End of Tablets being a durable good?

[TJGoSurf]

I got to thinking about this earlier. Maybe its brilliant or maybe being up for 72 hours is getting to me.

With the cheap price of Kindle Fire, Nexus 7 (8&16gb), plus numerous off brand competitors are we seeing an end to tablets being considered a durable good? Which is a stretch because who has had a tablet for more than three years or expect it to last that long? Will they become as common place in our lives as DVD's or even composition books? Personally, I'm getting practically my entire immediate family Nexus 7s for Christmas.

Much like my Netbook I see my Nexus 7 as something that wouldn't fetch much price on the used market so I would much rather give it away to a friend or family member as opposed to selling it. As more and more of these devices hit the market they will become as numerous as a CD player was in the late 1990's.

Anyone else think the same way or should I go to bed?

 

[DC IT]

IMO, tablets should be cheaper than laptops since they lack the full functionality of a laptop.
So if tablets sells for under $300 then they will become more popular like iPods.

Personally rather than buy the same brand, I bought an iPad, a BB Playbook, and a N7 for the family so I can try them all.
When Microsoft starts selling Windows 8 tablets I intend to get one for our family of four.
That way I get to sample them all.
I'm sure they are all equally capable of meeting our usual needs for tablets.

 

[nynvolt]

I think we're seeing the end of the PC as we're used to. Most have converted to desktop replacement lap tops and as tablets gain popularity, functionality will follow. About the only reason to used a PC is for high end games and larger storage. Just about everything else can be done with a more mobile friendly tablet. We will be replacing/upgrading often just like we did with PC's five or so years ago but that will slow down eventually. BTW, I think "durable goods" refers more to refrigerators, washers and dryers. Technology has always been pretty fleeting, I remember when to play PC games you had to upgrade hardware or the entire PC every six months to a year. My three or four year old lap top is still pretty capable.

 

[TJGoSurf]

Ugh. My minor in economics, let me show you it.

 

[ChiweN]

I think we're seeing the end of the PC as we're used to. Most have converted to desktop replacement lap tops and as tablets gain popularity, functionality will follow. About the only reason to used a PC is for high end games and larger storage. Just about everything else can be done with a more mobile friendly tablet. We will be replacing/upgrading often just like we did with PC's five or so years ago but that will slow down eventually. BTW, I think "durable goods" refers more to refrigerators, washers and dryers. Technology has always been pretty fleeting, I remember when to play PC games you had to upgrade hardware or the entire PC every six months to a year. My three or four year old lap top is still pretty capable.

I agree. While computers in their traditional sense will be a part of our lives for quite a bit longer (more so on the business side than personal computing), more mobile forms of computing are definitely changing the mold.

Hell, a lot of people are using their smartphones as their primary means of data consumption.

 

[AntimonyER]

I definitely use my laptop very little, it's just so much easier to use a tablet for browsing the forums. The N7 is the perfect tablet in my mind.

 

[ChiweN]

I definitely use my laptop very little, it's just so much easier to use a tablet for browsing the forums. The N7 is the perfect tablet in my mind.

Yeah, I'm loving my n7. Paranoid android with motleys kernel, 1.1.1 mid gpu over clock.

I can't put it down lol, and now that it's fixed the screen separation issue I couldn't be happier.

I was running a nook color before the n7. Modded with cm7.2. It was cool for what it was, but after using the nexus 7 you realize how slow and stunted it was lol.

Sorry for way laying the thread.