Help me buy a tablet!

[Deucer]

I got the GF a Kindle Fire for Christmas. She really likes it, but isn't any sort of power user.

I've use an iPad before. It's awesome.

I'm getting an iPad for myself.

[JDay]

For a little bit more than $300 you can buy a refurbished Motorola Xoom. That would be your best bet and people already have the new Android (Ice Cream Sandwich) running on it.

[rplusplus]

I will add this to try an help OP...

I don't drink the Apple Kool Aid... but I do love thier products. I own many Ipods and had the first gen Iphone.

But will say this having used both the Iconia Android Tablet and the Ipad...

I would recommend the Ipad to a person who just likes to open a box and have an awesome product and it works no questions asked with great support but at a $500 and up price tag (this is what I recommended form my mother who is techincally challenged).

I would recommend the Iconia A500 (comes with the newer Honeycomb) as oppsed to other android tablets for the person who wants a good tablet but wants to save a few bucks and it is comparable to the Ipad.

I lastly recommend to stay away from the Cheaper Androids (read the reviews about them first) as a lot of them has a LOT of issues the largest being not being able to access the Android Market Directly! BIG ONE!

Also... After getting the table I only use my home computer about Half as much for browsing at home.

[Dark Paladin]

I lastly recommend to stay away from the Cheaper Androids (read the reviews about them first) as a lot of them has a LOT of issues the largest being not being able to access the Android Market Directly! BIG ONE!

I took that into consideration also. . . I pretty much passed over any Android tablet that doesn't come with Marketplace preloaded or is running 2.2 or older.

Note: You can load Marketplace onto tablets that don't have it pre-installed. . . it just requires some extra legwork and elbow grease. . .

[damndave]

Thanks for all of the input! There are so many Android tablets out there. I think I decided to stretch my budget up a little. Right now I am really considering the ACER A500. Some of the key points I see are....1gb ram, 16gb storage + expandable to 32gb, usb ports, hdmi, pre-loaded with Android Honeycomb, NVIDIA Tegra 2 Dual Core processor.

At $338 it looks like the best deal.

[esskay]

BTW for those considering iPads, don't forget that there's increasing chatter about a new iPad 3 coming in the first half of 2012.

[10RNDr]

Any thoughts on buying the Toshiba Thrive? Haven't pulled the trigger on one but have been considering it. Like the replaceable battery feature.

[tba02]

I have a Galaxy TAB and love it, but it sounds like an Asus EEE Transformer would suit you well.

[SoCal007]

I have an Asus Transformer it works great. Lots of power and lots of apps. Gps works great also.

[johnclark]

how about amazon kindle? the price is cheaper than iPad and the function is mostly the same with iPad....

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Color-Multi-touch-Display-Wi-Fi/dp/B0051VVOB2/

[HeHateMe]

I know it's a little past budget, but I got the wife a ASUS Transformer Prime for xmas. Thing is super fast, no slow downs, transitions are quick graphics are great. So far so good. Waiting for the ice cream sandwich upgrade .

[Intimid8tor]

On Black Friday I bought a 16gb Asus transformer for $249 and after that I bought an 8GB Acer Iconia for $229.

I think the Iconia's touch screen is better than the asus. Both are good.

You should see prices in that area for 16GB units since next gens are coming out. The Asus transformer prime just started shipping which is the new transformer. This should keep prices down on the transformers.

I would go with an android based tablet that will be able to run android ICS 4.

[rero360]

I got the Toshiba Thrive for Christmas, loving it so far. got the 8 gig version.

[NiteQwill]

• Galaxy Tab 10.1 (or smaller)
  
• Kindle Fire + Root + Cyanogenmod = best bang for your buck
  
• Asus Transformer

I love Apple products (I own 5+) but the ability to have access to a HUGE DEV SUPPORT (xdadevelopers, for example) on the Android system is amazing.

When we showed off what my gf's rooted Kindle Fire can do at a recent family get-together, everyone with their new iPads were bugged eyed.

[IGOTDIRT4U]

Any thoughts on buying the Toshiba Thrive? Haven't pulled the trigger on one but have been considering it. Like the replaceable battery feature.

I was going to mention that. Most of the Droid tabs don't have near the battery life of an iPad.

I got an iPad II with Verizon 3G and WiFi for Christmas (thanks honey!). Other than my iPod Classic and Shuffle, this is my first Apple computing experience and I really like it.