[rgeorg]

Well, my new (rebranded) Classmate 9" tablet is sitting on the desk. After playing around with the wireless for awhile I started installing reader software (msReader basically was all that not on the system) - and viewed books in rotated tablet mode - very nice! All for 500 euros (including English version of XP Home!).

First, I'll admit that, living in Greece, the strength of the sunlight precludes anything except shade-reading. Also, I do 80% of my ebook reading indoors where there is electricity and a bit more weight doesn't matter. Most of this is in bed before sleeping - so a dimmed backlight is actually helpful and considerate of my husband. Portability issues are answered by my much-used .mp3 player and audiobooks - mostly when taking daily walks.

I haven't tested the battery capacity of the Classmate yet, but I will. I work in higher-education and the tablet appears to also be perfect for moodle (CMS) access, bringing presentations to class to display with a projector, simple note-taking (maybe?), and annotations of texts and papers. I have to test it out for awhile. If anyone is interested tell me and I'll post summary results.

I expect the Classmate will mostly replace my 7" netbook for ebook reading. However, I'll keep the Asus Eee around as I have a large battery installed + it was much less expensive and is great as a traveling companion.


I'd really like to buy an eReader device also - but I am having difficulty with the cost-value over my existing netbook solutions. I'll probably wait to see what the new crop of readers offer in the coming months.