Which tablet to use for college.

MarcusFenix

Hi lads, I need some opinions, or a telling off!

I have realised that I do need a device to look through pdf's and possibly edit them and create office files for college. Up to this point (my final year) I have always used either my girlfriends laptop or my brothers, anyway I can't really bring them to class as they (laptops) are too big and have wires etc. which are a pain.

I looked at the ipad and it looks, feels and works like an apple device, sweet! But for the price without flash, usb slots or sd slots I think I could probably do better for 500 yo yos!?

Any ideas? I looked at a few online but they are all "in the pipeline" types.

My main concerns are using wi-fi for email, using powerpoint, excel and word, I need to be able to read and possibly add post-it style notes to books/documents. Obviously a usb slot and/or sd slot are a must unless there is a better way of quickly transferring media on the spot?

ThANKS:)

If this is in the wrong place I apologise mods.

matrim

MarcusFenix wrote: »

Hi lads, I need some opinions, or a telling off!

I have realised that I do need a device to look through pdf's and possibly edit them and create office files for college. Up to this point (my final year) I have always used either my girlfriends laptop or my brothers, anyway I can't really bring them to class as they (laptops) are too big and have wires etc. which are a pain.

I looked at the ipad and it looks, feels and works like an apple device, sweet! But for the price without flash, usb slots or sd slots I think I could probably do better for 500 yo yos!?

Any ideas? I looked at a few online but they are all "in the pipeline" types.

My main concerns are using wi-fi for email, using powerpoint, excel and word, I need to be able to read and possibly add post-it style notes to books/documents. Obviously a usb slot and/or sd slot are a must unless there is a better way of quickly transferring media on the spot?

ThANKS:)

If this is in the wrong place I apologise mods.

TBH get yourself a netbook. You should be able to get one for about 300 euro and most of the new one's have a battery life of between 6 - 9 hours.

With the netbook you can get windows with everything that comes with, including word, flash etc

Thirdfox

Why not a netbook? Better battery life (up to 14 hours), usb ports, "full" operating system, keyboard you can touch type on.

MarcusFenix

I thought about a netbook but TBH that really just feels like a cheap laptop to me. I'm really looking for a good alternative to the ipad, the flash thing probably wouldn't bother me that much(i use my iphone for most of my surfing) but the usb is essential.

Thirdfox

Lol why does it feel like that? 3 years ago - you'd be paying 2000 euro+ for a "slim" laptop. Just imagine the netbook is an evolution of that - with a faster processor, bigger memory etc. than the ipad too. And there are good looking slim netbooks too - look at the EEE seashell series, plenty from Acer and Samsung too.

And as a student - surely saving money and spending it in a wise manner is more important than the "cool points" you get from an Apple product that doesn't the functionality that you need?

MarcusFenix

Of course, but also if I buy a netbook this year I'll want a laptop next year and the netbook will be a paper weight, if I buy some tablet i'll still use it for reading books next year, wether I'll buy a laptop then is irrelevant because the tablet will be unique in some ways. Will check out those types though, maybe they might convince me!

justsomebloke

MarcusFenix wrote: »

I thought about a netbook but TBH that really just feels like a cheap laptop to me.

Truthfully it doesn't matter that it is a "cheap" laptop. If will do the job you need it to do a hell of a lot better then the ipad or any equivalent especially when it comes to the point when you have to type large quantities of text.

Oafley Jones

MarcusFenix wrote: »

Of course, but also if I buy a netbook this year I'll want a laptop next year and the netbook will be a paper weight, if I buy some tablet i'll still use it for reading books next year, wether I'll buy a laptop then is irrelevant because the tablet will be unique in some ways. Will check out those types though, maybe they might convince me!

To be honest it seems like you're more interested in having a toy than having a productive tool. Tablets by their nature pretty much exist for the consumption of content, you don't really create with them. As others have said get yourself a netbook. If you do a fair amount of reading then get yourself a device with an e-ink screen. You'd be able to get both for the cost of an ipad.

Bugzy

agree tablets aren't realy meant for work...most people just use them to surf web and read pdfs and an occasional app.

i got a 600 laptop from acer with an 8+ hours battery and under an inch thick better than a tablet and with dual graphics card i can play games

there is no point in buying a tablet for college. trust me ive read a good few articles and most of the reporters said writing is ok.reading is ok but once it comes to some editing and etc its a pain in the hole cause you have to get to a pc eventually.

Thirdfox

And as a graduate law student who has done his fair share of reading and writing - I've had a netbook for four years now and haven't found a need for a laptop. Openoffice and firefox is all I "need" for my work and from reading your opening post it doesn't seem like you "need" much more than that either.

What would a laptop offer you that a netbook doesn't (in terms of what you need it for)? You can't run new PC games on a netbook...but I doubt an iPad can handle MW2 either On the other hand a netbook is fast enough to run Photoshop CS4 - and if you need a bigger screen for reading text you can get an external screen. I've been fine with a 10.1" screen - bigger than most tablets anyway.

Have a good think about your needs and don't be worried about something being too cheap

jimmycrackcorm

A netbook under 10" is too constrained for proper use.

Thirdfox

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

A netbook under 10" is too constrained for proper use.

In what way?

wayne040576

Thirdfox wrote: »

In what way?

Too small for typing. Screen is too small as well.
A netbook's battery life is fairly bad compared to an ipad. I get a few hours out of my netbook's battery. I get best part of a week out of the ipad using it every day.

Having said that I wouldn't recommend the ipad over the netbook for doing work. It's more for reading (books, email) and browsing and some meda use. With a netbook you could get some proper work done.

I have an lenovo s12. A little bigger than the standard netbook which I think woud be better for a college work.

jd83

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

A netbook under 10" is too constrained for proper use.

And an ipad or other tablet isn't. I would dread having to type anything larger than a short email out on a tablet. If you actually want this for college get a laptop or netbook.