Ask AnandTech: Tablets at Work, What are Your Experiences?

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• eanazag - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link

  I work for a large company that I have been fortunate enough to try multiple tablet devices in order to better understand their place in the enterprise. We started out about two years ago when I was talking with a sales team coworker who was trying to share presentations and photos with customers on his iPhone. At the time we had heavy penetration of Blackberry devices. I suggested he would be better off with a tablet; either a BB Playbook or iPad. I had been asked earlier to order several for an app another internal company group had created. He liked the iPad better - primarily for screen size, but I suspect the name carried some weight also. He picked it up and ran with it. I supported the devices and tried to figure out the how to do [fill in the blank] when it came up. This was shortly after the release of the iPad 2; I had been holding off from bringing in any iPad 1’s.
  I wasn’t the first in my organization to be using one. We have a remote sales team that covers the entire US and they happened to no be fond of carrying their laptops when they went to sell. Tablets are the right size for carrying and displaying our information in small group settings (less than 5). Multiple days battery life, built-in cellular, Apple TV (wireless presenting to large screens), a decent email client, MS Exchange support, security features, and more really suited our organization’s needs well. The iPad 2 was a well-designed device and the app store is part of its power. Part of Blackberry Playbook’s downfall is no software. Same reason Surface RT is struggling. I believe there is a hope to Windows RT, but MS can’t pull an HP & Palm. Including Outlook ought to help make more sense to consumers. The reality is that consumers looking to buy an RT are weighing their options in that sub-$500 price range and comparing it to a regular Windows laptop that runs all the software, allows you to go Desktop mode, allows you to install your browser of choice. It becomes a harder sell to pay more money for a cut down Windows experience. On that same note, Windows CE should have been flushed way before RT. Being able to create an app that runs on the phone, tablet, and computer is a powerful concept and the reason RT needs to hang around.
  So right now our organization has a ton of iPad 2’s and higher. We had standardized on them, but they don’t fill all the needs. I don’t see them replacing PC hardware for one simple reason: no mouse support. Many of our users could pull off going with an iPad only if it could offer a good docked experience with the assumption that they would also be used to connect to Windows virtual desktops when necessary. The only other gripe that can be held against iPads in the enterprise is inadequate Office software. Apple has some decent apps to fill the gaps and there are some other choices, but none are close enough at all. Apple does a great job with support for new developers once you cave in to get a Mac to actually develop for iOS. I don’t foresee Apple making a run in the enterprise though because they don’t sell Mac OSX untied to hardware and virtual machine-able.
  I have a Surface Pro also. I went with the 128 GB since prying it open and upgrading was more risk than I was willing to take. I like it. It is a pretty good first time around for MS. In my organization it does not compete against the iPad; it competes against laptops. It is the new laptop. Anand’s commentary has been spot on. Have to have it with the keyboard. Okay, here is the critique though. I am not going to say battery life, though you have to leave it close to the default power profile. Sleep mode only doesn’t last nearly long enough. USB 3 is great and the microSD helps me keep from going off on MS about their storage options. MS, when you create a device and throw Windows on top of it, then leaving the user with pretty much no user data space – you have failed on the product. There should have never been a 32GB RT or a 64GB Pro. You are attempting to compete with devices that offer the near entirety of the advertised storage space to user. No built-in GPS and cellular is a ding. I expect these three items to be addressed in the Haswell-based offerings. It is wholly acceptable to offer the WiFi only option. To clarify this I am talking about storage (128GB, 256 GB, and 400+ GB without price gouging), GPS, and cellular. Lenovo makes Thinkpad USB 3.0 Dock that has been necessary to creating the dock experience that my users are accustomed to with keyboard, mouse, Ethernet, 5 USB 3.0 ports, and dual monitors. I will deal with not getting power also. Only gripe with this dock is you need to power it off when out of the office. Leaving it on for days causes it to start to be sluggish in responding to re-docking. MS should have had a dock also. Lenovo covered their rears on this. Lenovo offers a three year standard warranty with this dock, why cannot MS offer the option of a three year warranty on the Pro? Um, Pro? I picked up the two year, but at $1200 the device is going to last more than two years whether it likes it or not. DPI scaling IS an issue that needs addressing MS. They have done an okay job to squeak the Pro by, but this needs to be handled more sophisticatedly as I am more than ready to bury 1366x768. We use Bitlocker with a TPM and this is a plus to MS for including it. I fully expect the next Pro to include an eDrive SSD. The iPad set this standard for built-in hardware based encryption.
  The Wedge mouse needs to buttons as that one button is not cutting it. I click left and nothing. I click right and it is left. Not accurate 100% of the time. The scrolling works well and Bluetooth is great in keeping the only USB 3.0 slot available. The Wedge mouse is adequate for general use, but gaming will not fly.
  I need to cut this off, but I have a request for Windows 8.1. The desktop mode needs to be completely zoom-able with pinch/zoom, not just individual app windows.

• eanazag - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link

  MS Surface Pro 2 needs at least one Thunderbolt port.

• Ytterbium - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link

  I've been using a Fujitsu Stylistic Tablet for the last 4yrs at work, it very handy, I'd love something thinner and lighter which exists today. With Win8's onscreen keyboard I finally feel like I could ditch the pen input without too many worries.

• BMNify - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link

  Windows 8 pro tablets with minimum 128GB storage at $500-600 will be good, use AMD chips for lower prices and better GPU performance.

• Caen - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link

  As a graphic designer, I use a Nexus 10 daily, it provides many benefits if I am not at my computer or if I require extra real estate with a second screen. Mainly, I can use it for quick note taking for some very complicated processes with our department (swiftkey has become essential), on call pdf for a job references from dropbox, either load a large graphic with additional screenshots the to show print quality more intimately, and immediately show a client mock ups without playing email tag. I love to be visual with people and lucidly explain very key ideas with as much visual accuracy as possible, this cuts down significantly on possible revisions, enables me to be a lot more mobile than with a laptop, with added bonuses of not using a lot of paper/toner for printed pdfs compared to others I work with (and who do use laptops, but still would want a paper pdf.)
  
  That's just at my firm, freelance is also so much easier than lugging around a laptop, and more professional approach than showing someone on my phone.
  
  By the day reasons are growing.

• kureshii - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link

  I teach high school physics. If any tablet is to serve double duty in the classroom and back in the office, it’s going to need connectivity. The lone USB3 port on my Surface Pro is rather anemic; 2 would be a sweet spot for me. Right now I run stuff off a 4-port USB3 hub, but that’s not something I would like to have to bring to the classroom with me.
  
  The other thing that would be really nice in business tablets is Intel WiDi support. I have lots of lessons in mind that would really benefit from an untethered-projection setup, and the cost of a WiDi receiver would be very acceptable for that.
  
  The rest of it is just Windows 8; it remains a frustrating experience trying to use the touchscreen in Windows 8, especially with its poor high-DPI support which results in icons being smaller than they ought to be. The “touch mode” is a nice—ahem—touch on OneNote, but why wasn’t it extended to the rest of the Office family?

• trane - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - link

  The Surface Pro is an awesome little device, as is Iconia W700. Desktop, laptop, tablet, all in one. The only two shortcomings at this time is the battery life but that has a fairly simple solution - Haswell Y series. And scaling on Desktop, which Windows 8.1 seems to fix as well. (Metro scaling is perfect, by the way)
  
  All in all, I am highly excited for Haswell Y-series tablets. Looking at Aspire P3, I would expect them to be in the 10mm Z-height and 750g range which is mighty portable. Judging by battery life tests on Haswell, these should be good for 8 hour battery life. Sure, it doesn't quite match low-power tablets which are getting to 10 hours with 8mm and <600g, but it offers hell of a lot more functionality.

• flyingpants1 - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - link

  Here's the thing, real-world life won't be anything like that.

• mr_tawan - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - link

  I have no chance to do that, it against the security policy *sigh*. There is not even wifi at work. Working with financial firm seems to be very restrictive I think.

• frozentundra123456 - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - link

  We use office and access data bases heavily. Also use mass spec data analysis software that runs on windows. So could only use an x86 tablet, but mouse and keyboard input is essential. Desktop or laptop is a much better solution than a tablet. Cheaper, more powerful, and more efficient.