Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPad vs. Android tablet vs. Surface Pro

S

stanw

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 29, 2007
842
5
I use a Macbook Pro and an iMac for my main computers and a Note 4 for my phone.

I was thinking of getting a tablet, most likely iPad to use on my couch for light browsing, email, and to be able to use Lightroom Mobile with for quickly going through lots of photos. It would also be neat to be able to annotate/draw on the screen with the Surface Pro, or one of the Android tablets with the stylus (Samsung or HP), though I could also get a stylus for the iPad.

Just looking for thoughts from anyone who has tried these different devices. Would it be stupid to spend the amount that an iPad costs when you could spend a bit more and get a Surface Pro?

Thanks.
 
If you want stylus support definitely go for the note. The stylus is just better than the surface pro and even more than an iPad. And since you have a note 4 you'll be able to sync your texts and calls with sidesync and flow.
 
iPad vs. Android tablet vs. Surface Pro

I would hold off getting a Note tablet right now (unless you get a super cheap deal on existing model). I suspect around March we will be hearing about the new 2015 models and no doubt they'll be rocking lollipop out of the box and hopefully a new touchwiz GUI.
 
if you want a stylus, wait until new lines are announced: note and sp. im thinking of getting sp and waiting to see their offer with a broadwell architecture.

iPad Air2 has problem with (current) styluses right now...
 
Stylus is a toy and isn't even in the same league as NTrig or Wacom pen. If you're going to be running things like Lightroom definitely go with a Thinkpad Helix2, Surface Pro 3 or wait for Broadwell Surface Pro 4.
 
stanw said:
Just looking for thoughts from anyone who has tried these different devices. Would it be stupid to spend the amount that an iPad costs when you could spend a bit more and get a Surface Pro?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I'd say if you are only looking to supplement your computing needs with a tablet, then the surface pro isn't a good choice. Its more suited to replacing the laptop and using that in the place of your MBP.

For just basic browsing, I'd opt for an iPad.
 
From a value perspective a $929 Helix2 Core M/4GB/128GB with micro SD card slot to import pictures or expand storage space with bundled keyboard dock is immensely more versatile and useful than $699 iPad Air 2 A8X/2GB/128GB with no SD card slot and no keyboard.
 
stanw said:
I use a Macbook Pro and an iMac for my main computers and a Note 4 for my phone.

I was thinking of getting a tablet, most likely iPad to use on my couch for light browsing, email, and to be able to use Lightroom Mobile with for quickly going through lots of photos. It would also be neat to be able to annotate/draw on the screen with the Surface Pro, or one of the Android tablets with the stylus (Samsung or HP), though I could also get a stylus for the iPad.

Just looking for thoughts from anyone who has tried these different devices. Would it be stupid to spend the amount that an iPad costs when you could spend a bit more and get a Surface Pro?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I think it's a great idea, it's an awesome tablet and a very decent laptop. Even for just consumption I find it more functional, but then again I'm very invested in the windows ecosystem and just love things like OneDrive, OneNote, having the full office suite, Outlook, etc. You will also get much more mileage out of the stylus than Android IMO, and of course the ipad doesn't even have that option.
 
stanw said:
when is the next surface expected to be released?
Click to expand...

Seems to be unknown as of yet. It'll either be sometime this spring to go with updated Broadwell chips as they will dramatically improve battery life, heat, and performance.

Or they will wait for Windows 10 late this year (not as likely). I'd guess by mid-year.
 
There's no reason Microsoft can't release a fourth SP3 configuration with fanless Core M without delay. Besides the benefits of fanless, cool running and longer battery life another nice quality of Core M in the Helix2 is it never seem to go from sleep to hibernate so it always wake up fast unlike the SP3 that hibernates after four hours of sleep. And, battery drain on sleep seems to be only about 1.5% per hour while constantly pinging the WIFI to keep it active. Have yet to measure without ping to let WIFI go to sleep.
 
maflynn said:
People are expecting it with Broadwell and windows 10, whether that is the case, who knows.
Click to expand...

Microsoft bought ntrig last week for $200 million, so i am going to go out on a limb and say they will be using n trig in sp4. I wonder if this means more pen development. ntrig is good, but could use some additional development
 
rowspaxe said:
Microsoft bought ntrig last week for $200 million, so i am going to go out on a limb and say they will be using n trig in sp4. I wonder if this means more pen development. ntrig is good, but could use some additional development
Click to expand...

I saw that, and was a little surprised by the move. It doesn't fully seem to fit MS but who knows what they have up their sleeve.
 
rowspaxe said:
Microsoft bought ntrig last week for $200 million, so i am going to go out on a limb and say they will be using n trig in sp4. I wonder if this means more pen development. ntrig is good, but could use some additional development
Click to expand...

Interesting. IMO Ntrig was a downgrade from Wacom, but I'm sure it saves MS a lot of money. Not only a downgrade but it nixes the possibility of a pen silo, although there were rumors of a battery-less stylus from Ntrig.
 
rowspaxe said:
Microsoft bought ntrig last week for $200 million, so i am going to go out on a limb and say they will be using n trig in sp4. I wonder if this means more pen development. ntrig is good, but could use some additional development
Click to expand...

Didn't they already use Ntrig tech in the SP3?
 
spinedoc77 said:
Interesting. IMO Ntrig was a downgrade from Wacom, but I'm sure it saves MS a lot of money. Not only a downgrade but it nixes the possibility of a pen silo, although there were rumors of a battery-less stylus from Ntrig.
Click to expand...

I feel the opposite. Wacom tends to have edge accuracy issues and sometimes dead spots. NTrig doesn't at least not on the half dozen or so SP3s that's I've used. Only hope Microsoft switches to a standard AAA size battery so I can use my Eneloop rechargeables.
 
^ yeah the Wacom edge accuracy on the SP2 was very poor. What I don't understand though is why this is. On a Cintiq it isn't so why on the Surface tablets was it so off ? It made trying to hit menu items especially because small ones because of hidpi really awkward.

If by buying N-Trig they sort out pressure sensitivity and add eraser features (rather than a one note button) it could be a good thing and a smart move for them.
 
mi7chy said:
I feel the opposite. Wacom tends to have edge accuracy issues and sometimes dead spots. NTrig doesn't at least not on the half dozen or so SP3s that's I've used. Only hope Microsoft switches to a standard AAA size battery so I can use my Eneloop rechargeables.
Click to expand...

I didn't have those issues on my SP2, but I didn't use the pen much so I can't really say. I strongly suspect it was the implementation and not the technology as I don't see that issue with other Wacom hardware devices such as tablets, or the Note series.

It seems MS is very determined to get the SP series right so I'm sure they will devote a lot of attention to this to perfect it. Either way I'm excited because it means they directly control NTrig now and the SP3 is head and shoulders above any other tablet on the market. I can't wait to see what the SP4 brings.
 
stanw said:
I use a Macbook Pro and an iMac for my main computers and a Note 4 for my phone.

I was thinking of getting a tablet, most likely iPad to use on my couch for light browsing, email, and to be able to use Lightroom Mobile with for quickly going through lots of photos. It would also be neat to be able to annotate/draw on the screen with the Surface Pro, or one of the Android tablets with the stylus (Samsung or HP), though I could also get a stylus for the iPad.

Just looking for thoughts from anyone who has tried these different devices. Would it be stupid to spend the amount that an iPad costs when you could spend a bit more and get a Surface Pro?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
which did you buy
 
MRU said:
^ yeah the Wacom edge accuracy on the SP2 was very poor. What I don't understand though is why this is. On a Cintiq it isn't so why on the Surface tablets was it so off ? It made trying to hit menu items especially because small ones because of hidpi really awkward.

If by buying N-Trig they sort out pressure sensitivity and add eraser features (rather than a one note button) it could be a good thing and a smart move for them.
Click to expand...

The pen has eraser functions, I use them all the time. I highly doubt they're going to take the OneNote button away, though, since it's a big differentiator.
 
Michael Goff said:
The pen has eraser functions, I use them all the time. I highly doubt they're going to take the OneNote button away, though, since it's a big differentiator.
Click to expand...

I didn't realise it had eraser. Is it a separate button then or is it built into the top of the stylus ?
 
MRU said:
I didn't realise it had eraser. Is it a separate button then or is it built into the top of the stylus ?
Click to expand...

It's one of the two buttons on the side. The bottom one, to be more precise. The one above it helps you do a right click with it (for some reason).
 
spinedoc77 said:
Interesting. IMO Ntrig was a downgrade from Wacom, but I'm sure it saves MS a lot of money. Not only a downgrade but it nixes the possibility of a pen silo, although there were rumors of a battery-less stylus from Ntrig.
Click to expand...

Two issues that i never understood: pen silo and pen battery. Full size pens need full size silos which create design issues. I replace my ntrig batteries about once a year: whats the problem?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back