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Author Topic: Tablets!  (Read 2303 times)

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Azteca X

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Tablets!
« on: April 14, 2015, 04:08:29 PM »
I am just now delving into getting my own tablet. My fiancé has had an iPad Mini w/ Retina display and it's been nice when I've used it but I am opting for something more budget-friendly since I already have a smartphone, powerful desktop and aging but solid laptop.

I'm finally picking up an Android tablet (Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 4, 8.4inch) to read comics, use Instapaper, maybe read ebooks on. Only $215 refurbished on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Galaxy-8-4-Inch-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B00P2N01CW/

Display isn't perfect but seems pretty darn competitive - probably wont be a noticeable difference in everyday use. The near-perfect displays definitely have to be paid for. And again, I'm into keeping it budget since tablets still move very fast. If I wanted a premium tablet, I'd go with Apple since I already use quite a few of their products.

Another big plus for my comic-reading is that the Tab accepts microSD cards up to 64GB. Nice to have that much space for a whopping $30 extra.


So, what do you have? What are you curious about? Any interesting news?
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Anaxilus

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Re: Tablets!
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2015, 04:35:27 PM »
I have a Dell Venue 8 Pro which I love for it's mobile Windows 8.1 Pro environment. The new ones look intriguing, especially that real sense camera.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/dell-reveals-venue-10-7000,28904.html
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Hands

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Re: Tablets!
« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2015, 05:31:53 PM »
I'm all about Windows 8 tablets. We have a Surface Pro 1, Asus VivoTab Note 8, some Micro Center-brand 8" Winbook, and I used to have the Razer Edge. Thinking about getting a Surface 3 (not Pro, but still full Win8, not RT) down the road. The Winbook is great for audio purposes because it has a micro-USB AND full-sized USB port, along with the commonly expandable memory via MicroSD. IME the relatively new quad-core Atoms are pretty zippy for what they are, and they have plenty of headroom for audio purposes w/ 2GB of RAM.
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Thad

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Re: Tablets!
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2015, 06:01:29 PM »
I've never had an Apple device and don't intend to. Now my wife has a new laptop and agreed to give Linux a try, we have evicted Microsoft, hopefully for good*.

On the tablet front, we were both spending more time away from home for a few weeks in December, and needed portable internet access and portable music, at least. First, bought an Asus Fonepad-7 for my wife, and she took to it very quickly. A few weeks later, being about to spend two weeks away from home, we bought another one for me. Mine is better: it's blue. And it was (same model, same spec) cheaper.  :)p7. Both Android, of course.

Good budget stuff: no really fancy display, very basic camera, etc.  But known brand, not something off from China. Of course, some of those "odd Chinese" brands are becoming very popular and, here in India, desired and mainstream. But you have to know what you're buying, spend time on forums, etc ...and I spend far too much time on forums already.

I now have digital USB audio from my tablet too: I'm using a $30 HiFiMeDIY DAC.

I'll be away for four weeks soon. Guess what I want to go with my tablet then! ...a new pair of portable/travel/closed-back headphones of course!   :wheel:





*Damn... I forgot her Lumia phone. That damn microsoft always gets in somehow! But her phone broke and she was given this one, despite the fact that I was clammering to buy her an Asus Zenphone, which would have look/feel-ed exactly the same as her tablet.
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AustinValentine

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Re: Tablets!
« Reply #4 on: April 14, 2015, 06:23:31 PM »
At home, I use a Thinkpad Yoga, an 1st gen Note 10.1, and (lol) a practically antique Motorola Atrix.

The Yoga is my workhorse for digital course development/Grading/LMS modules, Manga Studio and Adobe CS. I use the Atrix + Gizmo/Plex to act as an interface for a headless Windows 7 server where I store all my media. With the amount of parallax that the Atrix screen has, it's all you can really use it for. The old Note tablets have pretty crappy screens with poor resolution - I'd shy away from buying those used. (My nephew is getting mine when I go out to Michigan to visit him this summer. He's 7, so I don't think he will mind the screen much.)

I can't say enough good things about the Thinkpad Yoga 12.5" - as long as you get one that doesn't have a ghosting display (screen ID LP25WF2-SPB2 doesn't ghost or retain images). It has the best chiclet keyboard I've used and a Wacom digitizer that's more responsive and pressure sensitive than the Surface Pro 3's. As long as you can handle the heft, its a very serviceable 12.5" tablet too due to lift-and-lock. Oh, and it can use both a standard 2.5" SSD and has an extra slot for an M.2 drive - so you can load it up with plenty of internal storage.

At work, I use iPads in the classroom (4th Gen, Retina) and a Surface Pro 3 at my shared workstation. I really like the Surface Pro, and if they ever go back to using Wacom instead of N-trig, I'd buy one for personal use.

Quote from: Azteca X on April 14, 2015, 04:08:29 PM
Another big plus for my comic-reading is that the Tab accepts microSD cards up to 64GB. Nice to have that much space for a whopping $30 extra.

It can use the Sandisk 128GB microSD's too. It's a pretty nice tablet.
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Thad

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Re: Tablets!
« Reply #5 on: April 14, 2015, 06:37:49 PM »
I like the look of the Thinkpad yoga machines. Have been tempted to buy the smaller tablet-only
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Skyline

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Re: Tablets!
« Reply #6 on: April 14, 2015, 08:21:28 PM »
Looking to buy a Galaxy Tab S this summer.  Hopefully the price will have dropped some more since a new model is rumored.

Also, really interested in Sony tablets, but the price seems a bit high and the only way it seems to be available through amazon is an internation version that doesn't come with a warranty.
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twifosp

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Re: Tablets!
« Reply #7 on: April 14, 2015, 10:01:03 PM »
Surface pro 3 for mobile computing.  Best mobile device I have ever owned.  This is coming from a guy who used to buy nothing but mac book pros. Looking forward to the SP4.

For light tablet use, I really like the ipad mini retina.  I prefer the mini over the regular sized ipad.  Travels better, can use your thumbs to navigate instead of holding it one hand and browsing with the other.  Plus I travel with the sp3 so full sized tablet is covered.

The ipad is mainly just a FTL game playing console and light web surfing tablet. 
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zerodeefex

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Re: Tablets!
« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2015, 10:53:49 PM »
Depends on your use. I've had a Surface Pro 1, a Surface pro 2, the Venue 8 pro, and a bunch of Android tablets.

I'd look at the ASUS tabs if you want an affordable Android tablet, they've made a couple that are basically spiritual successors to the Nexus 7.

If you want productivity, it's hard to go wrong with the Windows tablets. I'm not as big a fan for straight media consumption, but they're still solid. There's just way more random crap available for Android and iOS tablets if you're just using it to consume media. I find 7-8" the sweet spot for me.

If you're actually doing work, though, the Windows tablets are amazing.
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kapanak

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Re: Tablets!
« Reply #9 on: April 14, 2015, 11:02:42 PM »
Definitely consider the new Surface 3 tablet, which is the baby brother of the Surface Pro 3.

Here's the informative ArsTechnica review: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/04/surface-3-review-smaller-slower-cheaper-better/
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