Indeed, the crunchpad is the exact kind of device that sounds really cool when you first hear about it, but then after you think about it for a minute you realize there's no way you would ever need to use something like it
Not if the manufacturer wants to be profitable.
The thing is that I really don't need a keyboard to read a PDF, nor do I need it to browse a couple of dozen of sites I frequent. And this is all I do before going to bed or in the mornings. The CrunchPad-like tablet is not as a replacement for a laptop, it is more of a beefed up (ebook/Internet) reader. Lighter and simpler, both physically and functionally. It doesn't appeal to you - fine, to each his own. But there is a substantial demand for this sort of device, so yay for it.