Discussion Which Tablet to buy

[Jyten]

So, I have a choice. I really want a table to buy but I'm not sure which one. And while the newest iPad is probably the best tablet for the money. I refuse to purchase anything from Apple due to personal hate of the company. So, here are my options...

1) Nexus 10 - best processor and highest resolution screen.

2) Nexus 7 - Far cheaper then the rest

3) Sony Xperia Z - Super pretty, average specs, water resistant. Not actually released yet, so it's all speculation on it's released specs and 5 minute tests.

4) Windows 8 Pro Tablet - Super expensive but most usable as it's almost if not a literal replacement PC.

I'd probably only use it to watch anime/movies and maybe read a book when I'm hanging out with the family or on trips. I'd probably also use it for light word processing. For me anime watching is the primary purpose in a tablet and resolution is key for me when watching anime.

Are there any other tablets I should be looking at? The Kindle line is okay, but I don't really want that restrictive of an OS as a programmer. I may one day fiddle with it's OS.

Thanks,

 

[kkck]

Well, the nexus series are supposed to get a new 7 and 10 inch model out pretty soon so perhaps the wait is worth it.

The surface pro is a great option if price is not an issue AND if you actually plan on using it to replace your laptop. Its more limited in the app department although its software recently got a new update which fixed a few of the supposed issues it had... If to begin with you didn't need at least a laptop for what you were doing then you probably do not need this one though.

The kindle tablets are ultimately media consumption devices.... the screens are amazing and if I recall they have the best sound(maybe some newer tablets have surpassed them in this department but I know they had the best speakers when just released). Have you looked at any of the samsung galaxy tablets?

 

[Jyten]

Well, the nexus series are supposed to get a new 7 and 10 inch model out pretty soon so perhaps the wait is worth it.

The surface pro is a great option if price is not an issue AND if you actually plan on using it to replace your laptop. Its more limited in the app department although its software recently got a new update which fixed a few of the supposed issues it had... If to begin with you didn't need at least a laptop for what you were doing then you probably do not need this one though.

The kindle tablets are ultimately media consumption devices.... the screens are amazing and if I recall they have the best sound(maybe some newer tablets have surpassed them in this department but I know they had the best speakers when just released). Have you looked at any of the samsung galaxy tablets?

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, maybe i'll just wait for the new nexus's to come out. I just have no idea if that's six months or 2 years...

I've looked at the galaxy tablets they just seem to be behind the curve when compared to the other ones...

 

[Charlie]

I recently bought the samsung note tab 10.1 - and its going alright for me.
I had the the Ipad 2 previously - but I prefer the android tablet.

 

[zelllogan]

https://www.asus.com/Tablets_Mobile/Eee_Pad_Transformer_TF101G/

I have nothing against IPAD or samsung but both seems overpriced to me.
Buying WIN 8 might be a mistake. Win 8 isn't that popular & is going the "vista" way. I wouldn't be surprised to see a win 9 coming out sooner than expected.

 

[Knifeshade]

You know...


...I just realized there's not all that many Android tablets when you really think about it. I mean, there's over a dozen out there in the wild, but only a handful of decent recommendable ones.

I'd probably only use it to watch anime/movies and maybe read a book when I'm hanging out with the family or on trips. I'd probably also use it for light word processing. For me anime watching is the primary purpose in a tablet and resolution is key for me when watching anime.

Depends on what your budget is.

The ASUS Nexus 7 and ASUS Fonepad are both easy to recommend, on the cheap. (they're practically siblings)

Just gotta wait for battery life tests of the rumoured new Nexus 7. And pricing. If it can hit the same amount of hours as the old one and stay at more or less the same price, then that's a no brainer.

For typing duties, just use a USB OTG cable to hook it up to a keyboard. : D

Moving up the ladder, depending on price, I'd forgo the Nexus 10, instead get the ASUS Transformer Infinty w/ keyboard dock. Amongst the 10 inches, it feels the most practical out of the bunch. (what with having a relatively high resolution amongst Android tablets, and a keyboard that extends battery life)

Can't recommend anything else in between. The Galaxy Note 8.0 is nice, but battery life is average as well as feeling a bit more expensive than it should.
My experience with the Galaxy Tab line aren't bad, but they pale when we pit pricing together with other tablets.

In the other camp...
Could possibly give Surface RT (or any other ARM-based ones) a recommendation, but it's a subjective thing. You'd need to see one in person to see if it's right for you. Personally, I have no problems whatsoever with the entire package Microsoft offers. It's just not polished enough. It seriously needs updated internals (Tegra 4 would be a blessing) and the OS needs some wrinkles ironed out.

On the other hand, the Atom-based Windows tablets are easier to recommend. Just pick according to pricing and budget. (because they more or less all have the same guts when it comes to Atom SoC, and is only differentiated by industrial design)

 

[goldb]

I'd really like to stick to Android OS when I get a tablet for myself, so my choices would be the Xperia, Nexus 7 or one of the Samsung tablets. I've recently gotten my eye on the Nexus 7; it has really impressive reviews and specs, but above all that and undeniably its price price for quality cannot be beaten. So choosing that above any other Android tablets seem like a no brainer indeed. If I were looking on the other side of the OS markets, the only thing appealing to me would be the iPad Mini 2 with retina display, but I'm not a fan of apple's iOS; though I enjoy the improvements they've made with iOS 7.

 

[zelllogan]

I just bought a samsung tab 3 8 inches. 8 inches is the perfect size and weight for me. As a manga reader, 10 inches was too big. Plus 8 inches is cheaper. I didn t need 3g or 4g on my tab, so wifi is enough. And 250 euros isn t that expensive for the samsung quality

 

[theruleofflaw]

go for Xperia Z2 Tablet!

 

[Saithan]

I got a samsung tab 2 and it's good. Tried noname cheap ones to get a feel for it first. I think the choice is very important. What will you use it for, will you carry it around with you and other things. I use mine for reading and other simple things at home, so mine is only wifi. Also put few japanese apps on it and useful stuff. There are tons of apps so would be cool if we could recommend stuff

 

[z.5]

Best advice would be to go and test a few out if you can.

I got a Surface Pro - Mainly due to how good it was to draw on (the wacom pen is awesome). I have never really seen the whole fascination with tablet PC's (I use my laptop for most things at home, and only really use the pro for videos/music/drawing), but my lab was offering PC's for researchers and I saw how it would be useful for presentations/drawing nice figures and diagrams.
It sucks however that the pressure sensitive modulation doesn't work with GIMP yet (I use Sketchpad instead, then import into GIMP if I want nice smooth line-work).