I have been a tablet (convertible) user for a long time.  Recently; I bought an older TC1100 with a SSD instead of a hard drive and installed Windows 7 on it.  Amazing!  But that is for another post.  I originally wanted an Apple tablet… but that’s not going to happen, and here is why.

The problem is simple, lack of capability vs. price.  As noted by Piper Jaffray (senior analyst Gene Munster) and other posts via techmeme;

• Be similar to an iPod touch, only larger, capable of running most of the 70,000 applications on the iPhone App Store plus a new category of apps designed for the bigger screen.
• Will be used primarily for Web surfing, e-mail, and digital media, competing with netbooks without being a netbook.
• Will be priced between an iPhone and a MacBook — between $500 and $700.
• Is likely to include a 3G cellular modem and could be subsidized by a carrier — either AT&T (T) or Verizon (VZ).

Ok,  so I’m can already get a netbook for less then $500, and its only a matter of time before the crunchpad comes out, which if I understand correctly, will have a thin linux OS.

Now, that being said, if the price point is under $400, OR its has way more graphics power for video, then we may have a different story here. In fact, if it was say $500, and I could watch video and play graphic rich games AND good battery life, then I would buy it.  If I basically have my iphone (assuming they will have a more open SDK; which means richer apps or a least a subset of Apple apps I can run) with a way larger screen, and USB (or bluetooth) import for a keyboard, then I can see it. So far, the rumor mill says it will not be that powerful. However, if the crunchPad runs linux AND android apps.. Well, then we have a different story again.

As for now, I will continue to love having my TC1100 (which I paid $350 for) as my tablet.

TC1100’s rule!!!