Is a tablet right for me?

[blorg]

I've had my laptop for about 6 years now, and I've regretted buying it from about a month after I bought it. I don't know if Dell Inspiron laptops have improved since then, but this thing really was poorly designed. After having the computer repaired a dozen times (all problems that I was told were the result of a cheaply made product, not my computing habits), I'm thinking about getting a new device.

When tablets first came out I thought they were a complete waste of money. However, recently I was at an aquarium and I saw someone pull out their tablet and take an extremely clear video of a poorly lit tank, and I decided I need to look into them some more.

I'm going to list the things I most commonly use a computer for, and I would GREATLY appreciate if people could tell me whether tablet technology can handle them.

-Watching youtube videos & live video streams
-Watching movies (I understand that tablets don't have a dvd drive so how could you watch a movie on a tablet?)
-Google earth/google maps
-Posting on forums
-Viewing news websites
-Fantasy football
-Recording video (I'm not sure which tablets have a video camera built in)
-Using the most basic functions of Microsoft word and excel.
-Dream aquarium virtual aquarium

I'm really attracted to the idea of having a portable computer because right now I have to lug around my Inspiron (which is literally falling to pieces), a huge laptop fan (since it overheats even watching a 30 second youtube clip), a mouse (because the touchpad had to be disabled since it started clicking and moving around on its own weeks after I bought the laptop), and its electrical cord (I always keep it plugged in now because I've already gone through 2 batteries).

I'm not concerned about the limited memory on tablets because I don't download a lot of music or programs. I would prefer if the tablet comes with or is compatible with some time of keyboard, even it's really small. I would prefer a tablet with a video camera and some kind of ports for transferring files (whether it's SD, USB, etc. doesn't really matter). I don't really play any games on my computer, so that's not a concern, but I would still like a tablet with a reasonably fast internet connection.

Thanks a lot for reading this and responding with any advice, it really means a lot to me.

 

[jamesd1981]

I suppose it depends on your budget and use, most of the really powerful tablets cost a fortune and i personally would never pay £400-500 for any little tablet.

I love my android devices but they are not a replacement for a proper pc, there are certain things that are just not good on a tablet mainly due to screen size.

My personal choice is too have a main proper pc at home and cheaper mobile devices that are handy too carry and keep connected on the go.

The cheap mobile device area is hard to pick the quality from the rubbish, for me one clear signal of a bad android device is if it does not have google play store access because that really is a must for any android device.

Tablet wise one of the best cheap brands is sumvision, my sumvision cyclone voyager which i linked below is a fraction the price of say a nexus etc but does the same job.

http://www.ebuyer.com/407319-sumvision-cyclone-voyager-tablet-pc-cycvoy7

Smartphone wise all the top brands have good phones from as little as £100, my current phone is the sony xperia E which i am very happy with and had no trouble from.

http://www.sonymobile.com/gb/products/phones/xperia-e/

 

[strollin]

Interesting regarding your experience with your Inspiron. I have a 5 1/2 year old Inspiron that has never given me any problems, still running strong.

A tablet can do virtually all of what you ask but I honestly can't answer the question about the virtual aquarium since I'm not familiar with that at all.

My experience with tablets has been on Android, I can't speak for iPads since I've never used one. Many tablets have built-in Bluetooth which allows the use of Bluetooth mice, keyboards anf other peripherals. I have an inexpensive cable called an OTG cable (a modified USB cable) that allows me to connect external USB devices like thumb drives, memory card readers, USB keyboards, USB mice, etc... so storage isn't really a problem. I have an 8G Nexus 7 and have never run out of storage since I can use external storage devices to store content like pictures, music and video.

Some tablets have cameras that take video, my Nexus 7 has a camera but I never use it. Do you really want to use a tablet to take pictures or video?

You can get some pretty good apps that will allow you to read/write MS compatible word & excel files. A free one that I use on my tablet is Kingsoft office.

When shopping for a tablet compare the specs but also attempt to try them out in a store. The tablet that James1981 linked to is probably an OK tablet for what it costs but doesn't really compare to a Nexus 7. Google is expected to announce a newer model Nexus 7 this coming week so the older Nexus 7s are currently being discounted. For instance, the 32g N7, regularly priced at $249, can now be purchased for $199 and the 16G N7, regularly priced at $199, is currently priced at $179.

Having said all that, I agree with James1981 that I don't consider a tablet as a replacement for a laptop or any other computer. I use my tablet in addition to my desktop, laptop, netbook and smartphone .

 

[blorg]

I suppose it depends on your budget and use, most of the really powerful tablets cost a fortune and i personally would never pay £400-500 for any little tablet.

I love my android devices but they are not a replacement for a proper pc, there are certain things that are just not good on a tablet mainly due to screen size.

My personal choice is too have a main proper pc at home and cheaper mobile devices that are handy too carry and keep connected on the go.

Yeah, the main reason I'm thinking about replacing my laptop with a tablet is that I don't do most of the things that would require a powerful computer (like playing games or using advanced programs), and I saw that there are a lot of tablets for much cheaper than what laptops cost.

The cheap mobile device area is hard to pick the quality from the rubbish, for me one clear signal of a bad android device is if it does not have google play store access because that really is a must for any android device.

Tablet wise one of the best cheap brands is sumvision my cyclone voyager which i linked below is a fraction the price say a nexus etc but does the same job.

http://www.ebuyer.com/407319-sumvision-cyclone-voyager-tablet-pc-cycvoy7

I will definitely consider the tablet you recommended because that looks like a really good deal. Thanks a lot for the advice!

Interesting regarding your experience with your Inspiron. I have a 5 1/2 year old Inspiron that has never given me any problems, still running strong.

I guess it's possible that I just got the 1 bad laptop in the bunch, but I have had so many problems with mine since day one. My keys started falling out shortly after I bought it and they had to replace the entire keyboard (a couple of keys have fallen out again since it was replaced, but at least they aren't keys that I use). My touchpad started going haywire and just moving around and clicking everywhere (but it wouldn't react to my finger) so I had to disable it completely. I had to replace screws on the bottom panel within a couple weeks because they were coming out and they were stripped. The joints where the laptop folds started falling apart shortly after I bought it. The webcam for some reason always made images yellow even when I changed the color settings on the webcam software. The laptop overheats even when I'm only performing one very simple task and I have the laptop fan connected. The first battery that came with the laptop died after about a month. The panel on the CD/DVD drive started falling off. The CD drive itself would get stuck and I wouldn't be able to eject discs for a couple days.

That's all I can remember at the moment.

A tablet can do virtually all of what you ask but I honestly can't answer the question about the virtual aquarium since I'm not familiar with that at all.

It's kind of like a screensaver I guess. I can't afford a real aquarium full of fish so it's basically like a pretty realistic aquarium simulator.

My experience with tablets has been on Android, I can't speak for iPads since I've never used one. Many tablets have built-in Bluetooth which allows the use of Bluetooth mice, keyboards anf other peripherals. I have an inexpensive cable called an OTG cable (a modified USB cable) that allows me to connect external USB devices like thumb drives, memory card readers, USB keyboards, USB mice, etc... so storage isn't really a problem. I have an 8G Nexus 7 and have never run out of storage since I can use external storage devices to store content like pictures, music and video.

Yeah, the memory issues that people complain about with tablets don't bother me. I don't think I've even got more than 30 GB of files saved on my actual laptop and I have a lot of programs on it that I wouldn't need on the tablet.

Some tablets have cameras that take video, my Nexus 7 has a camera but I never use it. Do you really want to use a tablet to take pictures or video?

Well, I've got a digital camera that can take pictures and extremely short videos, but I don't have a camcorder, so I figured if I could get a tablet that can take videos, I would be killing two birds with one stone.

You can get some pretty good apps that will allow you to read/write MS compatible word & excel files. A free one that I use on my tablet is Kingsoft office.

Thanks a lot, I'll keep that in mind if I do get a tablet.

When shopping for a tablet compare the specs but also attempt to try them out in a store. The tablet that James1981 linked to is probably an OK tablet for what it costs but doesn't really compare to a Nexus 7. Google is expected to announce a newer model Nexus 7 this coming week so the older Nexus 7s are currently being discounted. For instance, the 32g N7, regularly priced at $249, can now be purchased for $199 and the 16G N7, regularly priced at $199, is currently priced at $179.

Having said all that, I agree with James1981 that I don't consider a tablet as a replacement for a laptop or any other computer. I use my tablet in addition to my desktop, laptop, netbook and smartphone .

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

[jamesd1981]

Well looking at your tablet use, i do most of those things with mine and have no problem and play some games also.

The only couple things that catch my eye is microsoft office and recording video, microsoft office is not available on android yet although it is in development there a couple of free office suites with microsoft office comapatibility.

Recording video maybe one thing for an expensive tablet if you want high resolution as most tablets i have seen even some expensive ones do not have very high res video recording.

I am a great believer in having dedicated devices for certain tasks like photography or video recording because no one device is great at everything.

If you buy devices dedicated to a certain task, they tend to be better than a device trying to be jack of all trades.

If you like recording video for the same price as an expensive tablet like the sony xperia z, you could get a cheaper tablet like the one i linked or similar plus get a dedicated video recorder to give you top quality videos.

I have the sony 3d bloggie which i linked below and the video quality is amazing, it makes the video from all my other devices even my digital camera look terrible.

It can record in 2d or 3d and you can record all the way up to full hd, there is an hdmi connection to connect direct to lcd tv.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/electronics/dp/B004IWRH0W

 

[EvanK]

A tablet could do all of that, but forget about word processing. There's really no substitute yet for a proper physical PC keyboard.

In regards to Dream aquarium, while you probably wouldn't be able to get the exact program to run (unless you invested in a full Windows 8 tablet, which runs upwards of $600 minimum), I'm sure that you could find a similar application.

If your budget is on the lower side, I've been extremely satisfied with Google's Nexus 7. For $200 it's unbeatable, it's fast, there's no lag using it, and it's a quality product with fast updates. If you want a larger 10" tablet, the Nexus 10 or a Microsoft Surface would be a great option.

 

[strollin]

A tablet could do all of that, but forget about word processing. There's really no substitute yet for a proper physical PC keyboard.
...

I could very easily use my Android phone for word processing, no problem at all. With my OTG cable, I could connect a full-size USB keyboard but even without the OTG cable, there are plenty of Bluetooth keyboards around.

My phone also has a mini hdmi out so I can attach it to a large monitor. With the large monitor, mouse and keyboard, I could do word processing and spreadsheets all day long, no problem.

However, that's one place where the Nexus 7 falls down. There's no problem connecting mouse and keyboard but unfortunately the Nexus 7 doesn't have a way to connect to a larger screen so you'd be stuck with the 7" screen of the tablet.

If you wish to have the ability to connect to a larger screen then make sure any tablet you buy has a mini hdmi output. Some tablets (Nexus 10 for instance) support a wireless video output called Miracast but your TV/monitor needs to support that to have it work. The tablet that james1981 linked to above does have a mini hdmi output so that is one area where it has an advantage over the Nexus 7. However, due to it's low screen resolution, I'm not sure how well it will work connected to a large screen.