Laptop or tablet?

[Skybolt]

Here is something else you will have to deal with as well, Windows 8. I doubt you will have a choice on that one. If that is the case, as mentioned earlier, you may want to consider one of the surface tablet/laptops.

Windows 8 is totaly meant for atouch screen if you use the Metro interface, regular Windows operation is a little more dificult (IMO) and hard to get around.

Good Luck, let us know what you end up doing.

EDIT: you may want something like This , not to say this one is exactly what you should go for, but something like it maybe.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

Here is something else you will have to deal with as well, Windows 8. I doubt you will have a choice on that one. If that is the case, as mentioned earlier, you may want to consider one of the surface tablet/laptops.

Well if you go with the more business oriented Lenovos or Dells, they seem to come with Windows 7.

Windows 8 is totaly meant for atouch screen if you use the Metro interface, regular Windows operation is a little more dificult (IMO) and hard to get around.

I will not be using Metro, that's for sure. If I wanted a tablet OS I'd get an Android.

Good Luck, let us know what you end up doing.

Yeah, we'll see, looking around I've basically given up on a tablet* I just don't know what I'd use one for, I've got no interest in a computer-like device with a touchscreen.

*Unless I do something like get a Nexus 7, with the intent of satisfying my curiosity and tiding me over until a laptop I want comes out (seems like we're still in the waiting period for a lot of Haswell laptops). For example the Lenovo X1 Carbon looks pretty nice but it it sounds like anywhere from next month to next year for the Haswell version to appear. And maybe in the mean time I'll find a Nexus will satisfy my needs.

Of course if it doesn't work out I'm out $250-350....

[SWKerr]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Of course if it doesn't work out I'm out $250-350....

I kinda doubt a Nexus 7 could be a laptop replacement but I would bet you would not regret the purchase.

Just for surfing the Web, reading books, listening to music, and as an alarm clock it would be worth it. Keep it by you bed in a docking station or in the Kitchen if you eventually got the laptop.

Also: Spend $35 on the Cromecast and you could be streaming Netflix and YouTube to the TV in minutes. Cromecast is kinda limited to a few apps now but it will grow. I really kinda like it. Actually wakes up the TV and changes the input when you start streaming something. Don't even need to touch the remote.

I really would wait a few month's on the new laptops to come out. It seems like a bunch of cool stuff has been announced recently but not much has made it to market. I would actually recommend the touch screen. I did not think I would use it on the small laptop I bought but I do. I have mine setup to boot to the Desktop but even then I find I use it a lot more than I would have thought. I think part of it is once you start using a touch screen (Transformer & phone) you kinda expect it. My wife actually complained about the fact she keeps reaching up to touch the normal monitor now because she is used to being able to do it with her tablet.

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by stanger89

... I just don't know what I'd use one for, I've got no interest in a computer-like device with a touchscreen. ...

Yeah, it's hard to replace a Laptop when that's what you are use to.

If you travel alot, a tablet is nice for long plane trips, and hotels etc.

I find myself using my original iPad (before everone else had tablets) acting as a House remote, Music (Sonos);TV remote (outside and in); monitoring (security cam quick view) etc, Home Automation controller, those types of things. If you're not into all that, they can be a waste for some.

I would think with your theater setup and such, you would find some good use for a 10" tablet, 7 is too small IMO. But that's not to say it can replace a laptop either.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

I kinda doubt a Nexus 7 could be a laptop replacement but I would bet you would not regret the purchase.

Just for surfing the Web, reading books, listening to music, and as an alarm clock it would be worth it. Keep it by you bed in a docking station or in the Kitchen if you eventually got the laptop.

Well that's the tricky thing (which makes this all the more complicated). I have pretty stout desktop (i7, but an old one) for real "computer" work. Most of what I use my laptop for is surfing the internet. So on that front it would seem a tablet would be a logical choice.

However, I really like being able to sit with the laptop on my lap in the chair in front of the TV and be able to type away at the keyboard.

I surf a bit on my phone when I'm away from a computer, but I really don't like doing it that way very much, the onscreen keyboard, having to hold it (wow I sound whiny ), etc, just the form factor just doesn't do it for me.

Now there's a few tablets out there with attachable keyboards that give them a laptop-ish form factor, but those are getting beyond the cost of a cheap laptop.

Tablets seem great for consumption, but I really don't do that much of that, a good deal of my interneting is here and AVS forum and I post a bit. Or I'm reading up/researching and end up typing a lot (addresses/searches/etc). I don't do much netflix or any other video consuming on any portable device either, the screen is way too small.

There's the Chromebook, but that seems pretty limited since you have to be online to do much with it.

But here's the curveball, I currently have Lightroom and Sketchup on my laptop and it's convenient to be able to play with those away from my desk from time to time.

Alarm clock? I've already got a Squeezebox Boom at home and my Android phone for when I'm away.

Also: Spend $35 on the Cromecast and you could be streaming Netflix and YouTube to the TV in minutes. Cromecast is kinda limited to a few apps now but it will grow. I really kinda like it. Actually wakes up the TV and changes the input when you start streaming something. Don't even need to touch the remote.

I still just don't "get" the appeal of the Chromecast. I really don't I like the form factor and interface of my Roku much better. Now I get the search thing, but I just don't do that that much.

I really would wait a few month's on the new laptops to come out. It seems like a bunch of cool stuff has been announced recently but not much has made it to market. I would actually recommend the touch screen. I did not think I would use it on the small laptop I bought but I do. I have mine setup to boot to the Desktop but even then I find I use it a lot more than I would have thought. I think part of it is once you start using a touch screen (Transformer & phone) you kinda expect it. My wife actually complained about the fact she keeps reaching up to touch the normal monitor now because she is used to being able to do it with her tablet.

Waiting seems like a great idea, unfortunately my laptop became useless yesterday, so now I've got no portable computing device other than my Thunderbolt and it's way too tiny to be useful.

I guess I've never had that "problem" with touchscreens. Personally I just don't like them overall. They have their places, on a phone their great since there's really just no room for any alternative, and they work acceptably there. But beyond that I just couldn't care less. I've had my Android phone for, I guess we're approaching three years now, and actually, I'd be willing to give it up, except for when I travel (having Google maps handy is great on the road).

I've actually pondered dropping my phone, giving up my unlimited LTE (and the way too expensive monthly cost) and finding maybe my old Razr and reactivating that and just getting a tablet for travel with LTE and going the prepaid route for that just when I travel. But that's a different discussion (I am really not thrilled with what my phone costs me, for no more than I use it).

So here we are, back to the beginning, I'm stuck with what to do, my laptop is dead, doesn't look like the laptop I want exists yet, and it seems I don't want a tablet either...

Originally Posted by Skybolt

Yeah, it's hard to replace a Laptop when that's what you are use to.

If you travel alot, a tablet is nice for long plane trips, and hotels etc.

I find myself using my original iPad (before everone else had tablets) acting as a House remote, Music (Sonos);TV remote (outside and in); monitoring (security cam quick view) etc, Home Automation controller, those types of things. If you're not into all that, they can be a waste for some.

I would think with your theater setup and such, you would find some good use for a 10" tablet, 7 is too small IMO. But that's not to say it can replace a laptop either.

I can see it being "cool" in my theater, but most of what I watch in there I want hard buttons for. Maybe a couple times a week it would be cool to be able to browse for and launch a movie off a tablet, but other than that I just don't see it.

That and it's still largely experimental, which frontend/device I use in my theater. What I really need is a Kaleidescape, but they just cost too much.

It was so much easier when I bought my current laptop. Battery life really wasn't an issue everything was mediocre. Now there's Haswell and the Macbook Air proving that 10hrs of battery life is possible. Heck even 7 or 8 would be good, I'm doing good to get 4 on my Dell. But looking around everything's either a tiny ultrabook (come on, give me at least a 14" screen), or a huge, chunky overweight dinosaur of a laptop. Or a Mac.

[flavius]

Since you were willing to shell out the money for a MBP and if it is a laptop for mostly in-house use I'd get the latest 13" MacBook Air. That's one fine machine.

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by stanger89

... I can see it being "cool" in my theater, but most of what I watch in there I want hard buttons for. Maybe a couple times a week it would be cool to be able to browse for and launch a movie off a tablet, but other than that I just don't see it.

I didn't think of watching or launching a movie from the tablet, I was mostly thinking in terms of a remote, really cool remote. They have IR blasters for most tablets if your gear is not IP compatable. I love using touch screens in the my HT. In the begining there was a bit of a wow effect, but not anylonger, it's just nice to have.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by flavius

Since you were willing to shell out the money for a MBP and if it is a laptop for mostly in-house use I'd get the latest 13" MacBook Air. That's one fine machine.

I agree, those are some fine machines, but the reason I don't have one of those is probably 50% the price, and 50% OS X.

Originally Posted by Skybolt

I didn't think of watching or launching a movie from the tablet, I was mostly thinking in terms of a remote, really cool remote. They have IR blasters for most tablets if your gear is not IP compatable. I love using touch screens in the my HT. In the begining there was a bit of a wow effect, but not anylonger, it's just nice to have.

Maybe I can illustrate what I mean, here's a couple screenshots from XBMC's remote app:

Now I can see something like this being cool in my HT, but probably only a couple times a week:



But this is what I absolutely can't stand:

Or this (Roomie)


Play, Pause, FFW, RW, Up, Down, Left, Right, Select, and especially volume up/down should be hard keys, I don't want to have to look down, wake up my tablet, unlock it, and then look for what button I want to hit just to tweak the volume, or pause the show, or skip a commercial...

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by stanger89

... I don't want to have to look down, wake up my tablet, unlock it, and then look for what button I want to hit just to tweak the volume, or pause the show, or skip a commercial...

Totally agree with you. You get use to not having hard buttons, and you can also set up any tablet not to sleep so you don't have to unlock. That would also be unacceptable for me as well. As for the not looking down, well ...

I totally understand your afinity for kaleidescape But that too has it's limitations.

[stanger89]

So, I've basically given up on tablets since I don't see how I'd use one. But now I've got to pick a laptop and I'm having a hard time. Now that my current laptop is limping along (it's only mostly dead, but I don't think Miracle Max can help a laptop), I've got a bit more time to search/decide. I've been through a few things, but my requirements really come down to the following:

1. Long battery life (I seem to be comparing everything to the Macbook Air - 12hrs)
2. Reasonably large screen - I'm used to 15, but 13 might be acceptable
3. Decent resolution - say at least 900 lines high (so none of those 1366x768 jobbers)
4. As thin/light as possible given the above

Thinks I'll use it for, roughly in order of importance/frequency:

• Surfing
• Downloading picture while traveling
• Adobe Lightroom

I may do other things, I've done some sketchup on my current laptop, and some mucking with video files but that's rather rare and not very important.

So I've looked around, it seems like Haswell is a requirement to achieve requirements 1/4 (there are some "older" machines with good life but their bulkier).

I was sort of holding out for the new Dell XPS 15, which looks pretty nice, but to get the big battery ("11 hours") you have to get the top of the line model which is over $2k. That just seems like too much for something to mostly surf the internet.

There's the Vaio Pro 13, which looks pretty nice, but the battery life isn't that great, and it's actually a bit more than an MBA if configured equivalently.

There's the Lenovo Yoga Pro 2, which looks pretty nice, similar cost to the MBA, better specs, worse battery life (but possibly "good" since it's up to 9 hours).

Of course the MBA is sort of the classic choice, but the screens not that awesome (1600x900 IIRC is about what I've got now).

I'm basically a Windows person, I've played with Mac a bit and I can find my way around. Ironically I have stronger negative feelings about Windows 8, but at the same time I know I can work around those (Classicshell/Start 8/etc).

So I'm still sorta stumped.

[phelme]

I'm keeping an eye out for the Dell Venue 11 Pro's, to be released in November. Ideally, I'd like something to replace both my MBA and Samsung Ativ 500t.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/20513...book-line.html