| All in all, I have to say that I'm pleased with the iPad Mini,
| not for what I purchased it for, but, rather, for the way it has
| proven to help me with every day tasks I've been struggling with
| for several decades.
|
That seems to be the main point. I was out
this past weekend looking at tablets with my
ladyfriend, who thinks that perhaps she should
buy one -- if for nothing else than to stay current.

We looked at Apple and Windows; didn't get to
Android. I was most impressed with the Acer that
had full Win8 for $400. And I could augment it
with bluetooth keyboard and/or mouse if required.
Nice. But then I realized that I was thinking about
how to use a small touch screen as a computer,
when for $400 I could have a real computer. The
strength of tablets is very small size and mobility,
not extensive functionality.

(The Apple clerk didn't even undersdtand when I
asked whether there was a file system program to
let me store and organize files. Apparently there is,
but he couldn't see the point. He recommended
Dropbox, as though it were an iPad service.

I came away with the same sense I had going in:
A tablet for $50 with a good screen for reading and
a standard USB slot for memory sticks... and the
native ability to read PDF/DOC/HTML/TXT... is something
I would buy, so that I could read long articles from
sites like Wired or Atlantic Monthly on the sofa. In
the meantime, my schedule is not nearly so complex,
nor my email so urgent, that I need a special, portable
machine to handle them.

Yet I could imagine that for people who, say, travel
a lot and also like to read e-books, but don't actually
do any computer-based work that might require a
laptop, such a device might be ideal.

On the other hand, it says something about the
tablet market that they're selling "like hotcakes" while
people are still pleasantly surprised that their tablet
is useful for... something... anything.