• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Tablets? Seeking recommendations...

Why not an iPad though? Is there something wrong with one for your purposes?
 
Elizabeth I said:
Thanks for all the responses.

I have a good laptop (which I mostly use as my home computer) but it's so damn heavy that it's a pain to carry around to meetings and such. So mostly I want something that will do what my laptop does but not break my back transporting it - something that I could carry easily in my hand or in a tote bag.

Any further recommendations?
Click to expand...


I truly hate to say this... but have you looked at the MacBook Air?
Or indeed any ultralight notebook.
 
Elizabeth I said:
Thanks for all the responses.

I have a good laptop (which I mostly use as my home computer) but it's so damn heavy that it's a pain to carry around to meetings and such. So mostly I want something that will do what my laptop does but not break my back transporting it - something that I could carry easily in my hand or in a tote bag.

Any further recommendations?
Click to expand...

MSI Windpad 110W.

Thicker than an iPad, but still very thin and relatively light...but it runs full Windows 7. Not as fast as your laptop, but defintely the way to go if you're looking for a fully functional computer in tablet form.

I have an Android tablet (Asus Transformer) and the MSI Windpad and I like the Android for what it is...but you're limited to what apps have been written for a tablet. For the power user, it's severely lacking, as is iOS. It's just the limitations of the hardware and OS.
 
BobTheDonkey said:
MSI Windpad 110W.

Thicker than an iPad, but still very thin and relatively light...but it runs full Windows 7. Not as fast as your laptop, but defintely the way to go if you're looking for a fully functional computer in tablet form.

I have an Android tablet (Asus Transformer) and the MSI Windpad and I like the Android for what it is...but you're limited to what apps have been written for a tablet. For the power user, it's severely lacking, as is iOS. It's just the limitations of the hardware and OS.
Click to expand...

Agreed, its all about whether you want and need a limited handheld computer or a superlative smart phone that doesn't make phone calls.
 
Okay, so I should get an iPad Android tablet HP netbook iPhone Blackberry? :D

Sorry for being vague about my requirements. (I still kind of think any computer should turn on and do whatever.) I'm looking for something light and easy to carry that will access the internet and run Microsoft Office applications, mainly Word, Excel and PowerPoint. I would also need to be able to install software on it for remote access to my office desktop. If it could play music or run an e-Reader app that would be a bonus but those are not things I do with my computer now, so those capabilities would be luxuries and not requirements. Ease of use is most important - I don't care about having the latest or newest gadget. (in case you couldn't tell.)


nvidiot said:
Why not an iPad though? Is there something wrong with one for your purposes?
Click to expand...
Well, I learned all my (limited) computing skills on PCs, not Apple products, and the few times I have tried to use Macs have not turned out well. (The people who say Macs are more "intuitive" are dangerously deluded, in my opinion.) I also have an illogical but ingrained tendency to go against the tide. :p I would not, however, cut off my nose to spite my face, so if convinced an iPad would be the best choice, I would buy one.
 
Elizabeth I said:
Okay, so I should get an iPad Android tablet HP netbook iPhone Blackberry? :D

Sorry for being vague about my requirements. (I still kind of think any computer should turn on and do whatever.) I'm looking for something light and easy to carry that will access the internet and run Microsoft Office applications, mainly Word, Excel and PowerPoint. I would also need to be able to install software on it for remote access to my office desktop. If it could play music or run an e-Reader app that would be a bonus but those are not things I do with my computer now, so those capabilities would be luxuries and not requirements. Ease of use is most important - I don't care about having the latest or newest gadget. (in case you couldn't tell.)
Click to expand...

I will repeat. based on this, it sounds like one of any variety of notebooks would be your best bet. I have an ASUS one that runs windows, has wifi, cost about $250 and does everything that you require (I downloaded Chrome as my web-browser, but you can just as easily use either IE (standard) or Firefox if you prefer). Also any program that you can download to your laptop, you can download to a netbook. The one thing that it does not have is room for an internal CD drive. If you wish to install from disk, you will need to get an external USB CD drive or copy files using a USB flash drive.

The biggest drawback is that the keyboard is more compacted and takes a little getting used to. I also hate the mousepads on laptops/netbooks so I splurged and spent the $15 to get a USB mouse.
 
Elizabeth I said:
Well, I learned all my (limited) computing skills on PCs, not Apple products, and the few times I have tried to use Macs have not turned out well. (The people who say Macs are more "intuitive" are dangerously deluded, in my opinion.) I also have an illogical but ingrained tendency to go against the tide. :p I would not, however, cut off my nose to spite my face, so if convinced an iPad would be the best choice, I would buy one.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, but I'm an old school PC guy, back to when they called them IBM compatibles. And I wouldn't be without my iPad nowadays. My main computing is done on the laptop to be sure, and long typing really wants a decent physical keyboard. But the iPad is a damn fine tablet, easy to use, long battery, simple GUI, and has never given me trouble. As a portable Internet device it's close to perfect. Flash is a niggle but I don't use it anyway.

Reading more about your requirements, I'd probably concur with the crowd here and suggest a nice netbook would be your best bet.
 
Thanks, everybody. I really appreciate the advice. A few more questions: are there any netbooks that absolutely should be avoided? Any that are real standouts? What about battery capacity? (I understand that losing weight will probably mean less battery storage.)

Thank you again!
 
nvidiot said:
Fair enough, but I'm an old school PC guy, back to when they called them IBM compatibles. And I wouldn't be without my iPad nowadays. My main computing is done on the laptop to be sure, and long typing really wants a decent physical keyboard. But the iPad is a damn fine tablet, easy to use, long battery, simple GUI, and has never given me trouble. As a portable Internet device it's close to perfect. Flash is a niggle but I don't use it anyway.

Reading more about your requirements, I'd probably concur with the crowd here and suggest a nice netbook would be your best bet.
Click to expand...

Bah.

What's the point of a netbook when the keyboard is so small as to require bringing another keyboard? Might as well pick up a Windows tablet and keyboard. The tablet will be smaller, lighter weight, and perform the same way as the netbook only with a touchscreen (which is actually quite good for typing on. I've typed a few lengthy replies to this forum on it.).

You might save a few bucks buying a netbook, but by the time you get a netbook with similar specs to a Windows tablet, you're looking at nearly the same price without the convenience of a touchscreen and e-reading is certainly easier on a tablet than netbook.

The biggest downside to the tablet is the HDD is only 32GB. With 15-20GB for Windows, only 10GB is left for other stuff. But unless you're looking to use it to carry around a lot of lossless music or movies, you shouldn't have any problems with space (and it does have an SDHC card reader so it's expandable by another 64GB with an SD card).

(Speaking of e-readers, Amazon's e-reader software is free to download and use on Windows. I used it on my Windpad to download/read some of their free classics on my trip to San Diego a few weeks ago)
 
Thanks - and speaking of e-Readers, you do know that most public libraries have e-Books available at no charge, right? You can download right from your computer.
 
Elizabeth I said:
Okay, so I should get an iPad Android tablet HP netbook iPhone Blackberry? :D

Sorry for being vague about my requirements. (I still kind of think any computer should turn on and do whatever.) I'm looking for something light and easy to carry that will access the internet and run Microsoft Office applications, mainly Word, Excel and PowerPoint. I would also need to be able to install software on it for remote access to my office desktop. If it could play music or run an e-Reader app that would be a bonus but those are not things I do with my computer now, so those capabilities would be luxuries and not requirements. Ease of use is most important - I don't care about having the latest or newest gadget. (in case you couldn't tell.)

Well, I learned all my (limited) computing skills on PCs, not Apple products, and the few times I have tried to use Macs have not turned out well. (The people who say Macs are more "intuitive" are dangerously deluded, in my opinion.) I also have an illogical but ingrained tendency to go against the tide. :p I would not, however, cut off my nose to spite my face, so if convinced an iPad would be the best choice, I would buy one.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with Bob, with the added qualification that I'm an HP supporter. The handheld computer tablets are generally more expensive than the entertainment tablets, lots of new units to be unveiled shortly, main thing to look at, IMO, is to get a system that is designed to work with Windows8, which probably won't be released until late summer or fall this year. Unless you are in dire need, I would save up a little more money (maybe buy a net book - something like one of these), save up and get one of the Win8 tablets this time next year.
 
Trakar said:
I tend to agree with Bob, with the added qualification that I'm an HP supporter. The handheld computer tablets are generally more expensive than the entertainment tablets, lots of new units to be unveiled shortly, main thing to look at, IMO, is to get a system that is designed to work with Windows8, which probably won't be released until late summer or fall this year. Unless you are in dire need, I would save up a little more money (maybe buy a net book - something like one of these), save up and get one of the Win8 tablets this time next year.
Click to expand...

I have a friend in IT who's played with some win8 tablets. Says they'll give apple a pretty hard time.
 
nvidiot said:
I have a friend in IT who's played with some win8 tablets. Says they'll give apple a pretty hard time.
Click to expand...

Apple does what it does, well. I just look forward to a handheld computer that does what I would like it to do, well. Run and synch well with my business software and support systems, Win8 sounds like it might enhance a tablet system to finally approach that goal.
 
Trakar said:
Apple does what it does, well. I just look forward to a handheld computer that does what I would like it to do, well. Run and synch well with my business software and support systems, Win8 sounds like it might enhance a tablet system to finally approach that goal.
Click to expand...
NVM.
 
Last edited:
BobTheDonkey said:
Bah.

What's the point of a netbook when the keyboard is so small as to require bringing another keyboard? Might as well pick up a Windows tablet and keyboard. The tablet will be smaller, lighter weight, and perform the same way as the netbook only with a touchscreen (which is actually quite good for typing on. I've typed a few lengthy replies to this forum on it.).

You might save a few bucks buying a netbook, but by the time you get a netbook with similar specs to a Windows tablet, you're looking at nearly the same price without the convenience of a touchscreen and e-reading is certainly easier on a tablet than netbook.

The biggest downside to the tablet is the HDD is only 32GB. With 15-20GB for Windows, only 10GB is left for other stuff. But unless you're looking to use it to carry around a lot of lossless music or movies, you shouldn't have any problems with space (and it does have an SDHC card reader so it's expandable by another 64GB with an SD card).

(Speaking of e-readers, Amazon's e-reader software is free to download and use on Windows. I used it on my Windpad to download/read some of their free classics on my trip to San Diego a few weeks ago)
Click to expand...

Bobthedonkey - what windows tablet are you talking about ?

Do you think it's possible other people could use a netbook keyboard and *not* find it difficult to type on ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom