Tablet vs. PC

thestoloffs wrote:
We recently replaced our ASUS Netbooks with ASUS VivoTab Smart tablets and matching Bluetooth keyboards - under $450 each. Equivalent laptops were over $650 each. {CREDENTIALS: I'm retired from over 30 years in IT, lastly having been in charge of all back-office systems technology worldwide for the late General Motors.}

These units have a single USB OTG port (also used for recharging), a Micro SD card slot, & a mini HDMI port. What this means is that, once we got the appropriate cables (and a powered USB hub), we have virtually the same capabilities as our Netbooks. For ease of support, we keep DW & myself on identical machines.

DW uses hers for 1) E-mail and Web 2) Photo storage (Picasa) 3) Reading PDF e-books & 4) MS Office. I use mine for the same 1) 2) & 4), but also keep our financial records on Quicken & Neat Receipts, our medical billing history in Quicken Medical Billing Manager, & our RV records on RVers Notebook -- as old a Windows application as it goes (an Access database).

That's why we needed full W8 machines, not Android or RT.

Because we don't change our apps often, our major Cloud connectivity is 1) Web 2) Backups of our records -- less than 10 MB/day 3) Uploading to Picasa. We don't stream video, and we've never exceeded our MiFi's 5 GB limit.

So, if we change our backup strategy to use SD cards &/or a portable hard drive, all our Cloud usage is variable -- therefore, up to us to control! That's true, whether you're on a tablet, Netbook, or laptop!