At this point, I would hesitate to go the netbook route. I think that the industry is about to turn to the Intel ‘Ultrabook’ platform in a big way.
I love my tablet and use it in conjunction with a small laptop, but if I had to choose one device I’d look long and hard at an ultrabook type machine - from Apple or others.
Those ultrabooks are $900 each. I’m sure they’re snazzy but I wouldn’t consider one if my budget was in the tablet/netbook range.
I have an iPad and I love it for surfing the net, reading the news, using apps and checking email. but for real ‘work’ like word processing or spreadsheet work, I’d go with a cheap laptop or netbook.
Are there any tablets that work with Hulu? Not Hulu Plus, just plain Hulu? I’m interested in a tablet, and the Asus Transformer looks right up my alley but it seems that you can’t watch Hulu vids on it even though it supports Flash? At least 40% of what I’d like to do with would be laying in bed watching shows on Hulu.
Hulu has gone out of its way to stop tablets from accessing their site due to licensing issues. I don’t know about iPad but they’ve blocked Android and WebOS tablets.
One answer could be to use a desktop streaming application like Splashtop. It lets you remotely view and control your desktop computer from your tablet. I’ve used it to watch Netflix on my Touchpad (since Netflix doesn’t support it) and it works great since your computer is doing all the work and you’re just getting the results streamed to your tablet. You just need to realize that you’re actually remotely using your computer so whatever you’re doing is being reflected on the desktop’s screen and coming out of its speakers.
On the plus side, you can use it to pretend that your computer is haunted.
There is a pretty nice toshiba for $399 at various outlets. Here is the New Egg link
TOSHIBA Satellite C655-S5339 Notebook Intel Pentium B950(2.10GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 320GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi Intel HD Graphics
Not sure what the weight and battery life are but that is a pretty good machine.
I’ve used a netbook quite a bit over the past 2 years. Keyboard is a little small. I’d spring a little extra for the Toshiba myself.
You’ll be a lot more productive with the Toshiba or even a netbook. pads are all about consumption and not real big on the creation side of the equation.
I’m a huge fan and advocate of tablets, but I have to say most tablets are useless for the above two tasks. Except if you buy a keyboard, but a tablet+keyboard is an awkward setup to manage. The ASUS Transformer is a nice tablet+keyboard setup, but it’s heavier than many netbooks.
A notable exception: There are several Android tablets with electromagnetic digitizers. These are fantastic for taking handwritten notes. I think there are only three such models currently available: the HTC Flyer, HTC Jetstream and the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet. (And if you’re in Europe, also the Samsung Galaxy Note.)
I have an HTC Flyer and it’s absolutely fantastic for taking notes at meetings and conferences. Works great for many other tablet uses too, like reading e-mail, checking the news/weather, e-books, etc. But it’s still no good for word processing.
Thanks, good tip. I don’t actually have a functioning desktop, just a steadily faltering laptop but I will keep this in mind. Now I’m drooling over the Asus T101MT as it kind of looks like the best of both worlds for me - legit netbook but it has touchscreen and flippy-spinny screen to use it like a tablet. Now I just have to see if anywhere local carries it so I can play with it before I buy. If I can’t find one in a store I make take a chance on it through Amazon sight unseen since I gather they have a pretty good return policy.