The Apple Cash Mountain - An Explanation...

[threegee]

"16GB costs Apple about $6.40"

http://bits.blogs.ny...-tablets-flash/

UK cost of current iPad 64GB = £570

UK cost of current iPad 16GB = £399

Premium for 48GB of flash: = £171

Cost to Apple (approx) 48 x .4 = $19.20 = £12.07

Mark up: £158.93 -- a staggering 1317% !!!

Other manufacturers are guilty of the same of course, but mostly not to anything like this extent, and generally their base model is quite reasonably priced to start with - which is hardly the case with the Apple.

There must also be an element of "transfer pricing" in this, which means that Apple are likely paying tax on very little of their real UK earnings. So a significant proportion of their giant cash mountain is money which should have gone back into the UK economy.

To add insult to injury the UK buyer already pays a substantial premium to the prices Apple sells at in the USA, and certain other markets where customers simply won't pay their silly prices.

[Brett]

The iPad mini looks like a steal for the money v spec however....

[threegee]

I don't see much of a spec - it's only dual core and has all the Apple features of no microSD, no HDMI, no swappable battery,... Also has lower screen res than most 7" tabs, non-standard connectors, locked down O/S, and a high cost of ownership. On the plus-side it has the Apple logo on the back!

Pity Google spoiled the Nexus by no microSD and no HDMI too! Otherwise excellent buy with quad core (plus supervisor) and a really good screen, and just £159 now for the 16GB.

The Acer A110 has the same quad core CPU as the Nexus, plus microSD and HDMI, and is going at £50 cash back bringing the price below £130. Don't think stocks will last very long though. http://www.ebuyer.co...-ht-hapek-001�� I bought one at the weekend so may well review it here.

Looked at the Kindle Fire HD, but it's heavily locked down, and unless you want your life run by Amazon it's not a serious offering.

Quite recently sold my Sammy 7" 3G tab. Nice product, but as only a dual core it was becoming a bit dated. Got nearly £300 for it so that's why I've been checking out the field again. Stop gap was a £70 feature packed Chinese jobby with no brand name. Surprisingly good in many respects but the internal flash memory has just failed, and though it still works I can no longer install apps!

[Brett]

On a more serious note, I have been checking out the Nexus 7 for t'other half. The laptop charger packed up a short while back and I could replace it for £20 but the laptop is getting outdated (nearly 6 years old) and a 17" media laptop isn't exactly the best to carry around the house.

I looked at the Nexus 10 also for the larger screen but that would just be because of my personal preference of a larger screen and the tablet isn't for me and the price difference is larger than I imagined.

Missus already has a Galaxy Note for everyday use and tends to resort to using the phone on WiFi as it is easier than going up to the office to use the PC.

Been waiting on the release of the 3G version to drop the price of the existing versions of the nexus 7 but still toying between that and a new laptop.

[threegee]

So you weren't being serious then?!

I've never even considered a 10" tab - simply too big, and when you are getting to that sort of size a modern slim netbook will deliver a lot more power for much less money. Was very tempted by the new Chromebook at £199, but I don't think that cloud computing would do things for me. Have had a convertible touch screen netbook, but it was actually heavier than the current powerhouse laptop - haven't had a desktop for almost a decade now - and it's true, W7 just isn't up to 100% touch screen use! It turned out just a rather slow and heavy notebook with occasional touch screen convenience, and was seldom if ever used with the screen flipped.

I've noticed that friends owning 7" devices often have them, but after an initial outing or two people with the iPad mostly leave them at home. Have found myself perfectly happy with a phone enabled 7 incher instead of a phone, and that's been true over the course of several months. But lots of 3G 7 inchers are data only (like the 3G Nexus), which seems dumb when you have all the electronics to make/take a call. This has confirmed my prejudice against large tabs, and the feelings that Steve Jobs was quite wrong on the size thing. In previous years I've been through the entire series of Nokia internet tablets - yes, folks Apple did not invent the tablet! - and they really were too small to be hugely convenient, though quite nice in the pre-touch-smartphone era. So... after lots of devices under the bridge, 7" seems to be about right, though I'm still not sure that devices bordering on 8" would be.

You mention the price difference, and I'm sure you are right. Smaller tabs contain the same electronics and software, so larger ones shouldn't be that much more expensive. Thirty, forty, or even fifty pounds maybe, but not three figures more. Like notebooks I'd pay a good price premium for a smaller one if need be, but it turns out that for this category of devices, (and with production volumes being equal,) smaller ones are cheaper to manufacture. That's just another reason why 9 or 10 inchers will become very much a minority buy once Apple have stopped dictating to the market.

Yup, the Note is nice. But it's a large smartphone and not a smaller tab. i.e. it's a 100% replacement for a "regular" smartphone but won't replace a computer screen.

[Brett]

No I wasn't being serious, just feeding the flames

I personally prefer a desktop over a laptop, netbook or a tablet, my fat fingers cope better with a keyboard, you can see how I type on my phone in the picture

This is a visual representation of my typing style. Each 'blob' is a key, which begins as a perfect circle, representing average accuracy. As you type the 'blobs' become morphed to fit th region that you tend to press when you want to use that key.

Using the desktop means I can lock myself away from woman, children and dogs and listen to my music in peace whilst I am being productive, however weighing this against the lack of convenience for portability then a tablet would be useful for general browsing and webmail whilst around the house.

I really wouldn't buy an iPad due to the rediculous price on them. Even if the performance did outweigh the aesthetics I would convince myself to take a poorer specced model to save on money. I think 7" would be fine for general use but the fact that I generally have mutliple internet tabs and applications running on dual monitors I literally can't stand the faff of one application at a time and applications taking precedence over other apps due to audio restrictions etc.

I have used an iPad at the In-laws for a few hours at a time and I just get annoyed with how fiddly everything is and having to zoom constantly then re-adjust to capture images and text in the screen, adjusting the orientation of the tablet to meet the criteria of the site that I visit. Since starthing this paragraph I am not sure if it is the tablets fault or the lack of functionality on the sites that I use.

I need a new laptop anyway for my music gubbins and I really don't know if I could justify a tablet and a dedicated laptop for my music.

Either way I probably won't have a choice and I will get what I am told I am getting but I like to pretend I have the choice.

[John Fox (foxy)]

.

Either way I probably won't have a choice and I will get what I am told I am getting but I like to pretend I have the choice.

A Train Set sounds less frustrating

[threegee]

A Train Set sounds less frustrating

You mean you aren't using the MyChooChoos app to control yours by bluetooth? Kinda sounds like you're back in the steam age!

[Malcolm Robinson]

So what is a current recommendation then..........

[Brett]

I personally would go with the nexus 7 but it depends on what you want it for?

16Gb Nexus 7 with WiFi - £159

[Malcolm Robinson]

Basically a reader but able to take ANY input.

Buying just a reader seems like a waste when for a little bit more...............

Not interested in camera......

[threegee]

As Brett says, it all depends! I go for the Acer at the present £130 price, because I will be moving it on with a year anyway and will probably recover most if not all of what I pay at that price. Also I want to connect it to the TV to watch iPlayer stuff and otherwise exploit the great video - you can't do that with the Nexus. Also if you buy the £159 Nexus you may be left wishing you'd bought the 32GB one for £40 extra. You won't be in that position with the Acer as it takes a microSD too, and they are cheap as chips these days.

On the other hand the Nexus has a bit better screen (but the sound is not as good as the Acer). I do prefer the form factor of the Nexus, but it really depends how you hold them. If extreme battery life is what you are after go for the Nexus, but the Acer isn't bad in this respect.

Anyway if you want an Acer you'd better be sharp as the are now showing only 12 left! They may or may not get more "cash back" stock. If I hadn't already bought I'd be waiting for the 3G version of the Nexus, to come available again, it was showing restocking when I last looked, but even at the present lower prices that's a whole £110 more than I'm paying!

Actually these little powerhouses offer far more than the Kindle Fire, which hasn't even got GPS, and isn't a quad core. You even have to pay extra to get rid of the ads on the Fire, and the inconvenience doesn't end there!

[threegee]

The Nexus is the only game in town now! Not worth paying the £178.29 discounted price the A110 is now being offered at.