<p>So I want a tablet over a laptop it can do everything a laptop can and now they make them with keyboards and usb plug ins. Which ones do you guys use?? My classes for the first year will be english and math and art/humanities </p>
<p>Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk</p>
<p>It depends on what you want to use it for, and what you have already.
If you are a Mac user and plan to connect and sync with a Mac, and iPad/iPad Mini makes the most sense. It also has the largest selection of apps.
If you plan to use this as a complete laptop replacement for all purposes including writing papers and things like that, a Surface is probably your best bet. Unlike the iPad, it has a full desktop-like interface, file browser, and Microsoft Office for the more “typical” computer functions.
If you are looking for something some, budget friendly, or very flexible, I would opt for an Android tablet, most likely the Nexus 7 (or the Nexus 10, if you want something larger, but I would wait a bit on that because a new model is expected out very soon). There is a smaller app marketplace, but the apps are more likely to be free. If you want to see what is available, you can check the Google Play store online for apps.</p>
<p>If you have more details about what you hope to use it for, I could give more specific advice.</p>
<p>I’m a little bit biased, but…</p>
<p>SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 10.1!! </p>
<p>I’ve recently gotten a seasonal job @ best buy and have been asking myself the same thing. But without a doubt I would go with the Note if you have a laptop to accompany it. </p>
<p>Why the Note 10.1?</p>
<p>1) Comes with the “S” Pen. This makes it awesome to take notes with.</p>
<p>2) The screen is very suitable for a college student. It has 2560 x 1600 resolution for movies/games. Also the 10 inch screen means you won’t have to squint when looking at documents.</p>
<p>3) Price, whether you get the 2014 edition or not, you still get a great value. Much cheaper than the surface 2</p>
<p>4) Popular device allows to put a lot of peripherals on it. This would include a keyboard. Logitech makes a very good keyboard/case for the note 10.1</p>
<p>5) By the signature of your first post it seems you are already familiar with samsung products.</p>
<p>There are other reasons that make this tablet stand out, but I just stayed central to what is applicable for a college student.</p>
<p>But yea as nanotechnology was saying, if you do not have a laptop to accompany the tablet, then I would say the surface (any version) is pretty good just because of Office</p>
<p>I just bought an iPad Mini 1st gen. I don’t have it yet, but I had to REALLY think about what kind of tablet I wanted. Do I want an Android tablet that I’m not familiar with and which I would probably hate? Or do I want something I’m familiar with and I know it’ll at least last me a couple of years? The iPad has a lot of apps for school, and I use most of them. I also have a MacBook and a iPhone 5, so it really only makes sense for me to get something that I’m already familiar with. But, being honest, I was really close to getting a Samsung Galaxy Tab, but I just couldn’t do it.</p>
<p>The Samsungs are more expensive than Nexus, I believe, and if I got an Android device I would want it to be a pure Android so I could play around with the system. It would also let me do things like dual boot the new Ubuntu Touch OS. But my geeky programming/linux obsession does not apply to most people…</p>
<p>I looked into this recently as well and really a lot of them are good (I ended up buying a Nexus 7 and it’s awesome!), but like it’s already been mentioned there are a couple things to consider:
a. Will this replace a laptop completely? From the read of your post it sounds like it would. Therefore, you should probably go with a bigger and better quality screen (10"+) to ensure adequate room for taking notes and typing (plus the bigger size would give the better experience for movies and games or general online media too). [For me, I was keeping my laptop, so I prefered something smaller and more portable like 7"].</p>
<p>b. Do you plan to type notes or would you prefer to write them out with a digital pen? You can get an external keyboard or separate digital stylus for almost all models, but some do it better than others. For example, the Samsung Galaxy Note series (so, like the 10.1) come with a digitizer that has built-in features for a more streamline experience in using it with the device (i.e. open programs and menus directly from the “S” pen). I’ve heard a lot of praise for the tactile keyboards (not the flat “touch” ones) for the Surface.</p>
<p>c. What are you used to using? iPads of course will feel very familiar if you have an iPhone and/or Mac, plus your content can be synced easier, but IMO they are overpriced and so are the peripherals (keyboards, etc). If you’ve used Windows and MS Office extensively, then the Surface will be the most familiar to you. If you have no preference or are willing to delve into something new, then I highly recommend Android - Samsung Galaxy series uses a version of it and the Nexus line offers it in themost “pure” form. Trust me, there is a difference in which platform you use: my wife has an iPhone and iPad and I used those a lot in the past before purchasing my N7, and as soon as I started usingmy N7 I realized there was so much more freedom in the usage of my device than what it felt like with the Apple products.</p>
<p>d. What apps do you plan on using? All of them offer comparable MS Office suites (some for free and some for $10 - 30 depending). I agree that Apple seems to have the most extensive offerings of apps. There has been a couple instances where I’ve seen an app in the Apple App store on my wife’s devices that I’d like to have only to find out that it’s not actually offered in the Google Play store. Sometimes there is a comparable app on Googe Play, but sometimes not. If you have in mind which apps you’d be using, then you can look in each store online to see what they have. I would also agree with, however, that the apps Google Play offers (aside from games) are mostly free. I’ve spent like $5 in apps in 3 months of use. I downloaded a MS Office comparable app for free, Adobe Reader for free, Nexflix, Skype, online radio apps, news feed apps, and much more all for free. I even have one of the most awesome school schedule/assignment tracker/planner called Timetable for free on Google Play. All platforms will offer the basic apps like utilities (calculator), email, calendar, web browser, etc.</p>
<p>e. Odds and ends? Some people have very specific preferences, like wanting something that they can plug a USB into or want to use an SD card to extend their data storage. Only specific models fill these kinds of needs. Neither the Nexus or iPad lines offer SD storage (or USB for that matter), so you will need to buy the bigger storage models up-front. There are other slight preferences too though. Think about any of these you may have.</p>
<p>Anyway, I’m absolutely satisfied with the N7 so far. I take it to campus all days, use the internet on it (of course), but also plan how to complete my assignments, use the calendar for combining school and work commitments, and use notes for various things (mostly lists of things). I also use it a lot to view course handouts in digital form (so office docs and PDF) because courses rarely print thigns for students these days due to cutting on costs and environmental factors. I’ve had professors publish lectures before the class begins and I can follow along on my N7. I still take notes with pad and paper, but that’s because I’m just so used to that already. I also mostly do my typing for papers on my laptop as well.</p>
<p>If it was cheaper I would have gone with the Surface and attempted to replace my laptop with that, and thus would be more inclined to take notes and type extensively on it, but the N7 was much cheaper so I went with that.</p>
<p>iPad is best in my opinion.</p>
<p>How about Samsung tabs</p>