Best Computing device for RV living?

[Bdog1]

Is the Note equipped with USB slot? I'm looking to upgrade my 4s and the screen size appeals to me.

 

[SoulRaven]

I am old sckool so a 2011 Acer 10” netbook with Win7, 1.66Ghz CPU, 1GB ram, 250GB real hard drive, wireless mouse, and Kworld USB HDTV receiver.

 

[One Awesome Inch]

Is the Note equipped with USB slot? I'm looking to upgrade my 4s and the screen size appeals to me.

No it does not, just a micro usb slot. However, what I do is use a small coupling cable that has a female 2.0 usb on one end and a male micro usb on the other. I think I got it on ebay for $2 or 3.

 

[flailer]

Is the Note equipped with USB slot? I'm looking to upgrade my 4s and the screen size appeals to me.

The Note 3 has USB "hosting" Like One Awesome Inch said: all you need is an adapter. I got mine from Amazon for something like $3. At the same time I bought the HDMI adapter too (but I haven't tested that one yet.) I REALLY like being able to swap-out micro SD cards with music, data, videos, pictures. And without booting up my notebook computer.

Are you aware that the Note 4 has been released? As I understand it the Note 4 does NOT have a USB 3 port, but a USB 2 port. I am unsure if it does USB hosting, but I dont think it does. If I am right that means the Note 4 will NOT read your thumb drives, SD cards or Micro SD cards. But that is okay, as the price of the Note 3 maybe better anyway. LOL.

I am old sckool so a 2011 Acer 10” netbook with Win7, 1.66Ghz CPU, 1GB ram, 250GB real hard drive, wireless mouse, and Kworld USB HDTV receiver.

Yep! I've the HP model Pavilion dm1, Win 7, external drive, wireless mouse too. But what is this Kworld USB HDTV thingie???? :huh: I'm gunna hav'ta look into that...... Battery life, that is my biggest problem with my computing configuration..... Oh, and connectivity. I should be able to solve that though by tethering to my phone.

No it does not, just a micro usb slot. However, what I do is use a small coupling cable that has a female 2.0 usb on one end and a male micro usb on the other. I think I got it on ebay for $2 or 3.

Yeah, what he sez!!

 

[One Awesome Inch]

That is so weird that Samsung would revert back to the USB 2.0 and lose those functions. I thought the advantage of the 3.0 was that it was faster but other than that the 2.0 had the same functionality. I think you should still be able to use the 2.0 with a flashdrive... but hey I could be wrong.

 

[corky52]

I use a Raspberry Pi plugged into a HDMI port on my flat screen, total cost of about $80 other than the flat screen, which is also a TV.


Corky

 

[psytechguy]

I just started playing with a couple of Raspberry Pi's.

What apps are you using?

 

[Duck]

I LOVE my fujitsu q584 tablet.

Slightly bigger than an iPad, but it's a real computer running windows 8.1.
-Incredible screen resolution
- True tablet pen that's pressure sensitive with a fine tip, not the silly rubbery ones for touch only screens, stores in the bottom edge of the computer.
-microSD slot for extra storage/camera cards
-SIM card slot so you can connect directly to a cell phone/tablet data chip
-Microusb connector for power or AC adaptor
-USB 3.0 port.
-Great battery life
-hard mount/smartcase compatible, it has 4 threaded adaptors in the back so you can screw a mount or connector onto it, sort of like VESA mounts for a monitor. The more expensive version has the holes cut in the back to get to these, but the cheaper one still has them, you just have to drill 4 holes in the removable back.
-WATERPROOF you can read/watch TV in the shower or give it a wash when it gets dirty
-dock/keyboard options a dock that you connect all your other components too(monitor, printer, keyboard, mouse, headphones etc) is available for 78$, then you just put the tablet on the dock when you get home and it outputs to the monitor etc. The keyboard option costs more but turns it into a full laptop when you want, and has additional batteries.


They're normally a fairly expensive computer but turn up on newegg.com as open box units sometimes for 680$, a very reasonable price I think for what you get.

 

[adi]

I have an Asus TF700 transformer. 10" Android tablet with a keyboard dock. I bought it as an attempt at a desktop replacement. Unfortunately it failed horribly. There was nothing inherantly wrong with the concept, just lack of apps build around the concept.

I was able to write and create documents with it. It would constantly hang and buffer typing, sometimes up to 20-30 seconds. Not a big deal, but annoying at times. One issue is that documents created on the document were unable to be opened with any of my other computers (.doc, .docx, .rtf), the only format that worked was unformatted .txt, which wasn't going to work.

Most other apps are designed for phones, and have such limited funcionality compared to their desktop counterparts that it was insane.

For regular use, I would rate it as just barely usable. Browsing was possible but slow. On a laptop, if I wanted to save an image, it would take about .2 seconds. On a tablet, it takes 2-3 seconds, even with an external mouse, since it does not use right click contextual menus.

So if you need a device to browse 1-2 websites/day, with no real interaction (media consumption), view emails/etc, a tablet could work. But if you can swing a few more dollars for even a cheap laptop, the experience would be leaps and bounds better, with very few limitations on daily use. As others have said, a Chromebook would be my recommendation over a tablet, as it's OS is designed around typing and mouse interaction.

For RaspberryPi folks, Odroid have a few options that can make desktop use more berable.

 

[Willy]

I just picked up a used Microsoft Surface Pro and really like it. Gonna hold on to it for a bit until the Dell Venue 11's w. Broadwell cpu's start to show up at decently low prices and then buy one of those. I like the Venue 11 because, unlike near every tablet out there, it's USER SERVICEABLE!! Pop the back of and it's possible to replace near everything. These days, that's becoming more 'n more rare as devices tend to be 'disposable'. ..Willy.

 

[LeeRevell]

I was able to write and create documents with it. It would constantly hang and buffer typing, sometimes up to 20-30 seconds. Not a big deal, but annoying at times.
Most other apps are designed for phones, and have such limited functionality compared to their desktop counterparts that it was insane.

For regular use, I would rate it as just barely usable. Browsing was possible but slow. On a laptop, if I wanted to save an image, it would take about .2 seconds. On a tablet, it takes 2-3 seconds, even with an external mouse, since it does not use right click contextual menus.

So if you need a device to browse 1-2 websites/day, with no real interaction (media consumption), view emails/etc, a tablet could work. But if you can swing a few more dollars for even a cheap laptop, the experience would be leaps and bounds better, with very few limitations on daily use. As others have said, a Chromebook would be my recommendation over a tablet, as it's OS is designed around typing and mouse interaction.

I have much the same trouble in trying to use a cheaper Laptop (Toshiba Satellite C55) to replace my old PC. A Chromebook would be even worse, having even less standalone capabilities. The "Cloud" is simply not a viable option at this time. Had to replace the onboard Office package with an earlier edition just to be able to work. Loss of other often used things on Win7 is more than annoying, it's critical.
I have actually bought a new PC with my preferred Win7, just haven't unboxed it yet. Still running the laptop and seeing how I can bring it to some usable standard, with it's funky inefficient and problem-prone Win8.1. It is barely useful as a travelling machine for short periods, if I don't need to do anything close to professional work. I am not a fast typer, yet I outrun the Toshiba too often for comfort. Navigation on many websites is painfully slow, and it has a habit of not navigating back a step on the first sub-forum. I always have to go back to home and start down again. Subsequent subforums do work okay. Annoying, and no other machine I have used does this.
It also has a problem with constantly having IE drop out, and has to restart it. Generally takes only a few seconds, but again, a real PC does not do this....
I'd be at a dead stop with a tablet.
Hope the much-vaunted Win10 will be a lot better.......

 

[offroad]

Just saw a news article from consumer electronics show. Intel is going to release a $150 dongle windows PC. Just plug it into your HDTV and you have a computer. Will also need to use a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Nice.

 

[minimotos95]

Just looked it up, powered from micro USB with a 2GB RAM and an intel quad core. They are also coming out with a linux(ubuntu from what I can tell) version for $90 but with only 1GB of RAM it probably won't be much if any quicker than the windows version. Pretty cool and an improvement over similar devices stuck with Android or ChromeOS.

 

[RVTravel]

http://www.cnet.com/products/intel-compute-stick/

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Similar product for less money.
http://hothardware.com/News/Intel-Q...Powered-PC-On-USB-Stick-Runs-Full-Windows-81/

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

really cool...if you already have a tv you basically get a windows tablet for 130 bucks +keyboard/mouse.

 

[Almost There]

really cool...if you already have a tv you basically get a windows tablet for 130 bucks +keyboard/mouse.

Yah, but it's Windows 8

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

my nephew fot a windows 8.1 laptop, he said after you use it a little its fine. I tried it and it wasnt as terrible as i had heard it would be. Basically just a couple more steps to do the same as 7.

 

[Almost There]

my nephew fot a windows 8.1 laptop, he said after you use it a little its fine. I tried it and it wasnt as terrible as i had heard it would be. Basically just a couple more steps to do the same as 7.

Those couple of new steps performed over and over and over get to be a PITA after a short while. And the way some of the standard stuff is handled just plain sucked.


I waited too long for a new laptop and ended up with one that had W8 on it. Tried it for several weeks and absolutely detested it. I don't have anger issues but was seriously threatening this thing with bodily harm. The laptop was saved from sudden death when Windows 8 was partitioned off and Windows 7 installed. I'll hang onto this one until it or I die of old age...

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

hey at least it isnt me or vista lol

 

[offroad]

Don't understand the win7 versus 8 debate. There are dozens of front end or skinning apps that make one look like the other. And behave the same way.