Are anabolic steroids in tablet form a waist of money?

They still work: They have used in clinical medicine. If you're asking about effectiveness for bodybuilding, they will help considerably but not give you the often-grotesque effects of the injectables. Given that using them is illegal and cheating, if this is what you really want, then consider limited use of tablets instead. It's one option for a "hard gainer" who wants to be "big", at least for a few months.