Posted: 6/26/2012 2:33:32 PM EDT
|
I need something lighter than the giant 7 lb Dell. Since almost all my travel now is for recreation, a tablet or netbook is pretty much all I need. I'm looking at a Gateway LT4004u and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, 7"...both close to the same price.
Anyone with experience with either? Pros? Cons? mm |
|
Vacation travel? Tablet. Work travel? Notebook. I really feel like it depends on your level of computer use and how much you type. I could never be anywhere with just a tablet. I'm always fielding work e-mails and typing posts on forums. However, I have enjoyed lounging around the house with a tablet. There are a lot of fun casual games and they are great for light web browsing.
|
| Look for a tablet with a real OS option, typically a dual boot with Android (web appliance) and Windows (real OS) boot options. Make sure the tablet also has USB ports so you can connect to real world items, I use my tablet with my dive computer, auto scanner, p-touch label printer, etc. Be sure you get the version with as much memory as possible, and something like a micro-SD slot so you can add a bunch of extra storage. The key thing with a real OS tablet is that you can use all of your normal applications seamlessly rather than buying a bunch of hinky "apps" to try to get the functionality of a real OS on what is really just a web appliance. A wireless keyboard/pointer is a nice addition to have on hand, but most of the time you won't need it. HP has/had a nice little keyboard that is tablet sized and has essentially a backward optical mouse you move your finger over as a pointer. |
|
Quoted:
Look for a tablet with a real OS option, typically a dual boot with Android (web appliance) and Windows (real OS) boot options. Make sure the tablet also has USB ports so you can connect to real world items, I use my tablet with my dive computer, auto scanner, p-touch label printer, etc. Be sure you get the version with as much memory as possible, and something like a micro-SD slot so you can add a bunch of extra storage. The key thing with a real OS tablet is that you can use all of your normal applications seamlessly rather than buying a bunch of hinky "apps" to try to get the functionality of a real OS on what is really just a web appliance. A wireless keyboard/pointer is a nice addition to have on hand, but most of the time you won't need it. HP has/had a nice little keyboard that is tablet sized and has essentially a backward optical mouse you move your finger over as a pointer. So... What you are saying is to get the Microsoft Surface when it's available 
|
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Look for a tablet with a real OS option, typically a dual boot with Android (web appliance) and Windows (real OS) boot options. Make sure the tablet also has USB ports so you can connect to real world items, I use my tablet with my dive computer, auto scanner, p-touch label printer, etc. Be sure you get the version with as much memory as possible, and something like a micro-SD slot so you can add a bunch of extra storage. The key thing with a real OS tablet is that you can use all of your normal applications seamlessly rather than buying a bunch of hinky "apps" to try to get the functionality of a real OS on what is really just a web appliance. A wireless keyboard/pointer is a nice addition to have on hand, but most of the time you won't need it. HP has/had a nice little keyboard that is tablet sized and has essentially a backward optical mouse you move your finger over as a pointer. So... What you are saying is to get the Microsoft Surface when it's available It looks fairly promising, but there are a number of currently available alternatives that work well. I've had a Win7/Android 10" tablet for at least a year now and it works wonderfully. You do not in any way need Win8 for a functional tablet, Win7 has no issues at all. |
|
I won't be using it for work. I get a new laptop every couple of years for that...an actual new one, not a used mobile data unit from DPD. I've been kinda curious about netbooks, but for any real performance it looks like you have to go into notebook territory and that's beginning to exceed my size, weight and cost desires.
Whatever I get will be used for surfing the intrawebs via wifi, email, occasional video viewing, and downloading Nook and Kindle offerings along with The Gutenberg Project. I'm not in a rush...actually the longer I wait, look and research the funding goes up. mm |
|
I've played with my friends Tab and wasn't very impressed. Net books annoy me and given current technology, I don't think they are really useful anymore. If it comes out at a reasonable price point, the Surface looks very promising.
The performance difference between Windows 7 and 8 is astonishing. My wife has a small Toshiba that we bought several years ago. It came with 7 and even after a clean install, it's always been kind of a dog. I installed the release preview and doing general tasks became much snappier. Power button to desktop is less than 40 seconds with a Pentium ULV processor and 5400 rpm HDD. It took at least 1:30 on 7. |
|
Quoted:
I need something lighter than the giant 7 lb Dell. Since almost all my travel now is for recreation, a tablet or netbook is pretty much all I need. I'm looking at a Gateway LT4004u and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, 7"...both close to the same price. Anyone with experience with either? Pros? Cons? mm I have both a netbook (Acer Aspire One running Ubuntu) and an Android based tablet. Both are good for different things... If you want to post to forums and stuff the edge goes to the netbook because typing a lot of text on a touch screen isn't fun. But if all you need is to mostly read a little email. view Facebook and a little other misc light usage a tablet is a lot handier than waiting for a netbook to boot, etc. The netbook came with Windows, but it was unusably slow where Ubuntu runs fine. I've got an Android based phone, and frankly I've got no interest in Windows anything. |
|
Quoted:
I have a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and an ipad II Ipad is the way to go I don't believe any of the "internet appliance" OS devices is the way to go, they are all too limited and can't run any of your normal applications so you will be constantly spending money on "apps" just to try to get useable functionality if you do anything beyond basic browsing and email. Sure there are "apps" for a lot of things available, but why pay twice, use what you already own. The internet appliance approach is of course being pushed by many companies because it is profitable to sell you those little "apps" or worse yet subscription services to access something with your appliance that you could otherwise do locally for no cost with a real OS. |
|
Typing on a tablet fucking sucks, so you're probably going to want some type of keyboard for it. At that point you might as well just have a laptop. About the only advantage to a tablet is that it's more comfortable to use when in bed or on the couch, as long as you're just reading/browsing and not trying to type emails. |
|
Quoted:
Typing on a tablet fucking sucks, so you're probably going to want some type of keyboard for it. At that point you might as well just have a laptop. About the only advantage to a tablet is that it's more comfortable to use when in bed or on the couch, as long as you're just reading/browsing and not trying to type emails. A separate wireless keyboard works well for when a lot of typing is involved. The cover/keyboard combo on the M$ Surface looks promising and innovative as well. In a year or so using my Win7 based tablet, I find I use a separate keyboard perhaps 20% of the time, the rest of the time the on screen keyboard is fine for the small amounts of typing. |
|
I have both and both are older. The netbook is 2 years+ and the tablet a year old. I do most of my surfing email etc on the tablet but when I have to pay bills or buy something the netbook is used mainly because some sites secure pages don't play nice with Android namely Amazon. typing on the tablet is a pain but if you can get a thumb keyboard to work it's a little easier.
The newer netbooks may be better but you might spend a little more and look at the ultrabooks. For business travel I take my tablet for personal surfing etc and bring the company laptop with me. I just won't use the company pc for anything but business. The MS surface has potential but I usually wait a year to allow the technology to mature. |
|
Thanks all,
You have convinced me that as a minimum I need this. http://tinyurl.com/7r5zwod 
mm I'm looking for a toy for when I go travelling. Not something for work, I get a new laptop every 2-3 years. 
|
|
i had a playbook that ran off my blackberry but it's turned to shit!
i could type okay on it but now it won't run afrcom so i'm stuck w/o arf so i don't need mobile internet anymore! i have no idea why but the first inkling of trouble was my verizon BB wouldn't bring in arf, so the wife bought me the playbook and now it's tits up and i'm on limited access  . fuck!
|
|
Quoted:
Thanks all, You have convinced me that as a minimum I need this. http://tinyurl.com/7r5zwod
mm I'm looking for a toy for when I go travelling. Not something for work, I get a new laptop every 2-3 years. Will it fit in a backpack
If when you travel, you don't access a lot of secure sites or do a lot of typing then a tablet would be my choice. Very light, long battery life very portable and you can use your phone to tether. I have no experience with Apple but if you go the android route look for at a minimum 1 ghz processor quad core, with 1 gig of ram and 16 gig of memory running Android 4.0 aka ICS(Ice cream sandwich). I'd also look for one that has an SD card port. Most of these will be in the 350-500 range. If you're cheap like I am you can watch woot/amazon/tiger direct for refurb deals and get into the world of custom ROM's. Refurbs should be 300 or less. |
|
I redid my playbook(runs/surfs off my co. Issued blackberry)this afternoon, even though it no longer runs off the blackberry any more 'cause RIM may be going fits up!
It runs great on wifi but that means it won't run in my hotel room 'cause it can't be plugged in. |
| Tablets are good for surfing the internet, listening to music, reading books, watching videos. They're not good at running standard desktop/laptop applications such as a word processor or spreadsheet application. Typically they don't run a Microsoft operating system which severly limits their use and the applications that can run on them. |
|
For what it's worth, I'm an IT manager at a Fortune 200 company.
I'm not a fan of netbooks, too under powered. The GF didn't listen to me and bought one. Damn thing was so slow, I couldn't stand to use it every time she had a problem. If you need a Windows platform with a full keyboard, etc. then buy a real laptop (I'm partial to Dell or Lenovo). For a tablet, I'd say don't get anything but an iPad. I've played around with some Android devices and their OK, just nowhere as polished as an iPad (plus, nowhere near the 500,000 apps available for iOS devices). If you want to geek out and do a lot of custom stuff/tweaking, then the Android is the way to go. But, in my experience most people just want to get their email and surf the web (plus play some games). For that, the iPad has everyone beat hands down for simplicity. Verizon gave me a BlackBerry PlayBook to demo when they first came out. To be honet, their not a bad device. And for some features, as good or better than the iPad. But they're too little, too late. RIM is dying, just as Palm and Nokia did. Shame really, the QNX platform has a lot of potential. I say buy the base level. Unless you plan on watching a shitload of movies all at once, or want more songs than your local radio station then 16Gb is more than enough. Besides, Apple releases a new version every year and you'll want to upgrade anyway. And, the whoe point of the tablet is lightweight and minimalist. I see people that go overkill with the bulky cases and full keyboard and that totally defeats their purpose. Microsoft Surface is an interesting concept, but I'd say give it a year or two to see how it pans out. In the meantime, get the iPad (or wait until this fall and see if they release the smaller one). BTW, I typed this on my iPad. The thing is handy, sitting on the coffee table and checking things real quick between commercials. But, it does have its limitations (flash, etc.). |
|
Quoted:
Tablets are good for surfing the internet, listening to music, reading books, watching videos. They're not good at running standard desktop/laptop applications such as a word processor or spreadsheet application. Typically they don't run a Microsoft operating system which severly limits their use and the applications that can run on them. " Typically they don't run a Microsoft operating system which severly limits their use and the applications that can run on them." - Not true at all, there are many tablets that run Win7 just fine that have been available for at least a year, many of them offer a dual boot option to Android as well. I have one and rarely ever boot it on anything but Win7 since Win7 works flawlessly on a tablet and does everything I need, no reason to boot an appliance OS. |
|
Originally Posted By ZULU NINER:
For what it's worth, I'm an IT manager at a Fortune 200 company. I'm not a fan of netbooks, too under powered. The GF didn't listen to me and bought one. Damn thing was so slow, I couldn't stand to use it every time she had a problem. If you need a Windows platform with a full keyboard, etc. then buy a real laptop (I'm partial to Dell or Lenovo). For a tablet, I'd say don't get anything but an iPad. I've played around with some Android devices and their OK, just nowhere as polished as an iPad (plus, nowhere near the 500,000 apps available for iOS devices). If you want to geek out and do a lot of custom stuff/tweaking, then the Android is the way to go. But, in my experience most people just want to get their email and surf the web (plus play some games). For that, the iPad has everyone beat hands down for simplicity. Verizon gave me a BlackBerry PlayBook to demo when they first came out. To be honet, their not a bad device. And for some features, as good or better than the iPad. But they're too little, too late. RIM is dying, just as Palm and Nokia did. Shame really, the QNX platform has a lot of potential. I say buy the base level. Unless you plan on watching a shitload of movies all at once, or want more songs than your local radio station then 16Gb is more than enough. Besides, Apple releases a new version every year and you'll want to upgrade anyway. And, the whoe point of the tablet is lightweight and minimalist. I see people that go overkill with the bulky cases and full keyboard and that totally defeats their purpose. Microsoft Surface is an interesting concept, but I'd say give it a year or two to see how it pans out. In the meantime, get the iPad (or wait until this fall and see if they release the smaller one). BTW, I typed this on my iPad. The thing is handy, sitting on the coffee table and checking things real quick between commercials. But, it does have its limitations (flash, etc.). Have you tried any of the Win7 tablets? If you have you wouldn't be so hot on an appliance OS like the iPad (or Androd). Those appiance OSes may be ok for bargain basement hardware to hit low low price points, but I think they will fade into history like previous "internet appliance" attempts once people realize they can readily get a tablet with a real OS and no limitations. If you don't like M$ there are always Linux tablet options as well. |