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[TA]

The TV's good, but they're looking to get a new one since my nephew accidentally left this huge block of dead pixels across the bottom.

Practically any TV from a major brand has its own app ecosystem now too, so if they're actually going to buy a new one then a dedicated box might be redundant.  They're not always good apps though...

The one my friend has is this model.  It is quite excellent and has served us very well.  I would recommend it, or one like it from Samsung - that's last year's model, so you can probably get better.  Check Samsung's site.

[Mothra]

True. I should look into that. It might not even be necessary to buy a media box if there's already one built into the TV.

[Thad]

I've never had much interest in streaming features on my TV because I have a PC hooked up to it, but Samsung is indeed an excellent brand at making both televisions and Android devices, and I would expect they would know their shit as far as combining the two.

[Kayma]

I don't remember what the question was, but I'll say that I've had 3 Samsung TVs in the last so many years and they've all been excellent.

[Mongrel]

Uh, how excellent can they be if you had to go through 3 of them in as many years?

[Kayma]

Oh, you. Different sizes, different purposes. They're all great and kicking.

[Joxam]

Silly old people thinking you should only own ONE TV. What is this, the fifties.

[Lottel]

Tablets are getting good enough for cheap enough where I think I'll buy one for me for Christmas. I've been a very good boy this year, you see. But before I have you all nodding in agreement, let me cock it up by saying I want a windows tablet/laptop thingy.
I've been without a computer for a few years now and can't stand it anymore. I've been making do by using my phone for most everything and for video, slinging it over to my ps3. I want a tablet mainly for reading comics/various books and a computer because typing anything longer than a paragraph is such a bother I've basically flipped off all of my internet friends and said fuck it.
I've been checking prices at the local shops (because prolonged shopping via a phone is a bunch of bullshit) and have noticed that the regular standalone tablets are roughly the same price as the lower end of the combos, sometimes higher. The Surface looks pretty good and the few people I know who've purchased them said they are pretty great but can chug if you try to do too much at once. The lady at Best Buy said this little Asus number is just as good for $200 cheaper but I've never heard of anything good coming from Asus. And of course I missed the Black Friday sale of the Surface being only $200 but I'm hoping I'll snag one during the post Christmas sales.

Anyone have any suggestions for me? I'm looking for something fairly cheap that can preferably run steam for a few low-intensity indie games and maybe even minecraft.

[Thad]

Yeah, sounds like the Surface is about what you're looking for -- the Surface RT only runs limited, App Store-provided programs, while the Surface Pro sounds well out of your price range.

I'm surprised by the negativity toward Asus -- the Nexus 7 is a legitimately excellent tablet, and their full-on Win8 laptops are pretty solid in my experience (my wife's had two (first one was stolen)).  I've always thought of them as a pretty solid brand.

Course, I've never had a high opinion of Acer and yet here I am buying their Chromebook.  Reversals abound!

I'll let you know how the Chromebook goes, BTW -- "Ubuntu on a Chromebook" actually sounds like a pretty good match for what you're talking about.  It's not Windows, but it'll run the Linux version of Steam just fine; indie games abound and yes Minecraft runs on Linux too.  I've opted for the non-touch version, but the touch version is only $50 more if that's something you're jonesing for.

I'm not saying go right out and buy one, even if that does sound like something you'd consider; I'll let you know how installation goes.  (I've found that Chrubuntu installation scripts are finicky as hell on the Samsung Chromebook and if you don't have exactly the right one it can easily break partway through an install.  Course, I'm not sure if the BIOS is as locked down on the C720; you might not even need Chrubuntu.  I'd just as soon take ChromeOS off entirely and just run Xubuntu.)

[Brentai]

Yeah I think you might be confusing Asus with Acer. Common mistake, but Asus actually makes solid products (like, say, this Asus Windows tablet I have right the fuck here) and Acer makes, well, shit.

The old Transforms are still selling for sub $200.  They're starting to chug a bit with updates and they have no official support anymore, but these things only matter of you're gaming, trying to use Flash, or plan to drop the thing off a cliff.

[Thad]

It might bear adding that Asus has been widely considered to be the best brand of motherboards for at least as long as I've been buying motherboards.

Acer...well, let's just say that I'm roughly as surprised by all the reviews saying Acer makes the best Chromebook as I was a few years ago by all the reviews saying Mad Catz made the best joystick.  What a difference endorsement and oversight by a big name software publisher can make.

[Lottel]

Well, the Asus T100TA is getting pretty decent reviews and it's sub $300 for a 32gb model including keyboard and reviews indicate that it can play low-intensity games.
So this looks like what I'll be purchasing in the next few days. Thanks for your help, chums.

[Healy]

Would small-ish books make a good Geocaching trade item? I'm mostly worried about rot.