Laptop or Convertible Tablet?

Bawnmore

Ok so a little dilemma. I'm checking out options for a Christmas present for my partner and I've rounded it down to either a laptop or a convertible tablet.

At the moment she's using a netbook which she's had for 2 years, and never really had any problems with it sizewise. We've wiped it a few times and it's just become very slow. Currently running JoliOS and still slow for a lot of basic tasks (internet use, video streaming etc.). The new machine will be used for much the same - browsing, facebook, email and video streaming (sites like C4OD and freeprojecttv).

Budget is around €400 only with a little wiggle room, so a basic laptop at best would be picked up most likely with outdated technology.

The other option I have is to go the route of a tablet with keyboard. I'm looking at the Dell XPS 10. From a quick peak at the site, I can see they start at €479 without the keyboard and €599 with the keyboard. I spoke with a relative who works in Dell, and they can pick it up with keyboard for around €450 so 25% off.

So questions :

- Would it be crazy to go with a budget laptop considering the price of the tablet?
- How limited is the Windows RT OS? Should be OK for general use?
- Are there any other options I should be considering? E.g. Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 with keyboard maybe?

Thanks in advance!

Korvanica

Bawnmore wrote: »

Budget is around €400 only with a little wiggle room, so a basic laptop at best would be picked up most likely with outdated technology.

She uses facebook, emails and streams video. Why do you want to get the "latest technology" for that ?

IMO a €400 laptop will be fine

Bawnmore

Korvanica wrote: »

She uses facebook, emails and streams video. Why do you want to get the "latest technology" for that ?

IMO a €400 laptop will be fine

That's a very good point - but using the same logic - wouldn't the tablet do all of these things too, but also be a novelty? I'm a big fan of tablets, but I'm trying to think what would suit her rather than me

Korvanica

That's very true. You could always get a tablet and a bluetooth keyboard case?

Nexus 10 + case should be no more than 400...

runawaybishop

Consider where the device fits in with what she has. If she has a smartphone a tablet is less attractive than a laptop for example. You can get decent laptops that will do all you require for the 450 you mentioned.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-15-6-inch-Laptop-Integrated/dp/B009R1531Y/ref=zg_bs_429886031_3

Overheal

Personally I wouldn't recommend getting yourself stuck in a 2-3 year replacement cycle. Most people do this, and not only do I find it annoying from a retail perspective I just think it's unnecessary. These folks come in every 2 to 3 years and buy the lowest end piece of crap I still have the conscience to sell, and then wonder why it is slow and unusable after two years.

Instead of buying a new €400 PC every 2-3 years, buy a new €800 PC ever 4-6 years, you get a higher quality unit from the inside-out and you benefit from brilliant speeds for the first 2 years, only slowly entering the realm of most mortals after the 4th year, at which point you can normally breathe life into it again with a RAM upgrade.

imitation

Overheal wrote: »

Instead of buying a new €400 PC every 2-3 years, buy a new €800 PC ever 4-6 years, you get a higher quality unit from the inside-out and you benefit from brilliant speeds for the first 2 years, only slowly entering the realm of most mortals after the 4th year, at which point you can normally breathe life into it again with a RAM upgrade.

I agree on the logic of going in for the bottom end, but I think the best value to be had is when you spend approx 20-50% more, the step up from a celeron to an i3/i5 is massive performance wise, and the extra cost really isnt that much. The biggest problem to getting more out of a machine is the Physical wear and tear. I take my work laptop home with me each day, after year its already pretty dinged up, and I would consider myself more careful than the average user.

On topic, I think a lightweight 13" i3 machine or the like would be the way to go. I remain unconvinced about tablets for another while. They are great out of the box, but they won't go the distance, manufacturers regularlly drop support after a year or two, and after another while they won't be able to keep pace with stuff new websites with html 5 and flash updates etc.

Overheal

When you do the step ups the better machines almost always are built from sturdier materials anyway. For instance, the Toshiba C series is total plastic garbage, and I've seen the things fall apart just from hinge open/close wear; compare that to the metal hinges found on most mid range laptops, not to mention the composite bodies those laptops have. The two ends of the build quality spectrum are basically the Toshiba C-class, and the Macbook Pro.