Why are tablets so expensive?

[sgrinavi]

I think tablets are a bargain compared to phones. I just can't believe that the junk they stuff in there that lets you hook up to a cellular network costs that much more.

 

[dainthomas]

Very insightful, thanks. Totally addresses my post.

Good grief, is 'tablet snob' really a thing?

Anyway, as I continue to look, really, it seems to boil down to the issue of screen size being priced at a ridiculous premium.

'Hey, there's a Kindle for $100! ...with a 6" screen.'

Surely going from a 6" screen to a 9" screen MUST equate to triple the price...right? Oh, wait, no...that's dumb.

I should just give her my Nook.

I have the HD+ running CM11 and it's running like garbage now. Not sure if it's the low RAM, slow processor or what. Anyway, just picked up a Tab4 10.1 for $300 and it's like night and day. You could probably get the 8.4 for mid 200's somewhere.

 

[openwheel]

Nexus 7 2013 is still going strong for me. It has gotten better with every software upgrade. Still one of the best screens around.

 

[Bman123]

We have a iPad 2 in the house that's still running strong. The same with my girls iPhone 5c

 

[arandomguy]

Relatively cheapo options with 1080p 10inch screens or better -

http://www.amazon.com/Kobo-Arc-10HD-16-Tablet/dp/B00H8V0K36

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/tablet...-tablet-2-10/?menu-id=lenovo_yoga_tablet_2_10

 

[poofyhairguy]

Frankly I think the iPad air 2 is a bargain for $500. The amount of technology jammed into this thing is amazing for the money.

Exactly right. I mean the $500 iPad Air 2 is ten inches and has a SoC equal to the hardware of my Macbook Pro. Meanwhile the iPhone 6+ starts at $750 for 5.5 inches and has a SoC barely better than the iPhone 5s and less effective RAM while using Apple apps than 2012's iPhone 5.

The iPad Air 2 is probably the best deal in mobile now, and will be the only device (not named a Nexus) that will be using the newest OS and running it snappily three years from now.

 

[sm625]

Take a look at the HP Slate 7 Extreme 4450. Tegra is a great search term to use on sites like slickdeals because the tegra 4 is a nice chip and yet it didnt do so well so you can find good deals on it. Just make sure you dont mistake tegra 4 for tegra 3. Do not buy a tegra 3 in 2015.

 

[Ravynmagi]

It was nice for a while. We had quite a few nice $200ish tablets.

Amazon, B&N, Google, and even Microsoft were basically subsidizing tablet hardware in some way, causing for some pretty nice hardware to be sold pretty cheaply.

Amazon and B&N were going at each other with cheap tablets. They didn't make much money off the hardware, but instead would make it off the content sold through their app stores.

Meanwhile Google was also selling it's Nexus tablets very cheaply. It also makes money off it's app store. But it makes money on pretty much any Android tablet with Google Play on it. The Nexus tablets were suppose to be developer tablets with stock Android and maybe Google sold them so cheaply to make it easier for more developers to get the hardware so they could build apps and fill it's app store.

And some nice Windows tablets also finally started showing up. Namely the Dell Venue 8 Pro. And the price of this came down to $200 also after Microsoft started making Windows free on sub $200 (or $250, can't remember) tablets.

But if feels like the time of great tablet prices is starting to pass...

B&N has gotten out of the tablet business because it couldn't compete against Amazon.
Amazon Fire tablet prices have gone up a little this year, probably because it no longer has to compete against B&N.
Google Nexus prices have gone up, probably because it's getting too popular and it doesn't want compete directly against its hardware partners.
Low priced Windows tablets are still stuck on pretty old specs, so not really exciting anymore, but new Atoms are coming and hopefully things will get a bit more competitive here this year.

But if you want a good tablet, you'll probably need to pay $400 or more for it. But it's really worth the price if you use the tablet. They are very compact, fanless and light devices with beautiful IPS displays that can usually last all day on a charge.

 

[openwheel]

For some reason, I get at least one Google Opinion survey a day on my Nexus 7 and only Nexus 7.

$40 still sitting in my Google Play account and I have no time to spend it.

 

[Unheard]

I got one of these a while back to try it out:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-HP-Stre...490?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item418c93b0a2

It's running full on windows 8.1 and should be upgradable to 10 when it rolls out. Also comes with a Windows Store GC of $25 and a year of Office 365.

For web browsing, office, etc, it works great. I also use it for server admin work since RDP works fine and 2012 has the metro interface option.

 

[notposting]

If you want to go the Apple route, official Apple refurbs are probably the way to go.

Currently I see (skipping 16GB altogether) the 32GB iPad 4th Gen for $349, or the 32GB iPad Air for $389.

Going to be better than an equivalent Kindle device (we have an OG Fire and a new HD7 which is great, but the first was a gift and the second was for $79 plus some gift cards coming back my way around Black Friday).

My mom has a Samsung larger tablet and she is happy with it, fwiw. Got it refurbed off eBay. I think if you could nab one around $250 or so, a good savings versus an equivalent refurb iPad, that would be worth it.

Good luck.

 

[Achtung!]

Tablets have become very unpopular these days.

iPad sales have gone down and are forecast to decrease further.

Tablets are not as useful as people thought, it seems.

 

[Bman123]

Tablets are nice but I think android tablets are pretty worthless. I don't care what soc is inside it your still limited by android.

If I was buying a tablet rig y now it would have to be something running full windows 8.1, that way you can do more stuff with it like office

 

[Achtung!]

Tablets are nice but I think android tablets are pretty worthless. I don't care what soc is inside it your still limited by android.

If I was buying a tablet rig y now it would have to be something running full windows 8.1, that way you can do more stuff with it like office

iPads are pretty worthless as well.

I see some people trying to write notes down on their iPads during conferences/symposiums/etc and they just can't because typing is too slow and text recognition is under-developed.

A laptop (Macbooks, etc) are much better and have much higher practicality than tablets.

 

[openwheel]

oh I dread it when people show up at meetings with iPads.
Tell tell sign of a long and wasteful company time.

 

[Nebor]

iPads are pretty worthless as well.

I see some people trying to write notes down on their iPads during conferences/symposiums/etc and they just can't because typing is too slow and text recognition is under-developed.

A laptop (Macbooks, etc) are much better and have much higher practicality than tablets.

I got a Bluetooth keyboard case and it works better than the touch or type covers on my surface ever did.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Tablets haven't become unpopular. It's more that we've hit a saturation point after the crazy growth the last few years. Apple keeps it's older tablets up to date pretty good. Google now does a good job keeping it's older tablets compatible via Google Play Services updates. And there really hasn't been much in the way of hardware innovation the last couple years. So people really don't need to upgrade as often as they might have earlier.

Of course tablets aren't for everyone. There are plenty of people that don't have tablets and don't want them.

And for the most part tablets are not meant to be productivity tools. They can be and some people can use them very well that way. But for many of us it's kinda awkward. Tablets are designed to be consumption tools. Though the Surface is a nice hybrid between consumption and productivity tool.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Tablets have become very unpopular these days.

iPad sales have gone down and are forecast to decrease further.

Tablets are not as useful as people thought, it seems.

I don't think the declining iPad sales are some sort of vindication for nerds that the useless class of consumption computers normals call tablets have finally been defeated in the market. Mobile is still going strong in the consumer space, and mobile is going to turn x86 Windowsland into being the "business ecosystem" within ten years even if tablet sales level off.

I think the tablet sales slowdown is due to the fact that the tablet market is getting saturated, and has a slower upgrade cycle than phones thanks to a lack of subsidy. Just like for many people that old Core 2 Duo desktop is "good enough," any iPad after the first one is good enough for most basic consumption tasks that are done on a tablet. For non-tablet owners the rise of phablet phones have maybe given them a reason to never buy one, and the hardware makers prefer that because flagship phones have larger margins than tablets. A tablet is just a big phone, so maybe phones will simply inch back into those sizes.

Foldable screens for sure will kill tablets. If I could put a 10 inch folded screen in my pocket I don't need my iPad anymore.

 

[JimmiG]

But when I get to looking...I'm just not finding anything. For less than $200, all I'm seeing are 1280x800 screens and old Atom processors. I was expecting to find ~1080p and quad-core ARM's, really. Somehow, two years after I bought my cheap beater tablet, the best deal I can find...is the exact same tablet for the exact same price. Say what?

The newer Bay Trail, quad-core Atoms are almost as fast as the Snapdragon 800. Certainly better than some of the no-name ARM chips other manufacturers put in their cheap tablets.
http://www.mobilegeeks.com/asus-memo-pad-7-me176c-intel-bay-trail-tested-launch/
http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/tablets/asus-memo-pad-7-me176cx

1080p screens haven't reached the bargain bin tablet segment yet unfortunately.

 

[MontyAC]

The Asus memo me572c has the moorefield intel chip. A much better one than the me176. It's only around $149 at Bestbuy.

 

[pete6032]

LG G Pad 8.3. Snapdragon 600 Quad Core, 1920x1200 2GB RAM.