Which Tablet?

[Migi]

No competitor to iPad. The mini is what I bet you'll like. Blows everyone away.

Got anything to support that? This isn't an Apple fan club... The Ipad is good in many ways, and lacking in many others. He clearly stated the need to work with office documents, something the Ipad severely struggles with..

Unfortunately, even as an iPad owner, I have to side with Tindris here. My iPad is very nice, but after using an iPhone for a long time, it just feels like the same thing on a larger screen. On top of that, when I attempt to use the iPad for school documents, many documents become askew because of the apple formatting for Word Documents.

I saw that happened to my friend's iPad. The Word document I had prepared so tidy looked strange there, but he said that's just how iPad is. That's too bad.

In terms of writing and sliding iPad does things more swiftly than my Samsung Tab, but it depends on your daily needs.

 

[EthernetServers]

I have an iPad 2 which does the job very nicely. I take it with me everywhere so I can manage emails on the go. I have the full size, 9" screen. It's a little heavy and I may consider purchasing the new light weight iPad in the future.

 

[froggyboy604]

The Pengpod Tablets would be best for Office work without spending $500 on a tablet like the SurfaceRT since PengPod comes with a Full Desktop Linux operating system which is compatible with LibreOffice/OpenOffice which is one of the best free office suites in the world.

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http://www.pengpod.com/

It also has Google Android on it for touchbased apps, and it is compatible with Ubuntu Touch.

 

[Gamer Outpost]

The new Dell Venue 8 Pro features full Windows 8.1 on an 8 inch tablet for just $299. You can use Chrome, play games like Minecraft, Starcraft 2, etc. plus just plug in a keyboard and you can use full desktop MS Office Home and Student, it comes with the tablet.

 

[iPhonefreak]

No competitor to iPad. The mini is what I bet you'll like. Blows everyone away.

Got anything to support that? This isn't an Apple fan club... The Ipad is good in many ways, and lacking in many others. He clearly stated the need to work with office documents, something the Ipad severely struggles with..

Apple has Pages, Keynote, etc for the iPad. Most powerful mobile office software there is.

The OP said he wanted it to be portable. The iPad Air is super thin, and super light. Nothing can match that. The HD FaceTime camera, and the 5MP back camera is also very good. There is not a mobile chip out there for 64-bit, or a co-processor. The battery life is very good, as it provides MORE then 10 hours of battery life on moderate-to heavy usage.

 

[Tindris]

Ipad:

Possible to add external memory? No
USB Support for charging phone etc. while on the go? No
Full Microsoft office? No
Built in stand? No
Multitasking, 2 apps at once capability? No
Weight:1lbs

Surface RT:

Possible to add external memory? Yes
USB Support for charging phone etc. while on the go? Yes
Full Microsoft office? Yes
Built in stand? Yes
Multitasking, 2 apps at once capability? Yes
Weight: 1.5lbs

I can see which one I would choose....

 

[iPhonefreak]

Ipad:

Possible to add external memory? No
USB Support for charging phone etc. while on the go? No
Full Microsoft office? No
Built in stand? No
Multitasking, 2 apps at once capability? No
Weight:1lbs

Surface RT:

Possible to add external memory? Yes
USB Support for charging phone etc. while on the go? Yes
Full Microsoft office? Yes
Built in stand? Yes
Multitasking, 2 apps at once capability? Yes
Weight: 1.5lbs

I can see which one I would choose....

I did not know I was buying a dumbbell when I was buying the Surface. 😀 1.5lbs is pretty heavy!

Multitasking...Apples is better in my opinion. You can easily switch back and forth between apps. Its not like on the split screen on the RT, you will be playing a racing game while writing a paper. The stand is useless.

Not to mention, the only reason why they need external memory is because the OS takes up a little less then half of the built in storage.

 

[Tindris]

When writing a paper, to be able to have the website or PDF open next to the document as you are writing is priceless. You obviously don't do much work on your ipad, which leaves it as an expensive toy. If you want something you can work on while on the go, you need something a lot more sturdy and flexible.

I use the stand on mine on a daily basis, when watching movies, reading, or when I attach my keyboard and use it, JUST LIKE a normal laptop.

Maybe so, but what if I want to transfer stuff from my phone? I just put the memory card in.

Don't get me wrong, I like Apple and I have an Iphone which I really love and use all the time. The iPad however is a let down to me and feels more like an oversized, expensive toy/video game player than a portable workstation. I take my RT everywhere, we have an iPad at home, I never use it for anything but playing games.

 

[iPhonefreak]

My iPad and my iPhone sync. All of my passwords, notes, apps, songs, and all synced.

And that battery life...

But this article signifies some problems...http://techland.time.com/2013/11/22/30- ... -a-keeper/

I do not mind the Surface in all fairness. To the OP, do not get an Android tablet.

 

[Tindris]

I can see the issues in that, also one thing I have noticed is that theft wise, the iPad is a lot more noticeable, whereas the RT is often mistaken for a book. You don't see it as a tablet when the cover is on it.

That article discusses problems with the keyboard, not the tablet itself. I have the original touch cover which works fantastic, but if you want to use it more as a laptop and less as a tablet you really need to choose the type cover instead. It has two different ones...

 

[iPhonefreak]

Apple has Find my iPad, and if it was stolen it would be useless.

 

[Tindris]

I don't know how much that stuff actually works though.. Yes, I have heard cases of finding them, but I believe thieves have found ways to bypass that.

 

[iPhonefreak]

Thives can not bypass Apple's new security measure in iOS 7.

 

[Tindris]

Then why do they bother to continue to update their software?

 

[iPhonefreak]

What do you mean?

They update their software for new features....

 

[froggyboy604]

The new Dell Venue 8 Pro features full Windows 8.1 on an 8 inch tablet for just $299. You can use Chrome, play games like Minecraft, Starcraft 2, etc. plus just plug in a keyboard and you can use full desktop MS Office Home and Student, it comes with the tablet.

Sounds like a good tablet. I think Acer has a similar Windows 8.1 tablet called the W8 which most likely has similar specs.

With prices so low for a tablet with the Desktop version of Windows 8.1, I think Windows RT is not a good choice for consumers because users are locked into only using Apps from the Windows 8 App Store, and forced to use Internet Explorer and MS Office instead of Google Chrome, Firefox, and Opera, and Office Suites like Libreoffice which are not available for Windows RT because of the closed system in RT not being able to easily install programs made for Windows XP, 7, and 8.1.

Also, portable keyboard, mice, and stands are pretty cheap compared to those expensive touch covers for MS Surface RT. I also read the early touch covers for the Surface were not as durable as regular keyboards.

Windows 8.1 is also compatible with many types of game controllers, printers, scanners, and USB mics since most hardware which works for Windows 7 or Vista work on 8.1 if the hardware maker made drivers for Windows 8.1, or you use the Windows 7 drivers in Windows 8.1 which work for an old printer and scanner of mine where I can install the Windows 7 printer driver in Windows 8.1, and now I can print, and scan.

I think the lack of accessories makes Windows RT not a good choice when Windows 8.1 tablets, and netbooks cost about the same, and offer more compatible accessories like printers, and scanners.

 

[Beverly]

If you want to hear me, I have tried the Surface RT (350$)
Samsung tablet and iPad.
From all these three, they had essentially quad cores and dual cores.
If you want to waste your money, go for any of these three.
I couldn't believe that so many people went with this stuff, when there were Chinese tablets for only 60$-70$ (mine is 70$)
I bought myself a Chinese tablet a year ago and still working perfectly.
Opens PDF, plays latest games (the only game I could play on low was GTA III) and it really depends what tablet you get. Mine has 512 DDR3 of ram and Mali 400 as a GPU. 1.2Ghz processor, which opens everything possible.
These are somewhat the specs of Samsung Galaxy SII and we are talking about a tablet cpu here, not phone cpu!
So it will be much more worthy to spend money on any of these Chinese tablets.

Btw, it has webcam, it has office stuff and everything a tablet can do. Even SD card place for 32GB. My friends were so unhappy when they saw me with 2 tablets at hand for 1/3 the price of their tablets 🙂
I was playing Final Fantasy III 2 days ago and it was super!
(I even have Photoshop mobile version which opens perfectly and there is even autocad!!!)

Also mine are 7" version, but you can get 10". Also the cpu and gpu must have changed and become even better I guess.

You paid $70 and it actually plays games? My computer won't do that and I can't really afford a gamer computer. What is the name brand of your tablet and where did you buy it? I would really be interested.

 

[DylRicho]

Since you asked for office programs, I would be inclined to suggest either the Surface RT, Surface 2, Surface Pro or Surface Pro 2 (yeah, don't get your naming too jumbled up, Microsoft!).

However, they are both flawed devices. The lower-end models (RT and 2) cost as much as an iPad, with barely any app selection, while the higher-end models (Pro and Pro 2) cost as much as a high-end laptop.

If you want Android, I can't really suggest anything other than the second generation Nexus 7. Only choose a Samsung tablet if you don't mind a lot of cluttering s**t that you won't use.

BlackBerry Playbook? Don't even go there. Kindle? No. iPad? No.

Do yourself a favor and get away from planned obsolescence with a more-than-capable laptop. That's what I will say is your best choice.

 

[froggyboy604]

Do yourself a favor and get away from planned obsolescence with a more-than-capable laptop. That's what I will say is your best choice.

A Cheap $199 Google Chromebook laptop could be pretty good for doing office work since a lot of the Apps in Chrome OS like Google Docs can be used offline, and backs up your data to your Google Account when you are connected to the internet.

If you need more features, you can install Ubuntu onto a Chromebook by following an online tutorial on how to do install Ubuntu along side Chrome OS.

 

[DylRicho]

Do yourself a favor and get away from planned obsolescence with a more-than-capable laptop. That's what I will say is your best choice.

A Cheap $199 Google Chromebook laptop could be pretty good for doing office work since a lot of the Apps in Chrome OS like Google Docs can be used offline, and backs up your data to your Google Account when you are connected to the internet.

If you need more features, you can install Ubuntu onto a Chromebook by following an online tutorial on how to do install Ubuntu along side Chrome OS.

Exactly. Something like a Chromebook if you want to keep your budget low. Acer's new C7 series may be a good choice for you, should you want something small and portable. (I would be inclined to suggest the more powerful C720, at $300.)