35% of Americans 16 years old and older own a tablet computer

[Shampoyeto]

When e-readers such as the Kindle, etc. are included, the number of tablets/e-readers owners is 43%.

http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Tablets-and-ereaders.aspx

[BlueJazz]

1. I thought about getting one once (for about 2 min) then deduced that a laptop is my thing..

...and buying a tablet is rather like buying 1/2 of a computer.
The laptop I use is only 5-6 lbs and it's a real full function unit. The bigger one stays at home with the desktop.
I'm one of the people who truly don't want something to carry around that is only half usable....and costs about the same.

[frazzled]

2. They really are half a computer

I have one (an early version iPad that was given to me when a sibling upgraded), but really, all I ever use it for is to look up dumb, useless junk when I'm watching TV and don't feel like getting up to use my office computer (things like, "what was the name of that Joan Crawford movie that ...?&quot , or sending a quick email from the breakfast table. But I don't really use it for regular email because (a) it's too hard to type and (b) it always feels like you might lose stuff. Plus, I receive a lot of document attachments in Word format, so those have to be saved for a "real" computer.

I do not use it to read books. Why? Because I have to sit in front of a computer screen all day, and when I read at night I don't want to look at another screen. I read books every night, but the paper kind.

I also don't use apps to read newspapers or magazines to which I subscribe, because I find the apps much more lunky and frustrating than the regular Web sites.

The only thing it's good for is when I travel and am not going to be doing work anyway. It's a decent way to delete unwanted emails so they don't stack up or to read a few news websites. Of course, I could use my phone to do all that.

It's just kind of like a big iPhone. It's a toy.

[UTUSN]

9. You make my kind of sense. n/t

[onehandle]

3. Naysayers laughed when Steve Jobs introduced the iPad. It totally killed the netbook market.

And is now the only part of the PC market that is growing.

[HappyMe]

4. I have a pc.

I don't really want or need to buy anything else. Tablets or pad computers never seemed like they would be super useful to me.

[MineralMan]

5. I have a Kindle Fire, a regular Kindle, and a couple of desktops.

I have no yen for anything like an iPad. I need a real keyboard. My wife has an iPad, and an expensive bluetooth keyboard. It sucks. I write for a living. Nothing less than a full-sized real keyboard will let me do my work.

I even have a notebook computer, but its keyboard is crappy, and I can't type on it with my normal speed or accuracy. I'm a very fast touch typist, and just can't work with crappy keyboards.

I use the Kindle Fire for web browsing when I'm not at the desktop, my regular Kindle for reading, and the desktop for everything else.

[Shampoyeto]

6. The Windows Surface has an actual keyboard

That you can detach if you want.

[MineralMan]

7. Can I get one at Office Max for $400?

No? Then, never mind. My desktop PC has an actual keyboard, and I can pick and choose from many models to suit my typing style.

[Shampoyeto]

10. My post was only about your "actual keyboard" complaint

Whatever other complaints you have, the keyboard one was solved.

[X_Digger]

8. Meh. Is that in addition to, or a replacement for, a desktop or laptop?

Desktop saturation may be (effectively) close to 100%, but that doesn't mean that desktops are going away any time soon. Growth is a great thing for tablet makers, but in a few years, they'll be in the same place that desktop manufacturers are at now.

I have three monitors connected to my desktop PC, a home theater pc running mythTV connected to my TV, a kindle, and a kindle fire. The kindle sits on my nightstand and gets two hours of nightly use. The kindle fire.. sits in the bathroom. Once the novelty wore off, it became nothing more than a time waster.

The wife has a desktop, a kindle, an android smartphone and an ipad that sits on permanent charge (might as well not exist). She uses a knitting app on the phone for things she was doing on the ipad. She also uses a glucose logging app. For her, desktop + smartphone covers all her bases. I expect she's pretty typical. Sure she has a tablet computer, but it's just gathering dust.