Sunday 4 May 2014

What do I replace my 3G Netbooks with - which tablet do I buy?

XP™ is on the way out (some would even say dead).
I and many like me still have a fleet of XP™ machines we are still trying to work out how to replace most expediently.

Not the least of my issue is that I have three ASUS eeePC™ netbooks all on XP™ and with onboard 3G.
I have one old iPad 2™ that I'd like to move to Windows™ (for compatibility) and three XP™ desktops, two of which could happily be replaced by decent tablets .... if there was such a beast

After hours and hours of searching and even contacting ASUS™, HP™ and Dell™, I've all but given up in despair of getting a 9~11" Windows™ 8/8.1 replacement device with USB with SD card with WiFi with Bluetooth with video out and most of all with cellular!

There's Microsoft™ out there telling us how RT™ is wonderful (link) and a needed O/S that many people love and how it fills a need for many users ... despite its abysmal sales.
MS and other sites (link) tell us there is no need for Cellular connectivity because world wide sales figures indicate people don't want cellular and WiFi is good enough anyhow.
One brand offers USB but no cellular, another only cellular (one of the few who do) but then non-hosting (OTG) micro-USB
Most don't offer full 1080 HD even though their specs say "HD" ... its usually 720p or some other variant.
Most don't come any bigger than 64GB which after you install Windows™ there very little storage left!

I think the sales figures to-date indicate the sad lack of available good cellular options in half-decent sized mobile devices with half-decent operating systems - NOT that people don't want or try to use cellular!
 
As with may of the reviews I've read on many many forums, for me too, its a deal-breaker on buying replacements for five ASUS eeePC™ netbooks which all have 3G onboard ... there are virtually NO decent (aka 9~12") tablets with a decent O/S that allows wide-ranging integration.
Windows RT™ and its application options is a laughable "cripple" by comparison to even the iOS™ offerings.
You are almost FORCED to consider Android™ or iOS™ as viable alternatives to get the full mix of ... size, range of apps and connectivity such as cellular, wifi, bluetooth, NFC, HDMI and USB ... all key elements which many users probably DO want but can't get in any one tablet.

I often wonder if these companies ever think to ASK their customers which things are important rather than relying on post-sales stats to ASSESS what they THINK people have wanted.

Why not make a range that offers the various options and so-what if LTE adds $100~$150 to the price ... at least if its available, we the consumers can vote for-or-against by our choice of purchase.
At the moment we have little choice.

I could envisage a brand with an 8", 10" and 12" tablet range within which you could choose:
Full Windows™ or RT™; LTE(WWAN) as an option; USB as an option over micro USB; 16, 32, 64 and perhaps even 128GB options; SD reader could even be optional depending on the model.
Sure there are cost and battery runtime penalties, but at-least we could CHOOSE what we wanted/needed.  Reading a wide range of forums it seems to me its about 40/60 (maybe even 505/50) FOR wanting cellular in a decent tablet.
So I researched and researched and it finally came down to one viable option ... the Dell Latitude 10™


So next ... who sells them in Australia ... well  it seems not even Dell™ themselves do!
Their web page unhelpfully suggests ...

In which reality is a bigger, heavier, NON-cellular tablet a "comparable system"?

I can only find ONE seller with in Australia who still carries this Dell Latitude 10™ model Valuebasket
I've never dealt with them so the next thing will be to research and see how reliable they are.

As I said earlier in my tirade, I've all but given up in despair of getting a tablet with Windows™ 8/8.1; approx 10.1"; min 64GB; min 2GB RAM with USB2 or 3; with SD card; with WiFi; with Bluetooth v4; with video out and most of all with cellular (wwan)!

I'm starting to think Microsoft™ secretly doesn't want to sell it's O/S on tablets ...!?


1 comment:

Col. Sanders said...

Well I really am in despair of getting the tablet I want.
I did my research on ValueBasket(TM) and given rating summaries like this:
Excellent 12
Good 13
OK 10
Bad 10
Terrible 244 !!!
And many comments like:
"Message from the Editor:
We have detected a number of positive reviews for this business which we suspect have been falsely generated and have the potential to mislead consumers. {name withheld}.com.au takes a zero tolerance approach to any fake reviews and has removed those accordingly."
and
"Don't ever buy anything from this company"
and
"Buying OK, Warranty Work Shockingly Bad!!! Kiss goodbye to your return"
and
"Order never sent out, no information provided. Website and contact details look Australian but company is really overseas."
and on and on ...
I WON'T be buying from them even if they COULD still get the tablet I want!