Tablet / Laptop Help Please.

[ExSurveyor]

The more I look, the more confused I become.

What I am after is a 15" plus device that I can run android apps on as well as stream sky F1 to. A keyboard would be handy. I don't game or do heavy editing work.

Ideally I want to retire my PC as I only use it occasionally. I do most things I need on my mobile or 10" tablet. What I am after is something between a smartphone and a PC  but more versatile than a tablet, the bigger the better.

Does such a beast exist, Is a chrome book suitable.

Thanks.

[ChrisB]

I don't think you will find a 15" tablet. Samsung do a 14" in their Tab S8

[BrundallNavy]

What about a chrome book. 

[ExSurveyor]

40 minutes ago, BrundallNavy said:

What about a chrome book. 

I have had a look at them as they do the bigger screen, does anyone use one ?

[floydraser]

I can't really help but I can share your frustration. The recent demise of my own PC has led me to the same path of trying to find a suitable laptop. It seems that each manufacturer has an infinite number of models, climbing in price by £20 increments and of varying specifications. Luckily there seems to be a Black Friday event this month and Dell have some decent discounts. I'm still undecided though.

[Bikertov]

A big part of the choice is what your budget is  

I picked up a lovely little laptop called a Coda Spirit a couple of years ago, for £100. Quite underpowered and underspecced but a lovely screen. I added an SSD to increase the storage and it is great - very light and portable so I can take it travelling very easily and it does what I need it to do. But others might say it is rubbish !

So I think a basic laptop can be better than a chrome book, as it just gives a bit more functionality   

[ChrisB]

My frustration is caused by arthritis in my fingers. I would love the lightness of an 8" tablet but can't find one with more than 32gb. I need a min of 64gb 128 would be great, but it appears they are just not made. My phone is 128gb so why not an 8" tablet?

[Hylander]

 

Like you i have been looking for the bigger screen   15 inch plus preferably 17  inch screen.   I am beginning to think that everything out there is for gamers.    One thing I am not is a gamer.

Can I just ask as we are on the subject of laptops etc.    I am thinking of changing my laptop for a desktop.   Now here is the burning question of the day - how do I transfer all this I have on this laptop on to the new desktop.     The majority of what i have on hear is vital that I keep.    Thank you to anyone who can help.

[grendel]

the simple answer to that is some sort of external storage, a large memory card is one option, if both the machines have a slot for it, or a usb hard drive, just copy all the files onto that. (this will also provide a backup for those files.

or you could go down the route I have and get a network attached storage device (I have several synology NAS drives that give me 13Tb of networked hard drives that have double the drive capacity, but where each hard drive is backed up by a twin of itself.)

[SwanR]

Monica I’m sure that either the shop you buy from would help or you would find a small local business to assist. There’s one in Hoveton I think. 

With Apple products you can put things side by side, they find each other, and with a few simple prompts it just happens as if by magic. I was amazed how easy it was with my iPhone. 

I regularly back up my important files to an external hard drive. Haven’t made the leap to cloud storage yet!

[Hylander]

You will have to excuse my ignorance in all this,   yes I have copied a lot of my files onto USBs but it is all of the emails that I need to keep.   I dont know how to save all the 'crap' I have saved in my Yahoo mail.   I dont know why but I just thought you put a cable between the two pressed a few buttons and it all went on to the new machine.   Duurrh!!!    I think I will take up Jean's idea and look round for someone who knows what they are doing and let them do it all.   It will be worth it in the end.

[Ray]

Emails that you keep should remain on the providers server, that's how you can access them from multiple devices.

For the laptop/pad, how about something like the Microsoft Surface Pro (other makes are available) It's a kind of hybrid laptop/pad, you attach/detach the keyboard as required.

It works for me but like any compromise it is a trade off to some extent, neither fish nor fowl. Newer models may have improvements over the one I have.

For example the keyboard is not full size and because it's detachable it can fall off. I like the look of models where the keyboard just folds away when you require tablet mode 

[grendel]

4 minutes ago, Ray said:

Emails that you keep should remain on the providers server, that's how you can access them from multiple devices.

the original emails do, but if you have copied them into a set of local folders then these may not. with most email software there should be an option to save these folders to an archive file. (though nowadays a lot of this is achieved via the 'cloud'.

 

[grendel]

eg for example in microsoft outlook, its files-mailbox settings- tools- clean up old items, this allows them to be saved into a .pst file, which can be transferred between machines, and opened on the new machine.

[Tempest]

I swear by the Lenovo Yoga range as they have laptops which convert to pads and they have everything you need

I first was issued one with my work years ago and since retiring I bought one myself

They currently have a deal on the Lenovo Yoga Chromebook which has a £200 discount

https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/yoga/yoga-2-in-1-series/Yoga-Chromebook/p/81JX001UWJ?orgRef=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

 

 

 

[oldgregg]

ChromeBooks are better than they used to be, for sure. This guide might help a little with what the differences and limitations are.

Chromebook vs. Laptop: What Can and Can't I Do With a Chromebook? - CNET

If Android apps are an essential then it's either that or a decent Android tablet.

Google are due to release a first-party tablet called the Pixel Tablet fairly imminently, so that could be worth a look. If you've never used Android without all of Samsung's junk on top it really is a revelation.

There's also a Google Pixel branded Chromebook Go though it isn't cheap.

If Android Apps aren't as important then I'd probably look in the direction of a Surface Pro, which is a great device. Sure, you can run Android apps on Windows 11 but they'll need to be published in the Amazon store rather than Google Play and us App developers don't like going to the trouble of doing that because sales are generally really poor.

My final thought would be a MacBook Air - It's a proper laptop running a proper desktop operating system, but Apple has cleverly allowed us App developers to publish the same Apps to both the iOS and macOS stores. It's literally a case of ticking an extra box when you upload. I don't know how many developers have bothered so far (I know we're holding back at this stage as our Apps could look better on a big screen) but I suspect there will be a lot more good iOS apps on macOS than there are good Android apps on Windows 11.

[floydraser]

4 hours ago, Hylander said:

 I dont know why but I just thought you put a cable between the two pressed a few buttons and it all went on to the new machine.   Duurrh!!!    

You and me both. If only it were that easy... 

[floydraser]

6 hours ago, Hylander said:

 

Like you i have been looking for the bigger screen   15 inch plus preferably 17  inch screen.   I am beginning to think that everything out there is for gamers.    One thing I am not is a gamer.

I wouldn't write off a gaming machine because it was labelled as such. I need one for CAD and therefore a decent graphics card. Gaming machines have decent graphics cards and more connections than more expensive "business" machines. It's a minefield out there! 

[Matt]

5 hours ago, Tempest said:

I swear by the Lenovo Yoga range as they have laptops which convert to pads and they have everything you need

I first was issued one with my work years ago and since retiring I bought one myself

They currently have a deal on the Lenovo Yoga Chromebook which has a £200 discount

https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/yoga/yoga-2-in-1-series/Yoga-Chromebook/p/81JX001UWJ?orgRef=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

 

 

 

My work one was a Yoga 260. Lasted well but we have started phasing them out now but we still have 1000’s of newer Yogas in use!

But now I have a Surface 4 and I’m keeping it 😃

[ExSurveyor]

Thanks for all the imput, much appreciated and it helped me work out what I needed.

I have gone for a ASUS VivoBook 17 X712 17.3in i3 8GB 1TB Laptop as it is a better replacement for the PC but means I can use it onboard as well. I will make more yse of the 10" tablet and less of the phone.