Should A Tablet Be On Your Holiday List?
Are you looking to take advantage of the holiday sales and buy a tablet? Perhaps, if you’re very lucky, you might have one on your holiday gift wish list, hoping a loved one might surprise you!
However, before you or someone that loves you spends hard earned cash on a new tablet, ask yourself if it will be money well spent? Do you really need one, or are you just following the trend?
Examine Your Study Habits
A tablet can be a wonderful tool for students who want to make the most of any possible downtime they can find; for example, if you have a long commute to campus on a bus or a train, a tablet can help you wring every last possible drop of study time out of your day.
But if you’re the kind of student who’d rather sit down at a table with a textbook and a pencil, a tablet could be little more than an expensive distraction. Examine how you prefer to study – if you’re a page turner and a note scribbler then a tablet may not be a sound investment.
Crunch Your Numbers
Making the most of your money has never been so important, especially in today’s uncertain economy. If you’re contemplating buying a tablet, review your budget and examine your finances. Don’t forget to include any monthly wireless charges if you choose a model that can connect to a cellular network.
Do Your Research
If you can get by without a tablet, you probably should. However, some electronics stores and hardware manufacturers offer student discounts or payment plans, which might offset the cost a little. Additionally, some companies offer refurbished versions of their tablets that can save 10 to 25% of the final price. You also don’t need to buy the latest version; sometimes you can get a much better deal buying an older model. If you buy the new version, it might be outdated in a few months anyway!
Be Honest With Yourself
There is little doubt that tablet computers are extremely innovative, and great fun to use. But we’re probably three years away from tablet technology becoming a feasible option for most normal users like you and I to use as a primary computer.
If you’re honest with yourself you’ll discover that a tablet is not something you ‘need’, it’s something you ‘want’. In three years, depending on how technology changes, a tablet may become as much of a necessity as a laptop or desktop computer is now, but for now it’s still a luxury. Almost everything you could possibly want to do on a tablet can be done on either a laptop or your Smartphone. It just doesn’t look as ‘cool’!
So if you already have a laptop and a Smartphone, buying a tablet may not be the wisest way to spend your money, or that of a loved one if you’re hoping for one as a gift. If the only reason is because you ‘want’ one then you should probably reconsider, especially if you already have the means to get online using your phone when you’re out and about.