Ned, the first time I took my netbook to Denny's to use over a grand slam - I was the only person in that crowded restaurant with such a device. And though not self conscious about it, it was a bit distracting to be stared at so much.
Anyway, last week while having breakfast at a waiting room only McDonald's in Bullhead City, AZ - couldn't help but notice that other than a fellow at one of those stand up tables, every table or booth was occupied by someone with either a tablet, netbook, or laptop. Times have changed. I also noticed the array of tablet covers. The pink ones some ladies had - or those with keyboards built in. The laptops outnumbered the tablets 2 to 1, and the tablets out numbered the netbooks about the same.
Haven't decided what will work for me as to a need for a tablet. Though I still have a fairly powerful netbook, I don't want to be out and about anymore without my laptop. It is set up to mirror my office desktop including remote desktop. With all the free Wi-Fi available now I find that after breakfast, for example, I may want to spend a few hours programming, photo editing, upgrading SW, or whatever over that second cup of coffee.
I do plan to sell my netbook because I am now rarely without my laptop - and may get a tablet of some kind, but not sure. When I don't have the laptop, my Samsung Charge allows me to do all the email checks and such. Also, when at my rig, I plug the charge into either my main or bedroom HD TV via HDMI cable - which is much better than any tablet screen. And finally, I would have to have a remote keyboard. I touch type at 85wpm and hate virtual keyboards regardless of how they have been improved.
Another decision I would be faced with is Windows 8. I installed it on my laptop - mainly because all of my clients buying new machines have that OS. MS is really going after Google and Apple with 8. And I can see how having all of my machines on 8 would be nice in the cloud world now. Am not considering that, but can see what MS is up to here. At SAM's last week it was interesting looking at the Samsung tablets with one machine having 8 and the next with looking very Droidish. Some may hate Win8, but MS sure is getting a big foot in the door for one OS for everything from smartphones to major comptuer sytems.
Actually, though taking some patience for sure, Win8 is not that bad - after I figured out to get along without a Start Button.