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Recommend A Tablet

HubbardsFate

HubbardsFate

Oct 18, 2006
2,185
3,927
#1
Hey Guys,

Just wondering if some of the more tech-savvy on here can recommend a tablet to me.

Here's the deal: On Feb. 13th, I'll be flying to the east coast of Canada to visit family for the first time since 2015. My laptop is a monstrous 19-inch ASUS gaming laptop...it's big and heavy and unnecessary.

Yes, I have a smartphone, which makes the "necessity" of even a tablet debateable, but two things: One, for the most part, I HATE "computing" on my phone (small screen, etc.), and two, during this trip (five weeks) I intend to have my phone on me a minimal amount of time, as the whole point is to visit/interact with friends/family.

My laptop runs on Windows, my phone is a Samsung Android, and this old dog has no interest in learning new Apple tricks. Also, I'd kind of like a tablet for which I could buy a physical keyboard - I think these are called "convertibles"? - but that's not an absolute necessity.

Any and all suggestions welcome...thanks for reading...
 
#3
I've used a Samsung Galaxy tablet for years. The newest models include the A7 Lite and the A8, you might take a look at those. They run on Android, so they should work a lot like your phone. There are keyboards that you can buy separately that run via BlueTooth or USB cable, I think the Samsung Smart Keyboard Trio 500 works with the A-series, and is affordable.
 
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#4
I'd get a Samsung tablet but not a budget or mid-range. I've tried a few and they never work out because they're significantly slower than my phone. If you have the means to get a high end one, you'll already know exactly how to use it, it'll sync with all the stuff on your phone, and it's fast and awesome.
 
#5
I got a Galaxy A8 last year and I just love it.

I needed something to bridge the gap between my smartphone and my laptop and this fit the bill perfectly.

I can easily transfer files and other information among my phone, tablet, and laptop using multiple methods. Even Bluetooth works effortlessly.
 
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#6
Stick with what you know and score a Samsung tablet. The experience between the phone and tablet should be mostly similar, but that will also depend on the version of Android on each device. For simplicity of the user experience, see if you can be sure they are the same. If not, it's fine, the interface and features may be a little different between the two.
What's your budget? That'll help us find you a specific model.

-Mike
 
#7
HubbardsFate said:
Hey Guys,

Just wondering if some of the more tech-savvy on here can recommend a tablet to me.

Here's the deal: On Feb. 13th, I'll be flying to the east coast of Canada to visit family for the first time since 2015. My laptop is a monstrous 19-inch ASUS gaming laptop...it's big and heavy and unnecessary.

Yes, I have a smartphone, which makes the "necessity" of even a tablet debateable, but two things: One, for the most part, I HATE "computing" on my phone (small screen, etc.), and two, during this trip (five weeks) I intend to have my phone on me a minimal amount of time, as the whole point is to visit/interact with friends/family.

My laptop runs on Windows, my phone is a Samsung Android, and this old dog has no interest in learning new Apple tricks. Also, I'd kind of like a tablet for which I could buy a physical keyboard - I think these are called "convertibles"? - but that's not an absolute necessity.

Any and all suggestions welcome...thanks for reading...
Click to expand...
The more you'd like your tablet to be useful in music, the more you should consider an iPad after all.

(Me, I have several iPads an Android tablets in daily use. My Windows tablets are dusty, my Android ones won't be replaced.)
 
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#8
I have an older Microsoft Surface tablet that still works great.

My kids are both into classical music, and a lot of the musicians have gone digital. It's not uncommon to see a quartet with 4 tablets. They are almost exclusively 12" iPads with page turning pedals. Sure, they're probably better, but another factor is the old saying, "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM." If you use the same stuff as everybody else, and something goes wrong, they're sympathetic, and will offer to help you. If you have "weird" stuff, then it had better work 100% perfectly, or you become the geek who tried to cheap out on gear.

There's a music specific PDF reader app for iPad that supports the Apple Pencil and makes it easy to annotate charts.

My music related needs are more basic -- mostly chord charts, not dense classical stuff, so the 10" tablet is just fine, and I made my own page turning pedal:

GitHub - bassistTech/pageTurningPedal: Bluetooth page turning pedal

It works fine with pretty much all platforms: Windows, iPad, and Android. And if it doesn't, well I probably know all of the tunes anyway.

I prefer cheaper stuff, because the lower cost is my insurance policy against theft or damage. Same with laptops. You could get a cheap refurbished Windows laptop if you don't want to carry the giant Asus. I'm always torn between tablet and laptop, because I almost always need a keyboard for coding.
 
#9
Then again, the ASUS may be big and heavy and unnecessary, but it's also something you already know and are familiar with. You could add in the factors of buying another device, maintaining and managing that additional electronic device, acquiring the necessary accessories for that device (charger/case/keyboard/extra battery/yadda yadda) and the learning curve getting it to where the ASUS is now.
Maybe it isn't so bad after all lugging the ASUS along for the ride.

-Mike
 

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