Window Shopping (Ipad 2, Asus transformer, and others.)

[Beckea]

I like the look of the Asus; however, Ipad has so much apps and apps that I could use for my autistic boys; however, no card slot, how the heck can someone go without that?

Anyway, if you have an Asus, Xoom, Ipad ~ please tell me the Pros and Cons of them. Still deciding on what would be the best buy for me?

Going to be using it for school, weather, emails, facebook, games during waiting for the doctor to come in type of stuff. I just don't want to buy on impulse and regret my decision later.
It would be nice to use rather than lugging my laptop around town or on trips. Also I am a reader as well and love reading books on my Nook, but I like some color as well and Nook Color does not have what I need.

 

[Androidicus]

In my opinion, one of the biggest factors potential tablet PC users should consider is EASE OF USE since tablets are relatively new technology.

If ease of use is your main priority, then I suggest going with the iPad 2 because this is Apple's bread and butter: User-friendliness. Their whole philosophy is built around "it just works". This means it is designed for the average computer user who may not be very tech savvy and who just wants a device to do what they want/need it to do, no questions asked. The downside, of course, is this means the device will be very limited by default. iPad users can Jailbreak their tablets, but even this doesn't provide as much freedom and customization Android does out of the box.

Restrictive use and no Adobe Flash support are the iPad's biggest weaknesses at the current time. The iPad excels at being lightweight, having a long battery life, having tons of iOs apps and just being the easiest of the tablets to learn/use because of the underlying philosophy of Apple and iOS.

On the flip side, both the Asus Transformer and Acer Iconia are the top two Android tablets with the most expandable and connectivity options.

As you already noted, they both can use additional SD Cards to expand the memory, but more importantly they both come with a standard USB port that can be used with normal USB hard drives, USB keyboards, USB mice (Transformer) the iPad isn't compatible with because of its proprietary design. The Transformer and Iconia also have HDMI ports whereas once again the iPad suffers from having to use a 40-pin USB/HDMI adapter because of its non-standard build.

The Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10" tablets are more or less similar to the iPad in their lack of expandable memory and connectivity in terms of hardware. Software wise, it's Android, so this is a non-factor. It should be noted the Samsung GT is the lightest of the 10" Android tablets if weight is a concern, but that lesser weight is due to not having as many connectivity options as the other tablets.

So, in the end it is going to come down to what YOU want/need out of a current tablet PC. Like I said at the beginning, I think ease of use should be a major consideration since tablet PCs are still relatively new to mainstream users who just want something to work and aren't overly concerned with how, or why it works. If wanting more control over the how and why is important to you (and you don't mind a steeper learning curve) then Android is definitely the OS for you

 

[Beckea]

I think I am going for the Asus because I like the expand, usb, and

Restrictive use and no Adobe Flash support are the iPad's biggest weaknesses at the current time. The iPad excels at being lightweight, having a long battery life, having tons of iOs apps and just being the easiest of the tablets to learn/use because of the underlying philosophy of Apple and iOS.

On the flip side, both the Asus Transformer and Acer Iconia are the top two Android tablets with the most expandable and connectivity options.

But I hear that later there will be more apps for android. And actually how many apps can a person use. Not all what IPAD 2 has to offer. I just want a few. I am going to check the app store to see (android) what they have. But I like the look of the Asus and looking online reviews I have seen good reviews, and check on it some more.