CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS
Non-Audio Stuff => The Geek Cave: Home Theatre, Computers, and More! => Topic started by: Azteca X on April 14, 2015, 04:08:29 PM
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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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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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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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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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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.
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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I like the look of the Thinkpad yoga machines. Have been tempted to buy the smaller tablet-only
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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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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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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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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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hello,
ah, tablets.
first there were two first generation Kindle Fires (GYTW is occasionally an early adopter.) the second one was bought on near close out for number one daughter, just before the 2nd generation was released. both are now dead, batteries lasted barely a year and replacement is nearly as much as a new device. :(
there are two Nexus 7's (2013) now. GYTW and mine. nice machines, great display, 32 g memory, not horrendously expensive, but alas abandoned by Google.
they are primarily for entertainment on the go, and watching ripped videos OTG is quite nice. however, they are NOT good for reading (at least for me) having a back-light. also the screen is too small for me to read comix or Next Issue content without zooming and scrolling which destroys my reading experience.
GYTW has a Yoga Thinkpad 14 which is a glorious device for reading comix and periodicals. it is NOT a portable. (by the by, i think the Lenovo Yoga models are the best implementation of a Windows 8 laptop on the market.)
if Google had expansion slots they would be nearly perfect. the new Nexus 9 is way too pricey for me to consider. YMMV
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What the fuck is a GYTW?
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What the fuck is a GYTW?
According to Google, Gorgeous Young Trophy Wife. Sounds like you dropped something, Bin. You can just say wife next time.
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Yeah, Google can go suck it with the lack of expansion slots.
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hello,
ah, tablets.
first there were two first generation Kindle Fires (GYTW is occasionally an early adopter.) the second one was bought on near close out for number one daughter, just before the 2nd generation was released. both are now dead, batteries lasted barely a year and replacement is nearly as much as a new device. :(
there are two Nexus 7's (2013) now. GYTW and mine. nice machines, great display, 32 g memory, not horrendously expensive, but alas abandoned by Google.
they are primarily for entertainment on the go, and watching ripped videos OTG is quite nice. however, they are NOT good for reading (at least for me) having a back-light. also the screen is too small for me to read comix or Next Issue content without zooming and scrolling which destroys my reading experience.
GYTW has a Yoga Thinkpad 14 which is a glorious device for reading comix and periodicals. it is NOT a portable. (by the by, i think the Lenovo Yoga models are the best implementation of a Windows 8 laptop on the market.)
if Google had expansion slots they would be nearly perfect. the new Nexus 9 is way too pricey for me to consider. YMMV
Wow, who even talks like that ._.
According to Google, Gorgeous Young Trophy Wife. Sounds like you dropped something, Bin. You can just say wife next time.
I couldn't even find it on Google, but your translation seems correct xD
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hey it's 2015. Maybe it's gorgeous young trans wife, the level of un-PCness here is flabbergasting.
Anyways I got the HP Touchpad back when HP disowned WebOS at Bestbuy for $50. I waited on line for that POS.
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hey it's 2015. Maybe it's gorgeous young trans wife, the level of un-PCness here is flabbergasting.
Anyways I got the HP Touchpad back when HP disowned WebOS at Bestbuy for $50. I waited on line for that POS.
Don't feel bad about that. I bought a POS BlackBerry Playbook when they discounted it at Best Buy =_=
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Don't feel bad about that. I bought a POS BlackBerry Playbook when they discounted it at Best Buy =_=
Even at $50 i felt it was a POS. We all thought we were getting iPads on the cheap.
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Unfortunately, I too, got a PlayBook when it was discounted. Haven't touched it in years. That thing is so excruciatingly slow that Blackberry would have to pay me to use it.
Now happily with a tab S 10.5, previously with a tab pro 8.4, but my stupid ass left it on the plane.
The new surface 3 does look interesting, atom x7 and Windows 8.1 at $499 sounds like a winning combo.
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According to Google, Gorgeous Young Trophy Wife. Sounds like you dropped something, Bin. You can just say wife next time.
Wow, who even talks like that ._.
hello,
@ Azteca X, you are correct.
@kapanak
per Readability-Score.com:
Reading Ease
A higher score indicates easier readability; scores usually range between 0 and 100.
Readability Formula Score
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease 70.4
Grade Levels
A grade level (based on the USA education system) is equivalent to the number of years of education a person has had. Scores over 22 should generally be taken to mean graduate level text.
Readability Formula Grade
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 6.4
Gunning-Fog Score 8.7
Coleman-Liau Index 9.9
SMOG Index 6.6
Automated Readability Index 5.1
Average Grade Level 7.3
well, i do. :money:
(i blame it on Catholic school.) :D
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Hello! GYTW here!
Yes, I do love the Nexus 7. Dr. ForBin (who, by the way, does talk like this!) bought it for me before going on a 6 week business trip. It has been great ever since, though the screen is not up to his old eyes (thus the 'Y' in the GYTW).
However, Dr. ForBin's alias is Q, while mine is Bond, so this tablet is doomed to a horrible death some day by my hands.
By the way, I too talk quite strange due to English being only one of 5 languages in my head.
Nem nem Soha!!!
:)p13
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Hello! GYTW here!
Yes, I do love the Nexus 7. Dr. ForBin (who, by the way, does talk like this!) bought it for me before going on a 6 week business trip. It has been great ever since, though the screen is not up to his old eyes (thus the 'Y' in the GYTW).
However, Dr. ForBin's alias is Q, while mine is Bond, so this tablet is doomed to a horrible death some day by my hands.
By the way, I too talk quite strange due to English being only one of 5 languages in my head.
Nem nem Soha!!!
:)p13
Did he call you his PYT when you were still dating? If abbreviations are your thing MJ sang it.
Maybe on his retina you have eternal youth and beauty. Who knows?
Speaking of retina, does anyone here use an iPad of some sort for photography on the go with regards to checking and sharing pictures? I am interested in portable technology for checking and editing pictures and Apple's retina screens baffle me.
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We made the Nexus 7 to be durable as hell. It's survived my 4 (now 5) year old, it can survive whatever you dish out. If you're super worried, you can get the case we got for her:
http://www.amazon.com/Gumdrop-Cases-Lightweight-Protective-FT-NEX7V2-BLK/dp/B00L5NUPS8
With regard to the Surface 3, wait until it's $450 or less on sale if you have your heart set on it (will happen soon given my experience with past Surface devices). You're going to spring for the $130 keyboard, so you're looking at $580 all in just to start. The pen I find super useful as well, and all of a sudden, you're at $630. I wish they could bundle the tablet + pen + keyboard for $575 or 600 in a "starter pack"
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Agreed on the Microsoft Surface. I detest Microsoft for not offering the complete package for a more reasonable price. When you do hardware retail and you compete with Apple, do it right.
Hence I have my Lenovo X-series.
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A year ago, my laptop needed some maintenance / upgrades so I bought an iPad Air. I was reluctant to buy an iPad because I prefer google and Apple's image is so SWPL, but Nexus 9 wasn't announced yet and I wouldn't want a smaller tablet anyway.
My big complaint is that Chrome crashes several times a day. I ended up writing this post in Notes because Chrome crashed whilst I was swyping. I don't know precisely why; I remember reading that it has something to do with Java. But it's just crazy.
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I'm just pulling this out of my ass, but my guess is that if MS offered the Surface 3 at $500 with keyboard and pen (or at least just the keyboard, as I believe it has has a low BOM), the increase in sales from that might net them more revenue than they see going with their current pricing model. Seems everyone I meet that is interested says they wish the KB was included, and said people have ended up skipping out because of this. My sample size is very low, though.
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I'm just pulling this out of my ass, but my guess is that if MS offered the Surface 3 at $500 with keyboard and pen (or at least just the keyboard, as I believe it has has a low BOM), the increase in sales from that might net them more revenue than they see going with their current pricing model. Seems everyone I meet that is interested says they wish the KB was included, and said people have ended up skipping out because of this. My sample size is very low, though.
You are not pulling this out of your ass. Microsoft knew and knows this. In the technology magazines this is sometimes mentioned in the Surface topics. When the Surface 2 was introduced there were still warehouses with Surface 1s.
Add the RT-W8 confusion with bad marketing and a lack in tutorials and hello missed sales. Oh integrated marketing...
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hello,
does anyone remember the Zune. facepalm
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I had an original Zune model, then later got the...uh, whatever the next version was? Loved both of them and the software, actually.
The original Zune survived being slammed in my car door (was in my hoodie pocket and got caught when I got into my car). Screen busted, but that was an easy DIY repair. No other damage.
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you can always go down in price. You cannot go up. MS wants to market the Surface 3 as a $500 tablet. The hybrid and pen functionality are just added bonuses if you want to pay more. I think it's a mistake, the thing is clearly a laptop replacement with awesome additional functionality.
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Zune was nice. I wished Microsoft didn't give up on it.
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all I remember about zune was how shitty my HD600 sounded out of the HP out.
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Synergized with Grado RS2 with taped bowls.
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I actually had an original fat zune and one of the smaller HD ones. I actually liked it more than the iPod nano when I paired it with a Grado sr60. Boy was that some time ago. I feel like I cringe a little every time I hear the word Grado now a days. I currently have a nexus 7(2013) version and I like it, but the touch screen is starting to get unresponsive and I have to hard power off to get it to work decently again. Also the microusb charging port is problematic. I have to tilt the cable towards the back to get a connection for charging. This is a reason I like the Lightning cable port, there is no wiggle room and the port won't be easily damaged. Cable replacement is easy.
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Posts on this thread by "Thad" are by me. Write it off to a monumental identity crisis. Also known as a fuckup
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I use an iPad Air 2 Tablet, but mostly for music (as in VST's). One of my favorite Keyboardists Jordan Ruddess has many iOS apps for iPad with some amazing sounds, and with the iPad, I can connect it to my Midi Keyboard controller and use the VST's (soundbanks and patches) on my full-sized Midi Keyboard. Nice display, and some great apps. The drawback with the iPad for me is lack of USB ports and other I/O ports. Yes you can add USB, Midi, HDMI, etc. ports to the iPad, but you have to buy the attachments separately. Games are also pretty good on the iPad, would like to someday get a Bluetooth game controller for it, but those can be expensive as well.
In my opinion, if you just want to surf the web, play fun apps, have a gorgeous display and do minimal work-related tasks - go iPad. If you want to use a tablet for work with the ability to have USB ports and if you get a powerful enough tablet like a Surface Pro, then that might be the route you want to take. Plenty of sites you can visit out there that can explain the pros and cons of each.
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I use an iPad Air 2 Tablet, but mostly for music (as in VST's). One of my favorite Keyboardists Jordan Ruddess has many iOS apps for iPad with some amazing sounds, and with the iPad, I can connect it to my Midi Keyboard controller and use the VST's (soundbanks and patches) on my full-sized Midi Keyboard. Nice display, and some great apps. The drawback with the iPad for me is lack of USB ports and other I/O ports. Yes you can add USB, Midi, HDMI, etc. ports to the iPad, but you have to buy the attachments separately. Games are also pretty good on the iPad, would like to someday get a Bluetooth game controller for it, but those can be expensive as well.
In my opinion, if you just want to surf the web, play fun apps, have a gorgeous display and do minimal work-related tasks - go iPad. If you want to use a tablet for work with the ability to have USB ports and if you get a powerful enough tablet like a Surface Pro, then that might be the route you want to take. Plenty of sites you can visit out there that can explain the pros and cons of each.
What is your opinion on the retina screen for reviewing pictures? I want take photography to the next level and keep my kit light. A small HD-screen with accurate rendition for reviewing is then very handy.
I tend to simply go places and make pictures on the go. Sometimes I go for themes. I am always walking around though.
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The retina screen on the iPad Air 1 and 2 is phenomenal for reviewing pictures! The specs on the display for the iPad 2 are:
Retina display
9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
2048-by-1536-pixel resolution at 264 ppi
The iPad Air 1 is also incredible for reviewing pictures! And it is a lot cheaper than the iPad 2, you may be able to find a mint condition iPad Air for a really good price! The Specs for the display for the iPad Air 1 are:
Retina display
9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
2048-by-1536 resolution at 264 pixels per inch (ppi)
So as you can see, the resolution for both the iPad Air 1 and 2 are the same, and if your primary use for the iPad will be for reviewing your photography, you might be better off getting an iPad 1 and saving yourself a lot of money!
Pictures look phenomenal IMO on either unit. Since you are into photography, I doubt you'll be using the on-board iPad camera, which isn't so great. But if you use a good camera and transfer those pictures to the iPad, they look very impressive IMO.
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Lenovo miix 3 10" since last january for internet use here. Good unit overall but it won't replace my thinkpad X2xx anytime soon. Good enough to read forums when my thinkpad's used as a source though.
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Viewing angle and stuff on the Fonepad is certainly no great thing. It's fine for me, because it is occasional use, travel, and only me looking at. I wouldn't want to put it on the table for three people to watch a movie. But hey, goes with the price I guess so I'm not complaining.
And I don't game or watch movies anyway popcorn
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What is your opinion on the retina screen for reviewing pictures? I want take photography to the next level and keep my kit light. A small HD-screen with accurate rendition for reviewing is then very handy.
I tend to simply go places and make pictures on the go. Sometimes I go for themes. I am always walking around though.
Resolution (as in pixel density and all that) is not the only consideration. Color accuracy is huge. Depends if you're just reviewing to see if your picture turned out ok (in focus, didn't cut things out of the frame) or if you want to edit or review edited photos.
To see how it holds up to the competition, check it: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8701/the-google-nexus-9-review/8