Should I buy a tablet?
 

I'm going on a university next year. Thus I'm wondering, whether a tablet wouldn't be useful for me.

The only significant usage which comes to my mind so far is reading the PDF e-books. E-readers are great for epubs but suck at PDFs. And here tablets are, probably, even better than computers.

On the other hand, I'll need a decent laptop anyway. It's much easier to program using it, write e-mails, etc. For portable things I have my N900. Many things can be easily done on one of these devices. And I'd rather not strain my budget for stuff of little usefulness.

Do you think there are any reasons to buy a tablet, if I'll have a decent laptop anyway? Is there any other usage where a tablet is decisively superior? Or maybe it's better to limit myself to a good laptop?

I'm planning to study informatics combined with physics.

Besides, is the price of the Jolla Tablet expected to rise above the $249 after the crowdsourcing campaign? Or will it rather go down?

Re: Should I buy a tablet?
 

Take a look att surfade pro. Make sure its pro model...pretty decent price on surfade pro 2 now...(since 3 is out)

Its a tablet/mini laptop.

What are you planning to do With tablet? jolla OS is not ready for real work.

Tablets to use for work, editing/read doc and notes.
1. Surfade pro(like a pc)
2. Galaxy note. Great for Taking notes
3. iPad/random android. (Pdf, ppt, words) android tablets cheap.
4. Jolla. Take some basic notes. Nothing advanced. Cheap.

I say, get a good laptop and start your education... You Will see if you need a tablet or not. So wait, and learn. Good luck!

Re: Should I buy a tablet?
 

Lenovo makes some interesting tablet/laptop devices. I have an older thinkpad that allowed you to twist the screen around and fold it down to make a tablet but i found it too bulky to use as a tablet. The newer ones seem better as they are quite a bit thinner.

http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/?cid=EDM...&esrc=NETMINNG

Re: Should I buy a tablet?
 

Tablets don't cut it for real work - good luck trying to type a text blindly on an on-screen keyboard! ;)

Get a Laptop - a real one, that doesn't restrict your choice on which OS to install or on which components to replace!
I'm thinking of a used Thinkpad X201T (convertible) for example. And I can name half a dozen similar devices if you ditch the tablet idea.

btw:
When I was your age we used pen and paper. But then again my grandpa told me the same thing about clay tablets and hand axes. :rolleyes:

Re: Should I buy a tablet?
 

Convertible is the way to go.
mscion and sulu are on the right path there.
Graphic art is my schtick...so the right tools for the job eh? :D
When you need needle point precision ...
when you need penabled work done that requires finesse...
when you want to be sloppy and simply use your fingers for casual navigation and use....
when you need a tablet and then need a laptop keyboard a moment later...
well then the convertible tablet laptops I mention below are the best for the job.
I have a couple of lenovo's
and 3 toshiba portege's the last model m780 is thick since it has the optical cd/dvd bay...but it is more than worth it. On one of my m780's I have it's ram maxed out.. and a 1 tb hard drive in it with no os installed it is purely for storage. I popped the removable optical drive out and bought a $10.00 optical drive-bay secondary hard drive caddy. I carry 4 laptop hard drives with me which have on #1- win7, on #2- 4 of my art distros, on #3- about a dozen distros for work and play... , and lastly on # 4- I have distros for experimentation , libre distros , rr's (rolling releases) obscure releases and the like etc. They all share the common internal 1 tb storage so I don't have to shuffle data around or have duplicates wasting space on every distro.

I have found in my travels that the toshiba portage line ...esp. the m700, m750 and m780 are fabulous...complete... no dock necessary . a step apart from the lenovo's and ibms. (which aren't too bad either) ...and both the lenovo "x---" convertible line and toshiba portege line work verrry well with linux. Very few distros will not work on the portege line.

I remem. having the serious tablets from back in the day. Fujitsu and the m1400 ....they are great...and all...terrible for when you need a keyboard though...unless you use a portable keyboard...then it's just irritating having peripherals every where hooked up...convertible tablet is best of all worlds...

I don't like the new ones out..."yoga" and crap...sure they are new and fast and thin...compat with distros is either terrible or questionable..I think the direction that most manufacturers are going (other than the portege line and the lenovo "x---" line) is pure garbage.
This is my opinion on what I have found trying out various models pertinent to my graphic work. As well as having a decent workhorse computer that had the guts and ability to do moderate to serious heavy work and play. For real intensive editing and the like I transfer my work for finishing to my relatively new workhorse home computer a w530 (My Desktop Replacement Killer...muahahahaha) it kicks arse.

portege m780 or lenovo x230 is the only serious way to go...
lenovo x230 is 2 yrs old now and the latest x240 is last years model ....and the x250 is due I'm sure.
portege is a few years older 2010-ish ..but frankly the specs hold up in compare.

You can find a portege m780 i5 for under $300...usually around the $200-250 range
a portege m780 i7 for $400-500 usually
And the lenovo x200 from 2010 is still viable as a current model ...a good beast ...and you can sometimes get them for under $100 ...usual price tends up to $150
the lenovo x220 is a little pricey
and the lenovo x230 has dropped from over a grand down into the (if you are lucky) 3-4 hundred dollar range but tends right now 'tween the $500 and $800 dollar range.

Orrrr...
You could say screw gettin a comp of any kind...tablet or otherwise...
you could simply wait until implants are mandatory :D

Re: Should I buy a tablet?
 

tablets are fairly useless to me when I could simply use a netbook, the main issue with tablets is lack of physical keyboard.

Re: Should I buy a tablet?
 

I really see tablets as more of an addition to a proper (laptop) computer for university work.

But it can sure be handy for reading slides/lecture notes/manuals/data sheets, especially in places where reading them from a laptop would be cumbersome (in a bus, on a sofa, etc.). That's at least how I used my HP TouchPad during my studies. :)

Re: Should I buy a tablet?
 

I've always been a desktop guy but I did pick up an HP Touchpad shortly after the clearance sale for a reasonable price.

I would say the main disadvantages of a laptop are as follows:

• Most of the time they need to be left plugged in as the battery would die after a few hours.
• They tend to be pricey when compared to a similar spec desktop.
• They're quite noisy.
• They produce a lot of heat.
• They tend to be big and heavy making them a pain in the arse to carry around.
• There's not a lot of choice if you're looking to avoid one bundled with Windows.

Tablets don't tend to suffer from these problems.

I normally leave my tablet connected to Wi-Fi (which I don't do with my phone in order to preserve the battery) so it becomes very useful for checking email when I'm not at my desktop. I also find it very handy for bedtime internet access (web browsing, TV streaming and e-book reading) but that's about it. These days I'm finding that I often need to do real work on the go and tablet won't suffice.

I've been considering buying a Chromebook to replace my Touchpad, not to use ChromeOS (I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole) but to install a full Linux distro. It's possibly the best of both worlds as they don't suffer from the usual laptop disadvantages I've listed above.

Re: Should I buy a tablet?
 

@marmistrz
I tell you this with all honesty, Tablets are consumption devices, not production devices.

Such as the purpose of a tablet is for mobile gaming and media. Or just lounging at home, curling up with it.

The only time a Tablet is ideal for production is if you have an iPad and a dedicated App for your service like in these circumstances:
- Like for a financial broker on his feet to and fro clients (a la coffee meetings).
- Doctors handling multiple patients in a hospital.
- An ordering/menu system in a fast food restaurant.

For university, you'll need to rely heavily on a good keyboard and trackpad. A pen feature is beneficial (mostly for equations, not much, but also for quick note taking). A touchscreen could be beneficial.

So to cover all your bases I recommend you:
1- Get a large smartphone (OnePlus One 64GB)
2- Get a small laptop (MacBook Air 11"/13" or Yoga or S7)
3- Use a notepad and pen, for efficiency, and to improve your pen skills

Re: Should I buy a tablet?
 

Those two have not been the case for quite a while.

That, too, is not as common as it used to be, although it depends on the make and type.

That is unfortunately 100% true. But, like me, you may find with a surprise that "Microsoft Tax" is often actually negative. Presumably because laptops without Windows come generally from small sellers who cannot compete with the likes of Dell et al who sell laptops in large quantities, pushing the price down.

Amen to that!