I would suggest that to some degree you get what you pay for and good hardware is expensive. I would also suggest being suspicious of any deal that appears too good to be true or buying from companies you never heard of. Those companies may not even be in business 6 months from now and in the case of China, where the discussion is not about the latest, greatest device but who makes the best knock-off of the latest, greatest device, to be even more careful. You might even want to think about how you feel about intellectual property theft. These no-name companies are often relying on others to do the R&D and simply copying the design. Frankly, some do it better than others. While you're reading reviews, you might want to make sure you are including some professional reviews from leading publications or reputable web sites. More than a few folks "rationalize" the purchase of mediocre equipment by downplaying deficiencies as a trade-off for a lower price. The simple fact is a lower resolution screen is a lower resolution screen and that cheap device with inferior hardware will never be an iPad or Xoom. Maybe off a little but kind of like saying a Chevy is just as good as a Cadillac and justifying it by thinking you never really wanted leather seats anyway.

It would depend on what tablet you were going to purchase for some of the info and what size it would be. I would not do it with a 7" or 10" tablet just too small in my opinion. but yes you can add a keyboard and mouse to a tablet or at least many of them, you would have to make certain they have multiple usb ports for that. The keyboards on the tablets can be awkward to use for any extended time. I do not think that netbooks will go away, they have newer models coming out with more stout processors in them and many now run windows 7. I have an acer netbook one of the first ones so mine is a little smaller than the ones out now, I love it but would not want it for my only computer, I use a usb mouse with it because I hate touchpads. Netbooks have no cd or dvd drive and neither do tablets so you have to use usb flash drives or have an external usb cd or dvd drive to plug in should you need to. Printing can be done if you have a printer that is networked, plugged into your router or you can use it by usb plugged into the tablet or netbook. If you have to install software for the printer that would have to be done either by download from their website or by usb flash drive or as I said a usb stand alone cd or dvd drive. I have not installed printer software on a netbook or tablet so can not help with that, however I just got a new laser printer delivered today and I hope to network it so that my netbook will be able to use it and since I have a wireless router I should be able to use any wifi enabled device that can print to print to it. If you really do not do much heavy work at all then you could probably get by. Again it would depend on the tablet. Do you have one in mind? Many of the bigger ones will cost you more than a laptop or netbook. Prices will of course drop on them since so many are now hitting the market. I love the looks of motorola zoom, and like the looks of the blackberry playbook also nice is the Acer Iconia, I prefer an Android based tablet myself, preferably one that is running the newest Android Honeycomb OS. but again I sure would not want a 7" or 10" main use tablet. I have the pandigital novel 7" tablet which I love and to me it is perfect for ereader use and I can do most of what I want to do on it including email, surf, music, pictures and video but would never think of using it for a primary device. Google's Android 3.0 Honeycomb for tablets: a guided tour of the UI some good youtube videos of systems with Android Honeycomb Android Honeycomb for some tablet options check out chinagrabber they have a ton of options. All of these have Android 2.2 Froyo which is the version prior to the new Honeycomb. Android 2.2 Apad Tablet PC

You have several options: Get an ipad with built in LTE Have a phone with LTE capabilities already and use this as hotspot I personally have an iPad with built in LTE/4G. It works wonderfully. In reality, you can make your smartphone a hotspot and share the mobile signal when you are in an area where wifi is not available. Although the iPad with LTE is about $100 more expensive than the same iPad without, the cell providers like AT&T make it just as expensive to use your smart phone as a hotspot as to activate the LTE service on your ipad. If you want two units that allow you to browse the internet anywhere, get an iPad with LTE. You should be able to add service to the unit from the cell phone carrier that you only pay for when you use it. Mine is part of the mobile share plan for my cell phone so apart from the activation fee, it does not cost me more to use. The iPad with LTE does have an addition functionality which is the upgraded GPS capability so that you can use it as a GPS more accurately. Regarding Android versus Apple, Android is more susceptible to virus because of its open source nature and the fact its Android app store is more prevalent. There are more android users than apple users. Having said that, I think you should go to a best buy or somewhere like that where you can look at both machines and determine which ones work for you. Usability is a huge factor for me. Let money be a secondary consideration. I agree with Rococogurl about the future compatibility of the tablet you pick. Androids don't update much of the Operating System where Apple products are compatible, based on previous history, for about 4 major releases of the OS. This translates to about 3years of support on the existing hardware. I work in IT and implement technologies that use both Android and Apple ecosystems. Good luck!

I own the Acer R5-471T-71W2 that Bugspop mentioned above and I LOVE it very much! I can't begin to tell you all it does without writing a book here. I have mostly been using it as a laptop but you can also use your touch screen and either keyboard when in laptop mode. I LOVE the lightning FAST bootup, etc. the SSD brings, AND the STEREO sound on it. You wouldn't believe it possible on a laptop. Just like Theater. Of course, what you listen to has to be in stereo. I didn't think the i5 had stereo, that is why I went with the i7 and it has 512GB. Love the backlighted keyboard. Here is a Link to the one I bought from Acer Store. http://us-store.acer.com/aspire-r5-471t-71w2-laptop It is a 14" which serves me well. I would not like anything smaller. Was wanting 15" when looking to buy, but what I got is worth the inch smaller. Do NOT confuse this with the R3. Make sure it is the R5. Good Luck in what you decide.