You're getting ripped off, then

I pay $37/month after tax, fees, etc for my TV, from Dish Network, and it includes:
- All the "basic" channels, locals, etc
- Pretty Much all the main cable channels (USA, Syfy, CNN, Travel, Food, ESPN, History, Discovery, etc, etc, etc)
- everything in HD as well (I say as well, but who watches anything in low-def anymore)
- HD-DVR for 2 TVs (which has the ability to record OTA HD (and non-HD I suppose), and hook up an external HDD via USB so it's pretty much of unlimited size, for permanent storage)

I had HBO too for awhile, and it was like $15/month extra

Of course, Comcast does like to rip people off

No, not at all. I'm just tired of people implying that political preachiness disguised as journalism is hardly a problem exclusive to the right. neither extreme position is one that I can stand (nor the center, of course, damn wishy-washy bastards, they just stand for nothing)

I own an HP tx2000 series Hybrid and I love it. it does everything my old laptop could do (dvdrw, sd card, real HDD, mouse, keyboard - none of which the ipad has), has real windows and real ms office (I suppose I could run linux and oo.o on it too, but as good as all the other programs are, calc for me can never touch excel in terms of what I need it to do), and when I need to write and take notes, I just fold it down like a slate, and use my pen. It also has multitouch which is basically like using my fingers to navigate ala the iphone. It does everything a laptop can do and everything the ipad can do, too (except perhaps tell the world that I'm a trendy hipster, who conforms to the elite non-conformism of shiny aluminum and translucent white plastic.) So, yeah, it's the best of both worlds. And only $800 (probably better deals out there, too), so comparably priced.

Fixed that for you.