[corkybstewart]

All you tech savvy people, I need your help.  I need (want) a tablet but I really do not like Apple.  I've never owned an Apple product and don't want to start now, so what's my best choice.  I need it mostly for office work and wasting time on beer forums, I play no games so that doesn't matter to me.

[denny]

I'd never owned an Apple product, either, until I got an iPad.  I think it's fantastic.  There are a lot of great tablets out there, but you'll do yourself a disservice if you don't at least look at one.  For one thing, there are a lot more apps available for iPad than other tablets.

[thebigbaker]

Not sure why the dislike of Apple, but I would seriously give the iPads a look.  I've had several clients try several different Android and Windows tablets and they always end up getting an iPad to replace those tablets eventually.  When you say "office work," what kind of work are you talking about?  Depending on what work you want to do with it, I can recommend a tablet for you.  Any tablet will be able to "waste time" on the beer forums

[nateo]

I don't want to hijack the thread too much, but I'm trying to convince my wife she should get a tablet, but she'd need to use the Microsoft office suite. I know skydrive has some sweet office apps, but I think she'd rather have a native solution. Any thoughts?

[sparkleberry]

i have no need for a tablet, but i have bought two. one for my mom and one for my dad. they were both ipads. they work the way they should. they are easy to use. my dad has no technical savvy but was navigating the ipad in no time. office is coming soon i believe for the iOS. it's a little pricey but the great thing about apple is the software and hardware work very well together because they are designed to work well together. they execute a rock solid operating system. not telling you to get an ipad, just giving you my indirect experience. yes, i am an apple owner and bummed about some of the direction they are taking but i know their products will work, crash free.

[bluesman]

I'd never owned an Apple product, either, until I got an iPad.  I think it's fantastic.  There are a lot of great tablets out there, but you'll do yourself a disservice if you don't at least look at one.  For one thing, there are a lot more apps available for iPad than other tablets.

 I must say that I agree with Denny here. Give the Apple tablet a look see and decide for yourself. I bought the iPad 4 recently and it is amazing. I appreciate it more and more as I use it. In fact, I can't believe it took me this long to buy it. Five stars for the ipad 4!

[punatic]

Funny that all other tablets compare themselves to iPads.  iPads just keep on keepin' on.

I had the latest full size iPad (gen 4 - LOVE the retina display!), but it was too big for me, so I gave it to my son and got an iPad mini for myself.  I hear that there will be a mini with a retina display coming out this summer, or so.  Guess I'll have to give this mini to SWMBO and buy another one once the mini with retina comes out.

[grod]

I bought Mrs G an iPad last year because she liked her iPhone.  I dislike Apple stuff (just because) so I decided to buy myself a Samsung Glaxy Note 10.1 and I love it.  The Note also comes with a stick thingy that you can do stuff with but I'm yet to work that part out.

love

g

[denny]

I don't want to hijack the thread too much, but I'm trying to convince my wife she should get a tablet, but she'd need to use the Microsoft office suite. I know skydrive has some sweet office apps, but I think she'd rather have a native solution. Any thoughts?

I use an app called quickoffice.  Word, Excel, and I think PowerPoint.  Costs about 20 bucks and is pretty full featured.  I'm working on writing a book with it and it's pretty good.  Lives on the iPad and you can access files either on the iPd or cloud.

[erockrph]

My wife and I have been Android users since the original Droid. We won a Nexus 7 several months ago and are really happy with it. If you're an Android user, or just don't want to give your cash to Apple, then it's worth checking out.

[corkybstewart]

My wife and I have been Android users since the original Droid. We won a Nexus 7 several months ago and are really happy with it. If you're an Android user, or just don't want to give your cash to Apple, then it's worth checking out.

Thanks.  I don't want to give money to Apple, I don't like their business practice.  My wife has an iphone, she can only gets apps from Apple Store and to get the free ones she has to give a valid credit card number.  She refuses (as would I).  I love my Android, I'll look at the Nexus 7.

[nateo]

Does anyone use a Chromebook? I thought that might be a better solution since it has a built-in keyboard.

Denny, you're probably using one of those wireless keyboards, right?

[denny]

Does anyone use a Chromebook? I thought that might be a better solution since it has a built-in keyboard.

Denny, you're probably using one of those wireless keyboards, right?

Nope, I'm not.  If I was doing more writing on it, I'd probably get a case with a built in keyboard, but for me the onscreen keyboard is good enough for what I need to do.

[euge]

Ipads are nifty if dumbed down a bit. The issue is with itunes primarily. I don't want to be chained to the Apple ecosystem. My Acer A300 is far more useful in my opinion and the android os is flexible and friendly. Furthermore it has a full size usb port, sd slot and a micro hdmi out socket. 

Plug it in via usb to my laptop and files are easily transferred without the need for any additional and restrictive software. Maybe a bit less polished than the popular ipad but everything worked at unboxing.

I bought it last year so there are probably better newer models available. 

[smkranz]

Going out on a limb here, but I love the HP TouchPads (I have 3 of 'em).  Sadly, it is a discontinued device but can still be found new for about $250 or pre-owned for less on eBay.

Best thing about it is, it can dual-boot two operating systems...its native webOS, or Android.  Plus on the webOS side of the device, you can load a very robust stable of homebrew apps, patches and tweaks.  So although there are very few new apps coming through HP's App Catalog, you have homebrew apps on the webos side, and Android on that side of the device.

Full disclosure: I volunteer as an "Expert" on HP's support forums, primarily for webOS and Palm (yeah, remember them?) devices, and soon for HP's upcoming Slate 7 Android tablet which is expected out very soon.