[eckyptang]

I know this is purely anecdotal, but everyone I've seen recently who has bought a tablet, bought a laptop within 6 months or switched back to their old laptop and got rid of it.

I'm still not convinced by the tablet hype. The star trek wow factor wears off pretty quick for most people.

A $99 tablet may change that (temporarily as it's almost impulse buy pricing), but I'm not sure something of that price will have anything groundbreaking to add.

[levesque]

For me, the tablet clearly does not replace a laptop for serious emailing and browsing. However, it's perfect as a window to the internets. I read my RSS feeds on it, check my facebook, browse some hacker news (although I still find clients lacking). That's about all I do with it, but that sums up to a good 1-2 hours per day so I would hardly call it a waste.

[eckyptang]

I don't have any feeds or Facebook. That was a far better solution if you ask me.

[levesque]

This is silly, you are telling me that my way of living sucks and I should change it.

I enjoy this stuff, reading articles, stories. I don't read news papers or magazines, this is how I get my information and news.

[eckyptang]

Not at all. I'm saying that it works for me versus buying another device to consume with. To me it doesn't matter what the medium is - it's still the same thing.

[glhaynes]

Literally nobody cares that you don't have the same desires as they do.

[eckyptang]

And likewise nobody cares that you disagree with me, including me.

It's an opinion. Chill.

[bergie]

I've found a tablet to be handy for maintaining work-life balance.

My laptop is the "work device", and I do not open it at home except if I actually need to do work. The tablet (currently Nexus 7) in the other hand is the "browsing device" that I use for reading stuff, social networking, etc. while at home or travelling.

I've been using internet tablets ever since the early Maemo days of 2006, and that has probably given me time to get used to the idea and integrate it in my daily routines.

[jimhefferon]

> everyone I've seen recently who has bought a tablet, bought a laptop within 6 months

Yes, my wife got an IPad from work and after the initial excitement, at least around my house, the "I" proves to stand for "IMDB", which is its main use.

[stephengillie]

...or switched back to their old one...

Switched back to their old what? Tablet? So these are tablet owners who bought another tablet, didn't like the new one, and went back to their old one?

Edit: Oh, so everyone who has tried a tablet went to a laptop, either an old laptop or a new one. Thanks for clarifying :)

[eckyptang]

Clarified - thanks :)

[debacle]

They're fun. I can code on them so long as I don't mind waiting a long time for the compiler to run, and I find the screens are easier on the eyes in the dark.

But I'd never try and use one to do my job.

[6ren]

Not yet - but x2 in power annually, how long til they're fast enough?

[eckyptang]

That's irrelevant. I used to work quite happily on a 25MHz ARM machine years ago (Acorn A5000).

The issue is that the environment and model are entirely unsuitable for software development.

[watty]

Completely. I want to use my tablet but always end up using my laptop on the couch or desk. The only times I prefer a tablet would be on an airplane or in bed.

[kyriakos]

same here! it replaced bed reading material.

[stephenhuey]

I like the iPad but I have never owned a tablet. However, if I had one laying around I think I'd make use of it for lots of online reading if nothing more.

There's a dev I know in Houston who has been charging lawyer rates for years to train corporate teams in iOS development. Perhaps some of those gigs are triggered by a C-level guy getting excited by the Star Trek wow factor and wanting the IT department to build lots of dashboard UIs for his shiny new tablet, but I really do think there are lots of such dashboard use cases for employees at all levels of an organization and a tablet makes more sense for many of these employees to use for a lot of their job functions.

[veesahni]

I think a $99 tablet could open access to new markets.. for example, those who don't care to replace their laptop with a tablet but wouldn't mind one sitting around in their family room and/or kitchen for quick browsing on a bigger screen than a phone.

[webwanderings]

Tablets should eventually be sold for $0 with advertising attached. They are entertainment devices and not really a serious machines like laptop or desktop for any productivity work. If we were not willing to attach telephones to our hips, I believe tablets would have been the only device we had bought in addition to computers.

[Toshio]

Remember tablets are still not a mass market phenomenon, despite record sales of iPads. Sub $100 pricing might just be what the doctor ordered. I'm rooting for either Google's new Nexus or Apple's new iPad mini to saturate the low end.

[iLock]

look up on ebay. Many tablets under 100 are available with decent specs. Availability of low priced tablets is not what is keeping the market from exploding. It's the utility.

[matwood]

look up on ebay. Many tablets under 100 are available with decent specs. Availability of low priced tablets is not what is keeping the market from exploding. It's the utility.

There's plenty of utility in a tablet. The problem with the current low cost ones is they suck as devices. The N7 is the first relatively low cost device to change that (plus having JB). A $99 N7 would basically take off.

[ljf]

True, but 'the average buyer' is wary of buying these tablets - some might be good, but there are also a lot of bad ones, with batteries that only last 2 to 4 hours tops and drop off over weeks of use, and and no simple way to return one for repair or replacement without forking out to send back to China etc.

If it's from a well known brands I am SURE they would do a lot better - heck even Binatone (and low rate cordless phone manufacturer) was able to shift a good number of their android 'ebook reader' (I got one for £30 from ebay, OK for reading books on the tube, not for much else).

So once someone like Google, Asus or Samsung sell a well made unit that stands up to the test of daily family use, then these things ae going to fly.

99% of what I do at home with a laptop (or ipod touch) is basic consumption. These will be a welcome replacement for many users.

[Goronmon]

I don't see most consumers being interested in buying their electronics from eBay.