Windows devices and Ipad

fits

I am thinking of buying an ipad soon. I travel a lot and it seems like an excellent device for that. However my laptop and phone are both windows. I don't have an iTunes account (but I do all my movie watching and music through Netflix and spotify at the moment).

So is an ipad a good idea? I would like to try an apple device for once in my life, I have avoided them until now.

dharma200

I am, the same and use an ipad... Bear in mind though you will begin to see its limitations and will either decide to go fully apple or use both separately. I have a NetBook, am ipad and a laptop... The ipad so good for travelling, good for kids , good for spending money, apple make it almost too easy...

T be honest if I could go back I would not have got my ipad.... I don't intend on getting an iPhone or IMac... The price I paid for my pad would have got me a reasonable laptop. I find the tough screen typing to be infuriating and a,mooing to get a keyboard.

In my opinion the ipad is a very expensive gadget, I can sit here in bed watching films, buying albums and surfing, but for the price I payed, I would really think about what you are going to use it for and check out all the options available... I personally would go back, buy a cheapest tablet for travel if only for surfing, and use the rest of my money towards a really good laptop... Hths

dharma200

dharma200 wrote: »

I am, the same and use an ipad... Bear in mind though you will begin to see its limitations and will either decide to go fully apple or use both separately. I have a NetBook, am ipad and a laptop... The ipad so good for travelling, good for kids , good for spending money, apple make it almost too easy...

T be honest if I could go back I would not have got my ipad.... I don't intend on getting an iPhone or IMac... The price I paid for my pad would have got me a reasonable laptop. I find the tough screen typing to be infuriating and a,mooing to get a keyboard.

In my opinion the ipad is a very expensive gadget, I can sit here in bed watching films, buying albums and surfing, but for the price I payed, I would really think about what you are going to use it for and check out all the options available... I personally would go back, buy a cheapest tablet for travel if only for surfing, and use the rest of my money towards a really good laptop... Hths

One of the most infuriating elements of the ipad is the typing, and predictive text omg lol... Sory for all the typos

quad_red

fits wrote: »

So is an ipad a good idea? I would like to try an apple device for once in my life, I have avoided them until now.

What exactly do you want it for?

An iPad is perfect for checking email, net surfing, watching netflix, Facebook, Skype, spotify etc

For many people that constitutes the vast majority of their time on a computer. My parents use their iPad 95% of the time now instead of their computer. The only thing they use their computer for is printing etickets and downloading photos from their camera.

As has been said, the iPad is useless for typing and if i need to do any work its laptop time. But it's horses for courses.

fits

Yes all those things plus watching movies on planes /in airports. I travel with work laptop and I don't use Netflix facebook etc on that. Plus its ancient and battery goes after an hour.

quad_red

fits wrote: »

Yes all those things plus watching movies on planes /in airports. I travel with work laptop and I don't use Netflix facebook etc on that. Plus its ancient and battery goes after an hour.

Then a tablet sounds ideal.

You should go to someplace like Currys and try an iPad out. Also give the Android equivalents a try. The 'official' Google ones are called Nexus tablets. They come in different sizes, a Nexus 7 and a Nexus 10.

Give them all a try and see which one you like.

Microsoft released a number of tablets as well running Windows 8 (and a scaled down version of Windows 8). General opinion is that they're not much good.

PaulieC

quad_red wrote: »

Microsoft released a number of tablets as well running Windows 8 (and a scaled down version of Windows 8). General opinion is that they're not much good.

Mostly from people who don't have them and never used them. I have both an ipad and a surface and the ipad is fine for checking the odd thing on the web, but to do anything of interest e.g. download photos from phone/camera, any website that uses flash (I know I know flash is, or soon will be, dead, but it's still very prevalent), like Firstrow, I go to the Surface.
The navigation on the surface is intuitive and once you spend more than five minutes with it, it really sinks in. Going back to the ipad after using the surface feel like a real step back in time.

quad_red

PaulieC wrote: »

Mostly from people who don't have them and never used them. I have both an ipad and a surface and the ipad is fine for checking the odd thing on the web, but to do anything of interest e.g. download photos from phone/camera, any website that uses flash (I know I know flash is, or soon will be, dead, but it's still very prevalent), like Firstrow, I go to the Surface.
The navigation on the surface is intuitive and once you spend more than five minutes with it, it really sinks in. Going back to the ipad after using the surface feel like a real step back in time.

Are you using RT or Pro? I've heard a few people praise the Pro recently, actually.

But the OP seems to be indicating that they want a device to complement their laptop rather than replace it.

The Surface Pro costs significantly more than an ipad/nexus. But it does more, definitely.

The Surface RT depends on metro apps. And aren't people consistently complaining about the lack of apps? The OP mentioned Spotify. Is there a Spotify app yet?

fits

Yes I don't need this device for office applications etc. And I don't want to spend so much either. I also want to see what the app thing is about as I've never really used them. Am just wondering if incompatibilty with my windows phone or windows 8 laptop would annoy me after a while which is why I asked here as opposed to apple forum.

PaulieC

quad_red wrote: »

Are you using RT or Pro? I've heard a few people praise the Pro recently, actually.

But the OP seems to be indicating that they want a device to complement their laptop rather than replace it.

The Surface Pro costs significantly more than an ipad/nexus. But it does more, definitely.

The Surface RT depends on metro apps. And aren't people consistently complaining about the lack of apps? The OP mentioned Spotify. Is there a Spotify app yet?

I have the Surface, but I have used the Pro a bit. It's a pretty serious machine and not something I'd pay for as a companion device. It's enough machine to replace a laptop and then some.
A surface is a more suitable companion device than a surface pro and it's only getting cheaper (think it can be got for around 350 these days). The apps are potentially a problem, but you'll see a raft of new, official apps coming along with Windows 8.1 (Facebook for example). I'm not sure about Spotify (I forgot my laptop today so can't check), but I'm sure I had it wither on my laptop or my phone before. You do get a comparable service in Xbox Music though

PaulieC

fits wrote: »

Yes I don't need this device for office applications etc. And I don't want to spend so much either. I also want to see what the app thing is about as I've never really used them. Am just wondering if incompatibilty with my windows phone or windows 8 laptop would annoy me after a while which is why I asked here as opposed to apple forum.

Apps (mostly) are just a way for apple to let people use normal web services through the ipad/pod/phone because they are so locked down. For example, the Paddypower app looks pretty much like the mobile web site and does exactly the same thing, so it's really up to you what you prefer. Since you already have a Win8 laptop, you know what it's like. This may be a good thing, in the sense that you know what you have and want something different, or a bad thing in that you know what you have and don't want something different.
It's really down to personal preference. Most apps and services are available across platforms, so you have a range of choices and could spend between 100 and 700 quid to get what you want, which will be a tablet of some sort, ranging from a sh1tty, off-brand Android to a 128GB iPad3.

kayos

I know spotify is on WP8 so I would guess its available for Win 8 RT as well (its a guess!)

I have the original nexus 7. Its a great little tablet for travelling with or just doing some basic things. I've been "lusting" after a surface for ages but the price tag on the pro is too much (recently dropped into a more realistic range) and with the Haswell chip powered devices coming soon its worth waiting off on a windows 8 tablet. I'd personally stick to Win 8 Pro over RT. All the power of a desktop in a form factor that gives some added benefits.

If all you want to do is consume and do so cheaply go Android, if you have money to burn go Apple. If you want to do more than consume then something like the Surface or Aspire P3 would be a better option. But be smart wait for the Haswell devices to come to market.

fits

I guess part of the attraction of an ipad would be that it would be different from my work machine. Oh I dunno. I will have a look at some devices over the next few weeks. Have never been particularly taken with anything running android but it might be worth a gander.

Overheal

If you already have made the plunge into Windows Phone, the Windows Tablet is a logical next step.

wheresmybeaver

If you're using a windows phone and uploading photos and documents etc to SkyDrive then a windows tablet would make sense as SkyDrive is very well integrated. Eg you take a photo on your phone, it uploads automatically to your SkyDrive, then its on your windows tablet 5 minutes later for editing, viewing etc. Works great.

fits

That is a good point. I take a lot of photos too. (maybe its the 1020 I should be getting)

AntiVirus

fits wrote: »

That is a good point. I take a lot of photos too. (maybe its the 1020 I should be getting)

Maybe its the 1520 you should be getting