I have an iPad 3, a couple other tablets, and a high-end laptop- if all I'm doing is surfing the net or sending emails, I reach for the iPad every time- it has by far the best user interface of any tablet I've tried (and I've tried nearly all of them)- if I'm doing actual work, I will only use the laptop as I would never trust anything important to a tablet, no matter who makes it.
I'm interested in the new Transformer Prime HD- if it ends up being as good as the iPad, then it might be a better choice (imho, anyway, as I prefer the Android platform).
The difference in price from a cheap tablet to a good one is not really that much, so you should dismiss the cheap ones if you plan to use your tablet often- a shitty interface is really frustrating and you'll be sorry later if you bought the device with saving a few bucks in mind.