Best tablet on a budget?

[Jeepers]

i bought my wife a Kindle Fire for X-mas just waiting till after i give it to her to root it and turn it into something like this ....

[ljgrasso]

+1 on Nook Color

[zfields]

I had a nook color and rooted it. Flashed it back to stock and returned it a week later. Was far to slow to work for me.

[thy95]

If I were u I would get the acer iconia a100 from bestbuy.com. it only 259 and it is a full feature android tablet. To me that the best bang for your buck. I got mine on thanksgiving morning for 189. It a very cool 7" tablet hdmi, camera front back, gps, tegra 2 dou core, 1g ram etc...

[only10x]

Im in a similar situation. I got to play with the Kindle Fire at Sam's Club last week and really like it. Dont need it for a gift so im going to wait it out.

[Cokebottle]

Bought my wife a Nook Tablet.

16gb vs 8gb, problem is on either one there's only 1 gig available for non-B&N content, but it will accept a 32g SD card (I got her 16g, that's more than enough for her for a long time).

The main drawback to rooting the Nook is that you will no longer be able to get free WiFi at B&N, since their system will see it as simply another Droid rather than a B&N product.

In looking at the reviews that compare the Fire to the Nook Tablet, the Nook consistently comes out ahead in pretty much all areas except for it's clunky email handler, and the aforementioned need to add memory to be able to load more than 1gb of non-B&N content... but with the Nook you CAN add memory.

[jmlivingston]

Lots of tablets around $300 right now. Go check out a Best Buy as they carry quite a few, saw the Toshiba Thrive there for $299 a couple days ago. I have an Acer A500 (the 10" screen vs the 7" A100 mentioned above) and like it, but I'd probably go for the Asus Transformer if I were to do it again, the keyboard dock that turns it into a laptop for $150 is just too cool.

[NinetyEight740]

my wife loves her kindle fire, I havent had much time to play with it cause she never wants to put it down, but from the couple of times i have used it, i liked it

[Johnpush]

In terms of migrating your usage to a best android tablet from a pc environment, if your usage is quite lite and nothing overly fancy, an iPad or an Android tablet should suit you fine. The caveat being that you simply cannot do everything you would do on a computer, on a tablet. Tablets are meant for consumption, not productivity and in this sense, they shine. Their portability for reading and checking email and browsing are excellent. Beyond that, while they can be customized with apps to make them more productivity-efficient, not all consumers will wish to do this. Some people do just want plug and play.

[sd_shooter]

Another vote for the Nook Color! I rooted it myself and installed CM7 and now it's a full Android tablet. Great screen, great battery life, perfect for surfing the web at random times.

If you're not a geek, get the flash card with Android pre-installed and pop it in.

I got mine factory refurbished from ebay for $150. During thanksgiving they were just $99!

Here's one for $99 and returns accepted within 7 days:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOOK-Color-Barnes-Noble-Wi-Fi-eReader-Open-Box-Bought-Direct-BN-/120867804860?pt=US_Tablet_Accessories&hash=item1c244856bc

[Wherryj]

Lots of tablets around $300 right now. Go check out a Best Buy as they carry quite a few, saw the Toshiba Thrive there for $299 a couple days ago. I have an Acer A500 (the 10" screen vs the 7" A100 mentioned above) and like it, but I'd probably go for the Asus Transformer if I were to do it again, the keyboard dock that turns it into a laptop for $150 is just too cool.

My wife has the Thrive. She loves it. It is quite a bit thicker than the iPad, but has a longer lasting user replaceable battery, every possible input option (SD card slot, USB, etc.).

[pmoradi2002]

iPad is over priced and behind in technology.

There are tons of tablets that will rape the iPad, not to mention open source.

I am 100% against Apple as they con their customers. You are paying for branding. I will not argue with anybody on this as I will destroy you.

Asus Transformer Prime
Samsung Tab
Motorola XOOM
Motorola XYBOARD
Galaxy Tab

Asus is making a $199 tab
There will be a Nexus tab for $149

[freonr22]

Typing on an iPad 2.. My droid htc resound phone can do more than my iPad, but that's not practical. Pmoradi,why r u mad?

[stix213]

I like my Kindle Fire for casual web surfing, youtube, and netflix. Its no ipad, but its also down near 1/3 the price.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Yes I like my iPad as well. Pmoradi needs to relax. Nobody is getting destroyed here. I have a droid x2 phone and when it is done I'm going back to an iPhone.

I always find the anti-Apple venom curious and laughable. Yes they are overpriced, but the market seems to bear the price points quite well... who can argue with that?