Need a hand here.

So here’s the deal:

I’m in a market for a Tablet PC.  I’m sure part of the reason is because my wife keeps flaunting the iPad she’s walking around with, but I’ve wanted a computer with a touchscreen much longer than the iPad’s existed, so there’s more to it than that.  Here’s what I’m looking for.

  • Under $600.  I’m trying to stay within a budget here.  I have some disposable income, but not a lot.
  • A touchscreen.  (Kind of obvious there, huh?)  The larger the better.  Multi-touch is a plus, but not a necessity.
  • A REAL keyboard.  I’m OK with a smaller keyboard, but those keys need to move, dagnabit.  Typing on a virtual keyboard slows me down and annoys me to no end.  This rules out most of the tablets on the market, because “you can connect a keyboard with Bluetooth” Means I’m now carrying around a tablet and a keyboard.  At that rate, I might as well buy myself a netbook tablet PC for the same price so I can install Linux on it.  Speaking of which…
  • An open operating system.  This is another complaint I have with iOS.  I wouldn’t mind that every app in their store requires Apple’s seal of approval if they were more consistent with who gets through the floodgates, but there you go.  A PC can dual boot Linux, which is about as open as it gets.  (Android isn’t too shabby either though, I have to admit.)
  • Not Lenovo or Sony.  I have grievances with both of those companies that I will not address in this particular post.

So I’ve been shopping around for several days now, including but not limited to a salesman and I seeing if an Android tablet could fit in one of those iPad cases that comes with a built in keyboard (it couldn’t).  What I’ve ended up with is this.  It matches every criteria I’ve set for myself. Problem is, I’ve no idea if there’s something better out there.  I’ve been looking, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been searching all the right places.

So here’s where you come in, my wonderful PLN – Based on what I’m looking for, should I get the computer in the picture?  Is there something better?  Should I just hold off?  I could kind of use some additional opinions here before I make a $500+ dollar decision.

Published by theartguy

Aaron Smith is a Media Arts & Technology Teacher who spends most of his time on computers. In his free time he plays video games, edits videos, and misses his wife dearly.