Tablet PC's

[Nate]

So I'm thinking about buying a Tablet PC for while I'm travelling, good for keeping connected and also pretty useful in finding places. It seems a lot of Hostels nowadays have free wifi for a limited time or just free. The issue I'm coming across though is, cost vs use. The more things they can do the more they cost obviously, but the more they cost the bigger the target and the less likely chance of being covered by insurance.

I've had a little play with the Asus EEE and was quite happy with it, I like the ability to add a qwerty keyboard to it although I'm not sure I'd find that necessary. I also had a little go with the Apple Ipad 2 and I have had a few Apple products in the past, been happy with them but not with the cost and more recently fucked up my iPod Touch 4g which seems impossible to get repaired.

With the EEE I really like the fact I can use it to do skype with the front camera which family here can use to keep in touch, the 5 mega pixel camera on the back sounds good for getting some nice snaps in the places I'm going and the fact it's cheaper then the Ipad. The Samsung Galaxy looks pretty nice aswell.

Or there is this cheaper option The Storage Options Scroll 8 which is half the price of all of the above and does a little less, I'd have to buy a camera if I had this.

Have any of you guys got tablet pc's? Like/dislike? Views on others I didn't mention/the ones I did?

 

[Zenith.UK]

I'm thinking along the same lines for a simple video player with internet browsing capability.
This one has caught my eye for a balance of size, features and price.
7inch Android 2.1 Touch Tablet II Free Delivery : Touch Tablets PDA : Maplin
£130 and someone has come up with a way to upgrade it to Froyo (which means it's possible to upgrade to Gingerbread if/when someone is committed enough to do it).
Apad710 Custom Froyo ROM - SlateDroid.com

This one however is the one I'm looking at with serious interest (£130)...
Elonex eTouch 10ins Portable Media Tablet - Web, Movies, Music 10gb storage | Tablets and eBooks | ASDA direct
It is possible to upgrade this one (officially) to Froyo.
Elonex :: Support

 

[Ch3tan]

For your needs (Nate), wouldn't netbook be better value?

 

[inactionman]

Got an Asus Transformer on pre-order, looks to be the best of the current/near future tablets. But yes it sounds like a netbook may represent a better deal for you Nate.

 

[Nate]

Yeah I guess so, I was trying to be hip and get the new fad

I'll have to buy a camera then

 

[Nate]

Are there any netbooks you guys can recommend? I've had a google and these 2 look pretty good for the price:

Acer Aspire ONE D255-2DQkk - Atom 1.66 GHz - 10.1″ - 1 GB Ram - 250 GB HDD
ASUS Eee PC 1005P Seashell - Atom 1.66 GHz - 10.1″ - 1 GB Ram - 160 GB HDD

 

[Nate]

Actually, the Acer looks like a much better buy. Pretty much exactly the same specs, bigger hd, better camera, cheaper but lasts 3 hours less on battery.

 

[Wij]

My Aspire One is dying badly :/

 

[Nate]

How long have you had it?

That's a shame really, was really looking promising. There's a newer model which doesn't have dual boot on it, but has dual core.

 

[Zenith.UK]

My daughter has an Asus EEE PC 1001MA, very similar to the 1005P you mentioned. She's had nothing but problems with the power connector, blown 2 transformers and now the pin has come out of the socket. It's going to take about £40-£50 to get repaired at the local mobile phone shop. I'm not confident about the small soldering required to do it myself.

 

[Nate]

So what I'm seeing so far is that netbooks are shit Or are there better makes?

 

[Tuthmes]

So what I'm seeing so far is that netbooks are shit Or are there better makes?

^^.

 

[Wij]

How long have you had it?

That's a shame really, was really looking promising. There's a newer model which doesn't have dual boot on it, but has dual core.

2 and a half years.

 

[Tom]

Have you considered a rooted Nook Colour?

 

[Tilda]

If you want a net-book I can't recommend EEE-PC's enough. well made, sturdy and fantastic to use.

For tablets, I have a NotionInk - Adam, its from this company in India and runs android, the big thing about it is its huge connectivity, swivel camera (rotates from front to back) and that you can get one with a Pixel Qi screen.
It's already been modded to heck by the people at XDA so it gets constant updates. Although some of the reviews haven't been great, in this day and age its the hardware that is most important, as most of the android tablets you can mod and alter till you're happy with them anyway.

 

[Gahn]

This was the only tablet that really caught my attention lately (NotionInk apart)

Microsoft Store Online - EXOPC Slate - Buy from Microsoft Store

PROCESSOR
Intel Atom Pineview-M N450 1.66 GHz, L2 cache 512 KB/1.66 GHz
MEMORY
2 GB DDR2 667 MHz
HARD DRIVE SIZE
64 GB SSD P4
Memory card reader (SDHC), supports up to 32 GB cards
PORTS
2 USB 2.0
Headphone output
Microphone input
Mini-HDMI
BATTERY
Lithium-ion (4 hours)*
CAMERA
Integrated 1.3-megapixel webcam (fixed focus)

 

[Nate]

This one looks pretty nifty, it seems you can buy a 2gb stick of ram aswell for £17 does that stack with the 1gb already installed? Asus EeePC 1018P 10.1 inch netbook (Intel Atom N550 1.5GHz, 1Gb, 250Gb, WLAN, Webcam, BT, Win 7 Starter (Black)): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

 

[Nate]

Oh I've seen in a video now that it only has one slot.

 

[cHodAX]

This one however is the one I'm looking at with serious interest (£130)...
Elonex eTouch 10ins Portable Media Tablet - Web, Movies, Music 10gb storage | Tablets and eBooks | ASDA direct
It is possible to upgrade this one (officially) to Froyo.
Elonex :: Support

That is basically the 10inch version of the 7inch Disgo one I bought, currently waiting on the official 2.2 update which should improve performance dramatically and add proper flash support. As it stands though it is a handy little thing, web browsing works pretty well and media playback is excellent, it even plays my 1080p mkv samples.

 

[DaGaffer]

For netbooks you can't go wrong with Samsung. NB30 would be a good choice for travelling. Having said that, it depends what you want to use it for on your travels; I took a laptop because I was blogging, and frankly tablets didn't exist in the dark ages of 2007. If I was going now, I really would consider a tablet. My Galaxy Tab is already considered a failure compared to the iPad, but I use the thing every single day and I absolutely love it; ebooks, video (it plays mkv and avi files natively, unlike an iPad), games, and its good enough for a bit of productivity (I could blog with it now I have swype installed). Battery life isn't brilliant, but its better than a netbook. Because of Honeycomb coming out they're also a lot cheaper now.

 

[Nate]

The next thing is insurance for these things while over seas, it seems most companies won't go over £200 on valuables.

 

[Nate]

This insurance looks pretty good though, has additional premiums for valuables World Nomads - Keep Travelling Safely won awards aswell.