Nexus 7 review: the best $200 tablet you can buy
In 2008, when the Eee PC was revolutionizing the computing world and driving every manufacturer to make cheaper and smaller laptops, Sony washed its hands of the whole thing. The “race to the bottom,” the company said …
Context & Ripple Effects
The review lands one day after Google made the Nexus 7 official at $199 with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and it converts that spec-sheet promise into a verdict: at this price, nothing else competes. The pickup was unusually broad for a single review — AnandTech, PC World, Business Insider, and the Washington Post all ran versions within a day, signaling that the $199 number itself, not just the hardware, is the story.
The framing matters because of who stayed out: the piece opens by recalling how Sony refused the 'race to the bottom' when Asus's Eee PC drove laptop prices down in 2008, and Sony has kept that posture — skipping low-cost computing entirely and entering the premium ultrabook category only weeks ago with the Vaio T-era lineup, while its Xperia Ion handset drew a mixed reception.
First-order effects
- Buyers in the sub-$250 tablet market get a new default choice: reviewers across outlets independently confirm the Nexus 7 as the best tablet at its price, making Google's $199 figure the reference point every competing slate is measured against.
- Sony's premium-only hardware strategy loses its easiest talking point — that cheap devices are inherently compromised — now that the cheapest notable Android tablet is also the best-reviewed one.
Second-order effects
- Rival Android tablet makers face a forced response on price rather than specs: matching a $199 Google-branded device built on Jelly Bean means competing against the platform owner's own margin tolerance.
- Sony's bet that consumers will pay up for design and brand — visible in the Vaio T ultrabook push and the mixed-reception Xperia Ion — gets harder to defend if the low end keeps producing credible, well-reviewed hardware.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern from the Eee PC era repeats, the $199 anchor pressures the market toward even cheaper slates, and the open question becomes whether a sub-$100 tablet is viable — the same race-to-the-bottom dynamic Sony once walked away from.
- Value in Android hardware migrates toward whoever controls software and distribution: a manufacturer setting the price floor (as Google just did) captures the ecosystem position while component makers and premium OEMs compete for what margin remains.
The trend: Google is using its own branded hardware to set a price floor for Android tablets, replaying the netbook-era race to the bottom that premium manufacturers like Sony have so far declined to join.