I had not paid much attention to the HP Touchpad or tablets in general. Sure, I have seen them in the stores and played around with them a bit but really didn’t see the purpose of them and I certainly did not have a need for one. I have a desktop as my main computing device and wanted a netbook for portability purposes. I got that for Christmas last year and I am really happy with it. It is a good one with a great screen and super battery life. It does everything I expected and a bit more as I was surprised to be able to run MS office on it. So, I was set, I have a decent desktop and a great netbook to use when I am away from the desktop. Then came the announcement from HP that they are getting out of the webOS hardware business. I didn’t pay much attention to it as I figured it really only applied to their smart-phones. Soon after the announcement, the interwebs was buzzing about a “fire sale” on the HP Touchpad. The rumor was confirmed and the HP dropped the price of the Touchpad to $99. Huh, I figured a 16GB tablet was worth checking out so I figured I would try to get one. I was finally able to order one from the HP Small Business site after many attempts and site refreshes. Satisfied that I had scored one of my best deals I waited for my shipping confirmation. By the end of the weekend, the Touchpad was sold out across the country. They could not be found anywhere online or in retail stores but I didn’t care because I had one coming to me direct from HP. I received my order confirmation from HP on Monday morning, I was relieved as I should have it by the end of the week. Well, my expected ship date came and went and then was updated to a week later. I started to get concerned that my order would eventually be cancelled. A week passed and my ship date continued to be pushed out by HP. Then came an email from Newegg, it said I had been selected to purchase a Touchpad from them. I replied to the email as it directed and gave them my phone number to contact me. They did but I missed the call, after calling back several times I was finally able to get through and get my order placed. I expedited the shipping so I would have it before the holiday weekend. Delivery day of my Newegg Touchpad ….short story is that it did not arrive, UPS lost the package. After a couple of calls to Newegg to explain my situation they decided that I was guaranteed a Touchpad if any were left after they were done contacting everyone one their list. Later that day, I received an update from HP that said my order would not be fulfilled for another 6-8 weeks. I was pretty disappointed at this point. On a whim I called UPS to see if they had found my lost package. They had and it was in California. I called Newegg and gave them this updated information and since the package was found they let me place another order. They shipped this order by FedEx at their expense. So, three weeks to the day after HP’s announcement I had a Touchpad in my hands. It is an interesting little device and has a pretty high cool factor but I do not see it replacing my current computing devices. I’m sure it is a great device for someone that travels, is into social networking or has a need to be connected all the time. I am not that person. Right now it is just a new toy that I am enjoying exploring and I may find some usefulness in it some day. I got caught up in the “deal” and ended up with a cool toy.
