Yes, I got in on the HP Stream 7 Windows 8.1 $99 tablet Hot Deal.
Now I'm finally starting to understand how they are becoming popular.
I guess they're somewhat like APUs. Not excessively powerful or productive for any one thing (no keyboard like a laptop, no powerful CPU and gobs of RAM like a desktop PC), but a decent compromise for a jack-of-all-trades product.
Best of all, it's kind of "fun", I guess. Another way to say, nicely, that it's essentially a "toy", and will be unlikely to replace desktop PCs and laptops entirely.
But overall, a nice addition to my harem of tech.
I'm not sure you "get it" in the same way others "get it".
The thing about good tablets is they're dead simple to use, do a few things very well (like surfing, email, and video playback), but are far from a jack-of-all-trades product.
IOW, the best tablets are great consumption machines. For productivity they have limited use. In some scenarios they can be used very well for productivity, but for most people they aren't used for that. Hence, they are not jack-of-all-trades products. Laptops are much better for that.
Furthermore, good tablets are extremely light with uber long battery life, and uber uber uber long idle life, while having awesome IPS screens at ultra high resolution. My 2048x1536 10" iPad Air 2 can sit for a day "on" and lose maybe just a few % of battery life. When I do use it, it's really easy to hold because less than a pound, but is quite fast for surfing. Faster than my Core 2 Duo laptop actually, unless I need to do a lot of typing.
In addition, if I want to use Netflix, I just install the custom-made Netflix app. It's well designed, and is simpler than having to say update my browser, install Silverlight, and play with browser windows.
Windows 8.1 machines come a lot closer, but still don't completely fit the true tablet experience as I've outlined above IMO. While 8.1 has been built to support tablets much better than previous Windows OSes, it still suffers from the fact it's Windows which has heavier requirements due to the fact it's built for desktop/laptop use.
I guess if you're talking Windows 8.1, they could be better for jack-of-all-trades work than iOS or Android, but in gaining that ability, you lose a little of the other parts of the experience IMO.