The bride and I have decided to buy a tablet for us for Christmas.
Ugly truth: we fell in love with SpellTower on her sister’s iPad and must have it.
Please recommend.
What do you want to do with the tablet? That’s really how you decide what you should get.
I use my iPad for media consumption - movies, music, some web browsing, some personal email, Kindle app. Games!
I use my Surface for web browsing, a few games, Kindle app, and business travel when I don’t want to cart my laptop with me. It allows me to do actual work, since I rely so heavily on Word, Excel and a full browser for web-based stuff.
As a full replacement for a laptop or desk top I’d never be happy with my iPad. I could possibly be happy with a Surface (Pro, NOT RT!) but I am not sure. Laptops are more comfortable for long-term use than my Surface.
She has a MacBook and I have 5 or 6 desktops, so mostly it will be for SpellTower and other tablet-based games, I expect. Light internet browsing, possibly the occasional ebook/eaudiobook.
I have the new Nexus 7 and it is pretty awesome.
Do you or your wife have a smartphone? Apps are generally sharable within their ecosystem so if you have an iPhone, you could use all your apps on the iPad (or Android for Android). This might immediately steer you in a specific direction.
My Blackberry is unlikely to figure into this decision significantly. 
The iPad is awesome.
What else do you need to know?
I love my iPad.
I’ve also dropped it numerous times, so that three of the four sides are cracked/shattered and taped over, and the screen has gouges and cracks on it, and it still works like a champ.
So if the missus is tough on her electronics, consider that.
I echo this. And its only $230.
I currently have a first-generation iPad and am considering replacing it. I’m going to get an iPad but am trying to decide between the iPad Air and the new iPad Mini. The argument I heard is that if you want the iPad to use away from the house, the Mini is more portable and easier to tote (almost pocket-sized).
Go to a store that lets you try them out. Things like the weight and the way it sits in your hands are important, perhaps more so than the specs. And a cheaper tablet isn’t a bargain if you don’t use it.
Really depends on what you use it for.
I have an iPad 3 that I bought for media consumption. I ride the bus about 30-35 minutes each way to work and watch a lot of movies and TV shows. Of course, the downside of that is that I’m not much of a pirate, so I’ve spent more than the price of the ipad over the last 20 months buying movies and tv shows.
Awesome for checking email/facebook/the weather wherever there is wifi (I didn’t buy the cellular version). I have Comcast, so away from home with wifi I can also watch live news or some TV shows and movies through their app. Demonstrated to my mother how she can use their ipad to watch CNN or Fox News even though they got rid of cable - using either my or my sister’s sign-ins that we were willing to let them use. And yes, mom, you can even do that in the middle of that Danube river cruise as long as the boat has wifi.
Although if/when the day comes that I have some money to burn, I’ll probably get a Nexus 7 just to play around with. After I get a bigger, newer iPad.
Anything smaller than an iPad seemed paltry and anything bigger seemed unwieldy so whatever ergonomic demographic the designers were aiming for, they hit me square in the face - so the choice was kind of easy for me. I was able to pick up a gently used ipad 4 off craigslist for $350.
I really think anything smaller than an ipad (mini or otherwise) would be terrible to watch netflix on and anything bigger would be too big to use effectively (type, play certain games, etc.).
I used to have an iPad 2, but I never used it because it was too heavy. I sold it and bought an iPad mini. It’s light enough to hold like a paperback. I loaded the Kindle, Kobo, Nook and of course it comes with iBooks. If you like to read, it lets you read ebooks from all the major suppliers.
The games on it are detailed enough that I don’t miss the big screen of the Ipad2. Working on Royal Envoy 2 now!
Well, there is the Playbook…
But you don’t really get the ecosystem advantage there. And there’s a pretty good chance you’d have to side load any games you’re interested in.
I use my Playbook for random web surfing, e-mail, and as a Kindle reader.
I’m looking at $50-$100 tablets like these.
Now, I don’t pretend they’re as robust or hardy as an iPad, but am looking for something for the kids (8 & 4). They use our iPad/iPhone primarily for educational apps and games like Minecraft and Angry Birds.
I notice the linked one (and others) use Android app store, so I’d imagine they’d have no problems with getting those and doing some light web surfing (YouTube, etc). I’ve seen them at places like Amazon, Wal-Mart and Best Buy, so it’s not like I’d get them in Chinatown and get a wooden block in a box.
Anyone have any experience with these?
Apps for Iphone are mostly not sharable on an iPad, there must be a specific tablet version of the app. This is not a requirement for Android since a phone app will scale, although the scaling may be a bit rough. Most Android apps are coming out with combo versions now though so that the scaling is taken into account.
The Nexus 7, current version, has s 1080p display with a resolution equal to that of an iPad.
Bob
This is not true. I haven’t found an iPhone app yet that I can’t use on my iPad. Oh, I’m sure they may exist, but they’re not common by any means.
That’s a nice iPad mini you have, Mrs. Wormer.
But, mine’s bigger.
You’d be surprised. I kitted my iPad out with a keyboard (which I consider essential), and now I rarely touch my MacBook. Short of serious research or producing work documents, the iPad is my go-to.