Does Anyone Need a $1500 Tablet? No?

[Michael Knutson]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://blog.laptopmag.com/news-flash-you-dont-need-a-tablet' target='_blank'>http://blog.laptopmag.com/news-flas...t-need-a-tablet</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Watch the video at the bottom of this post very carefully. There&rsquo;s a woman who is about to bankrupt herself for a product she does not need."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/lpt/auto/1310019394.usr17748.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>Interesting to look at total cost of ownership (TCO) of a long-term rental at $15.99 per week from Rent-A-Center. They claim that a renter can simply bring it back and stop paying. Beware of the small print! The author's calculations show that the real rental cost for the contract life is over $1500, and, in his opinion, no current tablet is worth that much. I agree that this method of getting a tablet is horrible, but I do disagree with him on the overall usefulness of tablets. I find that they occupy a specific niche in my world between laptop and smartphone. For example, I need some quick info while watching a movie? Up comes IMDB on my iPad 2. Easy peasy. Use the right tool for the job!</p>

[Chris Gohlke]

Not arguing that RAC is a total ripoff, but the underlying logic that a tablet is not "worth" $1,500 is a bit flawed. Tablets, netbooks, laptops, and computers today all offer value (worth) far exceeding their value. My $500 iPad is way better than the $3000 worth of computer I was using 15 years ago, but they were both worth it. If all computers and tablets were double in price, people would still buy them (just not as many) because they certainly still offered value in excess of the cost.

But, in the above case, she'd be much better off just pocketing the $15.99 a week for a few months an paying cash for the same item (it'll probably be clearanced by then anyway).