On Wed, 18 May 2011, Kris Browne wrote: > One can turn this question around. > > When I'm away from a full size computer, the majority of what I'm doing > does not require any significant input. Watching movies, playing games, > reading news/books/email, etc. Why in the world would I want to waste > the weight involved in a keyboard for something I would only rarely use, > and would mar the form-factor? Exercise? JK. I'm not sure how much the keyboard weighs, but the netbook may weigh more because of the HDD, or do the tablets have HDDs? I think they use all solid-state memory. Anyway, what you are saying makes sense and it's along the lines I was thinking -- tablets are best for reading and for watching video, especially alone. To watch a video with someone else you would want some kind of stand to hold the display still and then you'd be just as well off with the netbook, assuming they have the same screen resolution. I can pack a lot of movies onto my netbook HDD, but I guess the tablets won't hold much. > In my experience though, there is no deficiency in using the built-in > software keyboard for the cases it's needed, and if I'm dong longer form > work a Bluetooth keyboard is more than adequate. (at least on iOS > devices; I hated the soft-keyboard when I had an android phone). Good to know, but if you're going to carry an external keyboard when you travel, and possibly a stand, you may be losing your weight advantage and it sounds like more hassle to keep track of all the separate parts. Mike