Laptop vs. Tablet plus Keyboard and Mouse?

[Vagabound]

(Note for mod: Not sure if computer-related posts belong in this forum or elsewhere. Please advise.)

Hi,

Need to get some basic computing capability.  Two basic options come to mind:

Option 1:
Laptop - something relatively new, but inexpensive.  Been looking at a few Dells and Lenovos in the $300-$600 range.

Option 2:
Tablet (plus) - I like the idea of having a tablet, but know from my two weeks of hell typing on a phone that I don't want that alone.  Been investigating combining a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse (and tablet stand) with a tablet and just calling it done.  I'd expect it to be somewhat less capable than a cheap laptop, but likely still able to do most basic tasks (office software, email, web surfing, movies from an external drive or streamed, etc).

I'm pretty familiar with Option 1.  Less so with Option 2.  I'm leaning toward # 2, to get tablet functionality, greater versatility, and to save space in a van.

FWIW, I've used and liked wireless keyboards and mice for years.  Never used Bluetooth equivalents.

Thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks,

Vagabound

 

[Willy]

I've gone the tablet route (w. keyboard dock), though I generally just type on the screen. One thing I really dislike about most tablets is the lack of user serviceability. The Venue 11 Pro I have is an exception to that. I try to get business class, if possible, because of the much more comprehensive warranty, though I'll only buy used. ..Willy.

 

[jimindenver]

I have all three currently, desk top, laptop and a windows 2 in 1 tablet. The 2 in 1 is like a laptop that the keyboard comes off. It's a quad core windows 10 OS so it can do anything the laptop does. There is a 10.1 inch 32 g and 11.6 64 gig version in windows 10, other configurations come in android. A mini HDMI port will send the screen to a TV if you want larger viewing. The 10 in is usually around $100 vut with Black Friday coming who knows.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

If at all possible, I would hold off on buying a tablet until you sort out the whole Verizon vs AT&T thing, then get the tablet from whoever you end up settling with.  That way it will be on your data plan.  In the meantime, you might try using a bluetooth keyboard with your phone, just to get a feel for working with it.

 

[LeeRevell]

When you need a real computer, you need a real computer. Small devices will always have annoying limitations. My big fingers don't like tiny touch keys. I have enough fat-fingering on full size keyboards. And forget small device OS and browsers. Annoyingly limited. My smartphone gives me online capability when away from home, but I simply cannot do certain critical functions. A tablet would not correct this.
My laptop is a cheapo in the Toshiba Satellite C55 series, $250, 15" screen. It works for me, and gives me some portability. I can take it on the road, use my cellphone hotspot or WIFI, and do what computers do. A wireless mouse is critical, as the touchpad is near useless. I also refuse to have touch screen on a computer. Yes, gentle readers, this old dog is a hopeless Neoluddite. Working 24 years in the IT world makes me leery of some of the latest "advances". Each device has it's pros & cons, but none can "do it all".

 

[Almost There]

I'm with Lee on this one!

I have a smartphone (2 actually) and I rarely use it for anything but talk/text and weather updates. When I want to go online it's with my HP Laptop (they now call all of it 'notebooks' btw). I use a wireless mouse and the built-in keyboard. The screen is large enough for me to read without my reading glasses. I use the smartphone for a wireless hotspot.

 

[Vagabound]

Thanks for the first set of comments ...

Willy:  You said, "[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]One thing I really dislike about most tablets is the lack of user serviceability.[/font]"  Can you explain a bit what you mean by that in more detail?

Jim:  Did I understand correctly that your 10" tablet cost only $100?  If so, which one?

OP:  Very sensible approach ... as always.  I like the idea of new Bluetooth keyboard with old phone.  A way to experiment with minimal investment.  Probably help answer my basic question about going with A or B.  Clever.  Thanks.

Lee:  Agree.  I despise typing on tiny smartphone touchscreens.  In addition to space limitations (big non-Trump hands and tiny keys), and the fact that the key in the center of your finger is seldom the one that gets pressed, once you add in the phone's annoying tendency to ignore what I typed and substitute its own judgment for mine, it pushes me toward homicidal.  Very similar tendencies from past IT experience as well.  I'm what they lovingly refer to as a "late adopter" of new technology.  Suspicious of "new" blinky things in general, and hate herd tendencies in specific.

AT:  Fake upgraded terminology to make the same thing sound new again ... laptop, notebook, (single letter)book, etc.  Happens in other non-tech areas as well.  I won't follow the advertisers or politicians everywhere they try to yank me.  Also, if "notebook" hasn't already been superseded as the latest acceptable term, it probably will be by the end of this holiday season.  That cycle of nonsense never stops.  I'm thinking of punting altogether, and just referring to all stuff with a pointing finger and a grunted "that thing".

Vagabound

 

[jimindenver]

Vaga

This is my 10 inch tablet, it should be even less in a few weeks.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/RCA-Camb...3735F-Quad-Core-Processor-Windows-10/45804385

 

[Vagabound]

Vaga

This is my 10 inch tablet, it should be even less in a few weeks.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/RCA-Camb...3735F-Quad-Core-Processor-Windows-10/45804385

Interesting.  Can you say a bit more about how you like (or don't like) using it?  For example, my main problem with those little units is my fingers feel like those 10 college guys in a phone booth pranks.  How's this one?  And does it have any ports for connecting external storage (USB, or external hard drives)?  Also, one Internet comment about 2GB tablets: "You will be unable to browse quite smoothly on 2GB of RAM given that web browsing is also memory intensive."  Any problems there for you?

Vagabound

 

[jimindenver]

I think the 2 gig size is a miss print. All of the tablets have been 32 gig or 64 gig as I have seen. both ours are 32 gig.

My tablet has a USB, a mini USB and a micro HDMI port. A 120v charge port, headphones and a sim slot are there too. The mini USB can be used to charge it with the same cord as your cell phone uses. The thing that bothers me the most about the keyboard is the touch pad. I bump it while typing and have no idea where the cursor goes. A bluetooth mouse fixes this. I use it for cruising the web, Netflix, Pandora as well as the basics of email, photo editing and invoices. A portable hard drive and DVD player keep the small hard drive clean and running fast.

 

[LeeRevell]

Laptops and "notebooks" are actually different things, similar but not the same. And then we have the more limited "netbook". This is what confuses so many, too many different but overlapping devices, each being billed as the ultimate "do everything for everybody" solution, and failing.
This is also what dooms Win8 and Win10 - a small device touchscreen OS that works fine on a phone or tablet but fails miserably on a laptop/PC platform. The manufacturers have lost sight of what many of us need.
I am avoiding getting a tablet because it's simply another device that sucks data, cannot operate as a phone, and is too limited to operate as a computer, for my needs anyway. I have other better uses for the money.

 

[jimindenver]

I use to use a netbook for travel. It doesn't even compare to the Tablet except they are the same size. The tablets solid state hard drive is faster, the quad core processor is much faster, the keyboard comes off and the whole thing is lighter. The netbook did have a larger hard drive and the battery was replaceable.

 

[Gunny]

I bought a 10" Lenovo and it was junk, wouldn't connect to wifi or wouldn't stay connected. Sent it back and got a replacement. Still poorly built and apparently very little quality control. They did refund my money with no questions asked.

Sprung for an Apple, it does what I need for portability.

 

[Willy]

Jimindenver: The 2GB refers to the RAM, it being entirely different from the storage of 32GB+. @GB is pretty bare-bones for a Windows system these days and, as was stated, can lead to slowdowns.

Vagabond: With many laptops, and some tablets, the case can be easily opened for repairs/upgrading. Many tablets, and some laptops, cannot be easily opened.. so what you see is what you get and if anything goes wrong with the internals you're SOL. One thing to keep in mind is that more 'n more units have soldered in RAM and/or SSD's and cannot be upgraded in the future.

 

[Vagabound]

I think the 2 gig size is a miss print. All of the tablets have been 32 gig or 64 gig as I have seen. both ours are 32 gig.

My tablet has a USB, a mini USB and a micro HDMI port. A 120v charge port, headphones and a sim slot are there too. The mini USB can be used to charge it with the same cord as your cell phone uses. The thing that bothers me the most about the keyboard is the touch pad. I bump it while typing and have no idea where the cursor goes. A bluetooth mouse fixes this. I use it for cruising the web, Netflix, Pandora as well as the basics of email, photo editing and invoices. A portable hard drive and DVD player keep the small hard drive clean and running fast.

Jim, thanks for the details.  Re: 2 gig:  As Willy pointed out, I was referring to the built-in RAM, not flash storage space, although the lines on all of that stuff are starting to blur considerably.  What say you now?

Vagabound

 

[Vagabound]

Lee:  Generally agree, but not with this:  "Laptops and "notebooks" are actually different things, similar but not the same."  If there are any significant differences, in what they can do or how people use them, I've never noticed.

Gunny:  Never trusted Lenovo, but never owned one either.  I've just seen up close and personal what the Chinese mentality does with all things -- products or processes -- and whatever used to be good about IBM Thinkpads is either gone already or soon will be, in my opinion.  Quality or standing behind products are simply and literally foreign concepts to them. The results that stem from that are unavoidably bad. Foreign QA consultants can only do so much.

Willy:  Thanks for clarifying.  Does make one wonder, though, how to avoid all the bad aspects without taking a year off work just to learn about them. ;-)

Vagabound

 

[jimindenver]

I say I don't have any issues running any of my programs on my tablet. Everyone's different of course and I don't do nearly what I use to, processing and resizing a batch of photos is the heaviest I do and wouldn't break out the laptop for it.

 

[LeeRevell]

V, a laptop is basically a full featured PC in a smaller portable platform. A Notebook is more limited, often lacking certain necessities like onboard CD/DVD drives and having less memory. Netbooks take this even further, basically useless offline, and requiring online connectivity to function - think the Chromebook.
Of course, as time goes on, functions tend to overlap. Sometimes, it is "six of one, a half dozen of the other".
I fully expect my next laptop will be non-Windows, non-small-device OS. It may take some real searching to get one without touchscreen, and with a built-in CD/DVD drive.
It took me a lot of time and effort to make my current Win8.1 laptop anywhere near productive, instead of being just an overgrown tablet.

 

[jimindenver]

I think my next will be more like a mini tower using the TV and a bluetooth keyboard/ mouse. I hardly ever really need to take a computer with me with smart phones providing the basics. That means I don't really need the screen and keyboard of the laptop/tablet if I want to use the TV screen anyways.

 

[B and C]

I think my next will be more like a mini tower using the TV and a bluetooth keyboard/ mouse. I hardly ever really need to take a computer with me with smart phones providing the basics. That means I don't really need the screen and keyboard of the laptop/tablet if I want to use the TV screen anyways.

Does the Canvio do Miracast?  I ask because it would be easier for these old eyes to use than my Android phone.

Off topic, but.

I bought one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883285369
Only $300 and can be run with a 19.5 vdc (12v) adapter at 3.33 amps (specs).  ~7x7x1.5 inches without connections.

If you are going to have a TV, pair it with this and a wireless keyboard/mouse, slim DVD and a Displayport to HDMI adapter for a small desktop that takes very little space.  It now lives in the van for traveling.  I replaced the HDD with a SSD and installed Win 10.  It ships with Win7 but came with both a Win7 and Win10 Pro disk.

I also have the I7 version of this that is my main desktop in the S&B now.