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Alternatives to Ipad Mini?

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desidude

Member
Hi friends,

I am looking for suggestions for a tablet for my Professor in college, seriously, he asked me for some help.

He thought of buying an IPad Mini but I felt there may be alternatives out there, given the price premium of the Apple brand.

Basically he would like to use it for day to day academic work, which consists of reading books, pdfs, creating 'lectures', e.g. powerpoint to project to the class, writing notes, emails and of audio/video media, both for academic and personal use.

He is more used to PC computing (Windows) and is an average level user, i.e. not an amateur, he can follow instructions and take them a few steps further.

I think he prefers to smaller size of a mini tablet as compared to the full size, and also the lower price.

We can buy it either in the USA or the UK.

Do you have any suggestions please?

Thanks,
desidude
 
Galaxy Note 8. It has a wacom digitizer & s-pen to write directly on the screen like writing on paper. It comes with Polaris Office, which does just about everything Windows Office does.
 
Galaxy Note 8 would probably be one of the top alternatives. Also the discounted Nexus 7 would be really nice too (new Nexus 7 expected any week now).

Though I wouldn't be so quick to discount the iPad mini. Granted the DPI is disappointing, but it's still a fairly nice looking screen. And the tablet really feels nice to hold, is supported by a great tablet app ecosystem, and I find it still runs smoother than most Android tablets. The main con besides the DPI is that another iPad mini is also expected to arrive in the next month or two.

There are also rumors of a Surface mini and other smaller Windows 8 tablets coming... Which has me thinking, with several new smaller tablets expected to arrive a bit later, I might be just tempted to snag a Nexus 7 on sale and wait a bit for one of these better 7 or 8 inch tablets to replace it, instead of spending $400 on a iPad mini or Note 8.
 
I agree with Ravynmagi. The iPad Mini is actually a pretty great tablet. My wife got one for Face Time with her mom, and the video chat quality is unmatched. I honestly do not notice the difference between the Mini's screen and any other tablet; they all look pretty good and you have to squint to actually see the difference. I prefer it over the full sized iPad because of the lower weight, and it's easier to type on as well (you can actually reach all the keys with your thumbs, unlike the 10" iPad).
 
Nexus 7... you can pick one up for around $100 off clist and if you dont like it resell it and get your money back. For the price there is very little risk.
 
Hi friends,

Thanks for the replies. One of the points I forgot to mention is that he is looking for SIM card capability, so that he can access the internet while traveling in non wi-fi zones.

As an academic, he oftens travels to rural areas on research, and surprisingly they have cellular coverage but not wi-fi.

So does this change the options?

Thanks,
Andy
 
desidude said:
Hi friends,

Thanks for the replies. One of the points I forgot to mention is that he is looking for SIM card capability, so that he can access the internet while traveling in non wi-fi zones.

As an academic, he oftens travels to rural areas on research, and surprisingly they have cellular coverage but not wi-fi.

So does this change the options?

Thanks,
Andy
Click to expand...

Depends if he has a smartphone or not.

And the ipad mini's display is good. But it sucks after you use any really high dpi displays. That will probably always be the case after someone uses those types of devices.
 
He does not have a smartphone. Maybe I was not clear.

I believe the iPads have the option (select models) to insert a sim card into them, via which a user can get data.

I am looking for tablets which are alternatives to the iPad mini and have this feature

Thanks,
desidude
 
Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I don't see the 3G HSPA models of the Galaxy 8 on any website.

The user would prefer a device that is not 'locked' to a single carrier, so that they can purchase local SIM cards as they travel, rather than have to use ATT/TMobile roaming globally

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
desidude
 
desidude said:
Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I don't see the 3G HSPA models of the Galaxy 8 on any website.

The user would prefer a device that is not 'locked' to a single carrier, so that they can purchase local SIM cards as they travel, rather than have to use ATT/TMobile roaming globally

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
desidude
Click to expand...

You can find a few unlocked Galaxy Note 8.0 tablets here. I even see they have an LTE version too.
http://negrielectronics.com/tablets/samsung-tablet-pcs.html
 
You and the Prof should find out exactly what software he'll be using the most, and then what's available on either platform (ios or Android) that completely meets his needs.

I'd venture a guess that in education, he might be better suited with iOS as far as available software. (That, and of course the consideration of cellular connection choices, etc. )
 
Its another 130 dollars for a cellular enabled iPad mini. I believe they will try to get you on a two year data only contract for buying one though.
 
How good is he with computers?

If he's asking for advice, I'd already say to get him an iPad mini just because it's almost idiot proof.

Also, there isn't a version of Office available for iOS or Android yet, so preparing PP slides is going to be a pain. I haven't tried Keynote for iOS so I don't know if it's up to the task, or if it can even save to the .pptx format, but it's probably the best slide-making app available for tablets.

If he's a professor, don't worry about the cost. He has the money for it and if he's not technically literate, it's more than worth his time to get him something that he won't have to bother with much.

Better yet, ask him if he can work it into a grant proposal somehow and order you something as well. 😛
 
I'm sorry...I can't be the only one is thinking he might be better off with at least a small/light laptop than a tablet. If he is doing any more writing than just a few quick notes he will be far better served with a real keyboard. Granted you can get keyboards or docks for tablets too...but at least consider a small notebook, or maybe 11-13" ultrabook. You can get cellular modems/wifi hotspots for those too.
 
I wonder if a Windows RT tablet would be any good. It ships with Office built in, has a pretty slick keyboard cover (which I tried out for the first time recently and it was much better than I expected), and it's not too expensive.

Problem is it's chunky and heavy, and even after the price drop it's still $350 + $100 for the keyboard. And Windows RT is already on its deathbed. The Surface Pro is much better but it's also a lot more expensive, and you may as well get a laptop for that price unless you really love the form factor.
 
Problem I have with the Surface RT is that it has a Tegra 3 processor and when I played around with it at Staples it definitely felt a bit sluggish at web browsing (could be other factors too because it's a display model, of course). I was thinking about getting one at this price, but even with $150 off, just not enough to make up for the old processor, low screen resolution, and Windows RT limitation.

I think ASUS ME400 Atom tablets are still available for $400 and would probably go with that. Though like the OP's professor, I also would prefer something in the 8 inch size area and sadly the only 8 inch Windows 8 tablet is the Acer W3 and it has a terrible screen.
 
Trombe said:
Its another 130 dollars for a cellular enabled iPad mini. I believe they will try to get you on a two year data only contract for buying one though.
Click to expand...

Unless you're buying one from a carrier for a reduced price (i.e. subsidized), they don't. The pricing structure for iPads is pretty simple... a base of $499/$329 (Normal/Mini respectively) with +$100 per memory upgrade and +$129 for LTE/GPS.
 
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