Costco has 4 easy to buy tablets starting at $100

Christmas gifts at Costco end-of-aisle placement with Android 4 tablets by Samsung Lenovo and a generic from $100 to $348

By Stephen Pate – Tablets have become a point-of-purchase impulse buy this Christmas at rock bottom prices.

I came across this 4-pallet promotion at Costco last night. I could wander around the display and pick any one of 4 Android 4.0 tablets, starting at $99.00.

The prices and placement encourage impulse buying as Christmas gifts. Why not buy a tablet as a gift when they cost $100?  The Costo pricing is Canadian. US prices will be slightly less.

Update – the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7″ 8GB is on special at Best Buy and Staples for $149, if you can find inventory.

You can buy the first three tablets at Best Buy and Amazon.com as well. Costco pricing is very competitive and their in-store warranty better than most.

Smartphones and tablets are over-taking computers, laptops and ultrabooks as the consumer electronics of choice. A September report said there were now more smartphones and tablets than PCs in use by consumers. From the first smartphone in 2007, it only took 5 years to become the dominant form factor.

In the Costco display there were 2 Samsung Galaxy Tab 10″ and 7″, a Lenovo A1107 7″ and Netbook 7″. All were Android 4.0 and had memory from 16 GB to 4 GB.

To buy, you pick the card and gave it to the exit cashier who retrieved the boxed tablet. None of the display tablets was working which was slack by Costco. There was nothing to dazzle your eye.

Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 2 10.1 WiFi 16 GB

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1-Inch, Wi-Fi) priced at $348 is a direct competitor for the Apple iPad 2 selling for $399.

If you are a fan of the Apple closed system the Tab 2 offers a few advantages.

If you would rather be in the open world of Google’s Android, then will appreciate being able to show Flash videos on the Tab 2. It also has stereo speakers and a slightly larger screen, 10.1″ versus 9.7 for the Apple.

The rear camera on the Tab 2 is 3 MP versus a paltry 1 MP on the iPad.

At one time you could say Apple had more apps than Android. The reality today is that there are more Android devices being sold than Apple. Google Android is the most popular operating system in the world, even more popular than Windows.

Users are pretty happy with the Tab 2. Reviewers rate the Tab 2 with 4 stars out of 5 on average while users rate it between 4 and 5.

Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 2 7 WiFi 8 GB

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7″

At $100 less, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7-Inch, Wi-Fi) is a good buy. There is only 8 GB of on board memory but you can add 32 GB with a microSD card.

At 7″, the Tab 2 is easier to handle and can be used with one hand.

It’s large enough to do everything that the Tab 2 10.1 does, only a little smaller. Apple was forced to produce the iPad mini to compete in this size.

The is a rear 3 MP camera, 1024 x 60 screen, and 1 GHz dual core processor.

Customers and reviewers are giving the Tab 2 7″ a 4 out of 5 star rating.

Lenovo A1107 7″ WiFi 16 MB

Lenovo A1107

At $100 less, the Lenovo A1107 7-Inch Tablet is tempting as a bargain tablet.

Lenovo is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of computers. The Chinese company purchased IBM’s line of PCs and Thinkpad’s and has a very good reputation.

The processor is still 1GHz but only 1 core.

The 16 MB of memory can be upped with a microSD card. It has front .3 MB and back 3 MB cameras.

It also has GPS in offline mode.

User give the A1107 between 3 and 4 out of 5 stars.

Netbook 7″ WiFi 4 GB

The Netbook 7″ is an non-branded Android 4.0 tablet with a paltry 4 GB of memory, 1 core 1GHz processor and a $99.99 price.

It will tempt some people and the display was bare in places. The Netbook 7 is getting snapped up.

Unless this is a gift for someone you don’t like, I would move into safer water with the Lenovo or Samsung tablets.

There you have it – 4 tablets on sale for half of last year’s prices.