What tablet to by?

[TNGW1500SE]

I guess I need a new tablet. I have a older Motorola Zoom MZ505 family edition and the app I need is "not compatable". 😞 I need to run dropbox and open an excel file on it daily. I'd also like to run Waze on it while driving. If I could figure out how to use it as a second monitor using a USB it could also work. It's running Android 3.1 now. Anybody got any "Why don't you..." advice?

[TNGW1500SE]

jcpainter wrote:

TNGW1500SE wrote:

jcpainter wrote:

TNGW1500SE wrote:
I have to have two monitors. I have that now but one is in the bedroom and the other is in the livingroom. I need a 2nd in the livingroom to do bookwork on.

Could you elaborate on using a tablet with "two monitors"? Do you mean simultaneously?

I'd use the tablet as a "stand alone" and display an excel spreadsheet on it that is stored in dropbox.

So you are referring to the tablet itself as the second monitor? I guess I misread your post and thought you were trying to attach the tablet to two monitors . . . :S

I was interested in a tablet because I found an app that would let it work as a second monitor. My old tablet just was out of date and would not run the apps. If I bought a tablet, I would also have the tablet to use. After some thought, I killed two birds with one stone. The Ultrawide fixed the home workstation and allowed me to take one of my desk monitors out to the RV. Also the video card made that possible and I now have an extra 32 TV.

[jerem0621]

I’m a long time iPad user. I have had three total and each lasted me for years.

I have tried to use Android tablets including a Fire 7 and a Samsung Tab 4 and I just can’t get them to work smoothly...they slow my workflow down.

I am a bit of a power user on tablets though. For Personal use my iPad is my main device. I have an old Mac and an old Chromebook but I hardly ever user them and have contemplated selling them.

iOS 11 has changed the IPad into a real productivity machine for me. I have recently bought the HDMI and the VGA to lightning adaptors and have been very pleased with the performance.

I do vote Apple for the most part. They are great devices and long lasting if you treat them right.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[TNGW1500SE]

UPDATE: Solved the problem. I bought an external USB video card and installed it. Now I have 3 displays. One in the bedroom and two in the living room. Duplicated the one in the bedroom with the 32 TV in the livingroom. Ran a VGA from the new adapter to the new 24 inch monitor that I stole from my home PC system on my desk. Then I bought a 34" Ultra wide for the house. Now I have an extra 32 that was in the house on my desk. I'll stick in the grandkids room. It will be a cartoon TV. All I have to do is figure out a place to store this 24 when I'm not doing bookwork in the RV. When I need it, I'll get it out and put it on the table with the wall mounted 32" above it. I HATE BOOKWORK!!! Thanks for all the advice!

[TNGW1500SE]

bob213 wrote:
Be very careful when trying to get help from Yahoo. Officially...Yahoo has no contact phone numbers. You are probably talking to a scammer. Be careful what info you give them. Google the phone number you dialed to see if it comes up as a phishing site number. They put you on hold then come back and ask for a little more info. Before you know it you've given them way more info than you intended. Then they tell you it's a security problem and for $99.99 they can transfer you to their security dept. to fix the problem.

Thanks for the heads up.

[obgraham]

I've had a couple of Androids, and Mrs O likes Amazon Fires. They all do the job, but I have to admit, once I got an iPad Pro, things work a whole lot smoother on it, and I don't run into the blockages that Amazon works into theirs.

[bob213]

Be very careful when trying to get help from Yahoo. Officially...Yahoo has no contact phone numbers. You are probably talking to a scammer. Be careful what info you give them. Google the phone number you dialed to see if it comes up as a phishing site number. They put you on hold then come back and ask for a little more info. Before you know it you've given them way more info than you intended. Then they tell you it's a security problem and for $99.99 they can transfer you to their security dept. to fix the problem.

[TNGW1500SE]

MrWizard wrote:

Still thinking about the tablet for the advantages it offers. I may go look today but it's going to be 64 degrees! My motorcycle is yelling at me to ride it!

ride the cycle to go looking at displays and tablets

Good idea! I've been on the phone with India attempting to get my Yahoo email working for hours. I feel like riding to India at this point!!!!

[MrWizard]

Still thinking about the tablet for the advantages it offers. I may go look today but it's going to be 64 degrees! My motorcycle is yelling at me to ride it!

ride the cycle to go looking at displays and tablets

[crcr]

theoldwizard1 wrote:
Unquestionably, the best "bang for the buck" is the Amazon Fire HD 10. You can not beat the price. The screen is very nice and bright. It does have a few negatives.

• No cell phone connection (but that may not be an issue for many people)
• No GPS so no mapping software
• Probably the biggest negative is no direct access to the Google Play Store and it thousands of apps.

There are work arounds to allow you to load the Google Play app, so that is not a complete bust.

EDIT : TetherGPS allows you to share GPS information over WiFi from one device (say an Android cell phone with GPS) to another device (Fire tablet).

I loaded Google Play store on both my Fire HD 10 and 7" Fire tablets. Just followed a youtube video. Bought the Fire HD 10 on sale for $99. Best buy possible in a tablet!

[theoldwizard1]

MrWizard wrote:
Second small LCD display for the pic

Good luck finding that !

Small now a days seems to be anything under 30" !

[TNGW1500SE]

MrWizard wrote:
The tablet will need to be connected to the internet
Not to your pc, it will be a second stands alone computer viewing data
Not a second display for the PC
You could buy a second small LCD monitor to connect to the PC
IDK which one is the better option for you
Your best option might be too get both
Tablet for gps and maps
Second small LCD display for the pic

My PC has 2 HDMI outputs. I need three if I want to add the third monitor. That would be ideal but It's a NUC mini PC so I can't add an internal video card.

Today I tried to use a HDMI splitter so both TV's I have now can display the same screen, using only one HDMI port. Leaving a HDMI for a third monitor. The splitter isn't working for some reason I can't get the two displays to work through a splitter. I've tried two different ones.

I looked at external USB video cards on amazon and I may go that route but my USB's are not 3.0 so it looks like I'd have to use VGA. That would be OK. If that works, I'll get a 19" monitor and attach it next to the 32" TV mounted vertical. That's the way I have it at home and it works great.

Still thinking about the tablet for the advantages it offers. I may go look today but it's going to be 64 degrees! My motorcycle is yelling at me to ride it!

[theoldwizard1]

jcpainter wrote:
One thing that the iPad does EXTREMELY well is to reproduce its screen on a TV via Apple's "Lightening to HDMI" adapter.

This is one of those features you may not need very often, but comes in really handy when you have a use for it.

"Wired" connections for anything (except maybe power and maybe headphones) are fading fast ! Most tablets rely on "screen replication" to a TV via WiFi and, if your TV does NOT have WiFi, some kind of a "dongle" (Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, etc).

Personally, would like a wired connection, one that plugs into a TV's HDMI port, like you mentioned.

[MrWizard]

The tablet will need to be connected to the internet
Not to your pc, it will be a second stands alone computer viewing data
Not a second display for the PC
You could buy a second small LCD monitor to connect to the PC
IDK which one is the better option for you
Your best option might be too get both
Tablet for gps and maps
Second small LCD display for the pic

[wa8yxm]

Wal*mart has one for under 100 dollars and RCA but that is about the only one I'd not recommend.. (I have one and some functions .. at least when I bought mine,,, were not yet working) But I agree with that one exception most anything will work.