Tablets?

[Hawkmoon]

A few years ago I succumbed to an urge to dip my toe into tablet waters. I bought a 7" Android tablet, complete with keyboard. I saw lots of people using tablets and I thought I should at least see what it was all about.

I hated it. It was totally useless, as far as I could see. I had it for a month, and then I gave it to a friend in Greece who had also felt the urge to dip his toe into tablet waters. He, too, found it basically useless.

And yet people are buying tablets and, I assume, using them for ... something. I sort of think I should try again, but I don't want to drop a whole lot of money on one because a) I don't have a whole lot of money, and b) I doubt that I'll get a lot of use out of it, so it's not a good investment if it costs a lot. Given my total frustration with the previous Android unit, as well as the size of the screen, I'm fairly well settled on wanting an 8" size if I try again (I think a 10" class is larger than I feel like carrying around), and I'm leaning toward trying a Windows-based tablet.

Does anyone who uses a tablet have anything to guide me?

Spotted one on Amazon that looks interesting:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=windows+tablet+with+keyboard&t=ffsb&ia=products&iai=B012B6ZRYYhttps%3A%2F%2Fimages-na.ssl-images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F5144u4c1HbL.jpghttps%3A%2F%2Fimages-na.ssl-images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F5144u4c1HbL._SL160_.jpg

[KD5NRH]

7" is a good size because it will usually fit in a cargo pocket or sweatshirt pocket.  8" may, depending on the size of the screen border.

If you don't find tablets useful, maybe you need to learn to truly appreciate lolcats.

[mtnbkr]

If you're going to use it as a laptop replacement, get a Windows tablet.  Get one with at least a micro-USB port, micro-sd slot, and bluetooth.  That way, you can expand it a bit if necessary.

I have regular PC apps on my Windows tablet and it works well except when I need to type a lot on it.  I've joined WebEx sessions, been able to check Outlook while having WebEx open and viewing a presentation during a conference call.  I'm sure they're even more functional now.

Chris

[Ben]

I just happened to go through a tablet(s) purchase. My needs are basically wanting something 'instant on" to look stuff up after I've turned my computer off for the evening, and for stuff like watching instructional videos when I'm doing something on a vehicle, in my workshop, etc. Not for reading - I have a Kindle paperwhite exclusively for that. So I was looking for something with a 10" screen, but cheap, since it wasn't a primary device and I didn't care about speed, having GPS, etc.

A couple of weeks ago I thought I found what I wanted on an Amazon Lightening Deal. See here:

http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=53776.0

It went back. It turns out a bunch of these cheap Chinese tablets come with Allwinner processors, and guess what? They have malware written to the ROM. Nothing mentioned in the Amazon reviews (until I reviewed it) but I started getting popups, even after factory resets. The darn things are on a timer and actually are set to talk to Chinese servers after they detect an internet connection. Apparently several of the big virus protection orgs have told Amazon about this, but they keep selling them.

I give this long background as a warning that the cheap tablets aren't worth it. I paid $60 for it. I returned it and got myself a Lenovo for $110. It arrived yesterday and is well worth the extra money. This one is going to suit my "secondary device" needs very well.

That said, if you want to do "computery stuff" on it, I concur with mntbkr on going Windows. The Surface is the winner by far there, IMO, but is of course a little pricey. Woot! sometimes has refurbished older generation Surfaceseses. Lenovo and I think a couple of others make decent Windows tablets as well for much less.

[charby]

my tablet is my smartphone, well I use it like a tablet.

My wife loves her iPad, pretty much given up on her laptop.

I still like a full sized keyboard for typing, but I use my phone for reading/watching movies/news/facebook/etc.

[Hawkmoon]

I blame Regolith -- it was his thread about the $40 Fire tablet that got me thinking about taking another plunge into the world of tablets.

Ultimately, though, I spend my work days at remote construction sites and it would be nice to have Internet even where there's no WiFi. Maybe I'll swing by the Verizon store and see what they can offer me for a tablet with data capability.

[Ben]

my tablet is my smartphone, well I use it like a tablet.

My wife loves her iPad, pretty much given up on her laptop.

I still like a full sized keyboard for typing, but I use my phone for reading/watching movies/news/facebook/etc.

Wait till you hit your 50s.

That's the other reason I was looking for a tablet. The phone can do what I need, but it's getting way too hard to see stuff on it with the default text size, and if I enlarge the text, I'm scrolling like a madman.

The 10" tablet is just right for an easy to read without reading glasses text size that doesn't require scrolling the window around (much).

[charby]

Wait till you hit your 50s.

That's the other reason I was looking for a tablet. The phone can do what I need, but it's getting way too hard to see stuff on it with the default text size, and if I enlarge the text, I'm scrolling like a madman.

The 10" tablet is just right for an easy to read without reading glasses text size that doesn't require scrolling the window around (much).

I'm 42, still have 20/15 vision. I think I'll be ok.

[Monkeyleg]

I have an iPad 6 that I bought used for $200. I got it to use with my quad copter, but now use it to watch videos and surf the 'net in bed at night. The screen is tack sharp with good saturated color. It works much better than my ancient PC laptops.

I was going to take a laptop with me to Sicily, but have decided to take the iPad. More compact, and probably better to use on a plane.

[Ben]

I'm 42, still have 20/15 vision. I think I'll be ok.

I had 20/15 on my flight physicals into my early 50s. It will change practically overnight on the "need reading glasses" side.

[p12]

I've got my eye on a Lenovo Yoga 2-1 with the halo keyboard. That thing is cool. The keyboard is a haptic surface and converts to a Wacom.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TechMan]

Whatever you do don't buy a Dell tablet as they don't know how to make a tablet.

[Hawkmoon]

Whatever you do don't buy a Dell tablet as they don't know how to make a tablet.

Heck, my SIL's Dell laptop self-immolated.

[K Frame]

I really like my HP Pavilion 10.9 Windows tablet. I got it with the keyboard cover. Very capable little device, and a good substitute for my desktop when I can't use it.

[RevDisk]

I have a couple tablets around the house. Mostly I prefer the 7 inch form, but I do miss my old Samsung 10 inch tablet. Battery died and I didn't use it enough to justify fixing it. Mostly I use a cheap $30-40 Amazon tablet for the majority of my Android needs. I do have a SoC Android 'pc' out in the garage for working on the car, watching movies or TV when doing projects, or just streaming audio. Essentially a 27 inch android TV is surprisingly handy at times. Price was also around $35, plus the cost of the monitor.

Mostly I use tablets for reading, as I substantially moved to eBooks due to cost and weight concerns. I can and do fit thousands of ebooks onto all of my mobile devices. Tablets are media consumption devices. They're less good for media creation, except for email or maybe social media.

Microsoft Surfaces make a good bridge devices. We're buying them by the dozen at work. Granted, they're pricey, but the Surface Pro 3 and 4 are excellent. Battery life is insane.

[Hawkmoon]

My Acer Aspire One is a 10-inch model. I don't see any need for a tablet that's the same size. Yes, I know I can use the tablet without the keyboard, but that screen size is larger than what I feel like toting around as a tablet. On the other hand, the 7-incher I had (briefly) wasn't quite big enough. That's how I've settled on an 8-inch as the preferred size, IF I decide to take the plunge again.

[Sawdust]

I have a Samsung 7" Tab A, and I like it a lot.

Use it mostly for my home inspection business, though.

[K Frame]

Target has IPad tablets on sale right now.

https://slickdeals.net/f/9740536-apple-ipad-pro-9-7-wifi-tablet-various-colors-32gb-449-99-128gb-549-99-free-shipping-target?src=featured

[Ben]

Woot! has several refurb Samsungs available right now.

http://www.woot.com/category/computers/tablets?ref=w_cnt_cdet_pc_8

[TechMan]

I have a couple tablets around the house. Mostly I prefer the 7 inch form, but I do miss my old Samsung 10 inch tablet. Battery died and I didn't use it enough to justify fixing it. Mostly I use a cheap $30-40 Amazon tablet for the majority of my Android needs. I do have a SoC Android 'pc' out in the garage for working on the car, watching movies or TV when doing projects, or just streaming audio. Essentially a 27 inch android TV is surprisingly handy at times. Price was also around $35, plus the cost of the monitor.

Mostly I use tablets for reading, as I substantially moved to eBooks due to cost and weight concerns. I can and do fit thousands of ebooks onto all of my mobile devices. Tablets are media consumption devices. They're less good for media creation, except for email or maybe social media.

Microsoft Surfaces make a good bridge devices. We're buying them by the dozen at work. Granted, they're pricey, but the Surface Pro 3 and 4 are excellent. Battery life is insane.

Have you looked at the Surface Books?  They are pricey but really nice.  I have deployed 3 of those for my construction administration guys and they love them. 

[RevDisk]

Have you looked at the Surface Books?  They are pricey but really nice.  I have deployed 3 of those for my construction administration guys and they love them. 

Yep. Very pricey, even compared to Surface Pros. I don't think the Books are worth twice the price of the Surface Pros, but Exec's gotta Exec.

First thought was "Damn, Microsoft kicking Apple in the jimmy". Wait until you see the Surface Studio. Meanwhile, Macbook Pros are now more expensive Macbook Airs, and lose features every generation. Windows Phones remain junk. Win10 isn't horrible, like Win8, but isn't stellar. O365 I'm on the fence. But hey, actual decent laptop slash tablets? On point.

[TechMan]

I got the same impression of when I saw the SB for the first time.  From what I have seen of the Surface Studio it looks really cool.  For not being an Exchange expert, I like O365.  I don't use some of the features, namely Sharepoint, which I understand is very limited compared to an on-site deployment. 

[BryanP]

After I played with my wife's iPad Mini and liked it, she surprised me by buying me one. It's become my default for use around the house. Web browsing, videos, Facebook etc. With nPlayer installed it will connect to almost anything and play any video file format I've thrown at it.

[HeroHog]

I have a 9" Kindle Fire that works perfectly right at my elbow I never use because I am either using my notebook with its 15.6" screen and my iPhone 6s with its 4.7" screen, I just don't find a need for the Kindle. There isn't one thing in the world wrong or bad about it. It works great, looks greats, sounds better than the iPhone but it doesn't fit in my shirt pocket, make calls or have a keyboard and number pad. Know what I mean?

 

[Sindawe]

Wait till you hit your 50s.

That's the other reason I was looking for a tablet. The phone can do what I need, but it's getting way too hard to see stuff on it with the default text size, and if I enlarge the text, I'm scrolling like a madman.

Thats when I take of the bifocals and just use my close up vision. 

Truthfully, I don't see much use for a tablet as a primary PC.  Web surfing, light gaming or some artistic venues, but office docs type stuff I'll stick with my desktop Win box or my MacBook.