Cant decide which tablet - Any help? :)

[TomInAmsterdam]

So I was thinking Surface 2, was thinking RT is fine for me anyway as I have a laptop as well, I mean since I was thinking of getting an iPad if not an MS tablet anyway it kinda proves Im not fussed about full fat windows no it BUT now I am seeing that there are a lot of high spec tablets, as good as the surface 2 but also contain windows pro.

So basically my wants:
* Nice looking, Im not very into those ones with really rounded corners!
* High res screen, so xxxx X 1080 please!
* great tablet form factor, the whole hybrid/laptop part really is secondary and just a bonus.
* Decent battery life
* Plays HD movies etc well (hence the screen above)
* Under $800

Things I dont really care about
* Honestly dont think ill ever run native windows apps, but who knows!
* Works also like a laptop, as above, this is just a bonus really as I primarily want a tablet after all.


Concerns.... does anyone think that the W8 store will be any good, to be honest I think id prefer a 10" Windows Phone 8 sometimes!

thanks in advance.

p.s I might see what Nokia bring out so will make decision just before end of this month as Ill also be able to claim about €150 back on anything I spend.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

Given your requirements and my experience with a variety of tablets, I'd recommend an iPad.

Here's why. I have found that my Surface RT feels more comfortable as a netbook rather than as a tablet. The 16:9 aspect ratio of the Surface RT just feels awkward to me. Too narrow in portrait mode, too wide in landscape. The onscreen keyboard takes up a significant percentage of the screen space. Whenever I attempt to use the RT as a tablet, I end up attaching the touchcover.

The retina display on the iPad 4 is fantastic for viewing PDFs, magazines/comics in cbz/cbr format. There is such a wide variety of media consumption apps for music, video, images, documents it is almost guaranteed that you'll find the perfect fit for your needs.

I regularly get over 10 hours of usage on my iPad 4. Battery life on my Surface RT is not that long... but still very good IMO. I haven't run it down completely but I've gotten 7-8 hours without worrying about the battery.

If a netbook/notebook/laptop experience was important, then I'd heartily recommend the RT instead.

Just my thoughts... I'm sure others will chime in with the exact opposite viewpoint and their opinions would be equally as valid.

 

[TomInAmsterdam]

Its good input, I have had iphones in the past and moved to WP a couple of years back, I really dont like iOS as an OS and on an iPad I find it bloody ugly and a huge waste of space BUT you dot have a very good point that it just has more apps etc, 1 bit you did miss of though was that surface 2 can play flash and iOS although its not a huge impact.

Also I wonder just how much difference the screen specs make, does that retina display really really outshine the 1080 by a lot?

 

[thejoyofsobe]

If your price limit is $800 why not look at a Bay Trail tablet? You'd get the RT experience plus normal x86 functionality. The only downside is no bundled Microsoft Office.

Oh and with regard to preferring WP8 to RT, I agree and that's why I'm looking forward to next year when we should expect WP8 apps to run on Windows 8.

 

[DBDev]

In my opinion I think the surface 2 should be perfect for your needs, and I love the 16:9 aspect ratio, even as a tablet, but that's me. The 16:9 also makes it really great for movie watching, because most movies are 16:9 or even wider. It is also really nice looking and it has really good battery life IMO :smile:

 

[lafester]

If your price limit is $800 why not look at a Bay Trail tablet? You'd get the RT experience plus normal x86 functionality. The only downside is no bundled Microsoft Office.

Oh and with regard to preferring WP8 to RT, I agree and that's why I'm looking forward to next year when we should expect WP8 apps to run on Windows 8.

You get office on bay trail up to 10.8" screens I believe. If my limit was $800 I would get the bay trail venue pro 11 with 4 gb ram and 128gb storage then add the keyboard dock with extra battery.

 

[coolqf]

You get office on bay trail up to 10.8" screens I believe. If my limit was $800 I would get the bay trail venue pro 11 with 4 gb ram and 128gb storage then add the keyboard dock with extra battery.

They're not releasing baytrail 4gb devices because Windows doesn't support them yet, not fully anyway. Only Win32 bit,....

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

[lafester]

Well they are releasing at least one so far... hp pavillion x2.

 

[delesh]

Check out the Sony Tap 11 as well. It is supposed to start around $800.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

 

[jmerrey]

If you already have a laptop that you intend to continue using, then a Surface will be too much of an overlap device. Ipad is the obvious choice here. It's a great consumption/companion device. Tons of tablet apps. Really the only choice if you want a supplement to a setup you already have.

 

[TomInAmsterdam]

I am thinking that maybe the laptop would get used less and less as I go, I also have a desktop to, the iPad does make most sense for the amount of apps, I just find it such a horrible OS.

Also I think I found a reason I DO need full windows, I use chrome a lot as I am English but live in NL and chrome is a lifesaver for translating websites, this might be a reason I need to have full windows, I am going to create another thread to just see what full windows tablets people would choose and use both threads to help me decide