I would suggest that to some degree you get what you pay for and good hardware is expensive. I would also suggest being suspicious of any deal that appears too good to be true or buying from companies you never heard of. Those companies may not even be in business 6 months from now and in the case of China, where the discussion is not about the latest, greatest device but who makes the best knock-off of the latest, greatest device, to be even more careful. You might even want to think about how you feel about intellectual property theft. These no-name companies are often relying on others to do the R&D and simply copying the design. Frankly, some do it better than others. While you're reading reviews, you might want to make sure you are including some professional reviews from leading publications or reputable web sites. More than a few folks "rationalize" the purchase of mediocre equipment by downplaying deficiencies as a trade-off for a lower price. The simple fact is a lower resolution screen is a lower resolution screen and that cheap device with inferior hardware will never be an iPad or Xoom. Maybe off a little but kind of like saying a Chevy is just as good as a Cadillac and justifying it by thinking you never really wanted leather seats anyway.

Thanks everyone. The more I learn the more uncertain I am. The Asus' sound good - and I know Raven loves hers - but when I look at the negative reviews (on varous sites), there seems to be significant quality control issues. Lots of lemons - and defects - and terrible cusotmer service. There's enough of that type of review that I hesitate to buy an Asus tablet. I saw a google nexus 10. I prefer it to have a microsd card slot - not have fixed storage like an ipad. It also just did not feel or look good to me. Genes - you may be right about not finding that kind of battery life for video play. I thought that ipads were (at least older generations) got 9-10 hours of video play. On the one hand, i would expect video to be one of the biggest battery drains. But perhaps surfing the web - downloading content, etc also consumes battery life. Urlee - I interpreted that quote about really killing the tablet - and what battery life it gets - to suggest that even using it to the max - he gets 6 hours - and thinks "regular?" use could get 10 hours. Of course, we don't know what "regular is". That kind of leaves the Samsung tablets - either galaxy tab 10.1 - or Note. The actual pen aspect of the note doesn't do anything for me (maybe I'd wind up loving it - but it's not on my list of desireable features). I just saw a refurbished note at Best Buy for about $330 (something like that - I had a small credit - and there was tax). 500-600. They're often closer to $So I decided to order it and give it a try. It's supposed to be fast - 2GB ram - with ICS. I have not seen one in person. This has just 16GB on board storage - but with a micro sd slot, that doesn't matter since I can add 64GB more. For some reason, this Note doesn't excite me in theory the way the Asus tablets did. But the relatively large number of complaints (and consistent complaints) on Asus have made me pause. Mike - I am aware that many international flights have power ports. But we have not been that lucky in our last international flights. These flights have been booked through an educational tour group - and therefore the airline has been very reluctant to give us any information. I know we're in a Boeing 777. But from Seat Guru it looks like there are 5 different versions. And the one that looks closest to the seating chart on Delta's website - does not have power ports in economy. One seating chart looked like it might. Another suggested just ipod/iphone charging in economy - no tablets or laptops. But none of the charts on seat guru quite match what's on Delta. If there were power ports, that would make this easy. But my experience is, don't count on power ports. First - they may not be in economy. And if they are, they may not be at every seat. And even if they're there, doesn't mean they're working. (Heck - 2 of the last 4 domestic flights I took - the readling light for my seat was not working - and the flights were full - no reading for me (this was before i had the Nook). If I could really count on power ports that work - I'd just bring my nook tablet for now. But it's been acting up in terms of battery drain lately - and I don't want to risk this as my only entertainment. I'll keep everyone posted. Thanks. Lynn.

It would depend on what tablet you were going to purchase for some of the info and what size it would be. I would not do it with a 7" or 10" tablet just too small in my opinion. but yes you can add a keyboard and mouse to a tablet or at least many of them, you would have to make certain they have multiple usb ports for that. The keyboards on the tablets can be awkward to use for any extended time. I do not think that netbooks will go away, they have newer models coming out with more stout processors in them and many now run windows 7. I have an acer netbook one of the first ones so mine is a little smaller than the ones out now, I love it but would not want it for my only computer, I use a usb mouse with it because I hate touchpads. Netbooks have no cd or dvd drive and neither do tablets so you have to use usb flash drives or have an external usb cd or dvd drive to plug in should you need to. Printing can be done if you have a printer that is networked, plugged into your router or you can use it by usb plugged into the tablet or netbook. If you have to install software for the printer that would have to be done either by download from their website or by usb flash drive or as I said a usb stand alone cd or dvd drive. I have not installed printer software on a netbook or tablet so can not help with that, however I just got a new laser printer delivered today and I hope to network it so that my netbook will be able to use it and since I have a wireless router I should be able to use any wifi enabled device that can print to print to it. If you really do not do much heavy work at all then you could probably get by. Again it would depend on the tablet. Do you have one in mind? Many of the bigger ones will cost you more than a laptop or netbook. Prices will of course drop on them since so many are now hitting the market. I love the looks of motorola zoom, and like the looks of the blackberry playbook also nice is the Acer Iconia, I prefer an Android based tablet myself, preferably one that is running the newest Android Honeycomb OS. but again I sure would not want a 7" or 10" main use tablet. I have the pandigital novel 7" tablet which I love and to me it is perfect for ereader use and I can do most of what I want to do on it including email, surf, music, pictures and video but would never think of using it for a primary device. Google's Android 3.0 Honeycomb for tablets: a guided tour of the UI some good youtube videos of systems with Android Honeycomb Android Honeycomb for some tablet options check out chinagrabber they have a ton of options. All of these have Android 2.2 Froyo which is the version prior to the new Honeycomb. Android 2.2 Apad Tablet PC

Katlan yes there is a time period of protection for them, I don't recall right off what it is. You can also purchase the square trade 1 year protection plan for it. If you click on one of the tablets, I clicked on the red Asus, you can read more about it and will see the offer by square trade. I see that one also comes with a 90 day warranty from Asus. They have good support. When I bought my first tablet I thought it would be just a new plaything. Now today with the tablet I have, I would be very upset if I didn't have it. I use it every single day and night. I find I am rarely on my computers. Which for me is great. At my computer I am in my wheelchair, using my tablet I can be extremely comfortable in my recliner, couch, chairs, bed. So I love that aspect too, it easily goes anywhere. And unlike my laptop I don't have to worry about it over heating and keeping the vents on the bottom open by using a flat surface. A tablet doesn't have those issues. I thought it would be a plaything, but it has become a very integral important part of my life. About the funny things that are on woot, you just have to know woot, they have always been silly like that, but I order from them often and never been disappointed. To really find out the information on the item click on it and then you see the real specs and information.