Mobile computing options: Opinions?

ayaskant12 said:
I am using ativ 500t from Samsung
Am really happy that I don't need a tablet anymore
All office work can be done on it and detach it for tablet use
Awesome usability and productivity
Click to expand...

its bit pricey total 48k including a 64gb class 10 micro sd but this machine made sure i dont have to carry my ipad plus a laptop

my work is just around microsoft office related not much graphics intensive and i watch a lot of videos
so 1080p mp4 and even most mkvs play just smooth as anything
multitasking is also 10times better in windows than any android or ios device

its just perfect for me but 10inches would have been just great
initially there was a bit of keyboard connection problem but after an update from samsung few days back its flawless device

plus the reliable wacom digitiser and pen plus onenote makes note taking an effortless job
 
Do consider the Lenovo X220 tablet or the Lenovo X230 tablet. They also have an offering by the name of Lenovo Twist which replaces the M processor with a ULV processor. All these can be sourced from US for around 60-65k and carry International warranty. They have one of the best available keyboards for a laptop and the X series packs enough grunt for any tasks sans serious gaming.
For the rest of the 16-20k I would suggest buying a HTC One X from US or a similar phone. Up your budget by 2-3k and get a Google Nexus 4 instead.
So in my view it is the perfect combo, something I am gonna buy myself. The only requirement of yours that would not be quenched by these is a high resolution screen.
Intact if you are not looking for a very powerful phone I would suggest a Samsung Galaxy Nexus for around 14-16k.
 
Right, this is getting complicated now. I want to thank all of you who have commented on my thread. Great opinions!

@rdst_1: You're asking me to spend ~90k. I don't have that kind of money to blow on stuff that will be obsolete in 6 months. Let me reiterate:

1. High resolution screen

2. Expandable memory

3. Non-laptop ergonomics. I can't handle the posture.

I'm OK with keeping my phone if a tablet can take over some of the more casual surfing and multimedia tasks, which are difficult to do on the phone because of its weak internals and small screen.

I really think another laptop/hybrid is digging me deeper into the problem. Plus the last time I looked at a Lenovo it was a light-fest, with Blue LEDs everywhere. Looked like a rapper's car and not to my taste. Then there's the high-gloss screens, which work better as mirrors (on all laptops except some Dells) than screens.

Then there is the cost of upgrading. I figure that mobile devices result in huge amounts of monetary loss when upgrading. I am losing about 20k on the laptop and will have to add another 10k for a good replacement. Desktop upgrades are relatively cheaper and you don't need to toss the entire machine out of the window. A laptop costing 60k can be sold for max 40-45 after a year if you are very lucky, as I am discovering. That is a huge loss in pure money terms and it's not something I'm comfortable with.

Let's see how it goes, I will post an update soon.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Not the thinkpads, muted green lights , matte ips screen, rock solid build quality and fantastic keyboard :p plus its small enough to use while sitting on the sofa or in bed
 
^^Can you put a link here? Everything I saw on the Lenovo India site and Flipkart seems to be either the regular Lenovo black bricks with the index-finger killing pointer (X220/230) and platforms from last year, or the expensive, MacBook ripoffs (U series).

Also, I couldn't find the screen resolution listed for those models - I suppose they are the 'High Definition' 1366x768 joes?
 
If you think you will be content with an Android tablet for all your needs, then I would suggest the Nexus 10.

I am suggesting going for the 3rd option. 3 devices of which only one is high end.

Since most of your needs will be fulfilled by a tablet, it only makes sense that the tablet should be the high end device as that will be what you spend most of your time with.
I have personally used the Nexus 10 for a little over a month and during that time I hardly touched my laptop or PC. Even though it doesn't have an expandable memory slot, you can always use a USB OTG.

My reason to suggest to go for the third option is that no matter how good an android tablet is, it can't yet replace a laptop completely.
 
Some people can get away with a tablet exclusively, but you need a Windows machine for audio design work and a keyboard for writing. What Windows 8 does is potentially ties desktop, laptop and tablet into a single device. Ideal would be something like an Acer Iconia W700, Surface Pro or Ativ Smart PC Pro. The thing is, such machines are either unavailable in India or exorbitantly priced. These are all in the $750 to $1100 range in the US, so if you have anyone coming down from the US, worth considering. Needless to say, all have top notch 1920x1080 IPS touchscreen displays and microSDXC slots. How these work is - dock them up to your monitor with keyboard/mouse for all productivity and content creation, the tablet remains attached as a nifty touchscreen "dashboard" of sorts. Personally, for writing / productivity, I completely agree, nothing beats a full sized standalone keyboard with a large monitor. Unlike ARM tablets, these run full blown Ivy Bridge U processors, which should be powerful enough for audio design work and most other content creation. Where it gets rather interesting is, undock them, and hey presto, they are tablets! Dock them to a keyboard dock, and they become laptops. All your work, files, apps, everything will be available on the move. If you want to make a quick correction or review your work on the go, you can.

Of course, this isea is not perfect, yet. Thing is, Windows 8 is ahead of its time, and Intel's answer only comes with Haswell Y series. So today, these tablets really just run repurposed laptop chips and as a result, they are 200g-300g heavier than Android tablets, 3-4mm thicker and battery life is 5-7 hours. Even so, they are still way more portable than laptops, without the severe limitations of tablets, so the utility would still outweigh those drawbacks easily. Of course with Haswell, these drawbacks would start to vanish and that is when they will start becoming no-brainers.

By the way, I understand your wariness of Asian brands. Truth be told, they do make cheap stuff which are as cheap as they look/feel. That said, they also have some superb high-end products. So don't write off entire brands, consider product by product. Even a bottom barrel bargain company like Acer has stunning products - look at Acer S7, phenomenal device. Indeed, if you asked me to name the top five ultraportable laptops today, 4 out of 5 would be Asian, with 1 American.
 
@Sub thanks for capturing the essence of the issue and coming up with a very accurate analysis.

Yes I saw those and it is probably the best solution available today - which still doesn't mean it's perfect for me (first, Win8/MetroUI and second, the price). It's as close as it gets to the ideal combination. I may have been willing to swallow the bitter pill and pony up, but I don't even have the cash now. I am still leaning towards keeping my phone, adding a cheap tablet and getting a desktop in place for productivity - the desktop is far more ergonomic with a proper seating arrangement, than a laptop or a docking tablet will ever be.

My issue with Asian brands is not so much the build quality, as the design. And I don't mean the look - the way you interact with the product is not as slick, there always seem to be too many buttons or too few, and sometimes the machines don't understand you very well (touch interfaces, for example). The screens are made to be used for shaving and become completely useless outdoors, logos are glitzy and there will be 60 marketing stickers on the device.

I do understand that Asian brands are cheaper (and probably a big enough reason for them occupying top slots) and eventually given my distaste for the MacOS environment I will capitulate.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Just to clarify, the setup in "desktop mode" is identical to a regular desktop. The tower is replaced by your tablet. Large monitor, proper seating arrangement, full sized keyboard, sensitive mouse - it's all there. The only difference and added benefit is the tablet can act as a secondary input device with its touchscreen. Or you can just ignore it and use as a regular desktop. Windows 8's Metro UI is awesome with touch, of course. For using Desktop apps, it is pretty simple, you drop down to Desktop. From there you can simply use Metro as a launcher, or an upgraded start menu. As with regular internet drama, people have made a huge fuss about it, but in reality it's something you get used to in a few minutes. So really, those compromise you might have been worried about are not there or minor.

It is great that you equate "design" to not just how it looks, but how it functions. A very, very common mistake. But everything you have mentioned is an issue related to cheap stuff, not Asian brands exclusively. Cheap HP or Dell laptops are no less worse offenders. Maybe that is the illusion - only 2 American brands sell cheap laptops, the budget market is dominated by Asian companies. Looking at Thinkpad X1 Carbon Touch or Samsung Series 9, for example, I don't see any such design flaws. Moreover, I can't think of an American product that is better designed than either, and only Macbook Air comes close.
 
rdst_1 said:
Even though this seems to be the best option, I for one have made it a principle not to buy anything which is the first generation of products to come out.
Click to expand...

I have also learnt that...the hard way.

My 'dream' is a Surface Pro like tablet with an 11.6" screen within the same size (of the current Surface Pro), a dock which has Video Out, USB, Audio and Charging. Pair it with a nice 24" Monitor and you have a nifty solution. Carry the tablet around. When you need screen real estate and extended sessions of typing just dock it and you are set. Of course the Tablet needs to have more SSD space.
 
dafreaking said:
I have also learnt that...the hard way.

My 'dream' is a Surface Pro like tablet with an 11.6" screen within the same size (of the current Surface Pro), a dock which has Video Out, USB, Audio and Charging. Pair it with a nice 24" Monitor and you have a nifty solution. Carry the tablet around. When you need screen real estate and extended sessions of typing just dock it and you are set. Of course the Tablet needs to have more SSD space.
Click to expand...

There are such tablets with 11.6" screen. Acer Iconia W700 and Samsung Ativ Smart PC Pro come to mind. All you need is to slap on a Plugable docking station and you have everything you asked for. I think Thinkpad Tablet 2 has it's own dock with video out, audio, etc. W700 ships with a dock too (though not as comprehensive) and currently it is only $730 on Amazon, way cheaper than similarly specced ultrabooks. Being 11.6" naturally they are slightly bigger (in X and Y dimensions, Z and weight is roughly the same) than the 10.6" Surface Pro, but that brings a welcome advantage - space for a bigger battery and thus longer battery life. Acer is launching the successor to W700 later this quarter with Ivy Bridge U series, which is said to be 20% thinner and lighter still, which makes it within 100g weight and 1 mm thickness of iPad; and of more relevance, a good 150g lighter than Surface Pro or Ativ Pro.

Obviously, real shame that no one is interested in selling these in the Indian market, at least not at fair prices.
 
Sub said:
There are such tablets with 11.6" screen. Acer Iconia W700 and Samsung Ativ Smart PC Pro come to mind. All you need is to slap on a Plugable docking station and you have everything you asked for. I think Thinkpad Tablet 2 has it's own dock with video out, audio, etc. W700 ships with a dock too (though not as comprehensive) and currently it is only $730 on Amazon, way cheaper than similarly specced ultrabooks. Being 11.6" naturally they are slightly bigger (in X and Y dimensions, Z and weight is roughly the same) than the 10.6" Surface Pro, but that brings a welcome advantage - space for a bigger battery and thus longer battery life. Acer is launching the successor to W700 later this quarter with Ivy Bridge U series, which is said to be 20% thinner and lighter still, which makes it within 100g weight and 1 mm thickness of iPad; and of more relevance, a good 150g lighter than Surface Pro or Ativ Pro.

Obviously, real shame that no one is interested in selling these in the Indian market, at least not at fair prices.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Another year or so and they should reach the level of maturity to be really nifty.
 
Hi Cranky, some combinations i see are:

a) If you ARE travelling from home out and about a bit, a good quality Phablet+ netbook seems to be the best bet

b) If you AREN'T travelling a lot from home(and plan to stay at your current location for 2+ years),
then a desktop(upgradable components makes it cost-effective), + a good quality tablet (Nexus or ipad) + an el cheapo phone

c) If you AREN'T travelling a lot and have work that could be done off a sofa/ but with excel sheets, mouse usage, etc., then a powerful Laptop + el cheapo phablet, should be enough



Like you said on PM, Option B seems the best.
If possible, borrow each tablet device from a friend and use it for a day (an ipad, a samsung, a nexus if possible, and an iball/micromax, etc)
It will give you an idea if you can use it effectively.

case in point: I bought an ipad2+3G for reading, making music, a lil gaming. But after just two months, i realised i preferred physical books, making music on a desktop, and got bored of the games. Never even used the 3G functionality!
 
Gannu said:
Looks like I am the odd man out going by the responses in this thread! :rolleyes:.
Click to expand...
Yes, because you were the only one to suggest the below.

Gannu said:
Since you seem to do a lot of those audio-editing and related content creation work, I'd advise you to get a really comfortable chair with a headrest, adjustable armrests, lumbar support and the likes. It might set you back by say 20~25k but given the kind of work you do, this will pay off in the long run.
Click to expand...
That really is the key, once the back is comfortable then more options arise.

cranky did not address this point yet. Has it been resolved ?

Because it appears this problem seems to be driving the decisions here when it should not be at all.

I got a tab because it was getting too difficult to read long pdfs in front of the laptop. The hunching was just not working. Does not happen when typing, its that long staring doing nothing that gives trouble.
 
blr_p said:
cranky did not address this point yet. Has it been resolved ?
Click to expand...

Dunno what you mean by resolved, but the fact is between the OP and today, I have put my back out pretty badly with something called muscular fibrocytis (?) obtained from an intensive speaker-building project. Basically I was on three weeks of bed-rest and physiotherapy, and had to undergo a distress sale on the laptop as it was injuring me quite badly even with 5 minutes of use.

I have ordered this chair: http://www.featherliteindia.com/product-gallery.html/executive-chairs/11926 (The one with the big headrest) which, as far as I experienced, was extremely ergonomic and comfortable with pretty much every piece adjustable in every direction and the right amount of firmness in the cushion and headrest. Also, it suited my budget, which I wanted to keep under 15k and this is just about that much.

For now I am using a dining chair which is fixed and designed to keep the spine straight (I designed the chair myself for a combination of guitar-playing and very short dinners), this is temporary while my new chair arrives by a low truck from Bangalore.

I am pretty confident I want a tablet now because of circumstances. I was leaning heavily towards one of the cheaper Chinese 'Retina' tablets but am waiting and watching for feedback as there are some issues around the firmware and Wifi of pretty much all of them.

Also, as some of you know, my current status is 'unemployed' and funds are pretty tight - this coupled to the fact that my hobbies are all expensive, means progress - and purchases - will be slow. It's not fun living off interest.
 
Back
Top