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Help! Tablet / Laptop ... what to get!

S

Sublime89

Junior Member
So I just got a new job as a paramedic where I will be in a station for 16 and 24 hour shifts at a time. So that means when I am not running calls I will be at the station with some free time. I want something that I will be able to kill time with. I want to be able to read books, play games, browse the net ect. But I also plan on taking some online classes so being able to write papers and research is important also. This is where my dilemma comes in. I really like the convenience of a tablet, but I am not sure if any of them have the proper software like Word or OpenOffice that will allow me to do homework.

Also I am not allowed to access the internet through wifi at the station, as their connection is supposed to be used for work purposes only. So 3G capability would be preferred. I already pay for a data plan on my Iphone so I wonder if an Ipad could be just added to that?

Anyways here is what I was looking at earlier, but I really have no idea about tablets. I am not sure if new versions are about to be released making the current ones cheaper, meaning I should wait, or if now is a good time to buy. I would appreciate any suggestions on notebooks or tablets.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834230481
 
I would go with at least a netbook. Typing on a tablet will get rather tiresome quickly. A laptop would probably be better really. Pretty much no tablet will have MS Word or OpenOffice/LibreOffice. Best you might find is something like DocumentsToGo, which is fine for simple things, but I wouldn't want to use it as a primary editing application.

As for your Internet issue... You can technically tether your phone to a laptop, but it will absolutely kill the battery on your phone. Plus, unless you pay a tethering fee, most cellular carriers will get a bit miffed and possibly send you a nasty letter before cutting off your service. They expect you to have a different data plan for every device. Verizon is shifting to a sort of communal data plan, AT&T is planning to follow soon IIRC, and the FCC actually ruled recently that you can tether with these plans without the carrier being able to do anything about it. If you have a grandfathered in unlimited data plan, that ruling doesn't apply to you. Either way, you probably will significantly underestimate just how much data you will use, so make sure to keep a close eye on the amount of data you're using, and be prepared to call up the cellular carrier and up your plan rather than pay the overage fees.

You may want to look into some of the current breed of ultrabooks. Good battery life, light, and you're probably not going to be doing a whole lot of gaming, so the fact that most of them aren't exactly desktop replacement units won't be a huge issue. If a call comes in, just close the lid and go. And if it ends up that you forget to close the lid, that's where the battery life comes in. If you go with an ultrabook, or some kind of laptop, you also have the ability to change cellular providers. If you have Verizon for your phone, you could go with AT&T, T-Mobile, or Sprint for the cellular dongle for your laptop. You could even go with some kind of prepaid plan.
 
You're really not going to get better battery life on an Ultrabook than you are on an equivalently priced laptop. Most general computing is done on eco saving modes and at relatively low clock speeds not at full load and under heavy usage. Over the past 2 generations the gap has closed remarkably between the 17W and 35W TDP processors such that there's no observable difference. You'll actually get more battery savings by replacing your HDD with an SSD than you are with a ULV processor than a big boy chip. Most of the power consumed on a typical laptop comes from the screen and the backlight. As a general rule of thumb, for best battery life you want to get a small screen with a large battery as those two by far make the most difference in battery life. In your case, having a replaceable battery might be the best option. Ultrabooks are thin and due to their overall size their batteries are both Li-Polymer batteries within the shell and not replaceable but also smaller in size. Ultrabooks may be thinner but they aren't more practical. In fact, I'd argue they're less practical than many of the non-Ultrabook options out there.

I hate the fact that the x230/x220 gets a recommendation for everything and I sound like a broken record, but frankly you can't do any better. An x220/x230 will net you ~10 hours of battery life with the 9-cell option and it weighs only 3.4-ish lbs which is in the area of most Ultrabooks as far as weight goes(actually lighter than many of the same size) but provides double the battery life. It has an option for 3G/4G cards built in, and it's also rugged as hell. You can replace the battery with additional 6-cell or 9-cell batteries which you can get online for $60-80 respectively. There's the option of a sheet battery which attaches to the bottom of the laptop as well. With a 9-cell + the sheet battery you're looking at roughly a full day of computing away from an outlet and all in a 4lb package. A comparably priced Ultrabook will get you 7 hours at most.

Tethering is a good idea but you'll probably have to keep your phone plugged in the entire time. Your best bet is to call up your provider and speak with them to see what they offer. If you've got an unlimited data plan then there's a good chance that they'll charge a fee ($20-30?) to provide tethering for an added device.

- edit

The above is posted based on experience from a buddy who's a paramedic. He spends most of his time away from the station, placed in areas he calls "hot spots" that allows him to get to areas of frequent calls in a short amount of time. He's actually the guy that owns an x220 that I tried out and fell in love with 😉 He's got the 9-cell with sheet battery and keeps it with him at all times. He gets around 22 hours of battery life out of his laptop

You most certainly don't want a tablet. An ARM processor isn't enough for your tasks nor are the applications currently available to tablets. Although an Ultrabook might be easier to carry around (though that's debatable as most Ultrabooks are over their allotted 3lbs) a full laptop will provide you with better battery life, replaceable components, swappable battery and cheaper price tag.
 
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How quickly do you need it? Right around the corner is windows 8 and with that is coming a throng of new tablet/notebook hybrids. Some are transformer style where the keyboard is a separate dock that you use when you want, and others are some sort of swivel screen or slide out keyboard. Some of them look pretty solid and is what I personally am waiting for, but I also have no pressing need.
 
I've tried using iPad (3rd gen current), Android and WebOS for writing and while simple text notes are fine anything more advanced (like a .doc or something that requires formatting) is a clusterf*ck.

Lenovo x230 as guy said above. IPS, portable, 9 cell + bay battery = more literal all day battery life.
 
crab0 said:
I've tried using iPad (3rd gen current), Android and WebOS for writing and while simple text notes are fine anything more advanced (like a .doc or something that requires formatting) is a clusterf*ck.

Lenovo x230 as guy said above. IPS, portable, 9 cell + bay battery = more literal all day battery life.
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Can't use a bay battery, but you can use a slice battery. Might be a bit bulky at that point though.

X230 will be perfect, IMO.

If you want a tablet, you can also try the X230T, the convertible tablet version. It's a little heavier than the X230 (a lot heavier than a real tablet, although far more capable) and loses a bit of battery life, but you get a touchscreen + convertible tablet option (as well as pen input). It'll be better for reading than the laptop version, but really, I don't think it's worth the extra money, weight just for reading. It's probably one of the only laptops I'd recommend if you want touchscreen for Win8.
 
Get both and bring both if you can. Sometimes I enjoy typing away on my keyboard, so I use my 11" Air. Other times I just want to be consuming info, thus I enjoy having my iPad with me while laying in bed.

But if you can only choose one, a laptop for sure.
 
Rottie said:
Yeah I am with Capt Caveman. You can't go wrong with iPad 😎
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Yes you can. Purchasing a tablet for a student is a horrible move if it's their sole device.

- A tablet won't run your necessary applications

- A tablet has no keyboard and isn't a productivity device. Typing up essays or lengthy emails on a tablet on a daily basis is definitely not recommended.

Buying a laptop with a cheaper tablet would work, something like a Nexus 7 or the newer Kindles. If you're on a tight budget don't buy Apple. That should go without saying.
 
Reading books is probably better on a tablet due to form factor, but best on specialized e-book readers that use the monochrome white screens such as the Kindle, which starts around $70.

Net browsing is probably fine on either.

Gaming works on either, but the games will be different. Do you already have PC games which you would want to play? If so, then your only choice right now is a notebook. If you like the "apps" style of games then go tablet.

Typing papers? Notebook for sure.

Overall I would go notebook. Which one you get totally depends on your budget, but I'm of two minds as to which I would recommend.

First is something very cheap. For instance I was at Micro Center today and they had some cheap notebooks on sale with crappy 15.6" 1366x768 screens. The $260 model had a 1.7GHz Celeron and the $300 model had a 2.1GHz Pentium, but the important thing is that they both are dual core Sandy Bridge CPUs with 3D graphics performance roughly that of HD 2000. These are cheap enough that if they get banged around in an emergency, or if they get left behind and someone walks off with them, you won't be out too much.

The other one is to go with one of those $1000 Asus Ultrabooks - the new version with 1080p IPS screens. That way you can rotate the screen (built into Intel graphics drivers, keyboard shortcut) and hold it like a book for some nice e-book reading.

For internet access, if you aren't able to tether and want to go with a dedicated service, see if you can get Sprint's 4G network where you will use it. If so, then go with a pre-paid plan from Virgin Mobile. They have a WiFi hotspot on sale for $60 right now that supports 5 devices (split cost with co-workers?) and they have really cheap pre-paid plans. The cheapest is $35/mo for something lame like 3GB worth of 3G data, but "unlimited" 4G data. You get 10GB 4G at "full" speeds, and then unlimited 4G at "reduced" speeds for the remainder of the month after the first 10GB. For 3G once you hit the cap, the 3G service cuts off, so you never get an overage fee.
 
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