Retailers will start opening doors for the holiday shopping season on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Nielsen's annual holiday gift survey says that 44 percent of children aged 6 to 12 want an Apple tablet in the coming months, and 25 percent have placed non-iPad tablets on their wish list. PriceGrabber's winter holiday shopping survey says four out of five people want a tablet instead of a laptop as a gift.

You need not join the long queues at the mall, though, if you are eyeing a cheap tablet that you'd solely use for watching movies or listening to music or some browsing. The Kindle Fire, which is being sold at a loss, is available for $199 online at Amazon.com. While the device has no camera, only a 7-inch screen real estate, and no 3G connection, you can have unlimited streaming to movies via Amazon Prime, music via Amazon's Cloud Player and apps at the Amazon Appstore.

For those looking for tablets that are as powerful as laptops, you may want to wait for 2012, which will be the year of the quad-core tablets.

Asustek has unveiled a tablet that runs on the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, and Lenovo is said to be planning a quad-core tablet launch in time for the holidays. But most device-makers will be joining the bandwagon next year with their quad-core smartphones and tablets.

Quad-core chips enable tablets to deliver faster Internet browsing, provide 3D or console-quality gaming experience, and multi-tasking.

NVIDIA's Tegra 3, which is based on the Cortex-A9 processor design from ARM, offers three times the graphics performance of its predecessor but without compromising battery life. Tegra 3 actually draws less power (61 percent less), thanks to a fifth low-power companion core and its silicon design.

Qualcomm has already announced that its quad-core Snapdragon chips, designed to run Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 OS, will appear in tablets in the second half of next year. Qualcomm said it is working with 30 tablet designs with top device makers. Texas Instruments is also expected to have its quad-core chips ready by next year.

Expect tons of quad-core Android tablets to be announced at CES 2012 in January and a number of Windows 8 tablets when Microsoft finally releases the new platform sometime next year.

ASUSTeK

While rivals' quad-core tablets are still in the rumor mill, ASUSTeK Computer has already unveiled an ultra-thin tablet with a powerful quad-core processor, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime. The device, which is expected to hit shelves in December, is the world's first tablet with the NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip.

With an up to 1.3GHz in a quad-core configuration processor, 1GB of RAM and 12-core GeForce GPU and vSMP technology, the Transformer Prime promises a rich and fluid Web experience and a battery life of up to 12 hours. Combined with its signature mobile dock, it lasts up to an incredible 18 hours, the longest battery life of any current tablet. The Eee Pad Transformer Prime boasts a wide 178-degree viewing angle IPS display and a 10.1-inch, 1,280 x 800 resolution display protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. The device features a "Super IPS" mode, which turns up the brightness to 600 candelas per square meter, for better outdoor reading. The Transformer Prime's 32 GB version will be available for US$499 (same as the entry-level 16 GB iPad) and the mobile dock costs an additional $149.

The world's first quad-core tablet

Apple

Apple created the tablet market when it released the 9.7-inch iPad. While Android tablets have been able to gain ground this year, the iPad continues to lead the market, taking just under 70 percent of sales. Although the iPad 2 has a steep starting price of $499, Apple's huge following, its sleek and easy-to-use platform, deep portfolio of apps and robust ecosystem have placed it in the driver's seat in the tablet race. The company is expected to unveil in March next year the successor of the iPad 2. The iPad 3 is rumored to have an eye-popping doubled resolution of 2,048 x 1,536 pixels, a quad-core A6 CPU, a Qualcomm 4G LTE Gobi 4000 chip and a thinner, lighter battery.

The iPad 3 is expected to be more powerful than the dual-core iPad 2.

Lenovo

Chinese PC maker Lenovo is getting ready release a 10.1-inch tablet that will feature a 1.65 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 2 GB of RAM, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and a standardized USB port. Droid Dog, citing an anonymous source, said Lenovo plans to release the quad-core tablet this year, in time for the holiday shopping season.

HTC

HTC Corp. unveiled at the Mobile World Congress this year the HTC Flyer, also known as the HTC EVO View 4G. The device features a 7 inch screen with 1024 x 600 resolution, 1.5 GHZ Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1 GB of RAM, a 5 MP rear-facing camera and 1.3 MP front facing camera. According to Taiwanese newspaper Commercial Times, HTC is introducing a quad-core tablet at the MWC in February. According to Hexus, the super-powered tablet is rumored to be named HTC Quattro and "is said" to feature NNVIDIA's Tegra 3 processor, 1 GB of RAM and a 10-inch display with 1,280 x 768 resolution.

HTC's new quad-core tablet? [Pic from PocketNow.com]

Samsung

Samsung Electronics introduced to developers the Windows 8 Build Conference in September a Windows 8 tablet. The tablet, which will be available next year, features an 11.6-inch Samsung Super PLS screen with 1366 x 768 resolution, second-generation Intel Core i5 processor, and 4 GB DDR3 RAM. Samsung, the top seller of Android tablets and smartphones, will likely unveil its own quad-core tablet in the coming months. The successor to the Galaxy Tab 10.1, which at present features a 10.1 screen with 1280 × 800 resolution and 1 GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 procesor with 1 GB RAM, should have quad-core chips.

Samsung's quad-core tablet coming soon?

Acer

Acer is still the world's fourth-largest PC seller, but shipments are down for the fourth consecutive quarter. But the Taiwanese PC maker hopes to gain ground in the lucrative tablet market with its quad-core Iconia Tab A510 and A511 tablets. According to leaked User Agent Profiles (UAProf) discovered by Blog of Mobile!!, the tablets will feature a 10-inch touchscreen capable of 1280 x 800 resolution, GeForce GPU core mounted on the Tegra 3 and 3G/4G connectivity.

To contact the editor directly, e-mail c.fernandez@ibtimes.com.au