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Best option for mobility

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  • Mobile Computing
Last response: in Mobile Computing
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September 9, 2013 8:00:24 AM

Longtime lurker/sometimes poster on the cpu and hardware sections, and wasn't sure which the best forum to ask this question was.
I am changing careers and will be going from a desk job to a sales job and need to start thinking about how best to accomplish things away from home. I'm a desktop user at heart. I see the benefit of having something very portable to use like a tablet, but have seen some of the struggles my wife has gone through trying to do business on her iPad. Granted, I am more savvy with the hardware (and software) than she is.
It seems that a lot of documents that I'll be working with will be cloud-based (digital transmission and signatures, etc), but I still love the thought of being able to dump something out of a PDF to powerpoint, dump an image out and modify in Gimp - basically what I think a lot of us would normally do on a computer. I just haven't been convinced yet that the tablets are able to easily do everything I want.
I like the thought of constant connectivity to a network or wi-fi (tablet) but it seems like its a bit harder to come by if I favor a notebook/netbook.

Any thoughts on this, and recommendations as to products I may want to research would be great as I'm trying not to have any preconcieved notions (even though I do!).

More about : option mobility

September 9, 2013 8:08:24 AM

Have u thought about a Surface Pro?
or a touchscreen notebook?
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September 9, 2013 8:09:39 AM

Sounds like you want a Windows based convertable table. Something you can use as a tablet, flip to a keyboard, use Windows which your familar with and will have the app's and things you use most in the easiest way. Just a matter of finding one with a SIM chip slot if you wanted to add data to it. Of course most cell phone places sell a USB stick nowadays for wifi/usb cell data on the go, and they would work best with a windows PC. Trying to use one without drivers or login software etc on an android tablet or something isn't practical.

Android is a great mobile OS. Works great for a phone and does what it should. I would never want to do anything prodcutive on it though. I like windows for that.
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September 10, 2013 2:06:56 PM

thanks for the info guys. I'm not sure I even need the convertablility, but lightness and durability are important in my book. I guess if it helps being able to show clients more easily, then that's cool. I will say I have been less than impressed with the touchscreen of the iPad, but I've had no real issues with more recent smartphones which happen to be of the android variety. I've not seen any touchscreen notebooks. If I take out the convertability component, I'm back to just a laptop/notebook. I'm totally fine with that....other than I've loved the two desktop computers I've built and think building my own laptop isn't in the cards.

That all being said, am I probably going to be resigned to getting into Windows 8 or are there still a lot of convertables/notebooks with Windows 7, and will I really notice much difference once I learn my way around Win 8?
Oh, last thing - look for something with a SSD? Quick start up would be really nice to have. I thought they improved boot times with Win 8 but havent seen it myself.
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