What computer tablet should i buy?

[Ansel]

I'm very interested in buying a tablet like an iPad... but i'm worried that if i get an iPad the spec might restrict me a bit. My next option would probably be the Samsung Galaxy 10.1" 32GB. I'd need to have about 500GB of files backed up on an external harddrive and accessible from the tablet. What do you think? Thanks :-)

[lxskllr]

Why a tablet? Tablets are good consumption devices, but not as good for creation. They have their place, but are a real luxury in the computer world due to the restricted design. If it were me, I'd buy a netbook/ultrabook, and pare it with a bottom end 7" Android tablet. The regular computer will allow real work, and the small tablet can be used as an Ereader, and is very portable. With the tablet, you won't be able to do Ipad stuff, but you can read books, and get online in a cheap package. If it gets lost, broken, or stolen, it isn't a huge tragedy. You can comfortably say "Oh, well" and buy another one.

[Ansel]

Hmm, well i was thinking tablet as i don't really need to use much in the way of software other than web browsers. It's to take travelling... and tablets although over-priced they do seem quite sexy.

[lxskllr]

That's a good use case for a tablet. If you do most things in a browser, a tablet will fill that function, and take minimal space. Others would give a better recommendation I think. I'm against Apple for philosophical reasons, and don't really keep up with the higher end tablets due to my reasons above. If you're technically oriented, I would look for a hackable tablet that will let you customize more. Apple provides a lovely package, but you get what you get, and do what you're told. Some(not all) Android tablets have more flexibility, with fewer/easier to hack around restrictions.

[Ansel]

Is Android any good as an operating system?

[lxskllr]

Android is an excellent system. The issue with buying Android is your experience is very hardware dependent. It can be put on almost anything, and manufacturers do. It's on glorified Ebook readerss with crappy hardware(what I own) up to hardware that can compete with an Ipad. Apple ensures a consistent, if inflexible experience since they control every aspect from hardware to software. An Android experience will be highly variable depending on exactly what you buy.

[Ansel]

thanks LX :-)

[Ansel]

you can't view Flash websites on an iPad though, right? is that a big problem?

[Bridges31]

you can't view Flash websites on an iPad though, right? is that a big problem?

That was my first thought when I went to buy one. I thought it was going to be a big issue, but decided to buy the ipad 3 anyways. I've had it for almost 2 months now and couldn't be happier with it.

I can only think of a couple of instances where I wished I had flash and it hasn't been an issue. I use it mainly for web browsing and the netflix app.

A lot of sites are moving away from flash design and using a different format (html5? or something like that) which is supported with the ipad.

[Reynard]

iPad is the way to go

[whalen]

Get a 7 inch Samsung Tab 2. Cheap and does the job.

[Ansel]

Get a 7 inch Samsung Tab 2. Cheap and does the job.

Looks pretty good.

Sold on an iPad too if i can get my stuff together.

Cheers guys.

[devilock76]

No flash sites won't work, well you could jailbreak your ipad but that is out of scope.

You probably need to try out a tablet first to determine if it is for you and what you like. I echo a lot of LX's comments though on the subject.

Ken

[Crow]

If you can wait until October, you can get the new Microsoft Surface.

[Ansel]

Microsoft *iss me off Seattleite. Don't ask me why... they just do.