Dear Google: please don't make me buy an iPad

Image from Phandroid website, found at: https://phandroid.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/lenovo-ideapad-duet-3.jpg , I give full credit to the website for their amazing work.

Well, it’s happened. My tablet is slowly withering away.  Most would say “well, I guess it's time for you to get a new iPad”.  That’s the thing. My last tablet wasn’t an iPad, it was an android tablet.  As most know, I try to stay as far away from apple products as possible, which means if there is a good alternative to the iPad, I’m going to take it.  People like me need an option, a good option, something that can match the iPad.

My dying android tablet running custom launcher

So are there any good alternatives?  Well, there are android tablets, but most are too expensive and not worth the money.  Even if there was a perfect android tablet that was worth the money, updates are certain to last .  I’ve sailed the sea of the internet and I have not found at least one tablet under 400 dollars that comes with android 10 out of the box.  The situation of android tablets is infuriating, which means I need other options.  Fast.   

Windows tablets also exist, but again most that are actually good are too expensive, plus the lack of tablet apps.  I would normally look at a Surface go but I already write this blog on a surface pro so I think I’m good on the windows side.  What I need is an OS that has the flexibility and the apps to compete with iPad, along with having the hardware to allow for good battery life and performance.  The OS needs to have a good tablet experience, if you don’t think that matters just try using tablet mode on a Windows tablet.  These criteria leaves me with one choice: Chrome OS. 

If you’ve been following the news on Chrome, you’ve seen that the tablet experience has been completely overhauled from what shipped on the Pixel Slate.  It now has gestures for navigation, and an iPad-style slide-up dock.  Chrome OS has also been known to be a battery champ, thanks to the lightweight nature of the OS. 


 Support for the play store and web apps also has arrived, most also come with a keyboard accessory to help assist when you need to get work done. Also, all Chromebooks and chrome tablets released in 2020 will get 8 years of updates, 8 years is more than any android and maybe even iOS device.  I’ll write a different article on why I find Chrome OS more intriguing than iPad OS at a later date, don’t worry.


So the software seems ready to ship, what I’m waiting on is the hardware.  The flagship tablet that will come out is the Lenovo Ideapad duet tablet.  My main concerns is the performance of the processor, powered by a Mediatek P60T, a processor that hasn’t been tested on any other Chromebook so we must wait to check performance.  Another concern is availability, Covid-19 has delayed Chrome-OS builds and shut down many factories.  This could cause significant delays for Chrome OS tablets to ship. 

Personally, it’s hard to resist the urge to just buy an iPad because of the frequent discounts and sales.  Most people don’t have the same willpower to resist the deals and that could impact sales of Chrome tablets.


Most of all, I’m hoping that after all the struggles blow over and I’m able to buy a Chrome tablet that I won’t be disappointed.  I know many people who don’t want an iPad (one of them is my grandma), for those people there should be something better.  So all I’m saying is don’t mess this up Google.  Don’t do the thing where you get my hopes up just to have everything crash and burn.  So please Google, don’t make me buy an iPad, allow me to have alternatives.