How to buy a tablet computer

The rumors almost always made reference to "an iPod Touch on steroids" and when Apple finally revealed their iPad tablet early in 2010, that turned out to be true. The iPad, when finally announced, turned out to be a 9.7 inch touch-screen powered device, run by the same operating system as the iPhone and iPod Touch and containing a 1 GHz processor designed by Apple. Slightly larger than an average e-reader but slightly smaller than most netbooks, it took the world by storm.

It truly is neither fish nor fowl. Much larger than a smart phone, the display makes this groundbreaking tablet (and surely many that will follow) a device that you can use in the real world and be very productive, as long as you are not charged with creating complex content. If what you need can be done with email, VOIP messaging, simple word processing, and inside a browser, a tablet could be for you. These are machines that were built with media and the cloud in mind. They are small and light enough to carry easily and make marvelous traveling companions.