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Ask AnandTech: Tablets at Work, What are Your Experiences?by Anand Lal Shimpi on 6/12/2013 3:13 PM EST
148 Comments
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r3loaded - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkThe only tablet that can possibly be useful to me is an x86 Windows tablet like the Surface Pro, and I'll absolutely need a physical keyboard to go with it. If it can't compile code, it's useless for work to me. Reply
TwiSparkle - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkPretty much. I am a student but the same applies for me. I was super interested in the Surface Pro (and will be more interested in a Haswell Pro 2) because it is super portable and I can run Visual Studio on it. Reply
protomech - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkVisual Studio on a 10.6" 1080p display sounds like a recipe for eye strain, tbh. Reply
chizow - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkPretty much same here for me, without seamless Active Directory support and Office, tablets are a non-starter for me at work.
I'm also waiting for Surface Pro 2, needs are 1) lower price ($600 ideally with typepad) 2) slightly smaller form factor and 3) better battery life.
Make it happen MS! Reply
thesavvymage - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linki dont think that price point would be possible with a ulv haswell chip. A surface with an Atom or Kabini, however, is something Id definately buy at 600 Reply
Spoelie - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkYou're looking at it from an angle where a tablet would replace your workstation, which at this point is madness of course.
But have you considered it as a note taking device on meetings? To do a presentation on or give a demo of a release (assuming web interface or compatible codebase)? Or any other tasks not related to coding? Reply
A5 - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkA laptop does all of that better and can still compile code. Reply
protomech - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkIf you're sitting down, yes.
A slate device is a better form factor for passing around, for use while standing or moving about or giving a presentation.
It won't compile code as well as a laptop certainly, but if that was the only metric we were interested in then we'd all be using 55W TDP 8 pound laptops or workstations. Slate devices have enough power for a large number of users and their tasks, and that number will proportionally grow over time. Reply
StevoLincolnite - Tuesday, June 18, 2013 - linkFor note taking, I use... Yes, you guessed it. Pen and paper. Then scan it into my Notebook or Desktop or Phone later which automagically turns it into text, no battery, smaller, cheaper and lighter weight. :P Reply
Krysto - Saturday, June 22, 2013 - linkThe screen is still too small on a Surface, which makes it pretty useless for real work. No matter how you look at it, you're going to compromise with the Surface Pro. Reply
jamyryals - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkLike a lot of developers now, I have a laptop workstation that docks at work to multiple monitors. I hope my next workstation is a tablet that docks into a pro quality workstation dock where I can attach Monitors/HDD/USB Devices. At the end of the day I just want to grab the little tablet thing and leave all the serious work stuff on my desk. Re-dock at home if I need to work some more, or just tinker with the tablet on the couch.
The latest tablet+keyboard devices are starting to get interesting, but fully capable workstation docks need to be part of that story before you spend thousands on a machine for work. Reply
varad - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link^^ This ^^ Reply
pancakes - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI think that sounds great. Something like a Transformer tablet running x86 Windows, with a desk dock and a laptop dock.
Oh man I want one of those. Reply
MrSpadge - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkIt's called the Thinkpad Helix. Reply
VikingDude151 - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkThe Holy Grail for Windows 8 and tablets is described in jamyrals post. Devices just have to get there.
I would take it further, that by leveraging VDI and other technologies the smart phone should replace "tablet" in the above. Large tablet screen being just a larger LCD and battery pack that the phone docks into. Reply
Nexing - Monday, June 17, 2013 - linkYes, except that tablets would be seen as another "partial" in a chain of connected tools. The root of it not been a phone but something like the ilock (PACE managed). A device that physically carries the software permissions, except that with the future device, the user will have -thru it- the control of passwords, codes, favorites, mappings,for office, house and appliances preferences, etc.conveyed to the phone, tablet, laptop, desktop, car and whatever needs and is defined including e-commerce and commerce or agreed shared places and spaces.
//The actual fight between OSes and Mobile products (tablets vs phones vs laptops) is imbedded with the aim to define which one gains the "identity control", whereas many of us believe this will be kept as closer to the individual as the choice availability offers, weighted with the different ranges of accessibility that those mentioned tools provide to the customer. Reply
andrewaggb - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkAs a software developer, I can't think of anything work related I'd rather do on a tablet. I have an ipad and a galaxy note 2, and I think they're both pretty much useless for anything other than reading emails as far as work goes. And even then they are so limited with what they can do with attachments and once you want to edit or reply I give up and use a laptop or desktop.
The idea of using a tablet as a desktop/laptop replacement still appeals to me provided it has a proper dock so I can use at least 2 external high res monitors, wired gigabit ethernet, and standard desktop peripherals. I'd use it as a tablet on the couch, but otherwise I'd use it like a desktop. It's still attractive to me because it would keep my data, applications, etc portable. Cloud works ok for document portability, but keeping all your applications and OS up to date on multiple machines is a huge time sink. Reply
jdsvii1986 - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkYeah this exists, it's called the Surface Pro. Girl sitting next to me at work has 2 monitors, a keyboard, and mouse all hooked up to a dock plugged into the USB3 port on her Surface. Works like a charm. Reply
andrewaggb - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkIt is my understanding that the USB3 docks have video limitations with reports of dropped frames/poor youtube performance and the like. I work with video surveillance systems so I wouldn't find that acceptable. Reply
DanNeely - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkA single 1920x1080 screen output at 24bit color/60hz would need ~3gigabits of bandwidth; ~60% of USB3s theoretical limit. Assuming similar efficiency levels (though I think USB3 is better) to USB2 this would be within the range of barely possible without compression/lossage. 2 such monitors would require some level of compression; but much less than the ~3x needed for 1024x768 over USB2 which I've seen elsewhere cited as the max a USB2 adapter can do without problems in general use.
Video playback is probably more difficult than general use though; because any framerate jitter will be readily visible and it doesn't take much latency before the audio and video are noticeably out of sync. Reply
8steve8 - Monday, June 17, 2013 - linkIf she's doing it all off a usb3 port then she is doing it wrong. She should be using the mini displayport from the surface pro to drive 1 monitor, or more using a displayport hub or monitors with daisychaining which is supported by DP 1.2 Reply
WeaselITB - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkWhat you're describing, jamyryals, is pretty close to what I'm doing now with my Surface Pro that I've been using as my main work device for the past month or so.
I'm in IT, but more on the systems side and less to do with development, and the Surface Pro is really really close to ideal for me. I just wish there was a better docking situation with it than my current "Plug USB hub, plug monitor, plug power" setup coupled with the "don't forget to take the power plug with you when you leave" that sometimes happens.
I shopped between the Surface Pro and the ElitePad (among others) before I settled on the Pro, and the main deciding factors between the two for me were the screen and the processor. 1280x800 vs 1920x1080? Yeah, I'll take the Surface Pro. Atom vs Core i5? Yeah, I'll take the Surface Pro.
(Also, the HP seemed to be all about selling the accessories. Granted, the jacket concept is pretty cool, but selling the jacket for $199 and the expansion battery that goes into it for another $149? Jeez, and people thought the Type Cover was expensive ...)
It is truly amazing to haul this around instead of the 17" behemoth of a laptop I used to use, and provides a nice "Wow" factor when visiting customer sites for meetings. The ability to use full-fledged applications (such as OneNote that syncs back up to our intranet), coupled with the Wacom digitizer, is really powerful. Reply
jjj - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkFirst and foremost they shouldn't think of tablets and phones as fundamentally different, especially since there are at least 2 ways to kill tablets in a few years.
Second, everybody thinks about the new form factors like they think about PCs and tend to equal productivity and content creation with the keyboard. That's the wrong way to look at it.
And... i'll stop now since i see no reason for Anandtech to profit on my ideas, maybe when the site starts to be objective. Reply
theCuriousTask - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkThe ability to be able to type notes and seamlessly switch to "hand written notetaking" would be a great use case. That would greatly expand note taking, which for students, has remained mostly stagnant. I would love a google docs version that has the ability to incorporate hand writing for collaboration. Reply
Da W - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkThat's the surface pro with One Note. Reply
Azethoth - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkNo. Go take a look at a Coursera course. The lectures are on video which means you do not take notes. You watch them. In class you do exercises, discussions etc with professors and ta's. Note taking is really a bogus waste of your time stemming from the paper age and inefficient teaching methods. Reply
silenceisgolden - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkRight now, I only use a tablet for books if I do at all. I have not purchased a 7" tablet but that's one of the next purchases to do, and I'll use a tablet more after that happens. I DO NOT USE IT TO BROWSE WEBSITES UNLESS I'M FORCED TO (hint: make apps please). Apps offer a way better experience if they are even mildly designed; the mobile web is not there yet. With the 7 inch tablet I'd replace email checking, Facebook checking, news checking, and book reading: all things I do on my phone or tablet currently. I have no reason for deep usage for a tablet since the Chromebook pixel or a macbook air is a much better form factor for coding (my job) or even designing (also my current job). Reply
tech6 - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkTablets are a light and useful email and web client when on the road but beyond that they just don't fit the way I work mainly because of the touch interface that make text and graphics editing a real chore. Reply
PCTC2 - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI currently use a Surface Pro. However, it is not my only computer. I currently also use a Mac Mini, and a Linux Workstation at home and work, respectively. It's great for filling the gaps. I use the Wacom digitizer for hand-written notes in meetings, I use the Type case for quick code fixes (via SSH) and for typing emails/documents. It's small, has a great screen, a Wacom digitizer, and a functional keyboard. It can be used with one hand. When I need to anything heavy-duty, I can either remote into my workstation, SSH into my workstation, or wait until I get to my desk.
In short, it's great as a secondary computer, for meetings, onsite calls (often in datacenters), and quick fixes. Would I use it as my primary? No. But that's why I have a workstation. Reply
firewall597 - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI own the Surface RT, and since the app ecosystem leaves something to be desired right now, I personally find it more useful at work than for play.
Between the touch cover, the great battery life, the RT Office suite, the calendar/email accessibility and the easy cloud access, it's been a great productivity tool to have in an office environment Reply
Ktracho - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI think the idea of Windows RT is really good. Currently at work, I use a fast desktop system with 16 GB of memory and running Windows 7. The real work I do takes place in a Linux virtual machine, to which I dedicate 8 GB of memory. The only reason I boot into Windows is because I need to be able to run MS Outlook (and MS Office), Internet Explorer (I cannot use any other browsers for some of the things I have to do), Windows Explorer, and a software app my company has instead of an office phone. I have spent many hours trying to find a way to run these Windows apps in a virtual machine or under CrossOver for Linux, and it just is not convenient enough.
On the other hand, it is easier to run Linux in a virtual machine, and with NVIDIA's GRID technology, it could even be displayed on a tablet, so as long as I had a docking station, I really could get by with a tablet at work. When not at my desk, I could use something like putty if I needed to quickly do something on Linux. Having proper access to e-mail and their attachments, as well as to Internet Explorer, is really important when away from my desk. Reply
geniekid - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkAs a developer, there are things I could definitely do on a tablet (there are IDEs out there for Android/iOS) but there's nothing I can think of that I could do BETTER on a tablet than on a desktop or laptop.
The features that tablets have over laptops are increased mobility and a touch based interface. I can't think of any reason I would use a touchscreen (unless I needed to develop a touchscreen UI), but if I needed to take my work home with me on a daily basis I might appreciate having a tablet.
Before tablets supercede laptops for developers, they will need
1) a huge increase in processing ability to run adequate IDEs and other software development tools
2) a huge increase in the number of software development tools
3) a substantial increase in data transfer interfaces for docking purposes (Thunderbolt could be the answer here)
4) all of the above at a competitive price to laptops Reply
B3an - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkFor points 1 and 2, any Intel Core based Windows 8 tablet will easily fill them needs. Point 4 is also filled by a few Win 8 tablets. The only issue is 3, i don't know of any tablets with Thunderbolt.
But theres so many comments i'm seeing here where the answer is simply "Surface Pro" or "x86 Win 8 tablet". Do you people live under a rock or something... Reply
andrewaggb - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkWe're all reading anandtech. I find it impossible anybody posting here hasn't heard of the surface pro.
I don't want to run dual monitors over usb3. And even dual 1920x1200 feels limiting.
128gb is not enough storage. I want 512gb.
Haswell will give much better battery life, so I want that as well, and I'd rather have an i7 option.
Surface pro is close, but it's a mid-range device. Reply
Jaybus - Monday, June 17, 2013 - linkIndeed, it will take something like Thunderbolt to make a tablet really functional for docking and using multiple large monitors, etc. When that comes, well then we may see PCs and laptops replaced. The problem is, can't get something for nothing, Thunderbolt's high speed takes a lot of power. The 4 chan Cactus Ridge controller alone takes 3.4 W, and then a TB host port must supply 10 W of power to devices. Adding TB is at least doubling the power requirements of a tablet. Someday....but not yet. Reply
DukeN - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkWe've bought a few different types as pilots the last couple of years, and in the end it always boils down to having an application/use for them in which they are better than notebooks. This for us tends to be rare, but it does exist (eg marking up documents) Reply
EnsilZah - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkSpeaking as a designer, I've seen a couple of my supervisors use tablets mostly for correspondence with clients, reading briefs, pulling up reference images, stuff like that.
Personally, I'm rather interested in the Thinkpad Helix, having about the same processing power as my older 15" laptop which I'm too lazy to carry around these days unless I really have to, but I think in the smaller package, with the high resolution display, the ability to leave the keyboard at home, and the Wacom stylus I might be more inclined.
But with the improvements Haswell promises to GPU and power consumption I think I'd rather wait for a refresh, or maybe a Surface Pro 2 (Or maybe they'll call it Surface Pro One just to screw with people).
I've always considered ARM-based tablets as toys and I don't see myself changing my mind anytime soon. Reply
r3loaded - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI was interested in the Helix too, right up until they announced the price >.< Reply
Da W - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkAs a financial analyst, i use a surface pro with office an 2013 subscription and an extra 20GB of skydrive. All my work files are in the cloud: excel spreadsheet, powerpoint presentation, word documents and pdf. I take notes with one note and the stylus. My tablet is mostly an on the road thing. My databases and big files are in my desktop, i develop on my desktop but all my output can be magically accessed from my surface. I don't know where to fit my android phone in all this, i use it as a wi-fi hotspot :)
I'm not sure it will ever get better than this cause i will always need a desktop with a 300+W GPU. I don't see tablets taking over that role. Reply
MrSpadge - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkUsing it: no.
Could use it: no.. well, not really.
Future use: the Thinkpad Helix (or similar concepts) might be useful. As powerful as it gets in this form factor, yet with the full useability of a notebook. And hopefully expandibility as well.. not sure about the current state here.
In this case the tablet mode would be a "nice to have" to quickly carry things around and show people stuff when sending it electronically would take longer. Or they don't have the program to view that file. Or to show results interactively.
Raw number crunching power and disk space would be a concern to me, though, as I'm not always connected to my simulation machines. Here it could help to at least allow cTDPs up to ~28 W when plugged in and to put a large HDD into the base unit of something like the Helix. Makes it bigger and heavier, but if the tablet unit stays light and has decent battery life (I'm watching you, Haswell!) such a compromise would make the device more useful for me. "Thin" is trendy, but must not get in the way of getting work done. Reply
Gadgety - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI'm not using one at the moment, but best for me would be a tablet with a foldable BT keyboard such as the old iGo, except with a trackpoint mouse. The Lenovo 8 inch Miix looks like a candidate. Among todays offering the Thinkpad Helix is attractive, albeit a bit too big. Reply
AK_HAZE - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkThere is not a single thing that I would do on a tablet over a laptop or desktop, not for work (audio and image editing, emailing) or play (browsing, games, movies etc)
If I read e-books then that would probably be the one thing, but I actually like books so... Reply
douglord - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI'm using a DELL Latitude 10 right now.
I bought the dock, a full keyboard, mouse and 22" monitor and everything is working great.
I normally have Mail, Excel, Power Point, Real Player and IE with 10 or so tabs open all at once. No problems. I've got my music going and I'm putting together a simple Excel spreadsheet (data base type stuff) that involves researching stuff on the web, and cutting and pasting from IE and Adobe to Excel. I've also put together a number of 20 slide Power Point presentations.
I wouldn't want to put together a REAL compute oriented Excel model, or do anything too taxing. I'm really looking forward to a ULV Haswell update or Silvermont.
But getting 16 hours of battery life and being able to travel with just a 2lb tablet and Bluetooth keyboard cover is AMAZING.
I will say this - the stylus handwriting stuff is broken. Basically a full letter lag when I try to write. Need more power and better software for that. Plus a less slick screen.
I also dislike having to output 768x1366 to a 22" monitor.
But I think we are 1 gen away from Intel tablets being real laptop replacements. Reply
Granseth - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI'm looking for a tablet that extends the functionality of a laptop/desktop. I know some apps helps with some added functionality, but I'm really looking for a tablet that makes that immersion seamless and was hoping MS to do it with Win8, but so far no luck
I do some lecture for example, and I want to use a tablet to run powerpoint and being able to draw on it and point and so on.
I also would like the tablet to act as a second screen when I need it, and to push pictures and documents back and forth.
So these are some of the possibilities I'm looking for Reply
davidbec - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI currently use a Gigabyte S1080 Windows x86 tablet and its great (Running Windows 8). It has 2 full sized USB ports and an Ethernet port among others. I am a Computer tech, so I need versatility without compromise.
I travel as well and carrying a full x86 computer with all those ports with you that weighs 2lbs is a life saver. You never know what you are going to meet, who you will connect with and having the capacity to accept and work with whatever they throw at you is comforting.
So to the eyes that are watching we (I) would like a silvermont tablet with full sized ports (USB 3, SDXC/UHS, HMDI/VGA, Ethernet, SIM). Micro ports are a pain because it means I have to purchase and pack adaptors. If they are lost or damaged I lose jobs or time and time is money.
Did you know that most digital cameras use full sized SD cards and those cards are larger and faster than micro SD for the same price? Why give me a micro SD slot on my tablet then?
I interface with different devices from time to time to configure or troubleshoot, so the Ethernet port is a must have. Sometimes I also go to hotels and the WIFI is lousy, or none existent, I know you have had those experiences as well. It's nice to have an Ethernet port in those times.
Even when you have WIFI, transferring files at 54Mbps and transferring files at 1Gbps are slightly different. :)
It is small and relatively light. Sometimes the Server room where I have to work is small or sometimes has no table to place a laptop. So having a tablet is VERY good. Or maybe it does , but it has no chair to sit at the laptop. So the ability to stand and work is advantageous. I have had many of those experiences.
Many people here will talk about what is nice to have, what is ideal. But I actually work in these areas all day every day. So for instance people will like a tablet that is extremely thin and light. But hello, you're not going to get a full sized SD on it furthermore an Ethernet port. So forget the thin light talk if you are building a tablet for professionals. If you want to build a tablet for executives then yes a thin and light would be perfect, cause all they want is email and browsing on WIFI or their data plans.
So yes I love my tablet. I am looking forward to silvermont so that I can have a faster SoC and longer battery life.
Build for function! That's my take. Reply
Sushisamurai - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI agree with the SD card slot and USB3... But Ethernet is overkill - why not use a thunderbolt adapter instead? I'd rather carry a couple adapters than a thicker device overall. Reply
davidbec - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI had to use it jut today actually. A customer brought in an old Linksys WAP54G Access Point to the office. It was configured for a previous purpose and no one knew the passwords. I stood up in the server room with my S1080, reset the AP and connected the Ethernet on my tablet. In 5 minutes they were back on WIFI. Now I went there with just the tablet initially. If I had a USB only or thunderbolt tablet. I'd have to leave, go back to the car and get that adaptor you speak of. Why do that if you already have Ethernet on the tablet? Why choose inconvenience in order to save 4 millimeters or a quarter of a pound in weight.
Suppose there with some anxious executive there that wanted to use his ipad and I ran off to get my thunderbolt. Do you think I'd still have a job? This particular customer knows my CEO and is friends with my General Manager. They get invoices credited just by asking...
We would all like extra thin tabs that weigh 1 pound. But what ever would you do with them? Reply
davidbec - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkSoooo funny what I just saw as I was browsing the net on Windows Phone Central and thought about this discussion. Microsoft has just released a new driver for guess what; a USB to Ethernet adaptor to allow PXE boot. Built in Ethernet is not overkill. Reply
GotThumbs - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI have one of the early Motorola Xoom tablets through work and its served me well since 2011. Others went with the IPAD which did not meet their expectations. I think many general users expect way too much from a tablet in the first place. The right tool for the right job is the way to go IMO. I sling SQL during the day and use dual 30" monitors driven by two Nvidia GT330 cards. A tablet is fine for web content consumption (streaming music from my home server at the moment via subsonic) and emails, but thats as far as it goes for me. We did just order two Surface Pros for the office and I'm eager to get my hands on one to see the possibilities.
I think in time, we will see most users needs met with tablets and docking stations. There will always be a small group of power users who will need more capability than what any tablet can provide for this moment in time.
Best wishes, Reply
Moizy - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI do a lot of Excel work, so a laptop/desktop always beats a tablet there for me (larger screens, better keyboards, etc.). But where tablets dominate laptops/desktops is with reading. If I'm going to read a longer article, I want something I can put in portrait mode, hold in my hand, and look down on, instead of a landscape-oriented screen in front of me that I have to hold my head up for.
I didn't realize how uncomfortable it is to read longer PDFs, articles, etc. on a desktop screen until I read on a tablet in portrait mode in my lap.
So, if I need to do work but also read, a tablet that can dock to a desktop setup would be stellar. We're almost there. Reply
Moizy - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkSo a dockable tablet would be awesome. But I've heard that USB 3.0 docks aren't the best graphically, and struggle with video (some rely on the CPU for rendering, if I'm not mistaken). This is where Thunderbolt could be awesome for more users. If the GPU could handle rendering and video, and the CPU could handle the rest, and this all could be docked and harnessed through a single Thunderbolt port, that would be awesome. Full desktop productivity, full tablet comfort all in one device. Reply
codedivine - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI am not sure I will ever use tablets, as they exist today, for work. The reason is simply because I find the screen real estate to be too small. I heavily use IDEs such as Visual Studio and Qt Creator and find it hard to use them on anything smaller than 13'' or so. I can use a 11.6'' notebooks when out on short trips, but they are certainly not going to replace my desktop or my 15.6'' notebook anytime soon. I also find the weight argument to be useless. I don't have a problem with carrying 2kg notebooks around.
In short, I may move to a 14'' or 15'' ultrabook perhaps because they will give me more battery life but not likely to use a tablet for work. Reply
dawza - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkUse for work now: No
Could use for work: Maybe, but unlikely
Product management, so I can appreciate lightweight, long battery life, etc., especially when traveling. However, most tasks require Office, and like most corporations, we're primarily Windows-based. I also rely heavily on some data modeling tools that are Windows-only.
When traveling, I always have my primary work notebook, which must have a removable battery and an excellent KB/trackpoint (preferably a Lenovo convertible notebook). I like to have a backup most of the time, which means either a lightweight notebook/ultrabook or a tablet PC. The way ultrabooks are going (thinner, lighter, and better battery life), I just don't see a compelling use case for a tablet-- although the next generation Surface Pro/Windows Tablet PCs could be contenders.
Tablets are great at home, though. Reply
toooskies - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkUse cases where a tablet is better than a laptop:
1) Space is at a premium, i.e. you don't do much work at a desk. If you have to hold your computer while you work, you want a tablet.
2) Travel is a necessity. Whether this is nationwide (i.e. airplanes and remote meetings) or in-office (meetings, IT technicians, etc)
3) Tablets have superior apps to desktops/laptops (i.e. you have an Android tablet or iPad, and Windows doesn't have the app yet)
4) Tablet is a "second screen". Much like a tablet is a second screen to the TV at home, you can use it as a device to separate a task from the main machine. I.e. to-do lists or emails on the tablet while your main laptop/desktop is for the "hard stuff". Reply
DaBoSSs - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI still use an original Motorola Xoom. I am a critical care physician and use it to access patient info, securely, while at the bedside. We respond to all in hospital emergencies and it also give me the ability to pull up patient information while in the room during an emergency. With the transition to EHR's the paper chart does not contain the information needed in these situations so a tablet gives me the ability to access all I need, at the time I need it.
Most rooms in our hospital, outside the ICU, do not contain computers in the room, and during emergencies there is not enough room for a portable workstation in addition to all the people I need to help deal with critical situations. Without a tablet I would have difficulty accessing what I need for patient care.
Many docs in our facility use iPads, but the smaller screen makes it more difficult to read, less information on screen at a time. Reply
kamper - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI develop software for medical document sharing. I personally don't use a table, but our (web) user interface dude tests on one and he'll often use a tablet for demos at trade shows. However, I don't think we have many (any?) tablet-using users in the field right now as our interfaces tend to be more geared towards I/T than clinical users.
I use my phone a fair bit for reading work email but don't tend to write much email on it because the screen is too small. If I were in support, I would probably find a tablet useful for email and logging in to the support portal while out of the office. Reply
kamper - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linktable = tablet :/ Reply
Sushisamurai - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI see a lot of iPad minis... Reply
Sushisamurai - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkOf even phones for those who don't carry a tablet with them Reply
GotThumbs - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkSo the use is for content viewing only? Are you able to input data/information through the tablet onto your main system? Notes or EKG data?
Cool use of a tablet for sure. Reply
Ikefu - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkAs an Process Controls Engineer, I use a Surface Pro as a mobile HMI (Human Machine Interface) terminal while working in a factory setting. I have a travel router I can plug in to an industrial network and then run the HMI software on the Surface as I move from area to area around the plant. HMI Terminals are traditionally stationary and are not always next to that which I am trying to troubleshoot so being able to run full software on a truly mobile platform is huge. I can also keep the PLC code up on the Surface and do code tweeks on the fly. Much easier than carting around a full laptop. I've very interested in a Surface Pro 2 for the battery life gains.
In personal use, beside content consumption I use it for a lot of remote control of my various hobby robotics/circuits projects. I'm use to Visual Studio programming so its very handy to have that easily on a tablet. Reply
tweaver113 - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkBought a tablet to use as an ultra-portable music player for teaching line dances. I take it to the venue, plug it into the main stereo system. There's an app that searches for and plays songs. Best part is it slows down the tempo of the song without affecting the pitch, really important for learning dance steps. Used to do this with Windows Media Player on a netbook, until it died. Oh, and it changes channels on my Comcast cable box, that's cool. Oh, and the battery lasts three times longer than my netbook ever did. And now that WiFi is showing up on trains and airplanes, we'll be swiping and tapping more than ever. Reply
lmcd - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkWhile many people bagged on them this generation, I see sliding tablets having the most potential (for me personally). I could see sliders like the MSI being particularly effective, with a fan opening (or two) under the slide for an equivalent to AMD's "Docked Mode." I'd enjoy using something like Silverstone's GPU solution, but I think more exciting options than TB2 need to come out for this to be viable.
I'd enjoy (as a developer) a Surface Pro-type device with a (cheaper) Knight's Corner optimized for use with TB3 as an accelerator for Visual Studios. Reply
darwinosx - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkThe Microsoft tablets are mediocre junk which is why nobody buys them. Reply
chizow - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkThere's nothing wrong with the build quality, they're just too expensive. Pro needs to be in the RT/iPad price range, RT needs to be in the Android price range. If that happens, they'd sell like crazy. Reply
Aegrum - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI use an iPad and zero client as my primary work devices. I much prefer using the VMware View client on the iPad, over the regular client running on an x86 Elite Pad 900. The iPad just works better for that function. Windows 8 just isn't touch friendly enough.
Most of what I need to do, I can do via apps, but if I need to access something like Active Directory or Group Policy editor, I just load into my VM running in our data center, and I can quickly do just about everything I'd need to. Reply
thor1182 - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI have a Dell Latitude 10 with 4G. I normally have the Microsoft BT Wedge keyboard, and the Razer BT mouse handy if I need them.
I have all my .NET dev tools on it (VS 2012 & SQL MGMT 2012) plus office and I can use it to do quick coding changes during a meeting in office or at client. With the 4G I don't need to be chasing down a wifi connection. My work computer is a laptop, but with the tablet I can leave it in the dock in my desk most of the time.
I use OneNote for all my note taking needs, the digitizer if I need it, and access to these notes on all my Windows 8 devices.
Once Bay Trail is out I will start pushing for the Sales and marketing people to start carrying Windows tablets over laptops + ipads. They will be powerful enough to replace their laptops, and can be docked for larger screens and keybaords, and can run office, making them more useful than the ipads. Reply
Conficio - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkCurrently? No!
Potential? If things get an integrated UI. What do I mean with this? I want my tablet and it's apps become an integrated part of my workstation when I dock. I could think of it as an extra monitor, that I dedicate to e-mail and task management and document viewing/web browsing.
But I'd need to dock it in my workstation (Thunderboald or USB 3) and be able to control it from there. Ideally all data is mirrored/backup+sync, so I can add todo's, write e-mails, etc. even when I don't have the tablet docked.
By the way the same applies for the phone.
I want one address book, one set of bookmarks, one set of documents, one set of todo tasks, one set of notes, which I can take with me (even if large parts of documents are in the cloud - think the Apple super drive (or what it is called) kind of often used docs on the SSD (tablet/phone) and the rest in the cloud or on the workstation but accesible with a time delay (Siri, I want to read the last company speech of our companies president - yes sir, can you wait 47 seconds, I go and fetch it).
Oh and make tech that allows a bunch of colleagues in a single room to wirelessly show their display (and negotiate which one is shown) - conference room anybody? That off course with a display mode, that cleans all the personal stuff and reminders at least from the external display! Reply
yougotkicked - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI use my tablet for taking notes and searching the web during meetings. However, I think it has a lot of untapped potential; I do some network management at work, so being able to connect an ethernet line to the tablet to test connectivity would be helpful. Obviously I don't think tablets need to ship with ethernet ports, but with a USB port on the device I could easily use an adapter.
I generally think of my tablet as an extension of my desktop, and I think this is fairly representative of how the tablet should be used in the business world. When you're at your desk there's not much reason to use a tablet, but for meetings, business trips, or just job duties that take you away from your desk, tablets are much more convenient than laptops.
P.S. I see a lot of people discounting tablets for reasons that can be solved by a remote desktop app (i.e. compiling code), tablets can do everything desktops can when you use them to control a desktop remotely. Reply
davidbec - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkTry a Gigabyte S1082. It has Ethernet built in. Reply
eanazag - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI 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. Reply
eanazag - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkMS Surface Pro 2 needs at least one Thunderbolt port. Reply
Ytterbium - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI'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. Reply
BMNify - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkWindows 8 pro tablets with minimum 128GB storage at $500-600 will be good, use AMD chips for lower prices and better GPU performance. Reply
Caen - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkAs 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. Reply
kureshii - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - linkI 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? Reply
trane - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkThe 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. Reply
flyingpants1 - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkHere's the thing, real-world life won't be anything like that. Reply
mr_tawan - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI 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. Reply
frozentundra123456 - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkWe 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. Reply
abazigal - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkHere's how I am using my ipad in my role as an elementary school teacher.
1) In the classroom, my macbook air is hooked up to the projector and running airserver. This let me to mirror my iPad to the macbook, which is in turn projected onto the screen. Thus, I am able to teach and manipulate my ipad while circulating around the classroom.
Apps I use in classroom teaching:
a) Notability: I have all my teaching material in pdf format, which I open in notability as need be and annotate directly.
b) Educreations / showme: whiteboard apps which let me write on like a normal board. They also let me effortlessly record my own screencasts and upload for my pupils to view. Sorta like a flipped classroom setting. I also the camera to take snapshots of my pupils' work for discussion (for those of you who cannot fathom who might need a back camera on a tablet).
c) Misc apps: Wordpress (I maintain a class blog), Google Drive/Iworks: Office-like tools for tasks like keeping track of grades and assignment submissions, Mail, Safari, assorted education-themed apps.
In short, my ipad has formed the centerpiece of my teaching in school. :) Reply
Azethoth - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkAs a software developer I would like a nice app for bug / feature / priority tracking. This still needs to also be integrated in the IDE, but taking it mobile is nice so you never miss an opportunity to enter a feature or bug or plan your work. Also, the web based ones suck (Looking at you Atlassian) so this is a real need for me. Reply
Adul - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkAt my Job some of our system engineers make use of a variety of tablets to us in place of laptops in meetings or when they do not need their laptop. We do this because we each have our own VDI sessions to use which allows us to have a full windows OS and run it on anything that we can load the citrix receiver on it. Good stuff really. Reply
beginner99 - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI don't see any use for a tablet in my work. I need at least 1 large screen, a mouse and a keyboard. So yeah, a dock is the minimum requirement. However here I'm with Apple. Instead of having a "device for everything", makes more sense to have dedicated devices that can all access the same data and applications, securely. And since that data is on the server, it's less of an issue if your tablet or laptop gets stolen. Hence each device does not need to make any compromises. Reply
andrewaggb - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkMy issue with this is how to share the data. I've got multiple apple, android, and windows devices, xboxes, several laptops and desktops. for the life of my I don't have a good answer to the data problem. Sure office 2013 makes using skydrive easy for your office documents, and there's dropbox, and I have a file server and a nas and a srviio media center etc. I use bitbucket to cloud share code, but my testing databases and video file samples are too big to cloud around... Too slow to upload... slow and inconvenient to copy. If I lost them it's not the end of the world, but it's hard to continue where you left off if you don't have the last version you worked on.
So I'd love an ultraportable fast machine I can leave all the data on. A few years ago I used to use a mini-external hard disk for the files, which worked ok, but was still a bit of hassle. Reply
beginner99 - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI did not say it was easy. That's exactly why research in that direction should be made and not into tablet docking stations. A port/connector for a dock is not a big issue in laptops due to there size but in a tablet? IMHO not that easy. Requires something like thunderbolt. USB3 is not fast enough. Reply
davidbec - Friday, June 14, 2013 - linkThere are fast tablets with internal 500GB disk drives available. Reply
Rick83 - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI use my Note 2 for two things at work.
1 is obviously Note taking. Useful when giving a presentation myself, and I want to note audience remarks, or questions, so that I can work them into my presentation, or prepare canned replies. Of course, when in the audience, I note inconsistencies, questions, remarks, important facts, references, etc. Note taking is more powerful than just recording, because it allows me to put down my own thoughts.
2) As an off-(main)screen way of doodling. While the Note 2 is a bit small for this, it's still useful enough, that during a brainstorming session I can quickly jot down my thoughts, do some illustration, explore some equations. With the advantage of the notes not ending up in the paper jungle that is my desk, but rather on the device, where there's some hope of me finding them again, should I ever need to look something up.
Downsides on the Note 2 for that task: Stylus is still way too thin. Button is ridiculously small. Impossible to rest wrist. Pressure sensitivity isn't great. Samsung doesn't do very well at showcasing stylus-aware 3rd party apps.
On the other hand I'm reluctant to go any larger, as the Note 2 is (screen-size wise) just the right size to carry wherever I go, without encumbering me. If I ever were to buy a laptop, it would have to be a Thinkpad X60s-convertible-like model, only slimmer still, while retaining the 1400x1050 screen resolution, 12" 4:3 size and sturdy build quality. A touch screen would be optional.
I currently have no use for anything in between 6" and 12", as it combines the drawbacks of both formfactors, with the upsides of none (ie. not truly portable, low processing power, screen too small to be truly usable, non ten-finger keyboard size.) Reply
Morelian - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI am a hospital based physician and I've used both the Ipad and Ipad mini. The Ipad got taken to work for about a year but use was light. Too large a form factor.
When the Ipad mini came out it was perfect. Slips in the lab coat which I always wear and now I always have it with me.
Use of the Ipad mini is as a consumptive device. Checking emails, web searches and use of a few medical apps. With Ipad mini there is no longer any need for a textbook. Drug and disease date will come right up.
I use 2 specific apps for my job on the ipad mini, one is a charge capture program that lets me enter in charge date on patients as I see them. The other is a lab portal that lets me check patient data when I am not next to a terminal. Sadly the lab portal won't pull up xrays-showing films to patients is something I really wish to do. As it is when the granddaughter wants to know what the patients potassium is I can fish it out rather promptly.
An app for electronic data entry isn't there yet.
I feel naked now without my ipad in my coat pocket. Reply
Sushisamurai - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkIt's so useful isn't it? Sighs, I wish we could view and manipulate X-rays and other tests, as well as writing prescription orders directly, to better facilitate care and not have things lost in vacuum tubes... Reply
pseudo7 - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI work in a hospital pharmacy. The ability for multiple people to view a patient's chart when doing ward rounds - make notes at the same time, send orders down to pharmacy to get patient's regular drugs ready to speed up discharge from hospital would be awesome.
It the moment it is paper based, things have to be sent via porters. Get lost etc Reply
domboy - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkBasically for me a tablet isn't very useful, as for most productivity situations a touch only interface is a slow-down. Touch is great for some things (scrolling!), but it's not a good interface solutions for everything (especially not typing). For me it's the convertible devices that show promise.
I own a Surface RT with the type keyboard. It's a personal device, but I use it at work because it's so handy to carry around (and I don't have a work-provided device that can match that). I love the battery life, I love the form factor, and I love that it's a really well-built piece of hardware. I can use it in tablet mode for just flipping through web pages, or watching a video, or playing the few touch games that interest me (not while at work of course). But I can flip out the kickstand and the keyboard and I have a little laptop that I can type away on. But I hate the artificial limitations Microsoft put on Windows RT. So a big thank you to the fine folks at XDA for the work they've done in making my device genuinely useful, i.e. enabling third-party desktop applications. But it's still missing domain join and VPN (though I may be able to get our Cisco L2TP VPN re-enabled). For official work devices we've been looking at a few Dell models, but each so far has drawbacks. The XPS 13 is really an Ultrabook even though you can use it in tablet mode. The Latitude 10 is the same size and weight as the Surface RT and is Atom-based, but lacks an attachable keyboard. The XPS 10 is ARM-based and does have an attachable keyboard but unfortunately suffers from the same issues the Surface RT has - artificial limitations. I hope Microsoft and their partners reads this. Windows on ARM should have been the exact same as Windows 8/8 Pro just recompiled for ARM, not the cut down limited OS that it is. It's sounding like Windows RT 8.1 is going in the right direction (and Outlook RT as a desktop app is a really good decision), but it isn't there yet. As an IT person I can live with my Surface RT and it's oddities, and I don't regret buying it yet (I will if Microsoft kills the jailbreak somehow), but I wouldn't recommended it to most people due to the limitations. I'd really like to see x86 Surface but not what the current Pro is (5 hours battery life compared to 10... nah). I'd also really like to see a good device with an AMD APU in it... Reply
domboy - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI forgot to mention, I know a few people that have ipads, and I'd say half of them got blue-tooth keyboards to go with them. Hmm... Reply
Sushisamurai - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkThe origami case from in-case does a real good job of protecting the apple BT keyboard, as well as acting as a stand when deployed. Pretty awesome accessory Reply
andrewaggb - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI hear you about RT, no reason for the artificial limitations. That's the kinda stuff you pull when you have a commanding lead in the market (like intel does with it's i3/i5/i7 and k variants), not when you are trying to break into a new market... Reply
knpps - Friday, June 14, 2013 - linkAbout the artificial limitations: The limitation that you cannot run x86 code on ARM based Windows RT machines is by no means artificial. Even if Windows RT would have had a desktop like Windows 8 it would not matter as there is not way of running x86 compiled programs out of the box on an ARM machine. Some kind of virtualization would have been helpful. But I don't think that would have been feasible. Reply
Turnkey1 - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI've tried using tablets for items like document review, or providing a enhanced interface to items like DMMs/Oscilloscopes. But so far it has been disappointing whenever a tablet is incorporated. There is not enough IO, the device does not work with internal corporate tools (or the interface breaks on web-based ones), and the keyboarding typing side is inefficient.
I think a pen centric interface with automatic text recognition could work, but since I can type faster than I can write.... it mostly is just a matter of using it to carry datasheets out into the lab. Which is convenient, but having a portable PDF reader is of limited use compared also having the ability to run CAD tools. Reply
Davwin - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI'm a video conferencing engineer so a tablet is quite useful in my line of work. Not just as a video client to join calls from remote locations (I work remotely the majority of the time) but, for the majority of my daily work. Most video bridges and infrastructure are managed via web interfaces these days so tablets can be used in place of a notebook quite easily while being more portable and usually offering better battery life. This is especially helpful when working on equipment in a data centre since tablets are easier to use in small spaces and - again - last longer on battery.
As far as video conferencing, tablets are actually very good these days. There are multiple H.323 and SIP apps from almost every vendor and other apps for other protocols. In video conferencing, a single tablet running the various apps makes for an excellent video testing tool.
When I'm not on a video call or a web interface, the rest of my day is pretty much spent in email. Although typing on the virtual keyboard for extended periods is not great it is more than adequate for quick responses and I use an £8 BT keyboard if I'm going to be on emails for longer than 15 minutes. On the occasion that I need to work in Office (Word and Visio mostly in my case) and I only have a tablet, I use Smart Office with a mix of other Office apps to create rough drafts and polish these on the workstation once I am back at my desk. This is NOT very good for Visios as I'm sure can guess but, it is workable and the tablet Office apps are fine for most Word work I do... Reply
cserwin - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI'm surprised nobody has mentined this yet. I'm a business intelligence analyst for a large health insurer, and our executives are very interested in all things published to iPad. Dashboards, reports, policies, etc. It has become a status symbol, and it is not sufficient to publish to a web site that they can browse with the iPad - they want an app. So, I see a future in an executive portal/all-things-consumption role. Reply
AirieFenix - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI use my Nexus 7 for taking notes, read documentation, manuals and so. It's been more usefull than I expected.
Being an Android dev, I also use it to test my apps.
As a workstation replacement of course won't happen anytime soon. Reply
five_seven - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI use a Samsung Note 10.1 that I bought for personal use, but I have been slowly migrating it into use at my company. I've had nothing but positive comments about it when other coworkers ask me about what it is I'm writing on. Pretty much use S Note solely for meetings, project ideas, etc. Pretty small use at this point. No one else at my company uses a tablet at this time so hopefully it'll help set the future trend. Reply
Wolfpup - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI could use a Windows 8 tablet for work, as of course it's a real PC, though 99% of the time it would just be hooked up to a monitor and keyboard, same as my notebook is.
I could even make do with a Windows RT tablet for a lot of things for the same reasons-at least it gives you a desktop, Internet Explorer, Office, the ability to connect external drives, manage storage, etc. RT would actually be a huge improvement for me as compared to Android or iOS which don't even begin to cut it, but still, there's no point when notebooks and desktops and even Windows 8 tablets are so cheap Reply
Sushisamurai - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkCurrently, in the private healthcare sector, we (by we I mean my clinic as well as other clinics I see), we tend to gravitate towards iOS due to the simplicity and security of things. However, it's a software issue that's really handicapping us. Our systems/network doesn't integrate well with our healthcare programs, effectively making our devices for reference only. Windows 8 tablets work, but they're too heavy and loading a CD for an outpatient X-ray or diagnostic exam is still limited towards a laptop or desktop (as our software doesn't integrate well currently for tablets of any form) Reply
Sushisamurai - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkBy simplicity and security, I mean iOS's locked in feature. The IT guy has run into problems where employees have used the work computers for personal use during down times, effectively compromising the computer's privacy and security, which is a big no-no in healthcare. However, I could see windows tablets replacing our iOS tablets and possibly laptops if they had a thunderbolt dock - therefore our administration sector can bring their work at home, and have a full workstation at work if necessary. But, once again, tablet harddrive space is a little small in my option, and the battery life needs to ideally exceed a 9-10 hour working day, or at least 7-8 hrs with a lunch time charge. Weight reduction would be beneficial as well so physicians like me can carry it from room to room if necessary, pull up the patient charts, write and file a prescription online to the healthcare network (for redundancy and for pharmacists to track prescriptions and abusers), track past diagnostic tests done for said patient on the health network, and be able to review the charts. The system right now is all over the place, and somewhat chaotic (lots of improvements could be done to better streamline the public healthcare sector outside of hospitals) Reply
JasonIT - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkHonestly when I was approached by a few of our mobile users who wanted to migrate to Tablets, I did a lot of research into what their needs were and what the business needs are. Sadly I was unable to find the right solution that met every need for the user and our company.
For a tablet to be successful and useful for us it needs to have the following:
-miniHDMI out
-SD Micro card slot
-1 USB slot for using flash drives & 3g/4g aircards (positioned in the top left of the tablet when in landscape mode)
-User replaceable battery in the tablet, not just a battery expansion in a jacket.
-A Docking Station cradle for desktop use with VGA/DVI/HDMI (2 of the 3), Gigabit Lan, 2-4 USB, audio out.
-A Keyboard&Touchpad cradle with 2-4 USB and extended battery. (Needs to be able to stand up on its on and close like a laptop would, similar to the Samsung ATIV tablet.)
Basically we need a Tablet that can act as a Tablet when on the go for consumption and presentation and portability, that can then be docked as a desktop replacement, and when traveling still be able to carry like a laptop for productivity. Reply
davidbec - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkThe Gigabyte S1082 would be what you need. It has USB2.0, USB3.0, Ethernet, HDMI, audio, VGA and an internal 3G PCIe slot, all on the tablet itself. The Dock has another HDMI, VGA, 3USB ports, audio ports, subwoofer and a DVD drive. Reply
davidbec - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkThere is a tablet with those requirements already. It has USB 2.0, USB3.0, HDMI, VGA, SDXC, audio, SIM and an internal slot for 3G. All those are full sized ports by the way. The dock has HDMI, 3 USB ports, Ethernet, VGA, DVD drive and 4 speakers. Reply
JoelSutherland - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI live under a half mile from my office and carry a Surface Pro to and from work each day. Previously I had a 13" Macbook Air.
I am a web developer and use the Pro for everything from Photoshop to running Puppeted VM clones of our production machine. It has sufficient power for this. At work I use the Windows desktop exclusively and run it at native resolution plugged in to an external monitor. I would probably prefer that the native resolution was 1600x900, but I can still see the small type well enough.
At home I use it in 'Metro' mode almost exclusively. The Mail program is unusably bad so I normally fire up Gmail in the Google Search app. I always switch over to Power Saver mode prior to using it as a tablet like this.
I'll be upgrading to a Haswell convertible tablet the moment a good one is released. I'm sold on the form factor but wish it got 30-50% more battery life and was in the form factor of the Surface RT. Reply
AnonymousFanBoy - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI work for a construction company. We use iPads for industry-specific apps, and take-up has been very rapid and very positive.
Dell recently gave us a couple of Latitude 10 tablets running Win 8 Pro, and our experiences with them were decidedly mixed. Performance was not-so-hot, thanks to the Atom CPU, small RAM load (2GB), and SD-card-as-SSD. Dell gave us small docking stations to use with them, and stylus pointing devices, but no carrying cases, or Bluetooth keyboards.
Battery life was great, and the Metro/Modern start screen was nice, but usability in the Desktop environment was wretched. The styli required much more velocity to record a click than they should have, and you can't pinch-to-zoom the whole desktop environment itself--just windows within apps that support that functionality--so using a finger to tap the close or maximize window controls was *very* frustrating.
Using the on-screen keyboards on 16:9 or 16:10 screens is a waste--literally half the screen (or more) disappears entirely. But Dell didn't include any convenient Bluetooth keyboard options. I used a Logitech keyboard/cover from an iPad--one that had a broken magnetic hinge and could no longer be used as a cover--and it *dramatically* improved the usability of the Dell tablets.
Strangely, I now have a company-issued iPad, and thanks to an $8 RDP client, it's a more useful tablet for running Windows apps than the actual Windows tablet was. I can pinch-to-zoom the *entire* desktop environment in my RDP client.
So in short, outside of the lousy performance (an issue Dell will probably fix with Haswell-based CPUs in the next revision), the Dell tablet was a fine piece of hardware. Most of my gripes are with Windows 8 Pro itself. If MS can fix the OS so that you don't have to use the desktop environment for tablet apps, or to make configuration changes to the OS, it'll be a fine tablet OS. But even Outlook and the other MS Office apps aren't Metro/Modern apps, they run in the Desktop environment. So until MS enables pinch-to-zoom for the entire Desktop environment, you'll still be frustrated. Reply
dehemke - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI work in IT Software development in an IT heavy, company. Most of our IT managers, directors, vp's carry either a tablet (ipad & Asus most common), ultralight laptop (MBA), or a hybrid (lenovo yoga has made some waves). There are a few who get by on larger phones (Note 2, S4, HTC One).
Primary uses - email, email, email. Meeting agendas; Note taking, retrieval; task allocation, retrieval (we use a cloud based system); document reading (we used to burn tons of paper for design and brd reviews). The distributed guys also tend to use their to pull up sites for discussion. Reply
alpha754293 - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkWe're not allowed to use tablets at work because it doesn't pass the security infrastructure test. There are a LOT of security concerns surrounding proprietary, confidential, and secret information relating to corporate. We don't even have public wifi in our building unless you are using a company-issued laptop. And then there are questions about "what happens if you lose the device?" and it either has (e.g. actively open) or stored proprietary, confidential, or secret information/documents on there. It's a HUGE security concern and too big of a risk. And recent revelations about mobile or portable device security does not help ease managements pains or fears or reduce the impact studied by the risk assessment teams. Reply
alpha754293 - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkAlso as a highly technical, engineering company - a lot of the applications either can't or won't run on a tablet. It would be too demanding at pretty much every level, even if it was to remotely log into a VM hosting on a server somewhere else within the company. Tablets are probably most useful for senior executives and managers, but above and beyond that, the rest of the organization, including pretty much the entire engineering community - tablets won't work for us. Reply
davidbec - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkYou have software that cannot run on an Intel i5 and so large it will not fit on a 256GB SSD? hmmm Reply
jackstar7 - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI'm just doing ad traffic, so as DFP Premium is now compatible with Chrome I can use my TF101+dock to actually do work. It's a nice extra option to have on hand.
Then generally, I can keep media or other distractions off my work system, so I've found this to be a useful part of my cubicle setup. Reply
Pityme11 - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI am an old fart who uses MCAD and FEA software for work. From a historical perspective, it is interesting to me on the mechanical drawing side of things. As reference, my freshman year was the last mandatory slide rule class. I used Arpanet (in the 70s) for doing Fortran runs on a rotary phone modem with a fast 900 Baud connection. I used a drafting table until the early 90s for most of my work. I do use Excel, Mathcad, Word, PowerPoint, MCADs, FEAs, etc. but I wonder about using stylus for MCAD markup like the old Pentel pencils with HB lead. Currently, I use Excel to paste screen shots of drawings and then add comments for markup. I have found Excel the best because of the size of pictures I can markup. I then use Excel to write up and paste relevant markups. Small stuff I modify myself if I have access to software/files etc. It would be nice to go back to the old days of writing markups directly but my handwriting has gotten worse with lack of use and old age and I am not sure it would help. Now stylus with voice control (I.e. horizontal line this location 6 inch right) would be useful but I don't think I will see it in my work lifetime. A tablet obviously is not remotely useful at this time for my work. I do use a large laptop (Sandy Bridge I7 Nvidia pro graphics 16 g 250 g ssd) for travel and some non FEA work at home. Reply
UpSpin - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI bought a real tablet PC running Windows XP with an active Wacom digitizer (convertible, so with keyboard) six years ago when I started studying mathematics and physics. It lasted 10h without recharge and I took all my lecture notes on it, used it to annotate PDF documets, used it learn, do work, at home placed it on a dock and attached a large monitor and external keyboard, I just did everything with this computer, or better say: tried to
My experience:
OneNote is full with bugs, lacks important features (good export, print, CAD like drawing, ...) and it just isn't a valuable tool for heavy note taking with the pen (the bugs regularly destroyed notes).
Overall is pen input pretty slow. If you have to write plain text, the keyboard is magnitudes faster than the handwriting recognition. It's quite good in Win 7, but still not perfect. It's just like speach recognition, nice, but slow and imprecise, so not usable for work! This also mean, the whole Office suite is pretty much useless on a tablet. MS hasn't changed anything in this regard yet, so it remains useless on a tablet in my opinion.
Because all my lecture notes were scientifcal I kept them in hand written form (handwriting recognition doesn't support equations) and used Bluebeam PDF Revu as note taking software.
If I had to write a paper or other stuff I used the keyboard, because, as I already said, it's accurate and magnitudes faster.
I also tried to learn and do worksheets with the tablet. I digitialized most of my books and created my own digtial library which allowed me to look up informations and search for them. But for learning it's just too heavy, the 12" display is too small, TFTs too exhausting for the eyes, not outdoor usable (my tablet has a very bright outdoor usable AFFS+ display) and just not flexible enough. If I use paper and work on stuff with friends I write stuff everywhere, I place a few papers side by side, share parts of it with friends, ... If I read a book I keep my finger between pages, can compare pages in an instant, not so on a tablet. You have to scroll back and forth, set marks, only have the display as usable area, ... It's just cumbersome. That's also the reason that I printed my lecture notes if I wanted to learn with them. On a tablet it wasn't possible. To read digital media in sunlight and with less eye strain I bought a Sony eReader. But its display is even smaller and slower, therefore it is lighter and the eInk good for the eyes. I use it for simple reads, but nothing complex.
In the end, thanks to the tablet, I have all my notes in digital form and have them nicely ordered. Because it was a convertible I used it for all laptop work too, like writing papers in LaTeX and analysing data with Excel or more powerful data analysis software. I always had the tablet with me. It was an expensive investment, but a good one.
But using it outdoors was impossible, reading books on it not relaxing, doing paper work on it not possible except notebook work with the keyboard, learning not possible at all.
How to solve it?
Make a foldable design with two A4 sized Mirasol like displays (fast, color, outdoor usable, easy on the eyes), so you can use it like a book, or fold it like a slate tablet. Also keep a portable keyboard with you, you'll need it. And don't forget the pen, else a tablet is totally useless for work. And we need a good note taking software, none is really perfect yet. OneNote a nightmare, Journal a joke, Evernote no way, PDF Revu requires tricks, Android software is far from that away.
So in conclusion: A tablet WITH A PEN is a great ADDITION for a student to take and organize the notes, but it can't replace books and paper. You can't learn with it, can't read books on it, can't use it outdoors and you can't work together with others if you use a tablet. Reply
nforman - Thursday, July 25, 2013 - linkI have similar usage cases - I, too, studied math and physics. I'm in academia and would like to read and annotate math articles on the go. If I could do all of this on a primary (mobile) work machine, that would be ideal - perhaps one of the new detachable tablet-laptop designs.
On the tablet side of things, all I really need is a good stylus - which I understand is possible these days - and a nice piece of PDF annotation software. Solid note taking software and an outdoor-friendly screen would be big pluses.
On the laptop side, I mainly need a good LaTeX editor. I mistrust the ability of Android or iOS to provide me with one. I would be happy with a device that supported both Ubuntu and Android software, but barring that, I think I'd be forced to use Windows 8. Reply
Krafty1 - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI work in an End User Computing group for a company of about 1000 employees. One of my functions is to test new equipment to see if they would have a business use for any of our departments. We currently have 40 or so iPads in the company that serve mainly top level management as a convenience tool to access email since we have a Good server for secure email. That generally works fine for their needs.
I was excited prior to the Windows tablet devices coming out because I thought that they could be a good fit for some of our heavy travelers. My ideal would be that they could have their tablet when they are out on the road and be able to VPN in via a 4G or WiFi connection and get whatever they need. Then, when they come back to the office, it automatically jumps back on the domain via the in-building WiFi. If they go their desk, they could pop it in a dock and have at least one big screen plus the tablet and normal keyboard and mouse and essentially have a regular desktop back environment back.
There are two devices that if mashed together would accomplish this. The Dell Latitude 10 and the Microsoft Surface Pro. The Surface Pro is superior in all ways but two: No good dock (you could use a USB 3.0 dock, but its not nearly as slick as the dock for the Latitude 10) and no TPM chip (for BitLocker encryption - necessary in our industry). Otherwise, the keyboard is great, the processor is way better and overall, its just a better machine.
If Microsoft took the Surface Pro, put a TPM chip in it, improved battery life, and built a custom dock that would fit where the keyboard normally connects (pop off the keyboard - pop it into a dock), that would be the perfect work tablet for me.
The thing that would make that really work would be if the tablet automatically switched into a "desktop mode" similar to Windows 7 when docked, and back into ModernUI mode when undocked. ModernUI is TERRIBLE with a mouse and keyboard (didn't they do any useability testing with non-touchscreen devices?) - I gave it a solid 3 weeks of honest use before I gave up on it and installed ClassicShell. Its fine on a touchscreen device though in general (needs some polish, but it is generally okay).
Office 2013 is better than 2010 for touching...but there really out to be "touchscreen mode" and "non-touchscreen mode" for it as well.
Hope that feedback is useful. If MS (or Dell) can build the device I describe above - they'll get a bunch of orders from us. Reply
punchdrunk101 - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI am a biomedical researcher, and have both a laptop, desktop and an iPad. I do a large amount of reading/reviewing manuscripts, grants, etc. The ability to read articles and make notes while at home, on the road or in the airplane has made a big difference, such that I use much less paper. I markup a PDF file and sync it to Dropbox. The iPad's ease and convenience, lightweight and long battery life is really valuable. Plus when I cant focus on work, I can swap to a movie, game, or even an easy to read book.
However, it doesn't replace my laptop/desktop. I have spreadsheets with data and statistics; I have manuscript and grants with imbedded figures and reference manager code that cannot really be used on the iPad. I can convert them to PDF and review/edit them, but I cannot create new stuff, in part due to lack of pure Office compatability, and partly because I simply cannot type effectively using the virtual keyboard. I have recently used the voice capture/dictation stuff embedded within the iOS to good effect.
So the iPad is great for reading/reviewing at night and on weekends (or traveling), but I end up syncing it to my desktop and coming in to work to really produce new things or put the finally touches on important documents. I usually bring just the iPad for family trips, but both iPad and laptop on work trips.
I am interested in the Surface tablets due to ability natively run Office, but havent been convinced that they are sufficiently better in other areas (app ecosystem). I am sticking with the iPad for another year or two, but expect that I might jump to something with more productivity focus next time. My vision is the tablet for working on the couch, meetings, and short trips. Large laptop with full size keyboard and gaming ability for longer trips where I really need to work and play, though it stays in the hotel room. And of course desktop at home and work, with all of these syncing between each other. My primary goal is to leave work empty handed, and I am almost there now. I dont bring things home because everything is already syncing between work and home, and can be downloaded easily to iPad. Reply
bollwerk - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkWe have a Dell Latitude 10" tablet with Windows 8 Pro to test with.
I absolutely hate using it.
It is very slow doing most any "normal" Windows task, presumably because you're trying to run a full version of Windows on a much less powerful proc and with less RAM than a laptop.
Outlook 2013 doesn't work well (or at all) with live tiles (e.g. to preview emails or see upcoming appointments).
I also have Dell's 6430u ultrabook with the wireless dock and I find it VASTLY preferable to the tablet.
I think tablets have potential for business use, but Windows and Office have a LONG way to go to be not just functional, but desirable. Reply
thesavvymage - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkthats 100% because of the atom processor in it. later this year with the new atom chips, that will change significantly Reply
davidbec - Friday, June 14, 2013 - linkI second. Silvermont will change everything. Reply
gbecker - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkFor my work in the tablet can only replace a note pad, because I would need a big screen 2x 24"and lots of memory 128GB. I'm work um CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics). Reply
Pyperkub - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI used to use David Seah's Printable CEO pdf's on a clipboard to track my days. I ended up with stacks of paper all over my desk. Now I use my tablet with a stylus as my clipboard replacement (using the pdf along with the Android program LectureNotes) for my daily task/note tracking. I also keep pdf manuals on it, mark up pdf's of documents while on the go, etc. AnyConnect/RDP is always there if I need it too. It's been a godsend in cleaning up the paper piles on the desk. Reply
Pyperkub - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkIt's a Transformer, but I haven't needed to get the keyboard yet. Reply
hlovatt - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - linkI use an iPad at work most days. It is far better in meetings than a conventional laptop even something as small as an Air isn't as good as an iPad. The screen up presents a psychological barrier where as a paper notebook or iPad doesn't. Also I find Notes, Safari, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote great in meetings, you can make live updates that are automatically synced back to your laptop on your desk and you can easily pass an iPad round. Reply
rusty1404 - Friday, June 14, 2013 - linkAt my company we use tablets for:
VoIP telephones. (Bluetooth headsets)
Google apps (which we use for work)
text, gtext
sales and marketing, those pretty IPS panels and our flickr account work very well together.
We use google+ to interact socially internally within the company
We use instagram for much the same
We now use the new google hangouts apps because it was a disaster before.
I use the ideapad yoga and a Nexus 7 GSM and it's quite pleasant, just takes some getting used to
A few things we would love to do with our tablets:
make GSM calls (the fact that I can't use the device which is fully capable of doing this drives me wild, if I could make GSM calls on my Nexus 7 I would never use my iPhone again)
Find a decent time logging app which uses the camera and GPS, which our employees can use to clock in/ clock out on site for payroll/management purposes.
Tablets with cloud services have enabled us to grow at 250+% per annum, and we still have no VPNs, Active Directory, Domain Controllers, no Outlook anymore (!), we are not tied down to physical locations.
We have 4 offices in 2 countries and 50 odd employees.
It is still a bit of a hassle to get everyone to utilise these services, but the result over time is that the way we work, communicate and interact is becoming more seamless, and more ubiquitous. Reply
DaBoSSs - Friday, June 14, 2013 - linkFull access to the EHR - can enter orders, review lab/ECG/etc. x-rays limited image quality, but can. Video stuff like echocardiography - frame rate can't keep up, so still must use desktop for that.
From a practical standpoint, full access and use of the EHR from my Xoom tablet. Many docs here use the iPad, haven't seen any mini's. We access via Citrix. Reply
DaBoSSs - Friday, June 14, 2013 - linkFull access to EHR - frame rate too low for video, but everything else. System uses Citrix for access Reply
mike8675309 - Friday, June 14, 2013 - linkBack in about 2006 I purchased a Toshiba convertible laptop. A nice little M400 with 1400x1050 12.1" display and Core 2 Duo machine. I used it as a laptop doing development, and then used it in meetings as a tablet using onenote. I curse the day the motherboard died, a good 5 years later.
I can't imagine having a tablet in a business environment and not being able to use a tool like OneNote. As such, I don't use a tablet. Those around me that do basically have Ipads and use them in meetings to keep up on systems problems or e-mails. Most use some sort of stylus with them. More are using either their corporate issued laptop (worker bees) or have something else in an ultrabook form (director level).
If I were to buy a tablet like device today it would be the Surface Pro. I have a kindle for book reading and a laptop for everything else. If I'm going to get a tablet it needs to be able to handle everything else, not just watching movies. I have a Television and Roku/PS3 for that. Now for my wife, we just bought a new machine. Went with a cheap i5 powered laptop, mostly due to the casual games she plays need Java and didn't see a good value proposition in any tablet that could handle Java, not compared to the full blown laptops available. Reply
Streamlined - Friday, June 14, 2013 - linkI'm an accountant in a manufacturing setting and I love using my iPad as I walk around on the plant floor for taking notes and photos. It's also useful for taking notes in meetings or coworkers offices. A laptop is just too bulky for me. It's also great for showing others my spreadsheets. It sucks that conference rooms are only setup with DVI projectors which excludes my iPad from going up on the big screen. I also wish someone made a budget/forecast roll up software I could use. Reply
oregonit - Friday, June 14, 2013 - linkTablets for business will likely be like the smart phones over the last decade. Tablets have already infiltrated the sales and marketing side of the business, and as more apps become available the more technical side of businesses will start to use them as well. As a private pilot, tablets are great for flight planning which isn't just about consumption of data. I also do some writing for a web site for fun, which I currently like using a laptop, but I think a current tablet with keyboard (provided I could actually use on my lap) would work great. As a systems administrator I think a tablet like the Surface Pro could work for about 90% of what I do, but there is still some stuff I'd be a bit concerned about. Such as that one time I need to plug into a router or switch with an old COM cable. I also keep about 10 applications up and running with 25 separate windows at any given time which makes me a bit of a resource hog. However there is a lot of my job that is just about communication between departments etc. A tablet will work great for communication purposes as I can take it with me anywhere.
In summary, I can see using a common tablet with a keyboard for personal use which would still include data creation. In the long-term, I think a full OS based device like the Surface Pro would be the only solution for systems administration, but I'd be concerned whether it could handle all the apps I run. Reply
mahck - Friday, June 14, 2013 - linkI'm going to answer this a little bit more generally than my own personal experiences. I work in IT in a large organization with about 30,000 employees. The tablet landscape in my organization is essentially bifurcated into two disjoint domains due to the different ways that the different types of tablets arrived here.
On the one side we have gradual evolution from the PC to the laptop/notebook and now tablets. In this space we have a number of Active Directory connected machines that are corporately managed. Right now the current standard is based around various models of Lenovo "convertibles' running Win 7. These machines are not multi-touch and require a stylus when used in tablet mode. We have a few Win 8 tablets starting to appear but these are still few and far between. There is a high degree of corporate control over these machines with an approved Windows image that is applied to all the machines that includes a number of group policy restrictions.
Then on the other side there are the iPads (maybe the odd Android tablet but mainly iPads.) These sort of snuck into the organization through the side door by piggybacking on some of the corporate changes that were implemented when we introduced iPhones a couple of years ago (prior to this you could only connect a Blackberry to the Exchange infrastructure.) It was originally only a handful of business areas that started buying iPads but corporate IT has since formally approved their use. The main difference between the iPads and the Windows tablets though is that the iPads are seen as a companion device and the Windows machines are a primary device. By companion device I mean that they are mostly used for email, calendaring and note taking at meetings. There are a number of reasons for this which I won't get into but the main thing that would need to change before iPads or Android tablets could fulfil the role of a primary computing device would be for the workstations group to take them on as an endorsed platform. This won't happen anytime soon as there would need to be a significant investment in porting all of our custom line-of-business applications.
What is actually more likely is that we adopt an MDM solution and start to better manage the iPads, move a few corporate applications onto the platform and start introducing new applications going forwards that are designed specifically for use on tablets. Right now the iPads function a lot like a BYOD device with the only real corporate control provided by a mandatory configuration profile.
I suppose the one technology shift that could significantly alter this situation over the near term would be a virtualization solution that is robust enough to allow full compatibility with x86 Windows without compromising the user experience. But until then, my organization will be treating any non Windows-based tablet as a secondary computing device for the vast majority of employees. We just have way too many legacy applications to be able to do otherwise. Reply
Bruce Allen - Saturday, June 15, 2013 - linkDear HP: Why don't you make a tablet PC for designers, animators and people who actually draw?
We're one of the few remaining customers who are still prepared to spend a ton of money on computers anyway.
Pair a nice big 1080p or higher display with a Wacom pen with a CPU + RAM + GPU (either discrete or maybe Iris 5200 will be enough?) powerful enough for Adobe CS, zBrush, Painter, light Maya use, etc.
Battery life isn't a huge concern for us - we're at desks most of the day anyway. And for those of us who want to take it on the plane... sell us an external battery booster for more money.
Heat dissipation might be an issue... but if you have a big 13" or larger screen I think you can space the components out and figure out a cooling solution. Reply
raedkrishan - Saturday, June 15, 2013 - linkWhat I need is a tablet with a fast x86 processor that can handle photo editing, windows 8, 2 USB3 ports and 4G connectivity. I'm a photographer and I use photomechanic to send my pictures via ftp. The screen must have at least HD resolution at 10". Reply
Toxophilix - Saturday, June 15, 2013 - linkMy ideal would be a stylus-oriented tablet for note-taking, sketching out ideas etc. Something like the Galaxy Note 10.1 would do fine.
The laptop-replacement type of tablet would be less useful for me. Reply
nbelote - Sunday, June 16, 2013 - linkAs a mobile device, my Latitude 10 is far easier to use than carrying around a laptop all the time, especially for quick jobs or organization. Its Atom z2760 CPU is enough for RSAT and Office 2013, both of which are very handy on a device you can hold in one hand. I have several legacy applications that I administer that run on the Win8 tablet without issue, and RDP isn't hard to handle on it either, so it's very nice to have a 1.5 lb object with a 9 hour battery life to do all the "heavy lifting" for me.
The 9 hour battery life is what sold me. I need to be able to hustle at least 8 hours a day out of any device I use and my ultrabook, however nice, only nets 6 maximum. For what I do, the Latitude 10 tablet I have hits the mark well. I can leave the laptop in my office and only use it for heavy duty jobs that require lots of typing. The Latitude 10 doesn't have a keyboard dock, nor will I buy it a keyboard case... I just can't justify making it less mobile than it is now.
The tablet can't do 1080p streaming well, but that's an afterthought; we don't stream video at work, I wanted to see if it could handle the MLB.tv app and it cannot. Don't get me wrong, 1080p looks good on the Latitude 10's IPS screen but it's just not built for streaming it. The tablet's a serious let-down in the gaming department, but that's because it's an Atom. It does handle SoulCraft and most Windows Store games, so I can only hope it can do the new Halo game when it comes out. I want to game in my spare time, not just browse the web and read my eBooks.
I'd recommend this type of solution to anyone that can get one, provided you also have a workhorse of a workstation already. Yes, the Haswell tablets will be super powerful and last a while, but they'll also be super expensive. If you can get an Atom z2760 tablet that does what I described above, and that's what you need, drop the ~$500 now and get it over with. ~$1000+ in the future may be overspending, as you'll get a device that's meant to replace a laptop. If that's your goal, great, but I won't give up my 15" screen on my laptop for anything just because it's "cooler." Reply
nbelote - Sunday, June 16, 2013 - linkOh, and the stylus and writing capabilities of the Latitude 10 make for quick note-taking on the fly. I'm pretty proficient with the Win8 thumb keyboard by now, also, as it feels like I'm texting, but I can't doodle with the thumb keyboard in boring meetings, either ;) Reply
flamea - Monday, June 17, 2013 - linkno need for godly specs, just for teamviewer/remote desktop/vlc/ssh (to access my notebook or server from everywhere in office wifi range), do presentations, take quick notes, read emails. Reply
rayazmuthalif - Monday, June 17, 2013 - linkThe question of using it for enterprises has many angles,
1. Using it for official use in place of a laptop/desktop
Here the concept of convertible tablets in the likes of a Surface Pro, Lenovo Helix, have great potential since they offer laptop computing with the tablet convenience. More than anything most enterprises are very much in the Microsoft world due to MS office reliance, and security policies. For such hence the tablet-ish devices running Windows 8 seems to ideal. However the security issues of ensuring the tablet does not disappear is a concern. However Android and IOS devices stand a chance if the users can live wiith other Office compliant applications, or use some form or remote client such as citrix, etc to use office.
2. Use of devices for production use
This is an area i have been looking into at our work place for staff who are on the move, who need to enter data on the run. Smartphones tend to be too limiting in screen size, and here i feel tablets fit in superbly. The need to be Microsoft OS disappears here, and cost, ruggedness, wifi performance, battery performance, and possibly availability of a stylus would be important factors. The cost and flexibility of tablets are huge, but a big issue is the lack of sufficient "enterprise" class tablets is the big issue. It seems only the big names have devices and they charge the sky and moon, making the tablet expansion in the enterprise a poor one. Reply
didi_tli - Monday, June 17, 2013 - linkVery useful. All my notes, recordings, class room exercises, listening can be saved and opened here, so do all online documents. It makes my work come in handy. I am using galaxy tab 2. All email and social networks that promote mynwork and business can be controlled from here too. Laptop compi is still being used for complete work, but by tablet, it's light to carry and moderately completemfor my work. Reply
estarkey7 - Monday, June 17, 2013 - linkI have been using tablets at work over 6 years. I first used a Fujitsu T2010, which is a convertible laptop. I now use a Sony Vaio Duo 11. I'm a software engineer and as others have stated, if it can't compile code then it can go kick bricks! The biggest use for me at work is pen use in OneNote. Drawing math symbols and UML diagrams just can't be done quickly with a mouse. Reply
Myrandex - Monday, June 17, 2013 - linkThe only tablet I'd want for work is a Surface Pro or something similar.
Where I've worked before the only times I've seen tablets used are by upper management and I think it is more of a toy to carry around rather than a laptop. In fact I saw one that was carrying around an iPad, with a case that included a keyboard that held the iPad in landscape mode, and then they simply used it to RDP into a laptop to run outlook through the RDP session. At that point I just wondered why the heck they wouldn't just use a laptop with Outlook built in out of the box like everyone else had in the meeting...so like I said just a toy / status symbol.
Jason Reply
sligett - Tuesday, June 18, 2013 - linkI use a Nexus 7. For reading, e.g. Linux Journal. For network scanning and testing. For pinging and connecting to servers, printers, etc. Reply
gsellis - Thursday, June 20, 2013 - linkI will explain, and you can extract from there.
I have a personal Surface Pro. I use One Note on it with the stylist to take hand written notes in those quick meetings. I have a USB 3 hub, a DVD burner, a Zalman (from the company), a 1.5TB HDD (mine), a 10/100/1000 USB3 "NIC", a USB to Serial connector, and various jump drives. I have used it to transfer files in the lab using the wired nic at 1Gb from a HDD using PSCP and SCP controlled through a console connection (powered hub). I have added ISO files to my Zalman to run CD boot configurations on devices. I use the serial connector in console ports on various hardware while leaving my company lappie in the cube I work out of. I can access USB keys that my company laptop wants to encrypt on insertion (like mfgr boot installers). I charge my android phone on the charger port of the power supply (because battery life really sucks at current rev of the HTC Evo 3d).
Must have app.... Touchpad Settings.... the typepad touchpad is too sensitive and screws with you while typing.
Still broken - wireless in the Surface RT is still not fully baked. My wife has to reboot her's to get it to work. She has almost given up on it on the commuter bus because between the RT and her Sprint HTC Evo 3d, it takes too much fiddling to finally get the hotspot up and running and the RT on the network.
And.... one of the initial reasons for getting the Surface Pro was to run a legacy Windows app (GemCad for Windows). I can take my Surface into the basement and quit printing cutting designs that then need to be modified. Reply
davinleeds - Thursday, June 20, 2013 - linkhttp://www.twice.com/articletype/news/samsung-ativ... Reply
trn91765 - Thursday, June 27, 2013 - linkBelkin's Win 8 Tablet dock would help
USB 3.0 & 2 external monitors Reply
mathieu1911 - Sunday, December 15, 2013 - linkIf you are looking to work on a tablet and you need standard Windows programs, consider trying a Windows cloud computer accessible from your tablet. Take a look at https://hazeware.com we have Windows 7 cloud computers accessible from your tablet below the market price. Reply