Tablet, IPad, Notebook?

We have iPads but the mini ones. Just the wifi versions but still love them.

We are thinking of getting the cellular ones once we start traveling more.

My father has the iPad mini with a Bluetooth keyboard.
He loves it. Takes it where ever he goes.

Does everything we want from watching tv, reading books, photos when phones aren't around.
Holds a charge nicely and small enough not to get in the way.

Charlie D. wrote:
Looking for something that will let me use Wi-Fi, download and read books, do mail checking and social media. I need a key board (I think) Large fingers and problems such as spelling mistakes, etc.?

My tech devices include an Android smartphone, Android tablet, laptop and desktop PC. My wife has an iPad.

I need a laptop or desktop because I have apps that are not available on a tablet and because I find entering text via a touch screen very unproductive. My grandchildren seem to be proficient, although they are not as OCD on how the text ends up.

So, I seldom use my tablet. I had a netbook along with the tablet, but found it a little small (10" display) for my tastes so moved up to a Lenovo X1 Carbon laptop that is very thin but a little pricey.

So basically, I find a smartphone (with all the advantages of a tablet) and a laptop/desktop PC meets my needs.

Oh, and I have a Kindle that I seldom use since all these devices allow reading books and they are synced such that you can stop reading on one device and pick it up on any other.

My bottom line is that a tablet is redundant in meeting my my tech needs.

I like small laptops in the $150-300 range. They are like tablets plus built in hard drives and keyboards :).

If I could get a tablet in that price range, with a serious hard drive, I wouldn't mind it. But 32mb? Really? Is this 1995? :B

I prefer my Surface Pro 3 tablet because I can use the exact same software on it that I use on my desktop and laptop. Same browser (FireFox), same word processor (MS Word), same video player (PotPlayer), same spreadsheet (MS Excel), etc... No need to learn different software for each platform and no need to worry about file incompatibilities.

Look into a Lenovo Flex. I just got one and it is great so far. The only thing I miss is a dvd drive. The Flex is a laptop running Windows 10 but the screen can fold over to act like a tablet. My wife and kids have i devices up the wahzoo but I much prefer something a little bigger with a full size keyboard.

I think an iPad with 4G cellular is the best thing to come along since sliced bread for RVing.

Use it in the passenger seat driving down the highway to check traffic backups ahead, find alternate routes when the Interstate closes down, check fuel prices with the free GasBuddy app, find campgrounds, look at attractions we might want to see. Send and receive messages.

And of course, driver can use after pulling in for the night. Aside from initial iPad cost, we pay $25 month to month to AT&T.

We have the cheapest possible phones, not Smartphones, don't miss them.

Have considered adding a (pricey!) Surface Pro since the old Windows laptop is aging out. (The only reason we still bring along an old laptop is work-related on long trips, to download full resolution photos off the memory cards from our cameras and burn DVDs as backups.)

I own Laptops, Ipad, Android Tablet and desktop but the best mobile solution I own is my Ultrabook class machine. Mine is a Zenbook but all of the main manufacturers offer Ultrabooks.

Ultrabooks are thin laptops and can be had with with real Intel processors. I have an I7 low power variant so it is supper fast. They also mostly come with Solid State Drives (SSD) but watch out for some of the cheaper ones which may have eMMC drives as they are nothing more than an SD card soldered to the motherboard. They are gaining popularity with the less expensive computers but eMMC storage can’t compete with an SSD for speed or reliability.

My Zenbook lasts for about 8 hours on a battery charge. Is at the "Welcome Screen" in less that 2 seconds and is as powerful as I need, which is pretty powerful with the I7.

Ipad Air2. Nuff said!

iPad is a tablet (that runs iOS, keyboards optional). Microsoft Surface is a tablet that runs Windows 10 (comes with keyboard). There are a number of other Windows tablets (or laptops with detachable keyboards), but most of the rest of the tablets on the market today are running Android OS (from Google).

iPads come in a couple different screen sizes (Mini), different weights (Air), performance levels (Pro) and all models offer a range of storage sizes. iPads come with or without mobile data capability, all have WiFi.

Surface tablets come at different performance levels, with Surface Book and Surface Pro operating at laptop levels, with 13 inch screens and capable of handling almost any Windows application that can deal with the amount of storage available. Surface 3 is Atom processor instead of Core family, 11 inch screen, lightest package in the family. Surface is probably the most expensive of the Windows tablet-style laptops available, other brands can be $200 and under.

Android tablets start well under $100 and go to over $600, depending on screen size and quality, processors, memory, storage, connectivity, and other hardware options.

Following my oldest daughter's example, I started with an iPad2 (for my wife, when she got too weak to hold an laptop in her hospital bed) which I am still using four years later, for Internet access from my easy chair and while traveling (I got it with 3G data capability). It shares information with an iPhone I bought a couple years later, through Apple and Google cloud storages.

My granddaughters bought Kindle Fire tablets, which are full function WiFi tablets, because they were cheap, but use them only as readers and game machines, borrowing their mom's iPad for heavier Internet work (like shopping) and using iPhones for their social connectivity.

My youngest daughter has a Galaxy Tab (I think 8 inch) with data connectivity which she uses while mobile, but still uses a 15-inch laptop for most of her school work. She uses Google cloud storage to connect the two and share data (her university account also uses Google shared storage).

Issues in choosing:
How much do you want to pay?
What intellectual investment do already have in an operating system's style?
What applications do you use offline?
How much storage to you need?
How portable do you want it to be (pocket, purse, book bag, backpack)?
Do you want to read it in bed (e.g. my original size Nook is easy to hold and read, the iPad I find too big, would need the Mini for reading in bed).
Do you have other devices for which you want to share information (e.g. Apple plays with Apple, Windows plays with Windows, though Google has sharing apps for all platforms if you will synch through Google).

I buy workstation-class laptops (and workstations). Couple years ago I bought a Dell 8-inch tablet and I was amazed at how powerful it was. Certainly you can buy a tablet that will do everything you want, along with a lot of computational processing, only slower. Any current brand will be just fine.

If the OP goes for a tablet I would recommend an aftermarket bluetooth keyboard, such as the Fintie. These are as thin as cardboard and function perfectly. My own personal opinion formed from hard experience is that touchpad use and styluses are simply impossible to use and everyone claiming they use a touchpad or a stylus is perpetrating a cruel joke. Just IMO.