Ask AnandTech: Ideal Tablet Specs & Form Factor for Work?

79 Comments

View All Comments

• dsf9h2f - Tuesday, July 2, 2013 - link

  You do not have to be an elitist to prefer one device over another - as Aegrum said both in his original post AND the reply, most of the clinical people preferred the iPad. Otherwise, you too would be an elitist as you clearly show your preference for Android/Nexus.

• kascollet - Monday, July 15, 2013 - link

  The ipad Mini's screen is just much bigger, mostly because of the 4:3 ratio.
  Of course, resolution is great but on these small devices, effective screen estate is more important.

• fteoath64 - Saturday, June 29, 2013 - link

  iPad Mini form factor and weight plus a 1600X 1200 resolution screen and a multi-dock for docking base for use at the desktop (24 inch LCD keyb mouse, sound). It is all one need fo work mostly as it is portable if it has the same 9 hours of battery. Undock it you are free to move around with wifi Cloud as the sharing mechanism. Laptops are going out because of this since its screen is not big enough for long-term desktop use and too clumsy for portable use.

• A4i - Monday, July 1, 2013 - link

  Mine personal experience is almost the same, except that Windows stuff. I had browser enabled medical&ERP software, that was compatible with all HTML 5 platforms. Also medical personnel in my clinic were inclined towards MackBook hardware. Also they had additional imaging software on their IPad tablets. Wi-Fi coverage was a problem too. Regular iPad is almost perfect for that use. Some enhancement are welcomed though, such as slimmer bezel and weight reduction. A first party bumper case will be nice to, because nowadays Apple accessories don't provide adequate drop protection.

• p1esk - Wednesday, June 26, 2013 - link

  I don't see a use for tablets in the workspace.
  Ultrabooks aren't much heavier or larger, but are easier to type on, and have enough processing power to do almost all tasks.
  Oh, and they have a more comfortable screen size to look at (13" vs 10" or less).
  I only wish they would stop that nonsense of putting touchscreens on ultrabooks.
  

• FlyBri - Friday, June 28, 2013 - link

  I think you are probably a bit narrow in your scope and are only thinking of a regular office workspace in terms of your comment about not seeing a use for tablets in the workspace. I'm almost positive there are certain work environments in which tablets make sense, especially if they are mobile around the office and building, and also need something that has stylus/writing capabilities. And now with Haswell chips out, the increase in battery life along with being able to make slightly thinner tablet PC's, I think we'll see rather soon good quality, thinner tablet convertibles w/ better battery life that connect to keyboard docks of great quality. In essence, I think there will be more tablet/ultrabook convertible options that will truly offer the best of both worlds. And I'm sorry, but it's not nonsense of putting touchscreens on ultrabooks. If you have read many reviews of touchscreen ultrabooks running Windows 8, many reviewers thought the touchscreen made sense after using it with Windows 8 after awhile. I myself prefer a matte screen, and right now, there are no matte screens that are also touch capable. That doesn't mean that touchscreen ultrabooks are nonsense though -- they definitely have their place. I would personally just like to see more matte screen options available.

• manders2600 - Wednesday, June 26, 2013 - link

  The ideas shown by Intel with a 12-13 inch convertible screen that then reduces to 10 inches when detached from its keyboard dock are perfect for business usage. The ultra-light, battery-efficient nature of current ARM-based tablets is absolutely necessary for use without a keyboard, but the larger screen size is needed for extended periods of stationary use. Having the bevel "adjust" itself depending on usage/orientation is a tremendous idea, allowing the user to have the best of both words. Storage space needs to get to a point where no one cares about SD cards (at least 128 GB) and RAM needs to hit the 4 GB mark. The SoC needs to be a bit more powerful, since multitasking is going to remain a need, but we are getting close to "good enough" for most business needs. Wireless/inductive charging integrated with NFC is an absolute must-have for tablets, keyboard docks, and phones moving forward, as will be the ability to quickly and wirelessly "plug in" to display and input devices wherever these devices are going to be used.

• zaddie63 - Thursday, June 27, 2013 - link

  Wirelessly charging a ~2000 mA battery in a cellular phone takes a while to do. I am not sure wirelessly charging an ~4000mA battery in a tablet would be practical? You might as well plug it in. Unless you plan on doing this only at night.

• manders2600 - Friday, June 28, 2013 - link

  It wouldn't really be for "filling up" the device, per se, but rather just keeping it charged. So the idea would be that NFC/Qi combos should allow you to drop your phone or tablet on the pad, and immediately connect to your BT keyboard, mouse, headset, mount a network share, etc and start Miracasting its video signal to your Monitor (the next evolutionary step from plugging your laptop into a dock with a fan and external monitor/keyoard/mouse hookups).

• Rictorhell - Wednesday, June 26, 2013 - link

  The shame of it, for me, as a person with a lot of media files, photos, videos, songs, etcetera, is that I have to do a lot of compromising when it comes to mobile devices in order to have everything at hand that I both need and want.
  
  The cloud has received a lot of hype and attention lately and if you are a person with constant, convenient, and affordable internet service, I'm sure it's great, but I don't like to rely on whether or not internet access is available in order for me to get my personal files and my personal information.
  
  I have an iPaq 210 that is several years old and extremely underpowered that I use now mostly as an mp3 player and because that device has both a compact flash slot and an sd card slot, in many ways, storage wise, it's more capable then many of the newer devices that are available right now, at least when I have no internet access and I need my files.
  
  There is this big emphasis being placed on having the thinnest and trendiest devices but I value having the amount of local storage that I need and want, without compromise, and I can't seem to get that with many modern devices.
  
  I have an Acer w700 that has a fair sized ssd, but only because I replaced the 64gb option that came with it and installed my own msata drive. There was the option for a 128gb drive as well, but for me, and probably others, that's just not enough storage for a Windows 8 device.
  
  If I can purchase a tablet, preferably something that has a 10" or larger screen, with a user replaceable battery and ssd, and even an sd card slot, at the bare minimum, I think that is worth the sacrifice of a few extra millimeters in thickness.
  
  A cutting edge device with barely enough storage space and no expandable storage is a device with a built-in expiration date and a guarantee of more profits for certain manufacturers. No offense meant, manufacturers :)
  
  From my point of view, if you give customers the ability to customize their products to meet their needs and desires, and you build a high quality device, you're going to get their future business anyway, regardless. We all know that no single device is going to last forever.