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Need advice on tablets etc.

B

Bakes4147

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Dec 18, 2009
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I work at staples while I finish school and they have a Surface RT 64gb on clearance for 195.55 and it comes with a keyboard. Its a good deal but is it what I need/do I need it? I have a tech savvy friend who could install full windows instead of the RT version. I would like to get something more mobile than my laptop that I could use to program on(java and HTML for class and HTML for possible future jobs) as well as just to be a more mobile laptop. I would also like to use it to play games, older and indie games that is(I have a gaming rig) My current laptop is an "HP Pavilion dm4t-2100 Entertainment PC" and I was wondering where it would fall compared to that. The other option is just to wait until my laptop no longer does what I need it to and go for a nicer surface with full window already on it and more functionality.

I know its a lot, thanks in advance.
I also realize that you cant tell me exactly what I need I mainly want to know if it seems worth it for what I plan on doing with it or if I would be better off waiting a while.
 
Full Windows can't run on RT hardware. Windows RT tablets are basically the android or ipad analogs, though I'd argue more usable for productivity since there is a version of office for RT.

How much money do you want to spend? Your use would be more along the lines of the Windows Pro tablets (which do run full Windows). With the new surface pro 3 announced, you might able to pick up a surface pro 2 at a decent price.
 
Well my friend said putting full windows on it could be done. But that may not have been a fully thought out comment, as he did originally just say Linux. I am not really looking to upgrade right now, was just considering it because I would also be able to get another 20%ish off that price with all additional coupons etc. I would like a tablet but I am probably just gonna wait and get a pro in another year or two when they come down in price. Like I said I don't really need/not looking to spend a lot but would like a tablet if it was cheap and could do some laptop stuff.
 
My understanding is you need the Surface PRO (Intel atom)series to run the full Windows 8/8.1.
Dell Venue 8 PRO is about the lowest priced Windows 8/8.1 full tablet.
Not sure an 8 inch tablet offers sufficient print size for serious use.
I bought one 32 GB refurbished from ebay at $160, a $40 case/Bluetooth keyboard and an amazon brand touch stylus($7) And $30 64 GB microSDXC card. Refurb comes without office though.
Mixed feelings as larger with a better keyboard would help. Touch stylus makes using touchscreen easier and more precise.
Newegg has a $309 price on the Lenovo 64 GB Windows tablet. atom Z2760 though.

The Staples Surface RT is probably the first generation, which is not great. [RT tablets use android processors, I believe]

For a tablet you need to know what you will use it for, and what compatibility and accessories required.
For W8 the latest atom processor (Z3740D) is strongly reccomended.
 
Full Windows 8 requires an x86 CPU. For Microsoft's Surface line this means the Pro series (which use a Core series ULV) as the Surface RT and Surface 2 use ARM CPUs.

Any Ivybridge ULV (or newer) will outperform your HP, and the onboard GPU will match (or perform better) than the GPU in your HP. You'd need a full SSD (and non eMMC flash memory) to match the SSD in your HP in terms of storage performance.

As for Atom based devices, even for the newer BayTrail (z3xxx) platform the CPU and GPU will be slower (CPU performance for 4 threads is roughly a Core2Duo Mobile). They are also typically paired with eMMC flash storage which will be slower than the SATA SSD you have, although in practice this would be only noticeable for larger operations (eg. loading photoshop as opposed to your web browser). Older generation atoms (z2xxx) are considerably worse, I'd avoid these unless you are getting a very good deal.

The lowest the Surface Pro line has gone down to was $450 (with education discount), this was the first gen model which was heavily overproduced and they needed to clear inventory. It is highly unlikely future Pro models will reach this discount level much less lower. Likewise it would be rare for any Intel Core series based device of similar class to hit this price point or lower as well since the tray cost for the processor itself is already $200+ (by contrast the most expensive consumer ARM SoCs are well under $50 each). Only Atom line (or hypothetical AMD products) will be in this price category.
 
I feel like you should just stick with a laptop. There's still considerable compromises when it comes to doing real work on a tablet. I mean, something like the Surface Pro seems great, but if you're going to be using it for real work, I wouldn't want to deal with that keyboard cover all the time.
 
Thanks for all of the input, was mostly leaning towards just waiting until I need a new laptop and the technology advances. That is what I am going to do, it was just such a good deal I wanted to at least consider it.
 
You can snag a Surface Pro 2 for cheap now the Surface pro 3 is announced. Still a beast in a tablet formfactor.
 
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