Holiday Tablets

Almost all of the vendor fall 2013 tablet announcements are complete, with the exception of Apple (expected to announce 10/22 & ship 11/1).

While tablets are fine for casual, light typing, even tho you can use a keyboard with a tablet, do NOT expect (yet) a tablet w/keyboard to fully replace a laptop, especially if you use it for creating information (Word, Excel, Powerpoint).
1) There's no mouse equivalent on a smartphone or tablet
2) Fat fingers on a small touchscreen device can't match the precision of a mouse pointer on a PC/Laptop/Mac
3) There's a reason programs on a smartphone or tablet are called "apps" not "applications" or "programs" (think lightweight!)
4) Full-blown applications (such as Microsoft Office) are still not available for Android & iOS devices

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_tablet_computers

This attached link shows us that competition has produced fine technology from a variety of vendors, but "feeds and speeds" don't tell the whole story, such as how many "compromises does a $59 7" (or $129 10") no-name tablet have ?  Make your own prioritized list of how you'd like to use a tablet:
a) Email & Internet (including Facebook, browsing, etc)
b) Video conferencing (Skype, Facetime) with friends
c) Reading books (you don't need an Amazon Kindle tablet in order to read Kindle books)
d) Streaming internet movies & TV shows (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, Comcast/xFinity, HBO, etc)
e) Replacing a camera for taking pictures / video (beware, those around you will hate the distraction, especially when you raise up your tablet to expose the camera lens!)

As it'll be easy to get confused and lost, browsing among this year's Tablet offerings, here are some considerations:
1) Beware no-name items which are really cheap; 7" tablet (2013 models) range $139-$229.
2) Avoid display resolutions lower than 1024x768, RAM less than 512MB, storage less than 8GB; check attached table and READ REVIEWS!
3) Already have or are considering an iPhone?  Get an iPad or iPad Mini because they can share iOS apps, and device configuration & use is similar.
4) NOT the same advice for Android; due to 'vendor fragmentation' and product differentiation.  This reminds me of PC fragmentation 30 years ago among IBM-compatible vendors -- many of whom did not survive!).

PS - Ignore Microsoft's witty commercials about Surface vs iPad, they're just closing out last year's Windows RT model which didn't sell!

As always, contact Professional Nerds (1.877.468.3737) if you have any questions.