Active traveler, business pro: Budget sub $400

[MRogers89]

Howdy Guys,
I'm looking at getting a tablet to complement my laptop where I work as well as a something to keep me entertained during frequent travels. I will be spending a significant amount of time reading on it and using it for various tasks including writing music, note-taking, and picture viewing/editing.


General Questions.

1. What is your budget?
$400 or less, I would prefer to stay closer to $300 if possible.
2. Would you consider purchasing used/refurbished?
Yes
3. Do you prefer a Slate, Convertible or Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC)?
Slate would be preferred.
4. What size Tablet PC would you prefer?
Small and light ~ 5" to 8.9"
Compact ~ 10"
Mainstream ~ 12.1" -Would be willing to consider if a particularly good option existed.


5. Which country do you intent to purchase from?
US
6. Do you have any preferences to brand loyalty or dislikes?
None really
7. How many hours battery life do you require?
I would need it to function for greater than 5 at the minimum
8. What will be the primary usage scenario of this tablet? (Email/Web Surfing/Drawing/Word Processing/Entertainment/Notetaking etc)
Email, Web, Word Processing, Media editing and viewing
9. Do you have an OS preference?
None
10. What software and tasks do you intend to run? (Microsoft Office or other Word Processing Suite/Photoshop/3D Studio Max/Autocad etc)
MS Office would be great, Photoshop, Kindle Books
10. Do you intend on playing Games? If so please list.
Light games like Angry Birds, Puzzle games, if any


Screen Specifics

1. What resolution do you prefer?
No real Preference, WXGA sounds like it may suite me.

2. Do you require the screen to be readable in sunlight?
It would be great if it is, I understand this is often difficult.

3. Do you prefer your display to be glossy or matte?
No Preference
4. Do you require Touch? (without pressure sensitivity) (Which one: resistive or capacitive)
Yes, Either would be fine; Capacative would most likely suit me better I think.

5. Do you require a Pen? (with pressure sensitivity) (Which one: Wacom or N-Trig)
Not required, would be welcome.


Component Specifics

1. What size Hard Drive and Memory do you require?
No particular preference, open to suggestions.
2. Do you require an Optical (CD/DVD) Drive to be built in?
No
3. Do you require ability to add a second Battery or Hard Drive (Modular Bay technology)?
No

Misc
1. Other non specific items ~ please add other items you require not covered above?
For factor and weight are important to me, I would like something fairly easy to read a full page on, similar to iPad size if that isn't the best option.
2. Additional requests ~ anything other you wish to take into consideration?

Thanks for your help everyone!

[seaturn]

Looks like all tablets are underpowered for your activities writing music required a high speed CPU (scales real time processing), 3D Studio MAX - good GPU and CPU, Photoshop - a lot of RAM and good CPU. Not sure about temporary files. Probably big harddrive drive and bye-bye battery . Consider Samsung or Asus, or better table PC.

[MRogers89]

The music is more of an afterthought at the moment. But it is something the tablet will be used for eventually. Thanks for the reply though, I'll keep looking.

[MRogers89]

Bump, Further thoughts anyone?

[Agent 9]

Personally I feel the 'media tablets' are really just one of those 'oooh, look its shiny' sorts of things; but that they have little use, and worse, what little use they do offer is through convoluted work-arounds that still don't get you the full anything... and of the people I've ever seen in any sort of public place (on my commute everyday, at college, at work, ect...) people always opt for a notebook/ laptop for getting things done (especially for the ability to position the screen at any angle reguardless of if you have the room or a stand/ folio/ keyboard with you); but the ones I've seen with their ipads are always just playing some touch game at most... as the media tablets strong points don't line up with what you are intending to do I'd recommend you simply save your money and get a 'Tablet PC' (pen, or pen & touch, runs a full version of Windows, and is basically a regular notebook in the form of a slate or convertible tablet), or wait for a small/ light Windows 8 x86 tablet/ ultrabook; or maybe get a netbook.


For note taking a Windows x86 based Tablet PC with a Wacom active digitizer (and using the MS One Note that is usually bundled with a office suite) is the best you can do, but anything less than that is honestly not worth the bother, mostly because of the quality and 'flow' of using such a setup and its features (basically virtual paper, you write virtual 'ink' on it, you can have dozens upon dozens of notebooks with hundreds of pages of hand written notes, all searchable without converting it to text -another feature it has, simply select text right click and convert- different color 'pens' and 'highlighters', insertion of photos, videos, and documents, printing documents to it, it saves as you do stuff in it, and so much more)... typically a 12.1" 16:10 device like the Fujitsu T4410, Lenovo X200 tablet, or HP 2730p go for ~$250-500 used on ebay depending on what it has with it and all.


Honestly though, neither seems to fit your needs/ wants well at all; but the media tablets are essentially throw-away devices that can't do the things properly and are really only useful for basic touch games, yet cost as much or more than a used Tablet PC would... Save your money for something else like the ultrabooks as you'll love a built in keyboard, ability to position the screen, thin and light factor of them, great battery life, and running a full windows OS with its software so no compromising on getting things done, and further, many should have capacitive touch screens (though I'm not sure how many will have a Wacom pen)

[JaneL]

Apple just dropped the price on refurbed original iPad and iPad 2's. There are apps for composing music, but I don't have any experience with them to share. As far as the rest, the iPad would fill your requirements. I would probably go for the iPad 2 at this point rather than the original model.

If Android is your flavor of choice, the Lenovo IdeaPad A1 tablet is $249 right now, and there are probably comparable deals from other manufacturers.

I have a notebook, a tablet PC, an iPad and an Android ThinkPad tablet (and an HP TouchPad that I keep meaning to load with Android), and for entertainment and casual use, I tend to reach for the iPad.

[Jamison Cush]

I like JaneL's thoughts on the Lenovo A1, but Samsung just released the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7-inch for $250, and it has Android ICS (the A1 has the Gingerbread 2.3, which isn't very tablet friendly) and better specs overall. We just published a review, check it out:

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Review: A True Budget Tablet Competitor

And just to be complete, here is our A1 review, and a comparison between the A1 and the Kindle Fire:

Lenovo IdeaPad A1 Tablet Review: Kindle Fire Killer?

Lenovo IdeaPad A1 vs. Amazon Kindle Fire: Budget Android Tablet Battle