Laptops vs tablets, and other phone/computer amalgamations
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There is the persistent idea I had wondering about the feasibility of using a tablet instead of a laptop when on the go. The vast majority of my portable computing needs can be handled by a tablet, at least one with a keyboard attached. And most of the laptop usage happens on a bus, where even the smaller 13” ends up too big for comfortable use.
But then there also are all sorts of hybrid devices, where we have laptops, Chromebooks, 2-in-1s, tablets and anything else that’s been produced by the uncontrolled breeding between computers and phones that’s been going on for the past decade or two. But is any of the mature and/or competent enough to be a laptop replacement? Does a tablet with a desktop OS work better than a computer with a mobile OS or vice versa?
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@Atazhaia Just from personal experience, I much prefer my Surface Pro 3 over any of the Android tablets I've had. Having access to a full suite of desktop applications just means I don't have to hunt down weird mobile versions of them that have their own unique quirks or limitations.
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@Atazhaia said in Laptops vs tablets, and other phone/computer amalgamations:
But is any of the mature and/or competent enough to be a laptop replacement? Does a tablet with a desktop OS work better than a computer with a mobile OS or vice versa?
The really big difference between the two is whether you are dealing with a device that expects to be interacted with using a mouse and keyboard, or using a touchscreen. Most Android devices will handle a keyboard and mouse fine (you'll probably want wireless bluetooth ones) but that doesn't make that usage particularly wonderful; the differences are all in the types of interaction metaphor used by the apps and they don't cross over easily. (That's what caused so many problems with touchscreen laptops in Windows 8; you design stuff differently depending on the types of input styles you expect.)
If you expect to run a software development environment, you'll probably prefer a laptop. Writing code with an on-screen keyboard is ghastly.
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Looking around a bit more, it seems that for small size then a tablet with keyboard cover is the way to go. There is no laptop smaller than 13" that seems to be more competent than a tablet, rather more incompetent. And most of the devices are Chromebooks with horrible displays.
There is the Surface Go 2, but that also seems a bit lacking in CPU power. Can get a full Windows desktop and Windows apps, but dunno how far an m3 CPU will get.
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@Atazhaia said in Laptops vs tablets, and other phone/computer amalgamations:
There is no laptop smaller than 13" that seems to be more competent than a tablet,
I was going to see if Lenovo still had their 11" Yoga. But their website doesn't want to talk to me (timed out). I got one of those years ago and it performed pretty well. It's a flip style laptop - use it like a regular laptop, or flip the lid all the way over and use it like a tablet. (the keyboard is exposed, but disabled in tablet mode)
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@Atazhaia said in Laptops vs tablets, and other phone/computer amalgamations:
There is the Surface Go 2, but that also seems a bit lacking in CPU power. Can get a full Windows desktop and Windows apps, but dunno how far an m3 CPU will get.
I have an original Surface Go, and run the full Windows on it. It's not for heavy workloads for sure, but I can run Visual Studio on it in a pinch. Or Powerpoint, if that's needed.
Ergonomics for doing actual extended work on it are meh. Keyboard and screen are tiny. But then again, I'm not fond of working on laptops anyway, so YMMV. Being a Surface, it at least has the option to get its default keyboard out of the way if you want to connect a proper one. (It's great for slow-coding through a tedious presentation somewhat stealthily. Working from home and remote meetings have eliminated that niche use for the time being.)
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@Atazhaia said in Laptops vs tablets, and other phone/computer amalgamations:
The vast majority of my portable computing needs can be handled by a tablet, at least one with a keyboard attached. And most of the laptop usage happens on a bus, where even the smaller 13” ends up too big for comfortable use.
My experience with tablets is that what makes them (more) comfortable to use than a real laptop when e.g. on the bus is actually the absence of external keyboard. The keyboard just forces the whole device in a position that isn't necessarily very nice (the keyboard must be reasonably horizontal and at the right position relative to your hands, and that automatically means that the screen is next to it which isn't always where you want it).
Mind you, the virtual keyboard on the tablet itself isn't really any better for typing (it's worse), but not having a physical keyboard makes the device easier to position where you want it when just looking at it (not typing on the keyboard), and you can type short inputs even if the keyboard is in an awkward position, all that without being encumbered by another piece of plastic hanging from the screen.
On the whole, I've given up doing any kind of serious non-mouse-like (or touch) input when I'm not properly sitting. I think you might want to think about that before committing to a new device that might actually not really solve your problem?
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Under no circumstances should you get a ChromeBook.
I hate that fucking thing.
Gave it to my big kids who help my 7 yo to do school work; they were willing to spend their own money for an alternative.
ETA: Absolutely zero video conferencing worked on it. Either not compatible at all, I could get audio w/o video or video w/o audio. Never both.
I tried beside standard work related ones, telemedicine related ones (of which through all my doctors might be as many at 4).
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@Karla said in Laptops vs tablets, and other phone/computer amalgamations:
I could get audio w/o video
That's a nice feature
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@TimeBandit said in Laptops vs tablets, and other phone/computer amalgamations:
@Karla said in Laptops vs tablets, and other phone/computer amalgamations:
I could get audio w/o video
That's a nice feature
Most of the time that is fine. Telemedicine needs video and I would have liked both when we had our virtual happy hour.
There was a scavenger hunt, need visuals to get credit.
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@Karla said in Laptops vs tablets, and other phone/computer amalgamations:
Under no circumstances should you get a ChromeBook.
I hate that fucking thing.
Gave it to my big kids who help my 7 yo to do school work; they were willing to spend their own money for an alternative.
ETA: Absolutely zero video conferencing worked on it. Either not compatible at all, I could get audio w/o video or video w/o audio. Never both.
I tried beside standard work related ones, telemedicine related ones (of which through all my doctors might be as many at 4).
My sister's friend is a high schooler and has a school-issued Chromebook. I used it for a few minutes and already hate it. The entire machine and the entire OS is built around Chrome, but this version is missing the single feature that made Chrome so popular to start with - incognito mode. Nope, no can do. You have to log out entirely from the OS and login again using the guest account. Unless the domain administrator disabled the guest account, that is.
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I did visit an electronics store so I could finger a few of them. Surface is interesting, but the combination of Windows, portable device and old weak hardware makes me wary about how well it will work in reality.
Chromebook looked and felt absolutely awful. It's like the cheapest possible shit thrown together along with an abomination of an OS. So you get none of the benefits of a laptop, with none of the benefits of a tablet.
iPad is the other option, and it seemed to work better with the Apple keyboard rather than the Logitech one I use with my current iPad occasionally, which is a whole barrel of
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@dkf said in Laptops vs tablets, and other phone/computer amalgamations:
Writing code with an on-screen keyboard is ghastly.
Fact. I add my testimony to this.
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@Tsaukpaetra Sorry to interrupt your clefable, but when I rhydon the bus and write code off the top of my wigglytuff it's pretty easy to use the OSK for Visual Basic. Abra kadabra alakazam, and it exeggcutes without a problem -- unless I jinx it. That way when I get to work I can steelix a bagel from the wobbuffet and snorlax until code review. So wynaut?
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@TwelveBaud said in Laptops vs tablets, and other phone/computer amalgamations:
Visual Basic
People still use it?:but-why.apng:
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@TwelveBaud That whole story sounds very farfetch'd
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@hungrier said in Laptops vs tablets, and other phone/computer amalgamations:
@TwelveBaud That whole story sounds very farfetch'd
That whole story sounds written with an OSK.
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@dcon It does read very oddish
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@Tsaukpaetra said in Laptops vs tablets, and other phone/computer amalgamations:
:but-why.apng:
XML islands, mostly. For transforming existing XML, XSLT is usually more appropriate, but you can't call into the .NET Framework or native code from it. For other uses, most people use proxy types and serialization or the LINQ to XML classes, but it isn't always apparent at a casual reading what's expected or output. VB's syntax -- creating
XElements by just writing the XML, accessing XML elements and attributes as though they were just regular old properties, and two-character access to the descendant axis -- makes things far more straightforward, and most of my coworkers who are familiar with C# can muddle through it. I use C# for everything else though, and only use VB when it offers clear and convincing benefits -- like dealing with multi-gigabyte XML fragments of call detail records, or parsing large Excel files server-side to do things that SharePoint and most data access libraries don't support (e.g. remove all text that's red and stricken through).@dcon said in Laptops vs tablets, and other phone/computer amalgamations:
That whole story sounds written with an OSK.
Well, you're not wrong...
@hungrier said in Laptops vs tablets, and other phone/computer amalgamations:
@dcon It does read very oddish
You have nothing to fearow from me, no hankey mankey here; I'm just telling ninetales.
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@TwelveBaud jynx*
