I'm looking to purchase a tablet or a netbook. Right now I'm looking at either a Vizio 8" or a Kindle Fire for a tablet, or an ASUS Eee PC for a netbook.

I don't care about a bunch of crazy apps that I'll never use or games that I'm not gonna play. I'll mostly just use it for getting on TMS when I'm not sitting by my computer, and I'll take it to class to look at online assignments/powerpoints/etc.

Now that I'm thinking about that, can tablets open powerpoints/word doc/spreadsheets/etc?

What are yall's recommendations? I don't want to spend a ****-ton on it and I don't buy Apple, so please no iPad recommendations.

 

I would try the kindle fire. I have a Samsung galaxy tab 8" and it's just whatever. I'm sure it does a lot more than I will ever use it for but I'm not a fan. The iPad is a great machine but I don't like the size. The Fire is cheap enough to try it. Best buy has a pretty good return policy so you have like a month to return if you don't like it.

 

I bought the galaxy just to mess around with it and didn't like that it was a pain in the butt to hold on to it and I have a big hand.

 

The iPad we have is even more awkward though. 8" tablets are better for me to use at work.

 

The iPad has a larger area to grab and I always felt like I had to grip the galaxy on the sides

 

I just hate typing on the iPad. Even with the split keyboard. But I really prefer the IOS operating system.

 

i got the dell streak 7. sits mounted on the dash of the car and has offline gps maps. also connects to the netbook under my car seat which has all of the music.

 

That's my main reason for having the Vizio in the comparison...I don't have a GPS unit, nor do I have much of a need for one, but it'd be nice to be able to just grab the tablet when I do need directions somewhere. Does the Kindle have GPS? And can tablets open MS Office documents?

 

Just takes the right app to do just about anything you want it to do. Of you want it to work anywheres, you're gonna have to go through a wireless company.

 

I definitely won't be paying for 3G/4G coverage. Just straight Wifi. But regardless of apps, won't I need hardware to make use of GPS offline...

 

I ended up going to Best Buy last night and got a Kindle Fire to try out. I like to so far. It does everything I want it to...no trouble viewing doc/ppt/xls/etc, Netflix/Hulu works good, web browser works good. Looked for this "TMS app" that so many of you seem to use, but couldn't find it. Does it work with the Kindle also? TMS works just fine in the browser, but I thought I'd finally try the app.

 

Where does the fire get its apps. Android market or amazon? It's only on apple store and android I think.

 

Oh, well I guess that's why then. It gets them from Amazon.

 

I have the Fire, I rooted it and installed CyanogenMod7, it how runs a regular version of Android and has the same features of an ordinary Android tablet, including the Android market.

 

Well I may have to start messin' with it...I just realized today that I can't log into my college's wifi. That's not acceptable. If I root it and update it, should that fix the problem?

 

Winner winner chicken dinner

 

I'm not sure, I haven't run into any connection issues with mine, what does it say when you try to connect?

 

How do you protect the screen on your kindle? Do they come with a carry case or do you just use one of those plastic screen covers?

 

Well at my college I have to connect to the wifi, then log into my student account. It will say that it's "Attempting" to connect to the wifi, but it never does. It'll stop, then attempt again. I can never open the window to log into my student account. However, my gf goes to a different college (same log in process), and says that if she just lets it sit there and try for a little bit then it'll eventually ask her to sign in and it'll work. I guess maybe I haven't let it sit there long enough, but I don't see why it needs to.

I bought a screen cover that you just cut to fit your screen, as well as a neoprene case to carry it around in.

 

I don't have anything yet, you can get the screen covers and cases from Amazon fairly cheap.

hmm, I might need to take mine to a public WiFi area and see what happens, I have it linked to all of my family's home networks, it connected rather easily.