Tablets are the latest gadget craze to sweep the nation, but up until recently the cost of nabbing one of these new gadgets have been notoriously expensive. While there are still plenty of costly tablets on the market, the budget tablet is on the rise.
After the release of the Apple iPad in 2010, nearly every computer, HDTV, and pretty much every other hardware manufacturer hopped on the tablet bandwagon and by 2011, the electronic market was flooded with an innumerable amount of expensive mobile tablets. If you were to name any popular manufacturer, it’s likely that they had a mobile tablet floating around on store shelves and nearly none of the available tablets could be considered “budget tablets”.
Popular tablets included the Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom, BlackBerry Playbook, HTC Flyer, and HP Touchpad – amongst others – and the average costs of these tablets ranged from $499-$999. While most consumers craved for a mobile tablet, the expensive price of these new gadgets were hard to bear with and after the lackluster acceptance of most of these non-Apple tablets, the gadget world gave birth to the budget tablet.
This time last year, you’d be hard pressed to find a non-generic tablet under the $499 price point, but nowadays the options are endless. After the poor acceptance of the HP Playbook, originally priced at $499, HP slashed the price by $400, making it available for only $99 – and popular electronic stores even started giving away the Playbook with the purchase of more expensive electronics like HDTVs.
If you’re looking for a reputable budget tablet, the HP Playbook isn’t the only option and other great options include the $399 8GP Toshiba Thrive, the $250 ViewSonic ViewPad 7e tablet, the $250 Nook Color, the $349.99 Samsung Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi, Acer Iconia Tab A500, and a host of other options. The great thing about the new emergence of the budget tablet is that its giving consumers a great opportunity to take advantage of this excellent tech trend without paying an arm and a leg. Another great bonus is that lots of the new budget tablets aren’t knock-off or generic devices and most of them actually offer features comparable to even the most expensive tablet.
If you are looking for a great eReader tablet, something for entertainment purposes, a professional tablet, or pretty much a tablet that will fit all of your needs, there’s no need to shell out upwards of $500-$1000 for a tablet, there are lots of great budget tablet options.