How useful are tablets? Is there a consensus?

I got a Nexus7. Easily fits in my back pocket for on the go stuff. Bigger screen than my SGS3 (which is nice for a lot of gaming). Come bedtime, I catch up on the days reading. Watching videos is great too - more than one person can watch comfortably at a time. Battery lasts 3 days on a charge with pretty heavy use.

I'd rather carry it around than a laptop of any size (and I have a tiny 13" ultrabook). It's acceptable to use in places that having a laptop would be frowned upon (Theatres, restrooms, and the like).
 
Activate: AMD said:
I admit that I've done it a few times and it works well on my network, but if I'm already at home I'm going to watch on my HTPC or desktop (streamed from home server). I should maybe have clarified that I was thinking about on the go media playback, which I still don't find particularly compelling. Even though this seems like it should be a "killer app" it just doesn't work because of the drawbacks.
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Yeah, if i'm at home, i'd rather watch from my desk (three monitors :p) and play it from a comfortable chair, than hold the tablet and looking down for the entire duration. But it *is* one of the top things i do on the tablet ;)

My primary storage for movies is on the NAS, playing it from a full sized monitor is preferrable, but if i needed to leave the desk, i pick up the tablet, connect to the NAS and continue where i left off :)
 
I have a iPad 3 with retina display that I use around the house. It's mostly used for web surfing pretty much, but I like having it. It's a supplement to my entire setup basically. I don't take a lot of trips but I imagine it would be fun for that as well, oh and it is my primary e-reader too.

No real productivity, but nice to have. It wouldn't be the end of the world for me if I didn't have it, but if you have some money to burn its a nice toy to have
 
Activate: AMD said:
Define "powerful" because most Core ULV tablets would be beaten pretty soundly by those 300-400$ entry level laptops in CPU benchmarks.
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The best CPU available in a $400 is typically a higher end Core i3 mobile. According to this the higher end Core i3's are actually slower than the Core i5-3317U found in the Surface Pro, Google Pixel and a lot of other higher-end ultrabook type devices: Core i5-3317U found in the Surface Pro, Google Pixel and a lot of other higher-end ultrabook type devices.


Activate: AMD said:
Your points about the mech HDD and screen are understood, though you could easily upgrade to an SSD in the laptop, while in most tablets you're stuck with whatever storage the give you. That also assumes that the tablet uses a mSATA interface, though I think that is a safe assumption for a CULV platform
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Of course, it's all about what a person wants in a device and what they are willing to trade. My x220t convertible tablet has a 512GB SSD in it, lot of storage but the device that I will carry around with me is my Clover Trail tablet. Sure only 64GB on the eMMC and an 64GB microSD slot but it's much lighter and has much better battery life and does all I need from a mobile computer typically.
 
heatlesssun said:
The best CPU available in a $400 is typically a higher end Core i3 mobile. According to this the higher end Core i3's are actually slower than the Core i5-3317U found in the Surface Pro, Google Pixel and a lot of other higher-end ultrabook type devices: Core i5-3317U found in the Surface Pro, Google Pixel and a lot of other higher-end ultrabook type devices.




Of course, it's all about what a person wants in a device and what they are willing to trade. My x220t convertible tablet has a 512GB SSD in it, lot of storage but the device that I will carry around with me is my Clover Trail tablet. Sure only 64GB on the eMMC and an 64GB microSD slot but it's much lighter and has much better battery life and does all I need from a mobile computer typically.
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After carrying a full size laptop with me for years and toying around with Ativ 700 and surface pro, I have the same conclusion.

When I am on the go, I really do not have to edit a 75megabyte photograph, or run a 24 hour reliability simulation. Even if I do, I can delay it until I get in front of my desktop or one of the computers in the lab. Carrying a computing device that is capable of very high speeds and lots of storage feels like carrying a big ol hammer with me 24/7, in case I have to nail something on the go. Yes it can happen, but i would rather not carry a hammer with me and find one, when i need it once or twice a year.

When you carry a laptop or a tablet that has the I5/I7 cpu etc.. you are not going to be using the benefits of it all the time. Most of the time, you will be using a fraction of what that cpu can do( Browse internet for fun or research, take notes, watch youtube, read news, books, pdf's, work on a word or excel document, communicate through skype or email etc.), so the pro's of of the device will work for you in small bursts and occasionally, however you have the deal with the cons, which is weight, thickness, and low battery life, everytime you take that thing from your desk and put it in your bag. You don't even have to turn it on for the con's to effect you. I would rather pack light since most of my heavy computing needs are either for playing games or running simulations, which both can be done from my home desktop. 10hour battery, Atom, enough storage with some cloud, lightweight and thin form factor is soo much more important than being able to pull out my laptop once or twice a month and do some heavy work on it before i reach the lab or home.
 
Andyk5 said:
After carrying a full size laptop with me for years and toying around with Ativ 700 and surface pro, I have the same conclusion.

When I am on the go, I really do not have to edit a 75megabyte photograph, or run a 24 hour reliability simulation. Even if I do, I can delay it until I get in front of my desktop or one of the computers in the lab. Carrying a computing device that is capable of very high speeds and lots of storage feels like carrying a big ol hammer with me 24/7, in case I have to nail something on the go. Yes it can happen, but i would rather not carry a hammer with me and find one, when i need it once or twice a year.

When you carry a laptop or a tablet that has the I5/I7 cpu etc.. you are not going to be using the benefits of it all the time. Most of the time, you will be using a fraction of what that cpu can do( Browse internet for fun or research, take notes, watch youtube, read news, books, pdf's, work on a word or excel document, communicate through skype or email etc.), so the pro's of of the device will work for you in small bursts and occasionally, however you have the deal with the cons, which is weight, thickness, and low battery life, everytime you take that thing from your desk and put it in your bag. You don't even have to turn it on for the con's to effect you. I would rather pack light since most of my heavy computing needs are either for playing games or running simulations, which both can be done from my home desktop. 10hour battery, Atom, enough storage with some cloud, lightweight and thin form factor is soo much more important than being able to pull out my laptop once or twice a month and do some heavy work on it before i reach the lab or home.
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Very well said. And I think that a lot of people underestimating just how much storage you have with a device that can pack up to 128GB internally with the ability to use different SD cards and USB Flash drives. Music is in the cloud, video you carry a few titles with you on trips or when you want to kill time so is not to soak up a connection. Apps and larger PC games could be a problem if you want tons of those on a device at a time but still 64GB is more than enough for most.

As you say, the idea is that if you're going to carry it around everywhere is that is convenient and had the size and battery life to do what you need most of the ALL of the time you can't plug in.
 
heatlesssun said:
Very well said. And I think that a lot of people underestimating just how much storage you have with a device that can pack up to 128GB internally with the ability to use different SD cards and USB Flash drives. Music is in the cloud, video you carry a few titles with you on trips or when you want to kill time so is not to soak up a connection. Apps and larger PC games could be a problem if you want tons of those on a device at a time but still 64GB is more than enough for most.
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I would disagree with this statement. Maybe true for the Surface pro, but for many android tablets its not the case. "Cloud" is great IF you have a connection, which most people won't because the cell-equipped tablets cost an arm and a leg. Buy a 32GB tablet and its just not enough to handle more than a couple good quality rips. Yes you could transcode the crap out of them, but I like the convenience of transferring the same files I watch on my HTPC, and those are 18-25+GB each.
 
What I do with my tablet (10" Transformer Prime):

- Play games/consume media at the airport / on the airplane / traveling. I travel a decent amount (once a month) for my job. For actual work purposes, I bring a laptop.

- Do things while on the John. This is EXTREMELY useful... let's face it... it's pretty glorious for this.

- Watch movies/shows while in bed. I have a nightly "routine" to watch an episode or two of a show before I go to sleep. I used to do this with a laptop and lay sideways, but this is much better.
 
Activate: AMD said:
Yes you could transcode the crap out of them, but I like the convenience of transferring the same files I watch on my HTPC, and those are 18-25+GB each.
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Which is why I pointed out SD cards and flash drives. Even with a large internal drive on a laptop you're not going to store too many files this size on it.
 
One of the best quotes I saw when someone was trying to explain the explosive popularity of tablets was something to the tune of "people would rather sit back and surf the web" implying that most people lean forward or upright at a desktop.

It probably isn't a coincidence that the kindle was out before a tablet, you don't see avid book readers doing it at a desk, the stereotype is to lounge in a chair and relax as you read....why should surfing the web be any different?
 
I use my tablet solely for web browsing, Fipboard/Pulse and the occasional YouTube videos. Watching an actual movie like Netflix on a tablet is stupid IMO if you have a tv in the same house like most people do. I've tried a bunch of apps but in the end nothing really stands out.

So in the end I guess tablets are sort of a luxury. Definitely can't replace a laptop for me.
 
Kranium said:
One of the best quotes I saw when someone was trying to explain the explosive popularity of tablets was something to the tune of "people would rather sit back and surf the web" implying that most people lean forward or upright at a desktop.
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I would argue that when browsing on a Desktop, you can sit back, relax, and not have to hold a tablet to your face for hours, or look down at your lap 'til you get a stiff neck:p
 
heatlesssun said:
Which is why I pointed out SD cards and flash drives. Even with a large internal drive on a laptop you're not going to store too many files this size on it.
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Most cheap laptops have around 500gb's of storage. Which is more convenient: loading 10 movies on to a single drive or carrying around 5-10 32GB SD cards? Thats ignoring for the moment the fact that SD cards are not free. Having to carry around a bunch of them would add up quickly cost wise. So yes, it can be done (on a minority of tablets), but it still sucks.

I still say that there are no occasions I would preferentially carry a tablet. For all the most common usage cases it is not the best device for the job.
 
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