Pre-Order Xoom at Best Buy for $1,199

[d3vilfish]

Right but you are giving far too much credit to the average customer. Most people don't look at specs and say "ohh dual core I need this now" People look at brand name and price. For most of us here in the forum that is not the case, we are aware of the latest specs for the most part so we want the biggest and best. A LOT of people are going to be turned off by an $800 price tag for a tablet device. Yes they are convenient but they cannot do nearly as much as a laptop or pc. Look at the galaxy tab, that thing has had to lower it's price 3 times now and rumors are it's still not selling real well and the return rate is ridiculous. I am not expecting an iPad price but I was expecting a price that would make it comparable. Maybe 650 or so.

How is $650 comparable to an Ipad price... That IS the 32GB wifi-only Ipad price after taxes. After thinking about it $800 is really a feasible price for this tablet. I mean it's supposedly a better piece of technology right? Has better specs and more features. Then why not charge more? What can you do on your laptop that you wouldn't be able to do on this tablet? Most people don't even have dual core desktops. The galaxy tablet is a fail because it's not worth the money. The specs on that thing are crappy and its something that is overly hyped (especially on this forum). It seemed rushed and late at the same time.

On a laptop, I can run actual programs, not "apps". I can also plug the laptop into my motorcycle and play with all the engine management controls, and tune the bike. I can run actual Photoshop and do video editing, not run some watered-down app... etc...

Don't misunderstand me, I think that tablets are cool and all, but for $1200, or even $900, I would rather have a Windows 7 tablet that gives me the convenience of the tablet format, but lets me do everything that my laptop or desktop can do.

While I find the price insane I find a few things wrong with this statment. First ok I hate windows and mac for that matter but windows 7 really the only os worse than 7 is xp. Number 2 is with this tablets specs I bet I could run dual boot android and linux with external mouse and keyboard. Best of both worlds but duck the orice

running darkslide 4.2

 

[TheOldFart]

How is $650 comparable to an Ipad price... That IS the 32GB wifi-only Ipad price after taxes. After thinking about it $800 is really a feasible price for this tablet. I mean it's supposedly a better piece of technology right? Has better specs and more features. Then why not charge more? What can you do on your laptop that you wouldn't be able to do on this tablet? Most people don't even have dual core desktops. The galaxy tablet is a fail because it's not worth the money. The specs on that thing are crappy and its something that is overly hyped (especially on this forum). It seemed rushed and late at the same time.

On a laptop, I can run actual programs, not "apps". I can also plug the laptop into my motorcycle and play with all the engine management controls, and tune the bike. I can run actual Photoshop and do video editing, not run some watered-down app... etc...

Don't misunderstand me, I think that tablets are cool and all, but for $1200, or even $900, I would rather have a Windows 7 tablet that gives me the convenience of the tablet format, but lets me do everything that my laptop or desktop can do.

While I find the price insane I find a few things wrong with this statment. First ok I hate windows and mac for that matter but windows 7 really the only os worse than 7 is xp. Number 2 is with this tablets specs I bet I could run dual boot android and linux with external mouse and keyboard. Best of both worlds but duck the orice

running darkslide 4.2

I agree that tablets are just mostly about the cool factor. Yes, I would like one and do have the NOOKcolor, but I got that mostly for reading and just a little web browsing. I also agree that a small Win 7 laptop is a much better deal than these overpriced tablets - much more power, more capabilities, etc and at a significantly lower price for even a i5 processor. Yes, they do weigh a pound or so more, but if you add a keyboard and mouse to a tablet then it will weigh more than a small laptop and be much more cumbersome.

 

[SquireSCA]

While I find the price insane I find a few things wrong with this statment. First ok I hate windows and mac for that matter but windows 7 really the only os worse than 7 is xp. Number 2 is with this tablets specs I bet I could run dual boot android and linux with external mouse and keyboard. Best of both worlds but duck the orice

running darkslide 4.2

What is there to hate about Windows or Mac? Windows 7 is a great OS. XP was ok, hell, Vista was decent if you took away the fact that most of the things that people had to say about it, was "what they heard"... When you got down to it, there wasn't a whole lot that was actually wrong with Vista. I love watching the "Mohave Experiment" videos, where they interviewed tons of people and asked them what they thought about Vista. They had all sorts of bad things to say about it, even though most of them had never used it.

Then Microsoft set them down in front of some PC's to see what they thought if the "new upcoming" OS and to get their feedback. The people were all positive, some were blown away by it, on average, they loved it. Then the people doing the test informed them that everything they had seen, was not a new OS. It was bone stock out of the box Vista. LOL

Anyway, Windows 7 is a great OS. Fast, stable, etc... OSX is great too, but it sucks for gaming. My issue with Mac is that you are basically buying a Dell with a fancy case, and then paying a 40% price premium for the OS, which for me, does less than Windows does...

I ran Linux for awhile, many times over the past 13 years or so... But there is always something that I need that requires Windows so I end up going back. And I never got the "I hate Windows" crap... It seems like you have to say that if you want to be a Linux fan. Microsoft is "the establishment" in the computer world, and you cannot be cool without dissing "the establishment" I guess. Meanwhile, there is a reason why Windows is where it is in the market. And it is not because Bill Gates is satan, FYI. ;-)

I run Vista x64 on my gaming machine, and Windows 7 x64 on my laptop, and both run like champs. Nothing to complain about. In the end, neither Linux nor OSX could do anything that Windows could not do, in fact, it was the other way around.

As far as running the tablet with Linux and an external KB and mouse... If you are gonna go to that extent, why not just get a laptop for $650, that has much better specs than the tablet, and do the same thing, but without all the extra cords and things?

Like i said before, if I was going to spend $1200, it would be on a kickass Windows laptop, or a Macbook, not a large smart phone with the phone removed...

 

[SquireSCA]

I agree that tablets are just mostly about the cool factor. Yes, I would like one and do have the NOOKcolor, but I got that mostly for reading and just a little web browsing. I also agree that a small Win 7 laptop is a much better deal than these overpriced tablets - much more power, more capabilities, etc and at a significantly lower price for even a i5 processor. Yes, they do weigh a pound or so more, but if you add a keyboard and mouse to a tablet then it will weigh more than a small laptop and be much more cumbersome.

Exactly. The coolness factor alone just doesn't justify the cost IMHO. Also, the laptop has a built in DVD burner, something else that would be external to the tablet. And having a DVD burner for either burning data or watching DVD's is something that most people do in a regular basis. Sometimes you want to grab a DVD and watch it, not rip it and encode it with Handbrake and then transfer it to the tablet over USB or Wifi before you can watch it...

 

[bhall238]

Engadget updated and said it might just be a price place holder. My thing is....why not make the price place holder something thats not outrageous?

I agree totally with that statement. I believe Motorola and Verizon have both messed up a bit. The recent pricing and ongoing bloatware issues have caused me to take a hard look at Apple products, something I thought I would never have considered before.

 

[spillner]

As much as I hate the $800 price, Motorola is pricing this competitively with the iPad. The top of the line iPad costs $830. The Xoom blows that away with its specs and is $30 less. The big problem is that their is no other options yet available. Apple has 3 different versions of the iPad, the most successful being the 16gig wifi only device. The Xoom needs a less expensive version like that of the iPad.

The big problem is if their is a wifi only Xoom coming, what will it cost? Assuming that their only 2 versions of the Xoom being made available, how much less do you really think Motorola is going to go?

I really hope Motorola is seeing the online reaction to the price and considers a drastic cut but thats really unlikely.

 

[kodiak799]

Anyone see the Clamcase for the IPad? Basically a laptop shell that also powers and charges the IPad, so it gives you a keyboard. The review though wasn't all that hot (said the keyboard was cheap and cramped, and the shell is a bit bulky).

That's another step in the right direction. A 3-in-1 device (phone/tablet/netbook or pc) isn't far off. Tablet mfrs just need to wake up to put some sort of universal hooks on the back of the tablet so you can attach a wireless keyboard and wallah! You could even be extra sneaky putting a large battery in the keyboard and connect via USB and also have more power and/or charging source.

 

[SquireSCA]

As much as I hate the $800 price, Motorola is pricing this competitively with the iPad. The top of the line iPad costs $830. The Xoom blows that away with its specs and is $30 less. The big problem is that their is no other options yet available. Apple has 3 different versions of the iPad, the most successful being the 16gig wifi only device. The Xoom needs a less expensive version like that of the iPad.

The big problem is if their is a wifi only Xoom coming, what will it cost? Assuming that their only 2 versions of the Xoom being made available, how much less do you really think Motorola is going to go?

I really hope Motorola is seeing the online reaction to the price and considers a drastic cut but thats really unlikely.

Enough about specs. Specs do not tell the whole story. Nobody ever won a race on specs. More often than not, specs have more bearing on marketing than actual performance. Execution is what counts, not a spec sheet.

Now, the Xoom has some nice features, but it is as yet unproven. We don't know how polished and refined it is, whereas the iPad has been out for a long time and is ready to be updated. It is proven, refined, many bugs worked out.

Specs are great for geeks to argue back and forth on the internet like sports fan do with stats. But at the end of the day it is about who won the damned game, and right now, the Xoom hasn't played against the iPad, so we don't know how it will do head to head. It may be amazing. Or, it may be a dud like almost every other Android tablet has been to date, but with a hefty price tag.

So at this point, I don't know that the Xoom is justified at $1200 or even $800. That is a lot of money for something to cruise the web and play Angry Birds on, which I can already do from my phone, my laptop and my PC...

 

[steveninspokane]

This is why I bought a Viewsonic G tablet... for $400.

Soon enough I will have honeycomb as well.

 

[MoeDaddy]

Xoom also has to contend with the ipad2 which will be out soon as well. If you believe the rumors it will have 2 cameras and other goodies which may make the specs moot and the price usually stays the same for apple and the ipad will drop in price making the xoom that much less enticing to many avg buyers.

 

[sb1831]

Curses foiled again... HTC Flyer is HSPA and running 2.4...

 

[kodiak799]

Curses foiled again... HTC Flyer is HSPA and running 2.4...

I wonder if AT&T isn't putting all that money formerly earmarked for IPhone exclusivity to work to get the best Android phones now. They do have some catching-up to do.

 

[ICANSEEYOU7687]

I hate hearing people comparing this technology and price to the IPAD. In my opinion its not a fair comparison.

Its like comparing an i7 to a pentium 4 when it came out.

The only reason the current IPAD has been able to keep its price up is, A its apple, and they will always have a large fan base, and 2, they dont have any competition to lower its price... until now.

The only valid comparison is going to be the price of the XOOM to the price of the IPAD 2 (and of course with the other ipads).

Do you really think it costs morotola 800$ to make a xoom? The prices and manufacturing for pretty much all of the parts are dirt cheap when they are made in bulk.