tableting
The launch of Windows 8 has complicated my tablet shopping-- it's good to have more choices, but I'm also tearing my hair out trying to make up my mind.
My dad wants me to buy an iPad because he has one. The only temptations an iPad has for me are the app ecosystem, the availability of accessories, the Retina screen and the beautiful interfaces to some of the apps, like Paper. But I don't think that's enough. I want a pen! I despise those capacitative styluses with their fat rubber tips. It's like writing with a condom-clad crayon. I really resent Steve Jobs for his "people want to use their fingers, not a stylus, NO PENS EVER" crap. People also want to use their fingers. But I have yet to meet an iPad user who doesn't have a (blunt, rubbery, horrible) stylus.
So I was seriously considering the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, an Android tablet. Several reviews for this device were almost viciously negative, but I found forums full of happy Note 10.1 owners and a lot of YouTube videos of people demoing them performing well. Android's tablet app ecosystem is a bit thin, but it seems to have at least a couple of every kind of app I'd really need.
I tried a Note at a Best Buy and I enjoyed it-- the feel of it in my hands, the responsiveness to fingers and pen alike, and the screen, which is much lower res than iPad but still looks great. The main downside to the Note 10.1 is that I want a physical keyboard, and while you can find scads of those in all shapes and types for iPad, the Note only has a couple of keyboards designed for it, none of which have many reviews and none of which have the form factor I would most like to have.
Bringing me to the Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro. (Samsung seriously needs a new marketing team to give their stuff simpler names.) This is a full Windows 8 machine with what I consider to be the perfect form factor: you can use it as a tablet, or dock it in a keyboard that turns it into a typical clamshell laptop, letting you adjust the viewing angle, or close it so the keyboard protects the screen. It can run any of the vast galaxies of Windows software (unlike the iOS-like Windows RT, which only runs apps) and the screen is nearly as hi-res as the iPad.
However, it's a full laptop replacement with all the advantages and drawbacks, drawbacks being weight, so-so battery life, and price-- it costs more than the other two put together.
One reason I want a tablet is because we're going on an international trip at the end of the year, and long battery life would be an advantage for all the plane trips & driving we'll be doing. Also, I have a Windows 7 laptop already. It's been giving me problems, but I don't know if I really need to replace it entirely.
On the other hand, I don't want to be short-sighted and invest in an ultimately less useful machine just because of the trip.
On the other other hand, am I just being tempted by the shiny shiny newness of the Windows 8 devices? Plus! Intel is due to come out with significantly better processors next year, Haswell, reputedly to draw significantly less power to get better performance. So it really might be better to wait. Except I'd really like to have something for the trip, in which case I need to decide this month... *TEARS HAIR*
http://cesare.dreamwidth.org/157032.html |
comments | Comment at Dreamwidth
My dad wants me to buy an iPad because he has one. The only temptations an iPad has for me are the app ecosystem, the availability of accessories, the Retina screen and the beautiful interfaces to some of the apps, like Paper. But I don't think that's enough. I want a pen! I despise those capacitative styluses with their fat rubber tips. It's like writing with a condom-clad crayon. I really resent Steve Jobs for his "people want to use their fingers, not a stylus, NO PENS EVER" crap. People also want to use their fingers. But I have yet to meet an iPad user who doesn't have a (blunt, rubbery, horrible) stylus.
So I was seriously considering the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, an Android tablet. Several reviews for this device were almost viciously negative, but I found forums full of happy Note 10.1 owners and a lot of YouTube videos of people demoing them performing well. Android's tablet app ecosystem is a bit thin, but it seems to have at least a couple of every kind of app I'd really need.
I tried a Note at a Best Buy and I enjoyed it-- the feel of it in my hands, the responsiveness to fingers and pen alike, and the screen, which is much lower res than iPad but still looks great. The main downside to the Note 10.1 is that I want a physical keyboard, and while you can find scads of those in all shapes and types for iPad, the Note only has a couple of keyboards designed for it, none of which have many reviews and none of which have the form factor I would most like to have.
Bringing me to the Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro. (Samsung seriously needs a new marketing team to give their stuff simpler names.) This is a full Windows 8 machine with what I consider to be the perfect form factor: you can use it as a tablet, or dock it in a keyboard that turns it into a typical clamshell laptop, letting you adjust the viewing angle, or close it so the keyboard protects the screen. It can run any of the vast galaxies of Windows software (unlike the iOS-like Windows RT, which only runs apps) and the screen is nearly as hi-res as the iPad.
However, it's a full laptop replacement with all the advantages and drawbacks, drawbacks being weight, so-so battery life, and price-- it costs more than the other two put together.
One reason I want a tablet is because we're going on an international trip at the end of the year, and long battery life would be an advantage for all the plane trips & driving we'll be doing. Also, I have a Windows 7 laptop already. It's been giving me problems, but I don't know if I really need to replace it entirely.
On the other hand, I don't want to be short-sighted and invest in an ultimately less useful machine just because of the trip.
On the other other hand, am I just being tempted by the shiny shiny newness of the Windows 8 devices? Plus! Intel is due to come out with significantly better processors next year, Haswell, reputedly to draw significantly less power to get better performance. So it really might be better to wait. Except I'd really like to have something for the trip, in which case I need to decide this month... *TEARS HAIR*
http://cesare.dreamwidth.org/157032.html |
comments | Comment at Dreamwidth