Tablet recommendations?

[brimic]

I had a crappy loss leader type tablet from samsung (Galaxy something or other) that I bought a few years that died catastrophically yesterday (cat knocked it off the counter- she told me she was sorry) that I want to replace with something better...

I've found that I rarely use my laptop anymore and do almost all of my internetting on a tablet, including paying bills, scheduling my life, etc...
My kids have a Nexus 7 and an iPOD Mini, so I could go either way on android/apple, though I do have an android phone.

What I'm looking for:
under $400
decent camera/video
prefer smaller 7-8", but not against larger
Adequate processor (last tablet was a dog, it barely ran without adding an app that shut down everything in the background).

I picked up a Samsung Tab A last night, but after getting it home and reading reviews, I decided that the price/perfromance/value wasn't very good, so its going back today (still in box). -My son's 2013 Nexus 7 is still a better tablet....

So right now I'm looking at either spending a little more coin and going with a Nexus 9, or an iPad mini....

Am I on the right track?
Are the Windows 10 tablet/mini notebook things worth looking at?

[RevDisk]

I've had good experiences with Samsung Tab, but the Nexus is also a good choice.

[brimic]

I've had good experiences with Samsung Tab, but the Nexus is also a good choice.

Do you use a Tab A or Tab S?

[K Frame]

I'd suggest randomly purchasing other tablets, taking them home and only then reading the reviews to figure if you picked correctly or not...

 

Last Christmas I picked up a HP Pavilion tablet from somewhere online. It's a 10.1", but it's lightweight and it came with the keyboard cover that is easily snapped off.

I was originally considering purchasing a SmartTV for my bedroom so I could stream video, but Mtnbkr suggested a tablet instead. I looked at the options, and it made a lot of sense.

It has pretty decent resolution, and it was a godsend when I was at my Mother's last week trying to get her financials under control.

I'll have to get home this evening before I can give you other particulars on it, but so far I'm very happy with it. My biggest complaint is that the speakers, even on high, are pretty quiet, but that's easily remedied with headphones.

Best of all, it was a Christmas loss leader sale, and it was either right at, or just under, $200.

[RevDisk]

Do you use a Tab A or Tab S?

I'll have to check, I got it as a demo/bribe/gift at a former gig.

[brimic]

I'd suggest randomly purchasing other tablets, taking them home and only then reading the reviews to figure if you picked correctly or not...

It looked good in the store...

[brimic]

I'll have to check, I got it as a demo/bribe/gift at a former gig.

The reason I asked was because I looked at the Tab S and found it to be very impressive, though at the upper end of my spending limit.

[K Frame]

It looked good in the store...

DUDE!

It's all placement and positioning and girls with floppy arrays making everything look good...

[brimic]

The flappy arrays get me every time.

[mtnbkr]

Having used all of the major tablet OSes, I've decided the only one worth using are the Windows versions.  More functionality, less flakiness, and real utility.

I have an HP Stream 7 purchased on sale at the Microsoft Store for $80 (with 1yr sub to Office and no shovelware).  I use it for streaming movies (netflix), doing email (gmail and Outlook for work), minor document work, and web browsing.  I have simultaneously run Outlook, Word, and a Livemeeting session (participant, not presenter).  I've run a VMWare client to manage VMs, iTunes, and other traditionally tablet-unfriendly apps.  If I could get my corporate VPN to work (policy issue, not tech), I would use it for my "I want to remain connected but don't need a full laptop" system.  Battery life is good.

You couldn't give me an Android-anything.  My kids each have one and they're crap (tablets, not the kids).  I wouldn't buy a mini-laptop.

Chris

[41magsnub]

I have an ASUS transformer pad that works pretty well.  It works great for general web tasks and runs the kindle app perfectly.  The keyboard detatches and the touch screen works well.  It upgraded pretty cleanly to Windows 10.  Battery life is very good.  I did have to send it back for warranty repair once as it would not accept a charge or turn on at all, been fine since.

It's this model (watch for sales as $300 is too much for it):  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014854RGK/ref=s9_hps_ft_g147_ir05?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=0NS5GKEA30T1P0ZHS59B&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_p=2231620462&pf_rd_i=1000958711

[K Frame]

"You couldn't give me an Android-anything."

When it comes to phones I don't want anything BUT an Android.

For a tablet... the apps would be nice (windows apps are still pretty limited) but the overall utility of a windows table is so freaking much greater.

The only thing I didn't like about my HP is that it did come with some preinstalled crap that I've not yet figured out how to get rid of.

Well, there's also the fact that it only has one USB port. I have the mouse receiver plugged into it most of the time, and unplugging it is an annoyance, but a cheap unpowered hub works fine with it.

[brimic]

I have an ASUS transformer pad that works pretty well.  It works great for general web tasks and runs the kindle app perfectly.  The keyboard detatches and the touch screen works well.  It upgraded pretty cleanly to Windows 10.  Battery life is very good.  I did have to send it back for warranty repair once as it would not accept a charge or turn on at all, been fine since.

It's this model (watch for sales as $300 is too much for it):  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014854RGK/ref=s9_hps_ft_g147_ir05?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=0NS5GKEA30T1P0ZHS59B&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_p=2231620462&pf_rd_i=1000958711

Minus the camera, that thing looks about perfect. Local beast buy has them for around $200.

[AJ Dual]

I have a Transformer that's a few years old now. Don't know the specs, but presumably the ones they sell now should be better? They're kind of heavy and thick as compared to the later generation of tablets, at least as I find them to be.

My wife got a Samsung Galaxy S2 a month ago, and zero problems.  She uses it daily/constantly, both for work, providing admin/webmaster functions, administering to push notifications/alerts to a monetized app that ties into the website, and client communications for her side business doing photography.

[Doggy Daddy]

FWIW, I bought an ASUS and liked it a lot, so I bought 2 more for my wife and son. All 3 wound up dieing premature deaths.

[cordex]

FWIW, I bought an ASUS and liked it a lot, so I bought 2 more for my wife and son. All 3 wound up dieing premature deaths.

Similar experience here.
I had an early ASUS transformer running Android that randomly died for no apparent reason.  I have a VivoTab Note 8 that was great for a few months but out of the blue started giving me a Windows Boot Manager error that tech support says cannot be corrected by the end user. 

Nice when they worked, but I would not buy another ASUS tablet.

[Hawkmoon]

Having used all of the major tablet OSes, I've decided the only one worth using are the Windows versions.  More functionality, less flakiness, and real utility.
...
You couldn't give me an Android-anything.  My kids each have one and they're crap (tablets, not the kids).  I wouldn't buy a mini-laptop.

Interesting assessment. Awhile back I picked up an Android-based tablet because I thought it was time to join the 21st century. I hated it, and found it to be completely useless. I played fought with it for a month, and gave it to a friend who wanted to experiment torture himself with a tablet.

I really REALLY miss my Acer Aspire One netbook. Not much bigger or heavier than a large tablet, but it ran Windows 7 and the entire MS Office 2003 suite, so I could actually do work on it. Stupidly, I gave it to my grandson -- who probably never uses it because it doesn't have enough RAM to run games.

[bedlamite]

Interesting assessment. Awhile back I picked up an Android-based tablet because I thought it was time to join the 21st century. I hated it, and found it to be completely useless. I played fought with it for a month, and gave it to a friend who wanted to experiment torture himself with a tablet.

I really REALLY miss my Acer Aspire One netbook. Not much bigger or heavier than a large tablet, but it ran Windows 7 and the entire MS Office 2003 suite, so I could actually do work on it. Stupidly, I gave it to my grandson -- who probably never uses it because it doesn't have enough RAM to run games.

 You might be able to find a replacement cheap, since they are old and outdated. I'm typing this on an ASUS 1215B (4gb, E-350 dual core) netbook I picked up on Evilbay for $50 in great shape.

[AJ Dual]

Interesting assessment. Awhile back I picked up an Android-based tablet because I thought it was time to join the 21st century. I hated it, and found it to be completely useless. I played fought with it for a month, and gave it to a friend who wanted to experiment torture himself with a tablet.

I really REALLY miss my Acer Aspire One netbook. Not much bigger or heavier than a large tablet, but it ran Windows 7 and the entire MS Office 2003 suite, so I could actually do work on it. Stupidly, I gave it to my grandson -- who probably never uses it because it doesn't have enough RAM to run games.

Any tablet is going to suck if you want to type on it. And a chicklet keyboard cover/case is still moderately sucky compared to even a "real" laptop keyboard.

[41magsnub]

Okay I lied, I have an older version of that ASUS tablet.  New one looks a lot spiffier.  I actually have this:  http://www.amazon.com/Asus-Transformer-10-1-inch-Detachable-Keyboard/dp/B00WNEU47U/ref=pd_sim_sbs_147_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=115VJ753NPZEMQ91GPCD&dpID=519vGVLdNEL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_

[Hawkmoon]

You might be able to find a replacement cheap, since they are old and outdated. I'm typing this on an ASUS 1215B (4gb, E-350 dual core) netbook I picked up on Evilbay for $50 in great shape.

Yep. This thread inspired me (no pun intended) to check out Craigs List. I found two Aspire Ones listed. The black one has a smaller hard drive, but I'm not crazy about a red netbook. I'm arranging to look at the black one tomorrow. Now I'll have to find my external CD-ROM drive for installing software.

[Brad Johnson]

I picked up a Samsung Tab A last night, but after getting it home and reading reviews, I decided that the price/perfromance/value wasn't very good, so its going back today (still in box).

Did you try it in Slot B?

Brad

[bedlamite]

Yep. This thread inspired me (no pun intended) to check out Craigs List. I found two Aspire Ones listed. The black one has a smaller hard drive, but I'm not crazy about a red netbook. I'm arranging to look at the black one tomorrow. Now I'll have to find my external CD-ROM drive for installing software.

Don't worry about the drive size, get the black one, negotiate a lower price because of the smaller drive, then replace the drive with a SSD. It's even easier on the Acer than it was on my Asus. SSD makes a huge difference in both battery life and speed.

[Hawkmoon]

Don't worry about the drive size, get the black one, negotiate a lower price because of the smaller drive, then replace the drive with a SSD. It's even easier on the Acer than it was on my Asus. SSD makes a huge difference in both battery life and speed.

Maybe down the road, but I never came close to using all the hard drive on my old one. I don't need this thing at all, but it's handy to carry around when I don't feel like toting a full-size notebook computer. I just want to spend as littler as possible to correct my foolish generosity.

[Ben]

You might also check out convertible laptops. I ended up going to an 11" Lenovo Yoga. I was looking the Surface Pros, which I didn't go to just now because they're way more expensive and the Yoga is just a travel and "sit outside with it" laptop (that folds into a tablet that's a better screen size for me than any stand-alone tablet).

The Surface Pro 3s and 4s are super nice though, and lighter and thinner than the competition. Much more functional than just a tablet, and I imagine the 3s are starting to drop in price with the introduction of the 4s.