Buying a Tablet

The Apple iPad 2 is what most people think of today when they consider a tablet and for good reason.  Whether it’s price, performance, battery life, size, or the number of apps available, it leaves the competition (RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook, the Motorola Xoom, among others) in the dust.  For many, the question is, which iPad should I buy.  There are essentially two versions, with and without 3G mobile broadband, two colors (white and black) and each version has a choice of storage (16, 32, or 64 GB).  Prices range from $499 to $829.  If you are a BlackBerry user or you need Flash, you might want to consider the PlayBook, but the jury is still out on it.  The Motorola Xoom, despite promises of Verizon 4G broadband and the new Android Honeycomb operating system, doesn’t support Flash and, at $799 ($599 with a two-year contract), cost significantly more than the iPad. The PlayBook starts at $499.  T-Mobile’s new G-Slate, which also runs the Honeycomb operating system, costs $749 ($599 with a two-year contract).

Buying a Laptop

Choosing a laptop is still a very personal decision.  Try the keyboard and display before making your purchase and make sure you are happy with the pointing device (a few laptops such as Lenovo’s ThinkPads have the eraser-head in the center of the keyboard; many others have a touchpad below the keyboard).

Apple laptops are still far more expensive than their Windows equivalents when similarly specced out.  Expect to pay between $500 to $1000 for a Windows 7 machine with 4 GB of RAM and a decent (250 or 320 GB) hard drive.  Battery life will vary tremendously. The cheapest MacBook costs $999; this model promises battery life of seven hours, and has excellent graphics and a multitouch trackpad that supports tablet-like gestures.  You can run Windows software on a Mac using software designed to make the Mac think it’s a Windows machine.

The ThinkPad T-Series line, which is considered by many (including us) to be the gold standard in Windows 7 machines, starts at $799. The ThinkPad T410s has a multitouch trackpad and is available starting at $1250 from a variety of retailers.

When speccing out a Windows 7 PC, look for an HDMI port and a good graphics processor (so that graphics are offloaded to this chip, speeding up the overall user experience), The fastest chips from Intel are the i3, i5, and i7 Core, which should be in newer models by now.

Despite the fact that many new products being introduced on what seems like a daily basis, there’s never been a better time to buy a new computer.  If your current laptop seems to meet your needs, but you want something new and more portable, consider a tablet – but don’t get rid of the laptop.  As soon as you have to type out more than a sentence on the tablet, you’ll know why.

Chart: Tablet v. Laptop: What Works Better When?

(1)  Lack of Flash support on iPad limits it here.

(2)  Longer battery life for tablets makes them great flight companions but those who must type more than a few words will want a real keyboard.

–Paul Riegler is Technology Editor of Executive Road Warrior.

RELATED ARTICLES

• 8 Reasons Why I Sold my iPad and Bought a MacBook Air
• Safe Computing Tips
• Apple iPad: The End of Tablets As We Know Them?
• Apple iPad 2 Review
• Thin-Pad – The Lenovo ThinkPad X300

Pages: 1 2