No brainer?

[cmhobbz]

Looking for a nice little starter tablet, for the girlfriend. She reads books more than anything, she browses the web here and there, she texts/chats with her daughter often, she does email when she has to, and she plays the occasional game when bored. My mind is telling me to buy a NT for $249... roll it back to 1.4.0 and root it. Am I wrong to think that this makes more sense than to go out and buy her something $400+?

I appreciate your opinions.

 

[Flyguy94]

I was wanting a tablet as well. My wide surprised me with a Nook Tablet. I was lucky it had 1.4.0 and was easy to root. Hopefully we can get some Dev support and get us some ICS. IMO the Nook is the way to go.

 

[bobstro]

If she's not after heavy-duty video and the like, why not save the 50 bucks and go with a Nook Color? That way, you can afford a nice pretty case to put it in! Or be a real cheap bastad and go with a $150 refurb, customize it and present it in a nice case!

The NC is much more flexible in terms of rooting and custom firmware (e.g. Cyanogenmod). I've got a Color and bought my wife a Tablet for Christmas. While rooting the Tablet has made it do the basics she wants, I've realized it would have been easier to do the same on an overclocked color, and she probably would not know the difference.

The tablet is very smooth, light and has somewhat better battery, but these are not huge issues in terms of basic functionality.

 

[pastafarian]

As long as you don't need camera's, gps or bluetooth (though this might be a future possibility), the NT (or NC) is indeed a no brainer IMHO. If B&N does another refurb dump of the NC @~$150, it's a very compelling choice. OTH, I think for the battery lfe, weight and speed, a $50 up charge for the NT is well worth it. The NC is more hackable right now, but the current rooted NT setup is all that most would want or need. It's rare when any product exceeds expectation, the NT has done that for me and then some!

 

[aceofspades626]

I'm always thinking forward compatibility when I buy new tech. Seriously considered the NC for price. Still works well as a tablet.
In the end, the ability to load ICS and who-knows-what-else I might like to run in the time I own it won out. Dual core Ghz processor in the Nook Tablet vs single 800mhz in the Color will make a huge difference if you think that may play in for you.

 

[cmhobbz]

Thanks to all for your feedback. I went ahead and purchased the NT. For now, I am going to let her run it stock. My hope is that the folks, over at xda-developers, will be able to crack the sd card boot issue that the NT introduced. I really like the idea of Nook2Android's sd card solution for root... so I am hoping that it will come down the pike within the next few months.