Tablets As Desktop/Laptop Replacements

[mcs328]

We have a Microsoft store in the mall near where I work. They seem to have a weekly xbox 360 video game tourney for Marvel Cs Capcom or Street Fighter. A few Xbox 36- Kinect setups too. Browsing through, I noticed they have a slate/tablet aisle with offering from Asus and Samsung. I thought these were Android Only OS's but they have Win 7 installed. I was looking to replace my Dell XPS 1530 with an ultrabook but these slates/tablets seem like a good alternative. The Asus is a $500 tablet with a docking station/keyboard combo. The Samsung is $1000 letterbox aspect ratio tablet that has a square docking station. Keyboard and mice is via bluetooth and sold separately. I like the ease of picking up the tablet off the docking station and using it as a tablet and then sticking it back on like a desktop.

Anyone have this setup? I'm going to wait for Win 8 first. The iPAD doesn't seem quite like a full PC replacement for me at least. A full powered MS tablet appears more to me but the price is high for me since I don't play PC games anymore.

[Leon]

We have a Microsoft store in the mall near where I work. They seem to have a weekly xbox 360 video game tourney for Marvel Cs Capcom or Street Fighter. A few Xbox 36- Kinect setups too. Browsing through, I noticed they have a slate/tablet aisle with offering from Asus and Samsung. I thought these were Android Only OS's but they have Win 7 installed. I was looking to replace my Dell XPS 1530 with an ultrabook but these slates/tablets seem like a good alternative. The Asus is a $500 tablet with a docking station/keyboard combo. The Samsung is $1000 letterbox aspect ratio tablet that has a square docking station. Keyboard and mice is via bluetooth and sold separately. I like the ease of picking up the tablet off the docking station and using it as a tablet and then sticking it back on like a desktop.

Anyone have this setup? I'm going to wait for Win 8 first. The iPAD doesn't seem quite like a full PC replacement for me at least. A full powered MS tablet appears more to me but the price is high for me since I don't play PC games anymore.

I don't have the ASUS Transformer, but I'm in a similar situation. My laptop recently died and I'm left with my desktop PC and my iPad. I also have access to a HP TouchPad, which has been loaded with Ice Cream Sandwich. I also have a bluetooth keyboard that can be connected to either tablet.

My thoughts on tablets replacing laptops:

Viable if you work with a single window at a time. Sucks if you need to switch windows a lot. Sucks if you copy/paste a lot.

I now that multi-tasking has improved a bit with the new tablet software, but it isn't nearly as intuitive or fast as alt-tab or using a mouse. If you need to switch windows or highlight text frequently, having to lift your hand position to the screen and holding it there gets old fast.

[cruelpupet]

The Asus Transformer prime can have windows installed? sweet! A coworker recently got one with android and i must say i was impressed.

[Jeffbx]

I use the iPad pretty extensively, and I'd consider it to be a complement, but not a replacment for a laptop. Viewing & browsing are pretty compaitble, but creating content is where a tablet falls short & I'd imagine that would apply to ANY tablet. Yeah, you can pop a keyboard on there, but no mouse & the really small screen make it very difficult to create anything even moderately complex.

So yeah, for a short business trip you could probably make due with just a tablet. But as a full time replacement? Unless Windows 8 is way more amazing than the reports I'm hearing, I'd say go snag yourself an ultraportable instead.

[mcs328]

They setup they had in the MS Store was with a wireless keyboard and mouse. I don't think the screen size would be an issue for me since I intend on a 13" laptop replacement anyways and there is either a mini or a full size HDMI port on these slate/tablets. yeah I'll wait for Win 8 and the price of ultras to drop.