[Op-Ed] Which Tablet Should You Buy?

So guess what? Yes, it's true Apple has announced the iPad mini propelling themselves into the small tablet market. Should you buy it? Well Let's take a look at the most popular small tablets on the market right now and see if it is in fact a purchase worth making.

 

 
Lets start with Apple. It starts out at a pretty steep price for a small tablet beginning at $329 for the 16GB. A lot of speculation was hoping that the price would be lower but you know it's Apple they don't follow the rules and do want they want. This does leave a lot of options available for the consumer out there that feels the need for a tablet but just doesn't have the funds.

Next, the Amazon Kindle Fire 7 HD. I personally don't have any experience with this or most of these items for that matter but I would say that the Kindle Fire is more of a media application tablet. It starts out at a nice looking price of $199 for the 16GB and is still hugely competitive.








The Nexus 7 which is transitioning from 8G/16GB to 32GB and likely getting cellular is rolling in at $199 for the 8GB. It runs more smartphone apps than tablet apps. Still, if that's all you need or care about, it's the best bigger iPod touch on the market right now. As much of an Apple fan that I am, I was considering getting my hands on one of these.

Microsoft's Surface with Windows RT isn't really a small tablet but since no small Windows 8 tablets have been announced yet, let's add it just for fun. Microsoft's messaging is still confusing and poorly articulated, with that said it will be interesting to see how it holds up and makes sense in the real world. It starts at $499 for a 32 GB.






RIM's Blackberry Playbook is one of the original 7-inch tablets, is still one of the most interesting. I remember the original release from 2011 and wanting this device. It's reportedly going to be upgraded to BlackBerry 10 next year, and if you look around you can find them for as little as $149.





Well there you go. Plenty of options for your tablet fix right now. And with Apple's iPad mini starting price over 50% more than most of the competitors the question is will it be enough to take control of the small tablet market? With those crazy fanboys out there you never know but I'm more than confident saying that it will be successful. 

Source: iMore