On Fri, 2014-12-19 at 23:56 +1100, Noah O'Donoghue wrote: > > You might have to clarify this, I did a quick look at JB Hifi and could > only find a refurbished 10inch samsung tablet for $398 ( > https://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers-tablets/tablets/samsung/samsung-galaxy-note-10-1-16gb-tablet-wi-fi-white-refurbished/452441/ > ) > > Also, quad core is no guarantee of performance. Both of my android tablets > I tried from Hong Kong were quad core and they were so far behind my old > dual core iPad 2. > > For reference you can get refurbished iPad 2's for $319 or brand new iPad > with Retina (4th generation) for $390.00, which is a popular option taken > by a lot of schools. > > Sorry, I realize I have changed the bar with regard to price, but the above > $390 is the actual cost at one of my schools, I had to look up the quote.
Since you ask, I happened to be in the local OfficeWorks store yesterday for some supplies and they had a wide range of tablets so I noted some prices down. This is the tablet I had in mind and it is well under the $300 I mentioned. Note this is marked as "Everyday low price" and is not a one-off discount: Samsung Tab 4 10.1" 16GB $274 To prove the point that was argued earlier that there is a device for almost everyone in the Android family, here are a few 10" tablets I saw: El cheapo brand 10.1" $99 Asus 10.1" $199 Samsung Galaxy S 10.5" OLED $539 The 99 bucks is probably bad and I wouldn't recommend it, but I'm sure someone is able to get good value out of it and it probably lets people use a tablet who otherwise would have none. After all I use a $40 Huawei Android 4 phone which is low on power but does me just fine and is unbeatable value - nice and small for my pocket too. Don't think that everyone needs the top spec all of the time. Note that the high end $539 is a super high-end spec to easily match and probably even exceed Apple's, while still being cheaper than comparable iPads. It has an AMOLED display 2560x1600 which is absolutely gorgeous and stands out side-by-side to all of the other tablets in the store. Meanwhile the cheapest Ipad Air was $469 and they went up to $737, clearly a huge premium over comparable Android devices. The point is clearly proven - there is an Android device to suit almost any budget/features and a massive range compared to the limited Apple offerings. Not all of these are appropriate to school use, but there are very reasonably priced offerings which are. Also quoting what sounds like school direct pricing doesn't really help as in this "brave new world" parents are likely to be buying retail and so such pricing is not relevant. (And trying to compare refurbished to brand new does not compute either.) > Are you suggesting moving > away from a monoculture to a totally open choice? That would be fantastic, but I agree that it is unrealistic. So no, I'm not proposing that, but I definitely believe there needs to be some choice available. If a device is able to provide for the daily needs of the children in class, and be sufficiently easy to use that the children and teachers can manage it, then it should be acceptable - and many of these devices are suitable. Cheers, Martin _______________________________________________ Free-software-melb mailing list [email protected] http://lists.softwarefreedom.com.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/free-software-melb Free Software Melbourne home page: http://www.freesoftware.asn.au/melb/
