I'm in the market for a new tablet (yeh, again, told ya's I was hard on these things ) and right now the in-budget choices on kijiji seem to boil down to the Surface or the Iconia...

My MAIN use is on-the-go email and internet reference/research library (well, plus PFF) but I also like being able to stream movies and play some simple games (Hay Day, Boom Beach, Angry Birds). Basically a tablet is easier than a laptop to grab-and-go, plus at my desk its going beside meas a back-up screen when I need one.

The Iconia--I know android and whats around for it, but I only get the tablet, no keyboard or case.

Surface--I get 2 keyboard/cases (touch and hard) but apart from R/T being a cut-down version of W8 I dont know squat about it and have never used one.

Those 2 are about the only choices in the screen size I want (10"+) and within budget around here right now. Both are used/ refurb...I COULD get new RCA or Poloroid or other No_name crap in my price range but I've had those before end end up unhappy and reselling them within a few weeks so I am bypassing that whole "budget brands" scene and sticking with known major brands.

What would you guys grab, and why ?

Not knowing the cost difference, could a keyboard case be purchased for the Iconia and still be in budget range? I am unfamiliar with the Windows tablets so for me I'd have to really ask myself if those keyboard cases are actually something I will use. My first tablet I got with a keyboard case and it was more a hassle to use than it was worth so I didn't use it enough to make the slightly higher price worth it to me. My kids eventually trashed that tablet and there wasn't anything with it I couldn't already do on my phone so I didn't replace it as my needed use of it was over. Now, I have to go back down to Grand Cayman in late September again for a couple of weeks, so I need a tablet for that again. Last time was 7" this time I wanted a 10". Looking at them all, I went with a Android because I know all the apps I need are available to the Android. I picked up a refurbished 10" tablet and have been getting everything set up for it. I don't think it would have been as easy for me if I had gone Windows. If I had checked for the needed apps on my iPhone, I might have gone that route but I know when I switched from Android to Apple for my phone, some apps I had been using were not available. I don't really want to go through the trying out different apps if that occurred, so to me Android was the choice. In your shoes, I'd probably go with Iconia ( even though I have never heard of that brand ).

That said, I am not looking forward to this trip to GC. I'm going to miss my wife's birthday because of it . Still, she wants me to make a countdown chain for my son like last time I was gone. A link to represent each day I'm gone that he can open one a day and read a little note I leave for him. I decided I'm going to do one for my son, 2 daughters and my wife this time. Then the link for my wife's birthday will have a "While I am not there to celebrate with you, I left a gift for you somewhere" note in it. That will start off a series of notes to different places in the house with a new note in each sending her to the next. The final note will send her to where the gift is actually hidden and that will actually be a bunch of gifts in a bag for her. She likes Harley Quinn and has no real knickknacks or anything. I've been buying things from small diecast figures to 2' x 3' full color canvas pictures. I think she will be surprised.

Edit: Acer = Iconia. Why didn't you just say that?

[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 08-21-2017).]

MEM --- What's your budget? You can probably get a good used iPad Air (1st gen Air, not Air 2) for under $200. I have an iPod Air 2 (bought new) and I got a used BT keyboard/case for $20 that works perfectly. Check on Swappa, too. iOS is pretty easy to adapt to. I have Android on my phone, iOS on my iPad, Linux on my laptop and Win7 on my desktop. They've all gotten pretty easy to use. The iPad is a 9.7" screen (plenty big enough to surf the web, play games, check email, research stuff, etc). Since the iPads are abundant, you can find good deals on just about any accessory you can think of. If you don't mind getting iPad accessories that aren't "genuine Apple" (and other than cables, I wouldn't spend the $$ on genuine anything), you can get leather cases for $10, used BT keyboard (hard) cases for $20-$40, etc.

Just a thought if you can spare a couple hundred bucks.

The Surface has something like a 52% return rate for repairs. That is almost as bad as the original Xbox 360.

The Acer is on sale for $149 refurb from a couple big box places right now, and surfaces are a regular $150 find on kijiji. Thats top end of what Im willing to spend on a tablet since it is basically money flushed. Going by my track record ill be shopping again within 6 months.

Around here iPadz are still pretty pricy for 2nd gen and above. 1st gen still go for $100 and up.