Recommend a tablet/touchscreen

Cabaloc

Want to get one for my mother, tried to teach her the power (lol) of the PC but its so foreign to her so I thought maybe a touchscreen would be good to break her in . I have never used a tablet myself just haven't had a reason to get one untill now .

She would use this for online shopping and general surfing, nothing more . So anyone have something they can recommend, thanks .

ET3D

I recently bought a Nexus 7 and I like it. But really, that depends on how much money you're willing to spend, and how she's going to use it. I personally prefer small and light devices, but 10" tablets are easier to read. The iPad is probably a good device when it comes to ease of use, but I think Android is also pretty decent these days, so a Nexus 10 or Kindle Fire HD may be good.

Phoebes

Well my 2 year old loves his kindle fire It's also the only tablet I've ever tried out so I can't really compare it to others, but it seems pretty straight forward. It's also VERY durable. It's been stepped on and sat on a few times and spun around and dropped.

Caldrin

I would say the Nexus 7 is the best deal on the market at the moment, nothing in its price range comes close to it.. and even more expensive ones dont either..

syntax42

For the low- and mid-range prices, a Kindle Fire is a great device but Android (if you can call it that) may make tasks other than web browsing more complex and will likely feel like an unfamiliar environment for the average person.  

For mid-range devices, a Samsung Galaxy model or HTC Nexus make decent pure Android devices.

The iPad is definitely high-end, but iOS has a good repuation for being easy to learn how to use.

I would not suggest buying a WIndows 8 tablet yet.  I would wait a few months for major bugs to be worked out.  Maybe someone else has more insight on Windows 8 tablets, though.

PsYcHoGBR

Def the Nexus 7 awesome for the what it can do and the price.

eye_m

Personally, I like the MSI WindPad.  4GB RAM, Windows 7, USB port, SD slot, touchpad and IPS screen. The USB port is a BIG factor for me.

miguksaram

WARNING:  Completely unhelpful post

Wait until Razer finally releases their tablet and she can learn to play game and use a modern mobile device at the same time!

http://www.razerzone.com/projectfiona

 

On a more serious note check out the following

http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,2806,2358246,00.asp

Somart

Im posting ths from my asus transformer pad, which has the added advantage of a plug in keyboard whch makes typing easier. I use it just for web surfng and it works fine. I do still think the ipad is the easiest to use, and i find it still to be the most fluent. My tablet seems to lag sometimes but i dnt know if thats android or tablet specific. 

jdnewell

I use an Ipad for work and love it. I am not a huge apple fan by any means, but the ipad is a great tablet. Might be a bit overkill for what your needing a tablet for tho.

I would say get an Ipad mini or a Nexus 7. The Ipad Mini will cost a bit more I am sure, but may be worth it. I can only speak from using an Ipad, and have no experience with the other tablets. I Personally know how good of a tablet the Ipad is and would recommend the Ipad mini. The Ipad is the only apple product I have ever used, definatly not on the apple bandwagon. But they do make a fantastic trouble free tablet thats easy to use.

Someone who has used a Nexus 7 may can give you insight on how they are.

Yamota

Isnt touch screens harder than use than keyboard and mouse? Or is it because I have used keyboard and mouse for so long that I feel that way?

Caldrin

AS i said at the start in that price range you wont beat the Nexus 7, the ipad mini is nothnig compared to it really..

As far as the adroid interface v the ios one.. i find android a lot easier to use.. but we all like different things.. myself i think apple products are way over priced for what you get, as you can see in the price of the ipad mini..

 

 

Yamota

I am going to buy an iPad this christmas and going for either the Asus Transformer TF300T or Toshiba AT-300 101. Reason being is that both are using the faster 1.2 GHZ Quadcore processor and also decent screens at an affordable price.

Drakynn

Buy her one of these

http://www.wikipad.com/

Then disguise yourself and steal it for yourself.

Then use the isnurance moeny to get her an Ipad  simply because it's IMO the most newbie friendly tablet.I prefer android tablets personally coz the UI is more customizable and more bang for your buck but I doubt your mother would care for either of those points.

Legere

ive got the asus transformer android tablet, and the acer aspire s7 windows8 touch ultrabook.

 

both are pretty sweet in their own way.

the android tablet has like 18 hrs battery life with the keyboard attached but obviously ur limited to the whole android eco system as far as gaming is concerned.  i originally gave it to my gf but she didnt like it cos the girls at work had ipads and android tablets are just not as cool as an ipad.. ffs??

the aspire s7 is nice.. it offers a familiar setup with keyboard and mouse, but also a accurate responsive touch screen if you want to try it out - especially with win8.  it as intel hd 4000 graphics which is not great but probably good enough for your mums needs.  it also has a great finish which rivals the macbook air - the girls love that shit.  i got it for my gf and shes very happy with it.  only thing i can critisize it for is, while the screen is touch and 1080p, its rather low lit compared to modern led backlit screens 

Cabaloc

Thanks for all the input everyone, right now I'm leaning towards the Nexus 7, price is just to good.

Ramonski7

If money is no object, get her a new (as in latest) iPad. She'll thank you for it. Big display, easy to use, most apps developed for it in mind, most versatile and most customizable.  Nexus 7 is a smaller tablet at 7 inches. IPad is a little over 9 inches. And if this is going to be her initial and main portal into all things of the interwebz then is best to get a bigger screen not smaller.

Nexus 10 is coming if you like the features of the nexus 7, but this ain't about you is it? Unless of course you plan on borrowing mom's tablet a lot! Gaming, processors, USB ports and anything other than displays or ease of use are rather pointless for her needs. And if money is an issue I'd go for a Galaxy tablet. You can get a bigger display for cheap and if you find she doesn't use it as much as you'd hope, you won't be out of a lot of cash.

KenFisher

Kindle Fire has a very easy learning curve.  But, be warned, it's fine for videos, mp3s, ebooks, and web browsing but the OS (a variant of Android 2.3.n I think) is severely gimped (desktop is a joke compared to normal Android).  Also, no camera and no microphone so no taking pictures, video conferencing or voice memos.

 

One huge drawback of the Fire is that it's not compatible with Google Play (their app store) or most of Google's own Android apps.  Also, Amazon's app store is inferior to Google Play.

 

Nexus 7 = Real deal, more complicated, easy access to apps

Fire = Easy to use, fine for web browsing, somewhat gimped, fair access to apps

 

If ultra-easy is the target, a Fire might be a good choice.

Gabby-air

The new iPad and nexus 7 are the only two tablets I would recommend, I own both and they are great although I prefer the iPad due to having more apps and a more refined experience but you a pay a good premium for that. 

Quizzical

What happens when your mother can't figure out how to make something work and asks you for help, and you don't know because you've never used it?

In terms of hardware, the Google Nexus 10 and iPad 4 are the only tablets on the market so far that use the new generation of ARM processors.  Apple's processor core is custom, and slower than the standard Cortex A15 that the Nexus 10 uses, but still a lot faster than the Cortex A9 that everyone else uses.  The Nexus 10 is also the only tablet with the new generation of graphics for ARM processors, though it's a low end version, while the iPad 4 uses a high end version of an older generation.  Think of it as comparing a GeForce GT 430 (newer, more features, but slower) to a GeForce GTX 260 (older, fewer features, but faster).

I suppose there are also Windows tablets, like the MSI WindPad W110, but that's Windows 7.  There are some Intel-based Windows 8 tablets, but Atom runs poorly while ULV Ivy Bridge is way too much power consumption for a tablet.

Does your mother care about any of that?  Probably not.  The Google Nexus 7 that others brought up is considerably less capable, but it's also a lot cheaper.

Castillle

I got my mom a kindle fire and she hasnt come to me for help after I showed her how to browse and buy books.

Thats pretty much all she does with it unless she managed to find out how to watch youtube or somefing.

Firzenizer

Nexus 7 is definitely awesome for the price. It has one of the most powerful chips in it its small, may be a good/bad thing depends on what you want. If you are using the tablet a lot and for online shopping... Then I would say Samsung Galaxy Tab would be a good choise. I have used one and it works perfectly, has great deal of nice free apps to download. It also has 3G possibility that Nexus 7 doesn't have for now.

Ridelynn

Kindle Fire if your concerned about Price. iPad if your not.