Upcoming iPad Competitors

Haven't bought the infamous iPad or iPad 2 yet? The tablet marketplace is heating up, and more viable competitors are showing up. Companies such as Acer, ASUS, HP, and Samsung are getting into the act, with their sleek new tablet designs. With the market settling down a little, some choices are starting to emerge as real competitors to Apple Corporation's popular renewal of the tablet computer platform.

1. ASUS Eee Pad Transformer
Selling for as little as $400 online, this Android 3.0 Honeycomb-based tablet features a 10-inch 16:10 HD widescreen display, speedy Tegra 2 processor, and weighs in at only a pound and a half. Less than half an inch thick, and with a 5 Megapixel webcam, it offers both portability and dynamic usability.

2. Netbook Next5
One of the least expensive tablets available, the Next series of Android tablets pushes the tablet into a price-range that makes them affordable to many that couldn't consider them before. For under $200, you do have to sacrifice some features, however. Most of the Next-series have low-powered ARM processors at only 600Mhz, the screens are barely Standard Definition, not HD, and the battery life can be a bit short.

3. HP Slate
The Slate from HP now features a powerful (for a tablet) Intel Atom processor and Windows 7 operating system. With a 64GB fast SSD storage drive, and 2GB of memory, this 9" tablet is sure to blaze through almost any task. The $800 price tag may be reason to think twice, though.