The Tech-pert: What is the Best $199 Tablet?

Choosing a tablet just got tougher. Priced at $199, Barnes & Noble's new 8GB Nook Tablet now stands toe-to-toe with Amazon's Kindle Fire. So which is the better buy? And is there another option that might be an even better deal?

If you've priced tablets before, you know that the original Nook Tablet came with 16GB of storage--and sold for $249. (It still does.) By cutting the storage in half, Barnes & Noble was able to cut $50 from the price, effectively leveling the playing field with the Kindle Fire (which also has 8GB).

The more storage a tablet has, the more books, movies, apps, and other media it can hold. For many users, 8GB is more than ample. And because the Kindle Fire relies heavily on streaming for music and video, storage is less of a concern.

However, that streaming requires an Internet connection, which isn't always available. I find that I'm more comfortable keeping my media stored locally, meaning on the tablet itself.

That's why I give the edge to the Nook Tablet, which has a microSD expansion slot. For under $10, you can buy an 8GB microSD card and effectively double the available storage. Heck, even a 32GB card costs only around $30. It's nice to have that option if you ever want it.

On the flipside, I think the Kindle Fire offers a slightly better user interface, especially when paired with the Amazon Prime service. For $79 per year, you get unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows, plus one e-book loan per month.

Of course, the Nook Tablet includes Hulu Plus and Netflix apps, so it's no slouch at streaming.

Both tablets also offer a wide selection of games, magazines, children's books, and the like. That's because both are based on the Android operating system, and therefore can run many of the same apps as a typical Android tablet.

Many, but not all. Amazon and Barnes & Noble limit you to their own app libraries, which have thousands of picks rather than tens of thousands. There's plenty of good stuff, but you might not find everything you want.

That's why I'm going to go out on a limb and recommend a third option: the Lenovo IdeaPad A1, which has been on sale for $199 for a while now.

It's a full-featured 7-inch Android tablet (available in your choice of four colors), one that includes not only a microSD expansion slot, but also front- and rear-facing cameras, 16GB of storage, Bluetooth, and GPS. That's right: you can use it for navigation.

Also, because it runs "regular" Android, it's compatible with virtually every app known to man--including e-reader apps like Kindle, Nook, and Kobo.

That's an important point if you're buying a tablet with books in mind. A Kindle Fire effectively locks you into Amazon's e-book "ecosystem," while a Nook Tablet does likewise with Barnes & Noble's.

The IdeaPad lets you read books from any source. That's why if I had $200 to spend on a tablet, I'd be spending it on that one.