Using a tablet as your primary computer?

[Billy95Tech]

Hey

I have 2 Android tablets Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 and the Galaxy Tab 2 7(As a back up) and a powerful 11.6 inch Windows 8 tablet Acer Iconia W700(I5 core).

I only use my Acer Iconia W700 just to:

Edit my Youtube videos and upload to Youtube.
Surfing the web
Watching videos
Downloading videos, files.

On my Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 i do:

Light Gaming(Angry Birds, Labyrinth, Racing, Soccer Rally, more)
Surfing the web
Watching videos
Read the news
Checking emails
Checking the weather
Write scripts for my Youtube videos

I only bring my Acer Iconia W700 and Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 on holidays with me and leave my laptop at home.

It is safe to say my tablets have replaced my laptop completely.

And in general i think tablets are like mini portable laptops regardless whether it is is a Android/IPad or Windows 8 tablet because they have the functional of a laptop and the potablity of a smartphone so they are in between the 2.

Most people have replaced there laptop/desktops with tablets for work/college(productive) or just for media consumption or both.everything a laptop can do a tablet can do.

I am wondering have anyone using there tablet as a primary computer? if not then do you think you will replace your laptop with a tablet in the future? or why haven't you replaced your laptop with a tablet?

 

[Vegastouch]

I still dont have a tablet. My Wife has a Nexus7 that she uses everyday for many hours and ive bouhgt my kids a tablet but i dont use one. I use my Yoga 11s which can be used as both a laptop and a tablet.

However, rumor is a new Nexus tablet with a 8.9" screen is coming so i may get one of those.

 

[Oohara]

I do tons of typing so I really couldn't do without a (proper ThinkPad) physical keyboard. I'm really into the hybrid idea too though, so I'll be getting a ThinkPad Yoga as soon as I can afford it.

 

[Internaut]

IPad Air + keyboard + MS Office? Alternatively, as Windows 8 evolves, you potentially (already?) have mainstream laptop + tablet in one.

 

[TacticalDesire]

The only tablet I could use for an extended period of time in place of a desktop or laptop is a Windows 8 tablet with a keyboard and mouse attached. I just got done typing a 6 page word document and before that I was working on an excel sheet with 6 sheets and ridden with formulas. Doing that on an iPad or even an android tab would have been a chore.

I still save the real work for the machines designed to do such tasks.

 

[Surface2Owner]

I've been using a Surface 2 (RT) as a laptop replacement for past four or five months. I still keep around my x220 just in case. Personally, I am not a heavy laptop user outside of work. I have taken my Surface 2 on business trips as well in lieu of my laptop. There are definitely sacrifices, but I don't mind at all given the overall convenience. It is probably not a solution that I would recommend for many people, but for my situation, it works just fine to the extent that I probably don't see myself buying a full fledged laptop any time in the future.

 

[ozaz]

I am wondering have anyone using there tablet as a primary computer? if not then do you think you will replace your laptop with a tablet in the future? or why haven't you replaced your laptop with a tablet?

I use my laptop for work and there's absolutely no chance I'll replace it with a tablet. Desktop software, screen real estate, spacious keyboard, and multiple USB ports are all too important to me.

If laptops still weighed around the 3 kg mark, I might consider trying to make a tablet work (with strong emphasis on might). But 14" ultrabooks can be bought nowadays weighing only 1.3-1.5 kg. That's plenty portable enough for me.

 

[Phil A.]

I use a tablet as my only computer now, but it's a Surface Pro 2 with 8GB Ram and 256GB SSD and I have 2 full size monitors, a mouse and a keyboard plugged into it when it's on my desk (via a USB3 docking station), so it's a bit of a stretch to call it a tablet I guess

 

[maflynn]

For my tasks a tablet would be a poor fit (remotely connecting to servers and workstations). I think a laptop works better at this stage.

 

[mattopotamus]

You should add a pole to the thread.

I use a tablet as my primary computer. The main reason is b.c I have a laptop that stays at work. In my personal life I only need a computer/tablet to surf the web. If I had to do any type of word processing, I could not get away with just a tablet. People who use their computer for very basic task can get away with a tablet, but if you truly want to be productive you need a real computer IMO.

 

[Bishope1999]

My tablet is ok, but it's really is stored away and I may use it around once a week. There is no way that a tablet could replace my Computer. A tablet has no way of performing the same tasks that my computer does.

 

[gotluck]

my tablet has taken over as my primary 'personal' computer - aside from when i feel like a PC game
tablet can't take over as my primary 'work' computer...yet!

 

[apolloa]

I use my Nexus 7 an awful lot, and I plan to change my setup and make my MacBook Pro permanently desk bound, until I can afford a Mac Pro. I will also get the Surface Pro 2.
Because yeap, tablets are great and are real computers. IMO laptops will die out soon enough due to tablets as they get more powerful.

My mum only uses her iPad 3 I got her, I got her a MacBook too and that pretty much lives in it's case now a day's, she finds the iPad MUCH better and more convenient.

I would also say I sold my PSVITA earlier this year because even though I have a PS4, I never used it, I just play games on my tablet, it is truly my portable games system. Never thought that would happen!

 

[Vegastouch]

I use my Nexus 7 an awful lot, and I plan to change my setup and make my MacBook Pro permanently desk bound, until I can afford a Mac Pro. I will also get the Surface Pro 2.
Because yeap, tablets are great and are real computers. IMO laptops will die out soon enough due to tablets as they get more powerful.

My mum only uses her iPad 3 I got her, I got her a MacBook too and that pretty much lives in it's case now a day's, she finds the iPad MUCH better and more convenient.

I would also say I sold my PSVITA earlier this year because even though I have a PS4, I never used it, I just play games on my tablet, it is truly my portable games system. Never thought that would happen!

And thats great as long as you dont mind not being able to add programs to a tablet and have no USB ports.

My Yoga 11s is a laptop that i can use as a tablet with its touchscreen and keyboard built in. It is a big tablet doing that, but i can do it. That is my main laptop/tablet right now. I wanted a Surface Pro but didnt want to spend the $1000 (another $100 for a keyboard) for the first gen and its bad battery. Price imo was too high and the Yoga 11s was $800

 

[apolloa]

And thats great as long as you dont mind not being able to add programs to a tablet and have no USB ports.

My Yoga 11s is a laptop that i can use as a tablet with its touchscreen and keyboard built in. It is a big tablet doing that, but i can do it. That is my main laptop/tablet right now. I wanted a Surface Pro but didnt want to spend the $1000 (another $100 for a keyboard) for the first gen and its bad battery. Price imo was too high and the Yoga 11s was $800

Yeah, depends on what you want, I mean I still will keep a computer around. But you can use a tablet as your main device if you want, just depends on what you need it to do, but these day's there's a lot of choice and now even the 12" size models.
But I can add apps to my device that do the same as any programme, just obviously on a tablet running FULL Windows you have much more powerful and feature packed programmes. The Yoga seems a good choice for a cheaper Windows option but I see it's Windows RT, Lenovo make nice kit.

 

[DramaLLama]

I'm looking into this possibility of buying an iPad instead of a fancy new MBP for my next "main computer" and just keeping my current MBP as backup for when I need it.

Is typing stuff out with a blutooth keyboard a huge PIA on tablets? Or do you get used to the size?

 

[SurferMan]

I just use my tablet (Tab 3 8.0) for browsing, emails, stream music outside to speakers etc not much of a game player either. I would never replace my laptops with a tablet, if I have to do some work I'd go for my 13" Pro over it, actually why I sold my iPad as I rarely used it and found myself going for the 13" over it instead.

 

[Black Magic]

I use my MacBook as my main computer. Not sure if my tablet ever could replace it. I use my mini from time to time to watch videos or do light web browsing. After a period of time, it gets uncomfortable holding it.

 

[DogmaHunter]

I haven't touched my desktop / laptop / tablet since I got myself a surface pro.

So yes, I use my surface pro as my main and only PC. However, eventhough the surface pro is in a "tablet form factor", I don't refer to it as a tablet. I refer to it as a PC.

I hear people say a lot of times "a tablet can do what a laptop can do", but we all realise that that isn't really true. Eventhough I haven't used it, I'm sure that for example ms office on the ipad is quite nice. I'm even more sure that a full blown office that runs on an old school desktop will be richer in both features as well as performance.

The only thing that laptops do that tablets also can do is basically consume media and some very limited editing / production. For the more serious tasks, tablets simply fail.

At home, I use a USB3 dual video docking that connects 2 hd monitors as well as add gigabit ethernet, some USB ports and audio. I also have a 3rd HD touch monitor that I can connect through the display port.
So when I plug a USB and display port cable into my surface, I instantly get access to fast ethernet, 3 HD monitors, full keyboard, mouse, etc. And it's a very decent machine as well with its i5 cpu. Only the 4gb of ram is somewhat annoying on rare occasions (read: when I need to open up 4 visual studio instances with big solutions for some messed up reason).

Off course, the Pro doesn't come cheap. The most high-end version of the second edition can climb to 1700 bucks. Mine set me back 1100 (first generation). Then again, it replaced 3 devices. I could make a case that its premium price actually saved me 2000 bucks instead.

My wife has the Surface2. For her, this is more then enough. She has her full office when she needs it and the rest of her computing time is spent on the webbrowser and the occasional app.

Personally, I don't see myself going back to tower pc's or bulky laptops.
I'm loving this setup, it's a true joy to work with. Frankly, I don't get why the pro isn't advertised like this.

Everywhere I go where they sell the surface it's always sitting on some display with the (imo) worthless touchcover. Why not demonstrate what the thing can do? Not even microsoft does this. In stead, they have adds with schoolgrils jumping around and clicking the covers on

 

[swedefish]

I'm looking into this possibility of buying an iPad instead of a fancy new MBP for my next "main computer" and just keeping my current MBP as backup for when I need it.

Is typing stuff out with a blutooth keyboard a huge PIA on tablets? Or do you get used to the size?

If you are mainly a writer, I don't think it should be a problem. There are plenty of capable keyboards. The problem is if you require using touch input on the screen (since you will not have a mouse) while you type. I personally never bring my laptop with me when I go to the library to write; iPad + bluetooth keyboard is enough.

If you consider using the iPad as a PC replacement I think you will need Dropbox or something like it. It's a pity that Apple doesn't provide a decent file management solution, but it is what it is.

 

[Billy95Tech]

Some very good responses!


Lets keep this thread going, anyone else?

 

[sentinelsx]

I use my laptop for arduino/visual studio/netbeans/eclipse, some video/photo editing/photoshop, keeping a backup of all my media and managing it, office/excel etc.

The rest is all offloaded to tablet. Browsing websites and forums, watching movies through Plex, music, reading documents/PDFs/books, reading news, emails, playing mobile strategy/puzzle games (have spent many hours on Auralux for example - that is one area where i believe mobile games come close to desktop counterparts in value), skype/hangouts etc etc etc.

Considering an e-ink reader and offloading all reading to it though for eye strain reasons.

Pretty much 50/50 usage with tablet and PC.

To be honest though, if a full windows 8.1 tablet with a 11-13 inch screen comes out with decent specs, and more windows software is optimized for touch, i would rather get it and use it full time for everything. For coding/office etc i can attach a keyboard so it is covered as well. And then i can truly have one portable device for everything.

The surface pro 2 does intrigue me, but am anxiously waiting for the next surface pro and wave of similar tablets from other OEMs. Also the price for a $128GB+ model is a bit too high, but i am sure it will come down in future.

 

[TacticalDesire]

I'm looking into this possibility of buying an iPad instead of a fancy new MBP for my next "main computer" and just keeping my current MBP as backup for when I need it.

Is typing stuff out with a blutooth keyboard a huge PIA on tablets? Or do you get used to the size?

Typing isn't really the problem provided the keyboard is large enough. The problem lies what you're trying to edit or format the document. A mouse is much more precise than trying to tap the screen and overall working with documents on a computer is much faster.

 

[Tarzanman]

Simply put... if you are only consuming data, resharing data, or staying connected (via web/ video chat/ etc) then a tablet equipped with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse can definitely serve your needs.

However, tablets absolutely suck at creating content, or organizing large amounts of data/content efficiently. Anyone who has tried to code, write papers, create images, generate music or edit video on a tablet has learned this very quickly.

 

[Billy95Tech]

However, tablets absolutely suck at creating content, or organizing large amounts of data/content efficiently. Anyone who has tried to code, write papers, create images, generate music or edit video on a tablet has learned this very quickly.

I disagree tablets don't suck at content creation especially Windows 8 tablets.

I make Youtube videos on my Acer Iconia W700(I5 Core) with a mouse and bluetooth keyboard and it is better and faster than my laptop.

And on my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7 i starting to create documents with Kingsoft Office and with the typing i do on the sceen touch keyboard and i find it good.

When i get the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 it will be better for creating content because of the multi window 2 apps on at the same time

And i and going start to do more content creation stuff on them in the future.

The are plenty of content creation apps on the Play Store and the Apple App store and they will only get better in the future