Tablet PC or netbook?

M

m_calingo

Joined
Oct 13, 2003
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For those of us here who have both, I was just wondering what your experience was and preference, or not, for either device (or anything else like them) when it comes to traveling.

I've used my SO's Kindle Fire and other than the lack of a real keyboard, that seems fine for light duty, and it's certainly compact enough for travel.

That said, I'm curious about what other have to say.

Thanks in advance.
 
Here's the thing about tablets: they're nice for consumption but horrible for creation. For example, I have a tablet and it's handy for watching YouTube videos or browsing Facebook but I wouldn't EVER use it to make a spreadsheet or write a report.

They do make keyboard attachments and docking stations for tablets now so this gives you versatility but you could also see it as more crap to haul around.
-StaTiK-
 
Serious use = Laptop

Everything else = Tablet

I went on vacation recently and brought both my laptop and iPad. I used the iPad 98% of the time.
 
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Browsing the web on a nety (netbook) right now. It is a Acer Aspire One D257-13473. It has terrible battery life. The longest continues use is going to be at about 1 and 1/2 hours, at most. Most of the time it is less. This is with the brightness turned all the way down. My brother says that a tablet is for play and a netbook for work.
 
Best of both worlds might be an Ultrabook a key-board dockable tablet, like an Asus Transformer Prime or a Surface Pro. But none of these are cheap. In fact, for the cost of some of these you can buy a a good tablet, netbook, AND a decent laptop. If you're only looking to spend a few hundred bucks on a single device though, it all depends on what you're using it for.

Web browsing is easy enough on a tablet. For many sites, like Amazon, eBay, or mobile banking, there'll be an app that is easier to use than the actual website. Most tablets have good enough battery life to play a movie or two while you wait for flights or when you're in the air. And if you're bored in a hotel room, there's plenty of games you can play. If you need to do business stuff, there's apps that do all the .pdf, Excel, Word, etc. But they'll be a bit limited, and not very user friendly.

If you need to do business work, a netbook is probably the better choice. Plus you can connect to USB devices (mouse, external HDD, etc). Some tablets can, some can't. And since they run Windows and have a physical keyboard, it's far easier to do business work on.

BTW, check out an app called PdaNet. It costs $15 (on sale now for $8), but it's a one-time-only cost. It allows you to use your phone's internet connection on your computer via wifi or USB tether, or with your tablet via Blu-Tooth. It depends on your phone, software version, and carrier, but there's usually some way to get it to work. This way you can get internet on your tablet or computer anywhere your phone has data service without paying the outrageous monthly fees your carrier.
 
If you decide on a tablet I would look at the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 before you buy a Kindle Fire. I have a couple friends with the fire hd and they are nice but they are missing some things that I wanted which lead me to the tab 2. After spending a week now with both of them as I borrowed a fire hd and now have owned the tab 2 for a week I like everything about the Samsung better. Some of the major advantages are a front and rear facing camera, Bluetooth and infrared technology and it has the newest android jellybean so it's much smoother than the kindle and does so much more. You have thousands more choices of apps with the tab 2 and you can still get all the amazon apps on it. The infrared seems kind of dumb and pointless but you get an app with it called "peel" that basically turns your tablet into a smart remote that can control your tv and has a tv guide built right into it. It's a very cool feature. Oh and it also has a slot for a micro sd card so you can easily add up to 32g of storage to the 8g it comes with. All that for the same exact price as the Kindle Fire HD.
 
After trying the Kindle Fire for a year, I bought another laptop. I need a real keyboard and a better screen.

The Kindle is nice for media consumption though.
 
After researching tablets a bit - wanting a decent Android machine for Wife - the most features for the least $$, I went with the Samsung.

No way I could use one for work on the road though. For that I have an Asus Eeepc that's about four years old. Good enough for browsing the internet and some data entry (with the help of a USB keypad).

If you have to do 'real' work on the road, like PhotoShop / ArcView / Autocad, you're going to want something much better, a "desktop replacement" laptop probably.
 
I would like to add having used bolth that my ipad does 99.99999 percent of what I need but my two main gripes are you need a air printer to print and its not as easy to edit text......

That being said i think if its for business get a good laptop....or if you all you need is to search the web and occasionally send a email or two get a ipad/pad mini


My big thing I love about tablets is BATTERY LIFE my ipad will keep on going for 9 or 10 hours!
 
I use my MacBook Pro for lots of things, anything from editing sermons for church and uploading to the website, to creating documents/spreadsheets/presentations, etc., to streaming media (both audio and video) to my home theater system, to browsing this very site and everything in between. My Nexus 7 can do one of those things and then not nearly as well as my laptop. I like them both, including my Samsung Galaxy SIII smart phone, but make mine a laptop/computer. Oh and my MBP has a 7-8 hour battery life.
 
Some of the Eeepc features that make it handy for travel:
3 standard USB plugs. Mouse, keypad, printer, whatever.
Standard video out - use any modern television as a monitor
Battery Life: Advertised as 9.5 hours. That's mostly accurate for simple work.
Ethernet plug for wired internet. Generally faster and more reliable than Wi-Fi, and not every hotel has WiFi.
 
I either use a full on desktop tower or a tablet. I use my phone when I'm away from work or home. I thought they didn't make netbooks anymore.
 
Bob W said:
If you have to do 'real' work on the road, like PhotoShop / ArcView / Autocad, you're going to want something much better, a "desktop replacement" laptop probably.
Click to expand...

I have one of those desktop replacements, the power supply "brick" weighs more then most normal big box store laptops. :eek: TSA loves me with a business laptop, personal laptop, two power supplies, .....

With two cell phones, two laptops, and the normal road warrior carry on stuff, I still generally get through the security checkpoints faster then traveling families unless I get kicked over for extra screening. The laptops and cell phones generally make multiple trips through the scanner .... :rolleyes: Why does he need two laptops .....
 
MajorLonghorn said:
I either use a full on desktop tower or a tablet. I use my phone when I'm away from work or home. I thought they didn't make netbooks anymore.
Click to expand...

They're still made, but only by a few companies, and only a few models. Tablets, Ultrabooks, and dockable tablets are replacing them in the market. There's still a market for them though. I came damn close to buying one a few years ago. I've always been a desktop guy, but I wanted portability. The choice was either a desktop and a netbook, or a full laptop. This was before I had a smartphone, and back when the only tablet was the iPad. I went with a laptop. Kinda ironic, since I've only used it as a laptop a handful of times in 3 years (ie: taken it with me somewhere). I use it as a desktop, with separate monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Still, I don't regret the decision. However, if I had a smartphone back then (back then, the iPhone was king and Android was only just starting), I probably would have gone a different route. While I'm away from home, there isn't much that I need to do that I can't do with my Android phone.

Another thing to consider is that there are apps that link your phone (or tablet) to your home PC. Leave your home computer on when you travel, and the app lets you pull up files to your mobile device from wherever you are in the world. There's also cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox. These services can be very handy if you want to review or make quick changes to something, but don't want to spend the time/hassle of setting up your laptop - taking it out of your pack, unraveling the cord, booting it up, etc.
 
I should add that I'm in the market for a tablet myself. Right now I'm looking at the upcoming Samsung Note 8.0. It has an HD resolution 8" screen (1280x800), powerful processor and lots of RAM, and a stylus. I was going to get a Nexus 7 when I got my tax refund, but I think the 8" Note might be more appropriate for me. However, I'm holding off getting one until info on the upcoming Nexus 7 2 comes out, which is rumored to have a full HD (1920x1080) screen. The Nexus 7 is awesome, but it doesn't have expandable storage, which I'd want. The Note 8.0 can take a 64bg card. If the new Nexus 7 has expandable storage, I'll probably get that. If not, I'll go with the Note.

I'd be using it mostly for web browsing, games, movies, email, ebooks, etc. Even though I bought a laptop for portability, I'd rather just have my phone and a tablet while away from home. With PdaNet/FoxFi, I won't need to spend the extra money for mobile hotspot or a 4G model and all-in-one plan. I'd be able to visit my parents in San Diego for a few days without wishing I'd brought my computer.
 
Mitchell Knives said:
Serious use = Laptop

Everything else = Tablet

I went on vacation recently and brought both my laptop and iPad. I used the iPad 98% of the time.
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I would agree with this as well. There are obvious limitations with a tablet, as well as with a laptop. However, it really all depends on what the long term need is, that way when you make your choice you can have versatility and get your moneys worth out of your investment.
 
I have a 13 inch MacBook pro and a first-gen iPad, on which I'm typing this post. I'm a journalist so I type a lot and thought I wouldn't like the iPad for work.

I was wrong. Had to take it on a recent two-week work trip to Russia and leave the laptop at home for various reasons. Found out that I love not having the extra weight to lug around and didnt miss any of the functionality, except having the apostrophe button on the main keyboard instead of burried in an alternate menu.

Still, I have learned how to touch type almost as fast as on a regular keyboard. Wont be buying a hard keyboard for the ipad either, as that defeats the purpose of the streamlined tablet in my mind.

As far as work flow, I bought a word processing program (Pages) for writing/editing stories. Works great. Can export my stories to editors in Word and can open their Word docs no problem.

For images, I bought a card reader. Havent tried posting articles direct to the web yet in Wordpress. Not sure how well that would work.

One glitch I found is that the ipad wouldn't let me buy plane tickets on a Russian airline site because the fields for typing in your personal info would crash the web browser (safari). Had to have a a friend do it in their computer or could have used the desktop in the hotel business center proving that there's almost always a workaround these days.

For those who just web browse and type emails when traveling, a tablet is more than enough.

Considering how well this ancient first-gen iPad works for me, a demanding and picky professional user, I can only imagine how much better the latest tablets must be.

All that said, I'm going to get a MacBook Air when I upgade my main laptop. I have sometimes missed transferring critical files and emails between the iPad and laptop and I dont want to have to worry about that going forward. If I werent inclined toward macs, I'd be looking into getting a pc similar in size ot the air.

For personal travel -- the iPad is more than enough. It's liberating paring down your gear. In these modern times, we have encumbered ourselves with too much stuff. The more we can let go, the better our lives our.
 
I have a 13" Macbook Pro that i picked up when i sold off my 17" Toshiba. I loved the portability of it, that 17" was just too big.....then i got an iPad. For 99% of what i do it is more than enough. I bought a case with a built in bluetooth connected keyboard, makes it very portable. I find i rarely use it though.... My printer is bluetooth compatible as well. I like the iPad but If i want to add more memory, i'm out of luck. I really wish it had a USB port to i could hook up and external drive.... I am digging how it fits in my bag and i hardly know it's in there....
 
From the "you get what you pay for file". After producing the cheap Chrome Book, Google is now doing out with a machine hifh appears to be aimed right at the larger MacBook Air. It has a touch screen, but smaller flash memory than the comparable Apple. Guess what it is going to cost? Same as the Apple. Quality parts and construction cost real money.

On a similar note, I saw a report over the weekend that said that the current batch of iPhones were 3 times as reliable as the Samsung phones and 5 times as reliable as Nokia. Compared to Motorola, the worst of the bunch, it was more like 25. Lol
 
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