Tablets

[Talar]

So with how things are going it looks like it would be best/easiest if I got a tablet for school and my job with the University. I am currently debating between the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7. I hate apple products in general, I do not like the feel of the Ios and stuff(my mom has an ipad, and having played around with it I've come to this conclusion), so lets get that out of the way. I would need it for ebooks, reading PDF's and some Word/Excel docs as well. Also a decent browser would be helpful since I am a tutor and if I don't know something I can then easily look it up, and most profs now function solely electronically. So what tablet would the playground recommend? I'm sort of clueless when it comes to this kind of stuff. Many thanks and cookies for your help

[Flickerdart]

I would recommend a 10 inch tablet over a 7 inch one, but ultimately it's up to you. Go to Best Buy or something and have a go at holding and using various sizes. IIRC the Kindle Fire is slightly bigger than the Nexus 7, at 8.9 inches.

[valadil]

IMO form factor and keyboard are the most important factors. If it's uncomfortable to type on, you won't use the tablet. I like the iPad mini's size but have no use for a full sized iPad. Your mileage/thumb size may vary.

[Mauve Shirt]

I really really like my Windows Surface Pro 2. It's truly excellent to be able to use THE REAL Microsoft Office suite on my tablet, and the keyboard is nice too. The Pro 3 looks even better.

[Gwynfrid]

If it's for work use, you've got to have a decent keyboard, even if small. An onscreen keyboard is only OK-ish for pretty short text entry. For Excel your need a keyboard and also a pretty precise pointer (touchpad or pen). Unless all you're going to do is read stuff, I wouldn't recommend a tablet.

I suggest you look at an ultraportable laptop (aka "ultrabook"), I think this is a decent option these days. Surface Pro 3 is an interesting alternative but I recommend you try it in the shop before buying, as not everyone finds the keyboard good enough. Your may benefit from looking for reviews on sites like Engadget, CNET, or Anandtech. I particularly like Anandtech's review, which covers both very practical usability aspects as well as more geeky stuff like benchmarks, display performance and so forth.

[Talar]

Thanks for the replies guys. Sometime this week I was planning on hitting best buy to play around with a few tablets. I've been reading some reviews, but the ones I have found seem to go more into specs that seem like gibberish to me for the most part, so I haven't had much luck with them.

[TheThan]

Totally agree with buying a 10.5 inch table over the 7 inch ones.

I’ve gota a galaxy 2 ten and a half inch and I love it.
I use it for miniature war gaming and role-playing games. It’s lighter and less cumbersome than hauling around a massive stack of books.
It’s got three drawbacks:

1) It’s a little more difficult to search PDF files on it vs on a PC or even a hard copy.
2) Battery power, I tend to make sure mine’s fully charged before I bust it out for use but gaming all day will drain it down to next to nil.
3) It doesn’t multi-task very easily, which means switching between two rulebooks for instance is somewhat a pain. (some newer ones supposedly does this better)

As for use for work/school, I really can’t tell you, I guess it would depend on what sort of work/schoolwork your doing, and what sort of apps are available for what you’re doing. I almost went with the Nexus, but i got good price on the galaxy so that swung me that way.

[Talar]

I'd be a horrible liar if I tried denying that I would use it for table top games. I am a history/criminal justice major so I have a lot of reading/profs always using their own little websites for class, and I am a tutor/ta so helping other students with their classes is common. So essentially the tablet would be for accessing email/prof's websites/rulebooks/and not having to haul a gajillion pieces of paper around or my laptop out every time I wanna check for updates on various things.

[Archonic Energy]

I really really like my Windows Surface Pro 2. It's truly excellent to be able to use THE REAL Microsoft Office suite on my tablet, and the keyboard is nice too. The Pro 3 looks even better.

And it'll run civ v. I do want one.
I've got a tf301
The keyboard/battery is pretty cool.

[Flickerdart]

I really really like my Windows Surface Pro 2. It's truly excellent to be able to use THE REAL Microsoft Office suite on my tablet, and the keyboard is nice too. The Pro 3 looks even better.

I really want a 3, but I already have a very beefy laptop and can't justify getting anything other than the low-end version for a more portable solution...at which point an actual tablet might be better suited for my needs. The only (admittedly, amazing) benefit would be identical workflows and the entire real Creative Suite. Maybe I'll get a desktop and a Surface Pro the next time I upgrade machines.