Super Dilemma! Buy Dell Latitude 10 Now or Wait for Haswell! – Tablets!

[needspractice]

I absolutely love the new super long battery life of the Atom Z2760. By reading reviews of the Tablets I am finding out that all day battery life is absolutely no problem. Especially with the battery upgrade you can do with Dell on the Latitude 10 optional “60 WHR 4-Cell Battery”. People are getting like days of battery life.

I was really torn between the Microsoft Surface Pro which seems like a beast with all the loves and kisses of an amazing tablet but the battery life is horrid. I am currently going back to college and am looking for a note taking power house that will absolutely last all day, let’s say 8 hours. I know the Microsoft Surface Pro will be fast and the perfect size but will not last all day maybe 4 to 5 hours.

So battery life is my absolutely main objective. Even though I would love to have the Surface I prefer battery life. Other people might only need 4 hours of battery life and the Surface will be fine for them.

So back to my main question about the famous Haswell chip. I really want to pull the trigger on the Dell Latitude 10 because of the upgraded battery but I am reading about the Haswell chip and it seems to be everything tablets are not right now. I know you will always be in a 6 month loop with technology with something always better around the corner but this is something different. They say this is revolutionary and will increase performance and battery life by leaps and bounds. They are building the chip and tablet from the ground up with the Haswell.

What do I do? I mean will the Haswell actually be the amazing new Tablet revolution that everyone is talking about or is it just a bunch of hype? I mean how much more battery life can you pour into a Tablet over the Clovertrial.

I really do not need the performance upgrades of Haswell so much because I will be mainly using the tablet for note taking. I do not care about gaming, but same price and better performace is always nice in case you ever need it.

Please give me your thoughts or similar experiences. Will you be buying a Tablet now or waiting? Do you think it’s worth it to wait or just buy now? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. I only want a full blown windows 8 experience as well, not RT, Android, or anything else.

Best,
Needspractice

 

[Red Storm]

Isn't Atom quite weak for stuff like HD video?

 

[Nintendesert]

You should get a Surface Pro.

 

[swanysto]

8 hours really isn't that long for some tablets. My wife uses a Galaxy Note 10.1 to build lectures for her classes, and uses it to display those as well. She is at school for most of the day and never needs to charge it.

It is definitely a note taking machine. However, it probably isn't the best for some other applications.

If a tablet now gives you what you want(insane battery life, and note taking ability) than what exactly would you be waiting for?

 

[lopri]

Yah. Get a Surface Pro now and help out Microsoft and Intel.

 

[s44]

Get a Samsung Chromebook for classes. Use your regular machine at home.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Get a Samsung Chromebook for classes. Use your regular machine at home.

Laptops aren't good for taking notes in math/engineering/physics classes where you have to deal with a lot of equations or diagrams.

Haswell won't beat the Clover Trail Atoms for battery life, it's more about getting Ivy Bridge performance with Atom like battery life so if you don't need more performance it probably won't be worth the wait for you.

 

[pm]

I worked on part of Haswell's design so I'm a bit biased towards it, but my general advice for buying anything high tech is to buy when you need something and never to wait for something that may be coming down the road some day and might be better but you aren't sure by how much. The only exception to this is if you are certain that the wait is going to be a short one... like weeks. There will always be new and better high tech things coming in the future and trying to time when is the "perfect" time to buy is a bit like trying to time the stock market.

 

[Kingbee13]

It depends on if what you have now is adequate if you should wait or not. If you need something right away, don't bother to wait. Undoubtedly the fall will bring a more refined class of devices with Haswell, not sure when the new atom will be ready but its not imminent.

Just weigh your personal pros and cons, if you have time to charge the pro in the middle of the day (it shouldn't take long) I'd go with that. If battery life trumps computing power, go with an atom tablet. And consider if you need a digitizer for pen or not (something like the Thinkpad Tablet 2 has one in an atom tablet). There's really no right or wrong answer, there will always be tradeoffs its more about deciding what's more important to you.

If it were my decision I'd go surface pro because I'm confident I can find power long enough to keep it going. Having a real SSD versus eMMC is enough of a boost for me let alone the vast difference in CPU power, or better display.

 

[bearxor]

If pass on the Lat 10. I've got one here in the office and its pretty meh.

 

[needspractice]

@swanysto

True. If I am not worried about performance I could get the ATVI or the Latitude now. Both machines should do over 8 hours of battery life right now.

@lopri

I want battery life though.

@s44

Ew.

@Puddle Jumper

This is what I was afraid of. I am going to do all this research and buy the perfect Tablet just to find out it’s useless for taking notes in class and just be another addition to my computer collection. Sometimes I think I just look for reasons to buy something.

@pm
Very true, I might just get what I want now and deal with it. Sell whatever I get for whatever and then just buy a Haswell machine if I want the better option in the future. I'm beginning to think it's going to be at least a year before we actually see a Haswell Tablet hit the stores. I do not think I want to wait that long.

@Kingbee13

Very important question for you! I was kind of thinking the same thing. What if I get the Surface Pro and just put all the settings to absolute lowest I can put. I wonder if I could milk a few more hours of battery life out of it. Then I thought it has two fans though it’s probably going to drain regardless. What were you going to do in order to optimize battery life? Any tricks? What’s the best life you think you can get out of the Surface Pro if you optimize it perfectly like brightness to 40 percent and what not?

@bearxor

Please elaborate, my decision is hinging on these forums. I could get the Surface Pro now or the Latitude 10 now, or I can just give up and wait for Haswell. I’m so in the limbo and do not know what to do! LOL! Help! Please tell me why you think the Latitude is just meh.

@Everyone

I'm possibly leaning towards the Surface Pro because maybe I can have longer battery life if I just use it for note taking and web surfing. Part of me says that is bull and the fans and basic surfing will just kill the battery anyway. Might still get the Latitude and just buy the Surface Pro Haswell Edition later and just flip my Latitude, so many decisions and ways to go.

Please keep the comments and ideas coming!

Best,
Needspractice

 

[bearxor]

I think it's more Windows 8. It's simply not designed for tablets at this point. Sure, modern stuff is, but once you back out to the desktop nothing makes sense.

The first hour I used the Lat 10, pulled it out of the box and went to go set up office. Dumped to the desktop so office setup could run. Tapped in the office key box, no keyboard pops up. Ok, I press the keyboard button in the taskbar and the on screen keyboard comes up and covers over half the screen. The desktop doesn't get pushed up so that you can scroll it around and see, the keyboard just covers half the screen. So now I can't see what I'm inputting in to the box to register office.

I think you have to make a choice here. Do you want a tablet or an ultrabook? If you want a tablet, there are better choices. If you want an ultrabook, why would you settle for what is essentially a Netbook?

 

[Puddle Jumper]

There really aren't many alternatives if you want a tablet for taking notes, the Galaxy Note 10.1 is the only viable non Windows one.

 

[bearxor]

There really aren't many alternatives if you want a tablet for taking notes, the Galaxy Note 10.1 is the only viable non Windows one.

As far as drawing, you mean? I don't recall my Lat 10 coiming with a stylus.

Unless you mean to specifically address the Surface Pro?

 

[Puddle Jumper]

As far as drawing, you mean? I don't recall my Lat 10 coiming with a stylus.

Unless you mean to specifically address the Surface Pro?

Sorry, I was thinking the Latitude 10 had a stylus but that was the older Latitude ST.

For notetaking the Samsung, asus, or Thinkpad 2 tablets with active digitizers seem to be the only way to go since Surface Pro does not have good enough battery life.

 

[Ravynmagi]

@Everyone

I'm possibly leaning towards the Surface Pro because maybe I can have longer battery life if I just use it for note taking and web surfing. Part of me says that is bull and the fans and basic surfing will just kill the battery anyway. Might still get the Latitude and just buy the Surface Pro Haswell Edition later and just flip my Latitude, so many decisions and ways to go.

Please keep the comments and ideas coming!

Best,
Needspractice

I'm more partial to Atom than Ivy Bridge myself when it comes to tablets. Longer battery life and lighter weight are really important for a tablet for me.

If you are just taking notes and surfing the web, I don't know if a 2 pound Surface Pro with 4 to 5 hours battery life at $900 would be what I'd get. The Dell Latitude 10 is over half pound lighter (probably less if you add that larger extended life battery) and will have probably twice the battery life with the stock battery. And starts at only $650.

I went with the ASUS ME400. It's a $500 Atom tablet. It won't work for you due to the lack of a digitizer. But I love the long battery life, super light weight. And since I spent about half of what I'd spend on a Surface Pro, I feel like this Atom tablet will help curb my appetite so I can wait for the better tablets later in the year.

Not sure yet if Haswell will be a big enough improvement. I suspect it'll still need active cooling and won't have the excellent battery life as Atom. So I may end up keeping this Atom tablet until Bay Trail comes out at the end of the year, the next generation Atom processor.

 

[bonkers325]

Laptops aren't good for taking notes in math/engineering/physics classes where you have to deal with a lot of equations or diagrams.

Haswell won't beat the Clover Trail Atoms for battery life, it's more about getting Ivy Bridge performance with Atom like battery life so if you don't need more performance it probably won't be worth the wait for you.

get a copy of MathCAD. it's an engineer's best friend.

 

[needspractice]

@bearxor

Thanks for the review, but I do not think I will mind the windows 8 experience. I really just want to be able to pull up office and get to my online classes while I’m in class. Browsing and checking emails will be great two but nothing heavy, as long as I can do all that and set things up I should be fine.

@Puddle Jumper

The Latitude 10 comes with the Wacom Digitalizer Pen which I hear is better than the S-Pen or at least an upgrade from it. The S-Pen from Samsung uses a form of Wacom technology.

@Ravynmagi

You know what I think you really helped me. Thank you so much for telling me about the “Bay Trail” chip because now I know for sure there is no need to wait because if I did wait I would wait for that processor and not the “Haswell” processor. You make an excellent point I will not want a tablet with “Fan Cooling”. I want strict battery life and not extra clutter rolling around in it. And I like how you put “curb my appetite” because that is all anyone can really do in the tech world.

I think I am going to get the Dell Latitude with the larger battery, probably just use it with the normal battery for a while, use it for class and take notes and what not access my classes on the web while in class and just crave my appetite for a while. After Christmas and early 2014 if “Bay Trail” blows away the market then I’ll just flip my Latitude 10 or give it to the Old Lady.

Best,
Needspractice

 

[Puddle Jumper]

@Puddle Jumper

The Latitude 10 comes with the Wacom Digitalizer Pen which I hear is better than the S-Pen or at least an upgrade from it. The S-Pen from Samsung uses a form of Wacom technology.

In that case it should be a good option. I've tried note taking using capacitive pens and on screen keyboards and neither of them are viable options, Wacom or NTrig active digitizers are the only way to go.

Onenote is supposed to be exceptional for taking written notes although I have not tried it myself since I don't have access to a Windows tablet at the moment.

For all of the hate it gets I think Windows 8 is perfectly suited for what you need, you get the convenience of modern apps for browsing and checking your mail but you still get a full version of Office for taking notes and working with your documents. If I was taking college classes now I think one of the Clover Trail Windows 8 tablets like you are looking at would be a must have for me, it fills a niche that no other devices aside from the Galaxy Note have ever really addressed.

 

[bearxor]

@bearxor

Thanks for the review, but I do not think I will mind the windows 8 experience. I really just want to be able to pull up office and get to my online classes while I’m in class. Browsing and checking emails will be great two but nothing heavy, as long as I can do all that and set things up I should be fine.

Right, but understand that Office isn't Modern. You're going to get kicked out to the Windows desktop if you use any of the new Office apps. That means the on screen keyboard is basically going to be worthless. That means you'll always need to carry around a keyboard. The Lat 10 isn't the Surface. There's no cute keyboard cover for it. That's my whole point. why bother buying a $500 netbook? There are a lot of 12-14" thin laptops with touchscreens in that price range.

@Puddle Jumper

The Latitude 10 comes with the Wacom Digitalizer Pen which I hear is better than the S-Pen or at least an upgrade from it. The S-Pen from Samsung uses a form of Wacom technology.

Is that an extra option or something? Our test Lat 10 didn't come with a pen.

n/m, just looked it up. Yeah, that brings the Lat 10 starting price up to $650. $650 for a 1.8ghz Atom and 2Gb of RAM and a 1366x768 screen. Why WOULDN'T you spend $900 for a 1.7ghz i5, 4GB of RAM and a 1920x1080 screen? It's an extra expense, but the keyboard cover is going to make a world of difference as well.

 

[needspractice]

@Puddle Jumper

Yes I am hoping that the One-Note is going to be an exceptional experience and yes battery life is primary the only thing I am looking for because I am taking 5 classes brick and motor style and they are all on the same day. So I need Tablet that will be there for me.

@bearxor

Very good point now I think I understand what you are saying. When you open office you do not have a nice internal software keyboard that pops up. Are you sure you can turn that feature on like the Surface? Also what about Office 2013? Do you think they fixed that in that suite? I would think if you have Office 2013 and windows 8 on a tablet you should be able to do everything you need.

Can you please really look into this because I would really like to pull the trigger on the Latitude but not if it’s going to be a waste of money?

I would buy the Surface Pro in a heartbeat but like I said I need all day battery life without being next to a plug. I am taking 5 classes with only 15 minute breaks in between and I do not sit next to plugs. I want to be able to take notes in all of my classes and view my online class material while I’m in class. Then after that when I get home I can charge away like business as usual.

So again if there is a way for the Surface Pro to run on bear minimum settings and have like 8 hours of battery life then heck ya lets lock it up; but if it can’t no dice. I would rather get the Latitude with like days of battery life and office 2013 and use it all day while I am in class.

So please see if there are settings or something or a way you can get around that to where you can use the keyboard.

Yes I would be getting the Latitude with the Wacom Style Pen.

Best,
Needspractice

 

[Ravynmagi]

n/m, just looked it up. Yeah, that brings the Lat 10 starting price up to $650. $650 for a 1.8ghz Atom and 2Gb of RAM and a 1366x768 screen. Why WOULDN'T you spend $900 for a 1.7ghz i5, 4GB of RAM and a 1920x1080 screen? It's an extra expense, but the keyboard cover is going to make a world of difference as well.

The only extra cost isn't the additional $350 (which is not small change really). You also get half the battery life and half a pound more weight.

Not saying the Surface Pro isn't going to be awesome and totally worth it to a lot of people. But I see the Surface Pro as more of a laptop replacement, while the Atom machines are more tablet and mobile friendly. For myself, I wanted something more friendly to hold in my hands and not have to worry about charging during the day.

 

[s44]

S Pen is the same 1024 levels of pressure.

 

[needspractice]

@Ravynmagi

I agree, what I am specifically looking for is the battery life capabilities. I was something small, light and last forever. Does not need to be the next fastest thing, and I believe today’s technology does provide that like mentioned earlier in the post.

@s44

So would you say the Latitude pen is better or equal to the Samsung ATVI S-Pen?

Best,
Needspractice

 

[podspi]

I have the ATIV Smart PC, and I was looking at the Lat10. If your primary purpose is note taking, I would go the Atom route all the way. It is fast enough for Onenote (though just barely, you can tell it struggles at times), and the Metro experience is about as good as any other ARM-based tablet. Battery life on my ATIV is fantastic, I imagine the Dell would be as good/better.


Then, when Haswell/new 22nm Atoms are inbound, flip it on eBay and put the money towards a new one. I purchased a DM1z off of eBay about a year ago for $250. Sold it last month to help pay for the ATIV for $200. I am pretty sure it'll still be worth at least $300~$400 by the end of the year, at which point an upgrade is only few hundred bucks.


All of that being said, I don't think the performance high enough to be a primary machine, though the same could be said for every ARM-based device in existence (my opinion only). The Ivy-Bridge tablets might be able to get it, but the loss of battery life imho detracts too much.