Gaming Opinions about netbook vs. tablet?

[tinymonkeyt]

Hey guys!

So being in college, I find it very necessary to bring my laptop to certain classes to take notes. However, my laptop, although not too humongous (it's a 14"), has very little battery capacity and can last about.. 1.5 hours heh. So I was thinking about purchasing a netbook or a tablet (like an iPad) to bring with me to class instead!

And I thought it would be wise to get other people's opinions!

Do you think a netbook or a tablet of some sort would be better suited? And any suggestions?

Just some more info:
- I really just want to be able to take notes in class!
- Watching videos/games doesn't matter to me as I wouldn't mind having or not having the ability to do so
- I'd say my budget would be around $300-500

Thanks in advance!

 

[Densetsu]

Hey T, haven't seen you around in a while

Are you more comfortable taking notes with pen/paper, or typing?

If pen and paper, the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablets with a digitizer pen are pretty close to emulating the precision of a real pen and paper. I have an older ThinkPad X220 Tablet that I use for school and it works well for taking notes. With PDF Annotator you can mark up PDFs and stuff and it kind of feels as if you were writing on a physical piece of paper.

You can use a stylus with iPads, but iPad styli are fat and have a really broad, soft tip so it feels unwieldy for writing.

If you're a typer, then I guess any old netbook will work. I also have an Alienware M11x, but I wouldn't recommend it for the price.

*EDIT*
To address your concern with battery life, my Lenovo X220 gets over 5 hours unplugged if I mute the volume and turn the monitor brightness down. If I use a wireless mouse, it goes down to about 4 hours.

 

[Hells Malice]

Definitely a netbook unless you want to write out your notes.
Functionality wise, the netbook is superior in every way, except, of course, for literally writing notes...which I could never imagine doing when I could be typin'...

 

[Majorami]

If your intention is to do some actual work, netbook all the way.

Tablets are still toys for self-absorbed adult-children.

 

[NES SNES V.B. N64 G.C. Wii WiiU]

Get an iPad

Though a Netbook would be more powerful...

 

[Originality]

The advantages of net books over tablets are Windows and a keyboard. That's it. Tablets tend to have much longer battery life and you can get Bluetooth keyboards and there are many office-type apps on both the Android and iOS market that makes taking down notes easy, but all of that comes with increased costs.

The way I see it, net books are extremely limited. They can just about surf the net, check emails and run office programs. They tend to have low battery life (between 4 and 6 hours) and because of their weak CPU, you can't expect them to do much that laptops or desktops can, so you're limited with a device that is only suitable for taking notes. On the plus side, they're small. On the other hand, the screen is equally small.

Tablets don't have Windows, which is a limitation in and of itself, however because of that the hardware requirements are very different. They are perfectly suited to their small mobile apps and productivity apps of varying degrees of complexity, all designed to make full use of the touchscreen interface. They also tend to last 8-10 hours. They can also be used to run the myriad of apps and games on their markets, which is a bonus. The best tablets in my opinion are the ASUS Transformer and the (soon to be released) ASUS Transformer Prime. Not only do they come with a keyboard, the keyboard doubles the battery life from 8 hours to 16, and includes the USB and SD card docks for expanded memory. I have an iPad 2 myself, which has no expandable memory or USB ports and you have to buy the HDMI and SD adaptors seperately. On the other hand, it has some amazing apps for helping me plan my novels, and I'm dexterous enough to use it as a 3/4 speed note taking device without making mistakes on the virtual keyboard (3/4 speed because it can't quite keep up with my typing speed).

Personally, I will never go back to using a netbook. I think tablets are a natural evolution from them and render them obsolete. Then again, you can't get any good tablets with Windows (for now).

 

[yuyuyup]

Netbook screens stand up by themselves and are widely adjustable. I don't know how adjustable a tablet cover/stand is. Keyboard, clamshell design makes screen far less vulnerable, tablets are probably targeted more than netbooks by thieves, windows, probably cheaper, lots more.

Huge touchscreens are way badass though, but if you want you could put a touchscreen IN a netbook.

 

[VashTS]

i personally don't like how small netbook keyboards are. i hate having to use my netbook, i mainly use it for small jobs. the battery life isn't great either, maybe a couple hours.

 

[redfalcon]

Get a larger battery for your current laptop. For entertainment and websurfing I'd say Tablet > Netbook, but for working purposes are neither the right thing.

 

[adamdbz]

get the hp dm1z with the new amd cpu you will get 8-10 hours and it can take 8 gigs of ram the cpu is ok, you will get windows 7 with it is pretty lite and it has a 11.6 inch screen if it's in your budget you will not regret it.

 

[spinal_cord]

- I really just want to be able to take notes in class!
- Watching videos/games doesn't matter to me as I wouldn't mind having or not having the ability to do so
- I'd say my budget would be around $300-500

Thanks in advance!

Buy a nice notepad and a pen, it'll save you about $300-500.

 

[Magsor]

I think in your case the blackberry playbook is something i would look into; battery life is like 10 hour it can play videos and if needed you can plug in a usb keyboard. I have seen it priced for 200$ for the 16 gb an 300$ for 64gb. This is nothing to ruin someone.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Tablets are basically toys, netbooks are effective work stations.

Like a tablet can do what a netbook does but not as well. Like it can do word processing, Powerpoints, and spreadsheets, but its certainly no Microsoft Office. They can browse the web but the huge lack of windowed multitasking is a bitch. On a computer I can just click a separate window to open a separate document or webpage. With a tablet you have to (depending on your tablet) go through a whole series of crap to just switch between two things, like a research paper and a source you found.

I'd probably suggest a netbook. Outside of like Kindle Fires and other cheaper Android tablets they're usually more cost effective than buying an iPad. My dad nabbed his netbook for $200 on sale.

 

[Deleted-236924]

I think in your case the blackberry playbook is something i would look into; battery life is like 10 hour it can play videos and if needed you can plug in a usb keyboard. I have seen it priced for 200$ for the 16 gb an 300$ for 64gb. This is nothing to ruin someone.

But why would he want to watch videos?

 

[Fishaman P]

If "netbook" is restricted to 10.1", don't bother with either. The keyboards can't even fit one hand on it, the screen is too small, and the performance too bad, even with something like a dual-core Atom or an AMD C-60.

Tablets can't get anything serious done without a physical keyboard, which all tablets lack to my knowledge.

On the other hand, an 11.6" or 12.1" notebook would be awesome. They're just right!

 

[Hells Malice]

If "netbook" is restricted to 10.1", don't bother with either. The keyboards can't even fit one hand on it, the screen is too small, and the performance too bad, even with something like a dual-core Atom or an AMD C-60.

Tablets can't get anything serious done without a physical keyboard, which all tablets lack to my knowledge.

On the other hand, an 11.6" or 12.1" notebook would be awesome. They're just right!

Netbooks are small but you can get used to the keyboard...eventually. Took me like a week, and I have pretty big hands. Forgot how big my netbook was specifically.

 

[marcus134]

Just some more info:
- I really just want to be able to take notes in class!
- Watching videos/games doesn't matter to me as I wouldn't mind having or not having the ability to do so
- I'd say my budget would be around $300-500

it made me thinks of the asus note
http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Note/Eee_Note_EA800/#overview
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/mobile/2010/12/22/asus-eee-note-ea800/1

 

[Originality]

Fishaman, did you even read my post? The ASUS Transformer (and Prime when it's out) HAS a keyboard, which doubles as a second battery. That's the reason why I think they are the best tablets. And there's also the possibility for a Bluetooth keyboard.

 

[yusuo]

The way I see it, net books are extremely limited. They can just about surf the net, check emails and run office programs. They tend to have low battery life (between 4 and 6 hours) and because of their weak CPU, you can't expect them to do much that laptops or desktops can, so you're limited with a device that is only suitable for taking notes. On the plus side, they're small. On the other hand, the screen is equally small.

I use a netbook for day to day use, don't own a laptop or anything however my netbook does better than my friends pc does, It will happily play 1080p mkv files flawlessly, Allows me to do video editing within a proper video editing program it even allows me to play some (not all) games, such as Crysis, GTA:SA, PS2 and gamecube emulation, quite nicely

I have a acer aspire one, with a dual core 1ghz processor, 2gb RAM and a intergrated HD graphics chip all for £200 on sale from PC World. Not amazing but more than adequate

 

[sweenish]

i would, of the two, buy a tablet with a keyboard attachment, like the transformer prime (which has been out since december). with the keyboard attachment, you can get a full day's charge. the office apps are good enough for note taking, and you get the benefit of media consumption that a tablet offers. the prime is especially nice with ice cream sandwich and a quad core processor.

i'm sure netbooks have come a ways in the last year, but my wife's is a challenge to use as a daily driver. keyboard size isn't too bad, but it's just sluggish. the battery does still last an entire work-day, though. the atom is a weak chip.

i would say to sell the laptop, and go for a macbook air or ultrabook, though. but that's still going to be pretty expensive and more than likely out of the price range given.