To Netbook Or Kindle, That Is The Question!

[Gatorjet]

I've been wanting to take my web surfing on the road, and like all electronic wizardry, am confused with just what would fill my needs. The two I am considering right now are the Kindle Fire, and the HP 110 Mini Netbook. I don't need something for serious computer work, just something to get on the web, maybe view pictures from my camera, and play a few games when boredom strikes.

My first thoughts of a tablet was when my wife showed me one they were hawking on QVC. A SuperNova DLX 8" model. A little research turned up that it was a very low end, Chinese made unit with only 520MB of on board memory. No typo, Mega Byte!!! From what I understand most everything has to be stored on an SD card.

That got me looking into tablets, and the Kindle fire. Until now I thought the only thing the Kindles were for was reading books. I didn't know they were actually WiFi capable computers.

I've read a few pros and cons. Pros of light weight, small size, and some sort of on-line storage by Amazon called Cloud. The cons are durability, the screen is not protected without an additional case, It doesn't have an SD card slot , so I would need an adapter to directly view photos stored on one, and while I'm not a speed typist, I've heard the touch screen keyboard can be a pain.

The prices I've seen are somewhat comparable. The Kindle for around $200, the HP Mini Netbook about $250.

So, for my intended uses of web browsing, Photo viewing, and games, what would you suggest?

[moguy1973]

The Fire's reviews have been very sketchy, from slow performance, slow touch screen recognition, and lack of security...They are supposed to have firmware updates coming soon, but I wouldn't jump on that bandwagon anytime soon until some solid updates and reviews of it came out...

[Feathers and Fins]

For the price and use you may want to get a aircard and a smaller laptop. I have one in my truck i use for work primarily but also for fun between jobs and when im hunting in the boat or fishing I just put it in the boat with me.

[rfd515]

I'd definitely get a kindle fire over anything HP-made, especially now, but I would wait until the new version of the Fire comes out. Rumors are a bigger screen, a lot of updates, and I'm sure the same current price or cheaper.

[DaddyO]

I've been considering the same thing. However, I have the Kindle application on my Motorola Droid X phone and it works well enough for reading. I don't like web surfing on the phone. Not enough screen real estate. I've played with the Kindle Fire. I couldn't see how it was much better than my phone.

I think I will look into the Apple IPad.

[mic]

I bought a Kindle for an early Xmas gift for the family. So far, its working great.

[stlfisher]

You might want to consider the Nook. My little brother loves his.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I have a Fire and its working all right so far. The keyboard has been adequate, especially horizontal, it will store pictures down loaded through the USB, the battery life is very good. It has a gorilla glass face that is extremely tough and doesn't really need a film cover, no pesky little bubbles.

I don't use it that much for surfing but more for visiting bookmarked sites. It will surf, visit, order etc, but some of the print can be a pain so you have enlarge it which is also a pain. If there is a way to cut and paste I haven't found it.

There is a learning curve and after a month I'm getting pretty comfortable with it. I also like to read and the Kindle library is very good. The library contains alot of cheap, $3.99 to .99, books. I haven't streamed any movies on it so I can't really judge the performance other then to say it's available.

I looked at the I-pad and it is better because of content and size, but size was a problem I felt because of portability. The droid apps are growing and I suspect they will catch up with the I-pad soon.

I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.

[Flysmallie]

iPads are great but pricey. A laptop with an aircard is also great but again pricey. The fire's have had some sketchy reviews but if you pay attention to those reviews it's always in comparison to an iPad. That's like comparing a highend bass boat to a canoe. They both float but they are not intended to be the same.

Netbooks are very slow to me. I can't stand them but again that's just an opinion. Figure out what you really expect out of it and go from there.

[jdmidwest]

If you are going to surf and post, a laptop or netbook with an actual keyboard would be best. If you are going to surf and read without alot of typing, I would go with an android 3 or later tablet or I Pad. If you are going to read books on it only, a kindle or nook is best, they excel in reading.

I too had the same dilemna about this time last year, I bought a Cruz reader that I surf, read mags, and view pics and movies on in the truck. I bought a cheap Acer laptop at Staples for about 50 dollars more than a netbook for the rest. I needed something that could connect to GPS and transfer maps and geocaches, run topo programs, and the others did not offer that.