Best for Business Use: Laptop or Tablet?

[Phills14]

Hey everyone,

I'm in need of a new devise for work. I travel quite a bit and have been using an iPad as my travel 'computer' for about 2 years now. Well I left it on an airplane last week and United says they don't have it nor has it been turned on since I lost it.

I am not going to go with another iPad or apple product but I am looking between ultra-books, hybrids and android or windows based tablets. I'm not sure which one I want so I need some help. Probably stay away from Android tablets but if someone has good luck with them let me know.

Primary business function is email communication, document editing and storage. I will also use it for some personal reasons, logging into RCF and Netflix mainly.

I'm leaning more Ultrabook but the roadblock to me is the internet accessibility. I will either have to buy a hot spot or add a wifi hot spot to my samsung galaxy phone. Anyone do that? Can you speak to what it does to the phone's battery, internet connection etc..

Any suggestions?

 

[gourimoko]

I just bought my wife a Macbook Pro w/Retina for Christmas. I gotta say, it's pretty live.. Very portable like the Air, but also very powerful. Dunno about paying what I paid for it.. dammit... but still it's pretty live.

But if you want an ultrabook, there are some pretty good devices out there for under $1k.. What's your budget like?

Regarding tethering -- this is what I do primarily. Tethering will hammer your phones battery, but you've got a few options. Tethering via USB keeps the phone constantly charged but it does significantly drain the laptop's battery. You can compensate by reducing the brightness of the screen, but all in all, you want a device that already consumes as little power as possible.

I've tethered on Sprint's CDMA network and presently AT&T's HPSA+. I have to say, AT&T's service is phenomenal.. Absolutely phenomenal. 44Mbps/25Mbps with ping times of 5ms to the local university. Outstanding performance, that rivals my home DSL connection. Sprint, on the other hand, is kinda garbage. 7Mbps down, 2Mbps up, 45ms to the local university, and 100ms to San Diego. Obviously this is anecdotal, but in Cleveland, ATT was also far faster than Sprint; so was T-Mobile.

 

[TheISHT]

Yoga 2 or Surface Pro 2 if using for business.

 

[Phills14]

My budget is about a $1,000. I would like to stay under it.

That's what I figured about the cell phone hotspot. Do they still sell those independent mobile hot spots? If so, are they any good?

I was looking at the Yoga. That one looks pretty cool to me. I didn't like the surface that much when I played with it at Best Buy today.

 

[gourimoko]

My budget is about a $1,000. I would like to stay under it.

That's what I figured about the cell phone hotspot. Do they still sell those independent mobile hot spots? If so, are they any good?

I was looking at the Yoga. That one looks pretty cool to me. I didn't like the surface that much when I played with it at Best Buy today.

If I was going to spend $1k on a laptop I'd just say fuck it and buy a MacBook... The entry-level MacBook Pro Retina is 1199 I think, and the entry-level Air is 1099.. They have better specs than most ultrabooks with i5 processors, and are usually about 30% lighter.

Now if you absolutely must stay under $1000, there are other options. I always advise that if you even think you want a laptop, then don't get a tablet. Get a tablet because you specifically WANT a tablet -- they aren't laptop replacements. The Surface Pro 2, however, as TheISHT mentioned, is the best tablet ever.. You literally can do anything and everything with it, and it has a 6 hour battery, which isn't bad considering.

And regarding hotspots, yes they do still sell them. They can be a cheaper alternative than paying for tethering on your contract. Although, you could always just root your phone as I did and get tethering for free. Then you can just turn on WiFi hotspot, or use a USB cable (don't need root for this). I actually prefer the USB cable option for 95% of my use because it's fast and doesn't kill the phones battery.

 

[Phills14]

I'm pretty sure I'm going go to the ultrabook route with this one.

I use cnet.com a lot when making electronic decisions. They recommend the new Lenovo Yoga Pro 2 but that is pushing the limits of my budget. They also give high marks to the Samsung series 5 with windows 8. The samsung has a much more reasonable $700-800 range. It doesn't have the fancy flip screen that the Yoga does but I'm not 100% sure I'd use that anyway.

 

[TheISHT]

I like the surface pro 2 because I can use it as a tablet if needed, it's more portable than most. Which keyboarddid you use? I have one that is perfectly flat, but it actually works well. There is one keyboard that's a little thicker, but the keys actually have some play where it's more like a normal keyboard.

The pinch and zoom is pretty nice as well since the 11 inch screen is small. Only thing I dislike is the weight of it. Yoga Pro 2 was suppose to egg good reviews as well.

 

[gourimoko]

I'm pretty sure I'm going go to the ultrabook route with this one.

I use cnet.com a lot when making electronic decisions. They recommend the new Lenovo Yoga Pro 2 but that is pushing the limits of my budget. They also give high marks to the Samsung series 5 with windows 8. The samsung has a much more reasonable $700-800 range. It doesn't have the fancy flip screen that the Yoga does but I'm not 100% sure I'd use that anyway.

..Nvm.. thought that was a tablet.

 

[JSS2306]

We use the Samsung tablet with Windows 8 for our service calls and I cannot understand the appreciation for these devices. They are incredibly frustrating devices when trying to be productive when it comes to typing, navigation, web surfing... ect..

I wish we had our laptops back because tablets are just not in any way more convenient IMO.

 

[CornerThree]

13" macbook air or 13" macbook retina pro or 13" macbook pro all are going to exceed your budget by a bit, but I would opt for any of them over a windows machine based primarily on the build quality and the ability to hold its resale value if you elect to upgrade at some point in the future. Like a 2008 macbook is still worth 200$ from Gazelle(the first place i looked)