Are Tablet Computers Worth the Money?

Because I am a tech junkie I am always looking at the value of each bit of technology as it comes out. I always wonder who will buy it. I’ve been hesitant about buying a tablet because I already have a compact laptop (love my Asus) I never did buy a book reader because I could never justify a piece of hardware that was a single use item. I own a Galaxy SIII and love the phone but I wish it was bigger still and that is what got me thinking about a tablet. So what are the advantages of a tablet?

• Its lightweight and I am more likely to carry it around so it will be at hand more often. I find my android phone keyboard just a little small for these pudgy fingers. I have watched a few business acquaintances use tablets as aptly as a laptop as long as there is not lengthy keyboard input.

• The battery life is very long. Battery times are even longer than my laptop and come in at 6-10 hours depending on the type of usage. Many laptops do not have as long of a battery life due to moving parts. A hard drive takes more power than the flash memory of tablets.
• The handwriting input is a great feature and the notes are storable
• Voice input is getting better all the time and the tablet apps are free or very inexpensive. Most of this article was done using voice input.
• Tablets are not single purposed machines. They will do almost everything in the other computer will do including watching movies while you’re on a train going to work.
• Tablet computers can be used almost any where and not rely on the flat surface of the table.
• You can use the speech recognition feature in windows to assist you in taking notes. There are many third party software programs and apps that extend the functionality of your tablet.

However there are some drawbacks to a tablet computer. These include

• Not having a full keyboard. Many of us like the tactile field of the keyboard and have the harder time using the touchscreen.
• Tablets lack of ports which extends the hardware functionality. Tablet computers generally lack USB ports which means if you have a portable drive, DVD player or thumb drive you cannot get the data from these devices.
• The tablet computers are also more fragile and have a better chance of cracking the screen than a laptop computer.
• Tablet computers may also lead to ergonomic problems due to poor posture. Extended use of tablet computers may result in sore wrists and arms.

So for me, around the house a laptop is more cumbersome than the tablet computer. When I am on the road and lost that I can use Google maps for my location and directions to my destination. With a tablet computer can set the table and read the newspaper online. My wife can look up a recipe and how the tablet close at hand well she cooks. Later in the evening I can go to acquire room and do some technical reading. As the price of tablet computers comes down it I could make a case to purchase one. We’ll see if there is one under the tree this Christmas.