My New Tablet

Pat's laptop died a few months ago & mine has been doing poorly for well over a year, so we've been shopping for upgrades for a while. I couldn't decide if I wanted to go with a new laptop, or a smaller netbook or tablet. Besides basic internet browsing, I need my laptop for editing photos, listing & blogging, so I didn't think a netbook or tablet would suit my needs. Still, 2 new laptops were a bit out of our price range right now, especially since Pat needs a really good one for his work as a software developer (he gets a work laptop but ideally uses both).

Rogers has a deal on right now - if you sign up for 2 new phones, you get a free Samsung Galaxy tablet. We're both sort of looking for new phones too, so Pat started looking into the tablets a bit more. He scoped out some different models & found that the Lenovo Ideapad Tablet K1 had very similar specs to the Galaxy but was half the price.

Futureshop has a 2 week return policy, so we decided to just go ahead & get one. If we didn't like it, we could return it without any hassle.

Needless to say, I won't be returning this baby!

I am in love! It's the perfect size & portability. It isn't as thin or flimsy as the Galaxy or iPad & has a leather-like plastic on the back that gives it a really nice feel & grip. Unlike the Galaxy & iPad, it also has a mini-HDMI out & an SD slot, making it a bit more versatile & accessible.

It's a touchscreen, which took all of 2 seconds to get used to. There are 5 "desktops" to slide between & tons of apps to download for free (or pay for but yeah right!). I love it for internet, email, social media & games.

I LOVE it! The first week we had it, I barely let Pat touch it I was playing on it so much! It isn't great for typing long messages because of the touch screen (copy/paste is tricky) - but I really just need a bluetooth keyboard to fix that problem (they have nice ones for tablets that fold into a case). I didn't think I would like it so much, but it's just so handy!

Speaking of cases, I had to get something to protect it. I opted for the sweet orange & grey plaid flannel one:

As for Pat, he got himself a new laptop. It's also a Lenovo Ideapad (though I'm not sure which model). I must say, we're both really impressed with Lenovo. Great quality for a great price!

I still use my old laptop for editing photos, which I'll continue to do for the time being. Eventually I may switch to using Pat's laptop for that, but I'll have to learn how to use the Dvorak keyboard layout first (Pat switched from qwerty since Dvorak is easier on his hands & will hopefully delay carpal tunnel for a few years... but it makes it impossible for others to use his laptop since all the keys are still in qwerty. Which means when you press an F on Pat's laptop, you get a vowel instead!).

Do you have a tablet? Do you like it?