.
My smart phone (which in truth is a micro-computer with phone circuitry built in) is 2,000 times more powerful than a Cray supercomputer from the 70s (which sold for almost US 9 million).
Yeah, never have figured out marketing. The same people who complain about the cost of a box of cereal will pay that same price for one cup of coffee. Go figure.
Of course, a box of cereal doesn’t light up your neurons like an airport runway…
Follow-up: And yes, I know that Samsung etc is an “Asian tablet”… but it’s a quality Asian tablet. I’m talking avoiding the “amazing stats” $100 clunkers that aren’t so amazing after all.