I'm looking for a new laptop but considering a tablet instead, anyone got one and care to share thougts/opinions? Specifically looking at Motorola Xoom if anyone has experience of them?
I have an iPad. It's not a replacement for a laptop. It's great for when you're out and about, but not so good when you're trying to do work or more intensive stuff.
Not interested in ipads to be honest, too expensive and not really any use to me, theres far better kit for a little more than half the price out there now....
i have an HP tablet pc, not very fast, but the sketching on the screen facility is great for what i do
The iPad isnt expensive though, you can get a base spec iPad 2 for 399. With iOS5 coming soon, its going to be so much better. The Motorolla Xoom is 479.99 unless you decide to go for a contract deal with a 3G operator, but the base spec 3G version is 579.99. A colleague at work has the Android based Vega tablet, but i really detest it. It was cheap, but it looks it.
I've got a Xoom. Its great for browsing, watching, email or games on the train. No issues with hardware and great battery life.
Ipads are fashion accessories imho no flash player therefore not suitable for what I want, the android based machines offer a lot more power & compatability for a lot less money anyway so its a no brainer really. The Xoom has 32GB of flash memory with a slot for an SD card which potentially doubles its capacity (as soon as Google release the software update to support it) What I really want to know is what are they like for running MS office programs? do they run smoothly, any major bugs? Anyone replaced their laptop with one and glad they did etc. ? I'm not looking for 3G as I won't need it and it adds a lot to the price, anything better than the Xoom for the same money?
In my opinion any tablet is totally crap for doing 'office' type stuff. That's what a conventional PC (laptop) is for, because it gives you proper input devices (keyboard and mouse), has conventional drives and file system, and doesn't have the application framework limitations like a mobile OS has. If you like your laptop but you're bored of using Windows and just fancy a whole new experience, perhaps consider installing a nice Linux distribution on it such as Fedora or Ubuntu. Beautiful operating systems to use and you don't need to be a geek at all to use them. If you use office applications a lot but want to avoid the Microsoft tax, just install OpenOffice. On my laptop now for instance I'm running Ubuntu and I do all my office stuff in OpenOffice. It's fully compatible with MS Office. You can install OpenOffice in Windows or Linux. Ubuntu even has this 'software store' that comes with it; it's rather just like an app store where you search for what you want, do a single click and it just installs for you. I think Fedora has something similar. I'm doing a lot of Android application development at the moment both for personal stuff (MegaSquirt app) and for work as well, so as well as my HTC Desire I also currently have an Archos 101 tablet. To be honest the Archos 101 is a cheap flimsy thing and not all that fast, but alright for playing about with. Whether it can 'replace a laptop' depends entirely on what you want to do with it. If all you do is load web pages and gaze at them, play various games, etc. then a tablet will do for you. But if you're considering one as a replacement for a laptop then I'd suggest playing with one and understanding its limitations. Depends what you use your laptop for. I'm really not a fan of Apple whatsoever but Luke does have a point in that the cheaper Android tablets do have a cheap feel in terms of hardware build quality. My Archos 101 feels flimsy. To have something that feels solid and good quality it needs to be a Samsung or a Motorola. I played with a Samsung and it was a beautiful, fast and well-made machine. Their prices do approach that of the iPad though. So when you compare like-for-like in terms of build quality, the iPad isn't really comparatively expensive. Personally I go for Android because iOS has some limitations I can't live with. The thing is, you can pick up one of the cheaper brand laptop PCs - say Acer, or Asus - from here for instance - and for just 300 you get a machine that runs Windows 7, has a large display, runs blindingly fast, and er - is a proper amazing computer for just 300.
This. If you need office type programs, you need a laptop, a tablet won't do. I bought one of those, and took it back the next day for my iPad. No comparison, you do get what you pay for.
I do like my Archos 101, don't get me wrong at all. It's a really useful thing to use as a media device in the front room. But if you want an Android device with equivalent hardware build quality to the iPad, you're looking at a Samsung or Motorola I think.
Thanks Trev, very useful post. I think I'll just get a new laptop, then one day maybe I'll get a cheap tablet for just looking at the internet on. Really I want the best of both worlds, Windows 7 on a 15" tablet that runs well but that seems to be a long way off yet...
I personally never saw a market for tablets as i didnt really know what anyone would do on one that they couldnt do on either a smartphone or laptop. That said, i got fed up of my 2 year old lad stealing my phone all the time to play Angry Birds so we bought a cheap Chinese knock off tablet called a Dropad. It was 120 and to be honest it's been great. Capacitive screen, Android 2.1, front webcam, access to Android Market. Admittedly, he dropped a drinking glass on the screen and it cracked the corner (offscreen) but it still works fine. had plenty of falls too, and liquids spilt on it. its been quite a trooper so far. I still dont really see the point though, and very rarely find myself using it for anything. Windows 7 running well on a 15" laptop is easily achievable.
Dedicated MS laptop Trev, can you suggest a PC specification and software strictly for MS and/or similar applications please, including screen size and presumably well shielding cabling? Am planning stand alone management, and wish to store a dedicated laptop either under the seat or, if small enough, inside a modified glove box - - doesn't have to be a new lappy either, and of course should be of robust design
Just a dirt cheap laptop shoved under the passenger seat I think really! Don't really need vast screen size. Don't need anything from it at all really. I think the most important thing to look at is battery life. For me, the best kind of laptop for MS is something reasonably old and crap so you don't mind chucking it inside the car somewhere, but has at least USB ports, WiFi (useful for checking online documentation while sat tweaking it in the car outside the house, or so you can chuck datalogs over by email or over private network to save faffing with USB sticks) and damn good battery life. I used a Prolific-based USB to RS232 converter, but one with an FTDI chip will be fine too.
Lappy selection "Don't really need vast screen size - - " Minimum practical size please? "I think the most important thing to look at is battery life - - " Presumably the lappy runs on dc via an inverter - - surely 12vdc could be converted and fed to the lappy power supply? "For me - - has at least USB ports & WiFi - - useful for checking online documentation while sat tweaking it in the car outside the house, or so you can chuck datalogs over by email or over private network to save faffing with USB sticks - - " Mmm, a real time saver - - "I used a Prolific-based USB to RS232 converter, but one with an FTDI chip will be fine too - - " Meaning if the lappy has an FTDI chip the USB to RS232 converter becomes redundant? Please excuse my low tech knowledge base
Flash is over rated, buggy and i havent missed it on any of my iOS devices. I have an Android phone at the moment, and just hate the way it goes about doing anything. Cant wait for the release of the next iPhone, as i will be going straight back to one. The same goes for the tablets in my opinion.
But you ARE a certified Apple Fanboi, Luke. Even if an Android device came with a Holodeck you'd still declare total hate for it.
You could have your cake & eat it Dell Inspiron Duo mind you 449 is not exactly cheap & it is only a Dell...
