Tablet recommendation?
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I'm realizing that I could actually use a tablet, as there's lots of places I want to be able to do writing but don't want to drag a laptop around with me. Any recommendations? I won't buy Apple products on principle (don't ask) so an iPad is out. Thanks! Marc
Marc Clifton wrote:
I won't buy Apple products on principle
I feel exactly the same way... Here's one recommendation, don't buy anything with Win7 on it... MS has a long way to go to make something useful with touch devices. One of my coworkers has one and I hate it... you miss what you're trying to touch half the time. I think that's exactly what MS is trying to target with Win8, but so far, not there.
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Bought Mrs Yoda the same model on Sunday, and wish that I'd bought one as well. I'm generally very impressed with how rugged and responsive it is. So, I'll second the recommendate for the Transformer.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
One thing though... There's a known hardware problem with the keyboard dock, where it doesn't properly go into sleep mode when the tablet does... Drains 3-5% of its battery per hour when NOT in use. If you have that issue, you need to exchange/RMA it... http://www.transformerforums.com/forum/asus-transformer-general-discussions/3891-asus-transformer-battery-drain-facts-real-solution.html[^] I just verified this morning that mine has the issue, so I'll be heading back to the store this evening to exchange it. And one other downside... The dock has USBs and an SD slot, but no way to hook up an ethernet cable (USB-to-ethernet adapters don't work - May change with later software updates)... So if you travel a lot, you might need one of those mini-wifi bridges.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
Bought Mrs Yoda the same model on Sunday, and wish that I'd bought one as well. I'm generally very impressed with how rugged and responsive it is. So, I'll second the recommendate for the Transformer.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
This has [0] saved me asking the same question and [1] made up my mind. Mrs Wife shall receive a Transformer[^].
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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First I wanted to recommend that too! I own one and am totally happy with it. Marc said he wanted to use it for writing though and I'm not sure if he'll be happy with that. It really depends on how large your hands and how thick your fingers are. If I place the tab horizontally before me I can even manage to type a sort of two finger system. It's not as slow as using one finger only, but nothing beats a real keyboard. Cheers!
"With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine."
Ross Callon, The Twelve Networking Truths, RFC1925
The Keyboard Dock 10.1 acts as a keyboard for the Tab now, so that should make it easier for him.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
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The Galaxy Tab has one good thing about it, at 7" it is small enough to fit into a jacket pocket, so you are not carting around an inconvenient device. It is easy to use and light. I have tried the bigger options, but I lack a coat with a 10" pocket.
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] Trolls[^]
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This has [0] saved me asking the same question and [1] made up my mind. Mrs Wife shall receive a Transformer[^].
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
:thumbsup:It is, indeed, a fine choice. Allows you to use things such as Skype, sees to it that Megan Fox was replaced by a shop dummy, and saves the world from the Decepticons. That's my idea of hardware.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
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Dalek Dave wrote:
I have tried the bigger options, but I lack a coat with a 10" pocket.
That's what she said! :-D
The environment that nurtures creative programmers kills management and marketing types - and vice versa. - Orson Scott Card
Joe Simes wrote:
I have tried the bigger options, but I lack a coat with a 1**.**0" pocket.
That's what she said!
You missed out a decimal point.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
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Well, I just got an Asus Transformer, and so far it's been very impressive. Writing on a tablet screen is slow and clumsy, to say the least, but the Asus keyboard is almost as good as a laptop one (Chiclet keys, but they do the job). When you put it together with the keyboard dock, it's about the same length/width as a 10" netbook (Judging by my old EeePC), but thinner and a little lighter. Without the keyboard, it's about the same size as an IPad. Haven't moved my novels over to it yet (That's the plan, once I finish evaluating it), but I found I'm able to type about the same speed as on my netbook. From the general Internet geek consensus, I believe the Galaxy Tab is a marginally-better tablet in general, but if you want to do any writing, the Transformer comes out on top.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
The Galaxy Tab has one good thing about it, at 7" it is small enough to fit into a jacket pocket, so you are not carting around an inconvenient device. It is easy to use and light. I have tried the bigger options, but I lack a coat with a 10" pocket.
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] Trolls[^]
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I'm realizing that I could actually use a tablet, as there's lots of places I want to be able to do writing but don't want to drag a laptop around with me. Any recommendations? I won't buy Apple products on principle (don't ask) so an iPad is out. Thanks! Marc
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:thumbsup:It is, indeed, a fine choice. Allows you to use things such as Skype, sees to it that Megan Fox was replaced by a shop dummy, and saves the world from the Decepticons. That's my idea of hardware.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
Skype is a must. I was hoping I could use the 'apple doesn't work with skype' to dissuade her from having an iPlod/iBroke but she likes the shiny aspect of them. I think the sweetness of Honeycomb should persuade her and the saved money [not] doubly so. As I'll see the family weekends only for the foreseeable future, I'm desperate to get something for her so we can visually talk 'en famile' every night when the girls are going to bed. The reduced size of the tablet, with optional keyboard, sounds ideal for her needs.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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I'm realizing that I could actually use a tablet, as there's lots of places I want to be able to do writing but don't want to drag a laptop around with me. Any recommendations? I won't buy Apple products on principle (don't ask) so an iPad is out. Thanks! Marc
I had the same problem few months ago. I choose Archos 70IT and I'm very happy with it. One problem - no access to Android Market out of box. But this can be easily fixed... There is new generation announced to be launched in month or two, with Honeycomb and other stuff. Price should be under USD 300. Not the mainstream one, but one to consider.
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I'm realizing that I could actually use a tablet, as there's lots of places I want to be able to do writing but don't want to drag a laptop around with me. Any recommendations? I won't buy Apple products on principle (don't ask) so an iPad is out. Thanks! Marc
i have to say the asus transformer is really rather good too :)
"mostly watching the human race is like watching dogs watch tv ... they see the pictures move but the meaning escapes them"
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The Galaxy Tab has one good thing about it, at 7" it is small enough to fit into a jacket pocket, so you are not carting around an inconvenient device. It is easy to use and light. I have tried the bigger options, but I lack a coat with a 10" pocket.
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] Trolls[^]
Dalek Dave wrote:
at 7" it is small
:(( Size queen!
Martin Fowler wrote:
Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.
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I'm realizing that I could actually use a tablet, as there's lots of places I want to be able to do writing but don't want to drag a laptop around with me. Any recommendations? I won't buy Apple products on principle (don't ask) so an iPad is out. Thanks! Marc
I played with a couple tablets and didn't really care for the small screen size and trying to type with the touch screen, so I ended up getting an HP netbook instead. It's not much bigger, runs about 10 hours on a full charge and I can run pretty much everything on it, although the screen real estate is still a minor limitation. If you find a good tablet that can be used like the netbook, please let us know. I'd love to have another compu-gadget-thingie.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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I played with a couple tablets and didn't really care for the small screen size and trying to type with the touch screen, so I ended up getting an HP netbook instead. It's not much bigger, runs about 10 hours on a full charge and I can run pretty much everything on it, although the screen real estate is still a minor limitation. If you find a good tablet that can be used like the netbook, please let us know. I'd love to have another compu-gadget-thingie.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
Walt Fair, Jr. wrote:
If you find a good tablet that can be used like the netbook
Like I said above, the Transformer :) When you plug it into the dock, it basically IS a netbook. 16 hours in that configuration (The tablet and dock each have a battery). It does run Android though, not Windows or Linux, so I don't know if that's a deal-breaker for you.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
Walt Fair, Jr. wrote:
If you find a good tablet that can be used like the netbook
Like I said above, the Transformer :) When you plug it into the dock, it basically IS a netbook. 16 hours in that configuration (The tablet and dock each have a battery). It does run Android though, not Windows or Linux, so I don't know if that's a deal-breaker for you.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)Yeah, it probably is a deal breaker, since I need to be able to run some Windows apps to do engineering analyses, etc. But, it might still be fun to play with and maybe to develop some engineering apps for. I'll check it out. Besides, I need a reasonable excuse to get another toy to play with. :laugh:
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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Skype is a must. I was hoping I could use the 'apple doesn't work with skype' to dissuade her from having an iPlod/iBroke but she likes the shiny aspect of them. I think the sweetness of Honeycomb should persuade her and the saved money [not] doubly so. As I'll see the family weekends only for the foreseeable future, I'm desperate to get something for her so we can visually talk 'en famile' every night when the girls are going to bed. The reduced size of the tablet, with optional keyboard, sounds ideal for her needs.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
Nagy Vilmos wrote:
I was hoping I could use the 'apple doesn't work with skype' to dissuade her from having an iPlod/iBroke but she likes the shiny aspect of them.
Skype didn't have an iPad optimized app, but they do now (it went up and down, but I think it's up now). They've been on iPods/iPhones for a while.
And sometimes when you're on, you're really f***ing on And your friends they sing along and they love you But the lows are so extreme that the good seems f***ing cheap And it teases you for weeks in its absence Rilo Kiley - "A Better Son/Daughter"
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I'm realizing that I could actually use a tablet, as there's lots of places I want to be able to do writing but don't want to drag a laptop around with me. Any recommendations? I won't buy Apple products on principle (don't ask) so an iPad is out. Thanks! Marc
I wanted a tablet but wanted to be able to run my existing software and RDP into servers, etc. I purchase the Acer Iconia W500[^] with Windows 7. As mentioned before, the Windows 7 is not the "best" tablet interface but is not limited to using applications written in the iOs or Droid languages. Also, the virtual keyboard is easy to use. With the docking station, I can use it as a 10" netbook with 4.5 hour battery life.