Samsung Galaxy Tablet to replace laptop

[riza04]

Hi all

I knew to the forum and hoping someone can help me please?

I currently have an oldish Sony Vaio FW series laptop which is getting to the stage where it is going to be on its last legs and with another year of day release uni to go I want to get something sorted before my current laptop fails miserably - to be honest, I have had it for a good 5 years so it has done me well!

I am in that mindset where I am thinking should I get another laptop or get a tablet with some added items such as keyboard and mouse. For what I would use it for, it would be day to day Internet browsing/shopping plus writing a report now and again, nothing too serious. The problem is that I may have to use AutoCAD as I am a CAD Technician at work but currently don't have AutoCAD at home to use - I am stuck as to whether I should get a decent laptop to be able to use AutoCAD or a tablet to do everything else and get work to supply a laptop for business use.

I have been contemplating a Acer S7 but it is the best end of £1000 which is far too much but I do like the look and feel of it. I am not really drawn to HPs, Dell etc as they just don't feel like that quality make compared to the Acer or Apple products. I am not interested in getting an Apple product though!!!

I was wondering whether I could get a Samsung tablet which I have been thinking of getting for a while to use as my everyday laptop/tablet. I was thinking of the new Galaxy Tab S but happy to use others if they are better options. I was hoping to get a keyboard and possibly a mouse with it for when writing reports. A few questions;

- If I decide at a later date that I'd like to work on a bigger screen, can I plug my tablet into a computer monitor to use as a second screen/primary screen?
- I have a western digital hard drive with all of my music, films etc on, can I plug this into a tablet for it to recognise and use my files as tablets don't have the biggest of internal memorys.
- I assume that I would be able to get a mouse and keyboard for it?
- Would I be able to use an equivalent of office to create spreadsheets/edit reports?
- How easy would it be to use for everyday use in terms of having multiple programs running?

I am happy to look at other tablets but I currently have a smart Samsung tv and phone so was thinking that it would be best to keep with the Samsung theme.

Any advice welcome

 

[carnageX]

- If I decide at a later date that I'd like to work on a bigger screen, can I plug my tablet into a computer monitor to use as a second screen/primary screen?
- I have a western digital hard drive with all of my music, films etc on, can I plug this into a tablet for it to recognise and use my files as tablets don't have the biggest of internal memorys.
- I assume that I would be able to get a mouse and keyboard for it?
- Would I be able to use an equivalent of office to create spreadsheets/edit reports?
- How easy would it be to use for everyday use in terms of having multiple programs running?

1) Using an MHL->HDMI adapter you can, if the tablet supports MHL. Android is also starting to support casting the screen to a Chromecast, but it is currently limited to certain devices (unless you root your device...even then it still can be buggy)
2) Using an OTG USB Adapter can allow you to do this; but you'll need to have the external drive plugged into a separate power source, or use a powered USB hub. Also, not sure if it's changed recently or not, but to mount external storage it used to be that you had to root your device. Also keep in mind you can only do the external monitor OR external storage...but not both at the same time.
3) Mouse/kb can be done with bluetooth.
4) WPS Office is a nice free office suite; there's also Google Drive/Docs/Sheets. Though formatting may not be the same between a mobile / desktop counterparts...so keep that in mind when turning in reports.
5) While Android supports multiple apps running at the same time in the background, you only have 1 on screen at any given time (unless you root your device and get the "multiwindow" mods working); which makes multitasking a bit of a PITA.

IMO, a tablet is nice for casual use/browsing...but for anything productivity related you'd be better off getting an actual laptop.

If you'd prefer to have a tablet/PC combo... you can look into the Lenovo Yoga series, or even a Surface Pro (2 or 3) - which comes with full a Windows OS, decent hardware, and you can get an optional keyboard/touchpad hookup for it that folds like a cover.

 

[riza04]

Many thanks for your response, after some deliberation I reckon a laptop would be the best way forward, possibly with the addition of being able to use it as a tablet when needed. Any suggestions of what to look at?

This might be best now moved to the laptop section now though.

Many thanks,

 

[carnageX]

Moved to laptop section.

As for a laptop recommendation... depends on your budget.

 

[riza04]

Many thanks.

Umm probably about £800 I reckon which is what I spent on my last laptop (sony vaio fw series) about 6 years ago. I could possibly go higher if needed though.

I have been looking at Dell Ultrabooks which seem good and about my price range area.

 

[riza04]

So after some online browsing, I quite like the look of the Dell Inspiron 14-7437, thoughts or other recommendations?

 

[carnageX]

Since you said you'll be doing AutoCAD work, you'll want something with a good CPU (i5 or i7), a lot of RAM (at least 8GB probably), and you would benefit from an SSD as well as a decent dedicated GPU (if AutoCAD uses GPU power to process - I can't remember off hand). Unfortunately these are also going to drive the cost up somewhat... If this is for business, have you seen if your employer will buy you a laptop or pay for part of it? Or are you responsible for providing your own hardware?

 

[riza04]

Unfortunately this is going to be for personal work and I will then have the option to do work for my employer from home as well in case the worse comes to worse.

Just been looking at the Inspiron 15-7537 which also doesn't have an SSD, only a Sata drive. Does anyone know if you can upgrade a Dell laptop like you use to? Back in the good old days you use to be able to upgrade everything and choose specs for Dell laptops which I seem to be missing right about now!

 

[carnageX]

You can always get an SSD yourself and clone the existing drive over to the new SSD (or install fresh).

Then you could format the HDD that came with it and get an external enclosure for it and use it as a spare data drive.

Of course, an SSD isn't totally necessary - it would just benefit you more. If you don't feel an SSD is necessary right now, you can always get it later even and do as I suggested above.

 

[riza04]

Umm, I am completely lost as to what to get now, I was interested in a Dell laptop but the ultrabooks seems to have some over heating issues - particularly the XPS.

Any suggestions? I am wanting something that has the option of being able to run AutoCAD at a later date if needed and would like something around the 13-15inch screen size for 800ish...thoughts?