http://www.zdnet.co.uk/reviews/mobil...094503/#review

Has anybody played with one of these? I'm thinking about buying one to replace the 17" HP DV7t cinder block I've been carrying every day. All I use my HP for is writing/ research/ school stuff (which the Eee Pad would be perfect for) and occasional MS tuning/ data logging (which the Eee Pad wouldn't be able to do unless somebody ports Tuner Studio to Android, but it has a standard PC-side USB port on it, so it would be possible if TS did get ported).

What I'm really curious about is if the keyboard slider mechanism feels like junk, and if it chokes on normal apps. I don't need to be able to play Battelfield 3 on it, but it's obviously useless if it won't reliably run Open Office...

 

For that kind of money, have you considered a Windows netbook or even a "real" ultraportable such as: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...200-9R&cat=NBB

That's the machine I use, and it's quite nice. For me, having an Android machine would be great for some things, but then I'd still need to carry around a second computer to run certain applications. Why have two when one will do?

 

Honestly, I'm not really interested in a net book. As a rule they suck at being a computer.

I wouldn't be opposed to a small lap top, I'm just feeling out my options at this point.

 

The newer machines which use the AMD E-350/E-450 and the Atom N550 / N570 honestly aren't too bad. Those processors actually benchmark at more than double the performance of the U1400 (Intel core solo) processor in the Vaio TXN15 which was my primary laptop until earlier this year, and I ran some pretty heavy-duty database apps on that little guy.

I would not totally discount Netbooks as a category, especially if you don't plan to do any gaming on them.

Your point that "they suck at being a computer," in my opinion, applies far more to the current crop of android/chromebook machines than to any of the Windows-based Netbooks. That tablet you posted, and everything else like it, are great for surfing the web, checking email, playing Angry Birds, and so on.

Honestly, I'd give a second look to the Netbooks if I were you. Something like this sounds exactly like what you're looking for: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834230064