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Has anyone here replaced their laptop with tablet / iPad + headless PC

GeordiePaulGeordiePaul Posts: 1,323
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in Tablets and e-Readers #1
If so how are you finding it? What do you use?

Currently I have an ultrabook which is nice but arguably overkill for my needs most of the time. I've got a fair bit of money tied up in this machine. I work in IT and frankly, I'm getting tired / sick of windows. It's like a high maintenance girlfriend, a total pain and I feel like I'm doing my job at home at times as well as at work. Tablets are a lot less hassle...

I've been using the iPad mini 2 and I've started to come to the realisation that, unlike the android tablets I've used (which I've found are blighted by bugs and find android tablet apps poor compared with their iOS equivalents), I really enjoy the iPad. So it's got me wondering, I was planning to replace the mini 2 with an air 32gb, set up a cheap PC to connect to my TV that will act as a server with xbmc and for file services etc. This could obviously be connected to via rdp so on the very rare occasion I need to do some proper work at home, I still could, but this is a rare event.

I'm just interested to see if anyone's gone the same way and how they are finding it.

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    victorslotvictorslot Posts: 619
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    #2
    I'm sure you have thought of it, being an IT man, so considering your comments it seems your ideal system would be a MacMini. It would work seamlessly with your iPad is silent in operation, ideal to use as a media centre and with a wireless keyboard and mouse can still be used on the odd occasion you need something more powerful/serious. There are loads around on the second hand or nearly new market with prices to suit every pocket.
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    GeordiePaulGeordiePaul Posts: 1,323
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    #3
    Thanks, I had looked at those, albeit new and at 500 a bit much but I'll have a look on ebay as it would seem to be a nice solution and I suppose having the mac osx would ease the transition with the likes of the iPad. I'll have to see if I can get xbmc or something similar for it though...

    I do wonder if I'd be best stocking with Windows as you can get some cheap little micro servers now with half decent specs, just seem to need to add hard disk, ram and OS, and I already have a spare win8 licence...

    Decisions decisions....
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    victorslotvictorslot Posts: 619
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    #4
    Mmmm, I suggest research, research before decisions. Although XBMC will run on a MacMini I believe Some tinkering is needed to get it to run smoothly. Don't have XBMC myself but did look at it a while back. As you say there are some seemingly good value mini systems around now but windows........, why not try a Linux Distro XBMC is said to run well on it and if you don't get on with it you can always use the Win 8 you have.
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    IvanIVIvanIV Posts: 30,310
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    #5
    I use one laptop as my homegroup server for streaming media. I also have an ultrabook, because I liked it at the time, but I almost never use it. I use almost exclusively tablets nowadays. At work I use computers extensively and I do not feel like 'working' at home, too. So it's just browsing, media, games and tablet is good enough for that. But I need that server to be able to use the tablet fully. ETA: I use W8 tablets so I do not need any special SW or HW for streaming the files, I just have an external disk with my collection which I can access from the tablets via homegroup.
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    GeordiePaulGeordiePaul Posts: 1,323
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    #6
    IvanIV wrote: »
    I use one laptop as my homegroup server for streaming media. I also have an ultrabook, because I liked it at the time, but I almost never use it. I use almost exclusively tablets nowadays. At work I use computers extensively and I do not feel like 'working' at home, too. So it's just browsing, media, games and tablet is good enough for that. But I need that server to be able to use the tablet fully. ETA: I use W8 tablets so I do not need any special SW or HW for streaming the files, I just have an external disk with my collection which I can access from the tablets via homegroup.

    Precisely my motivation.

    The only things that put me off windows tablets are the lack of decent games and the baggage that comes with it being windows which I cannot be bothered to deal with...
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    IvanIVIvanIV Posts: 30,310
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    #7
    GeordiePaul wrote: »
    Precisely my motivation.

    The only things that put me off windows tablets are the lack of decent games and the baggage that comes with it being windows which I cannot be bothered to deal with...

    MS technologies earned me a lot of money, so I really have nothing against MS :D
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    GeordiePaulGeordiePaul Posts: 1,323
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    #8
    IvanIV wrote: »
    MS technologies earned me a lot of money, so I really have nothing against MS :D

    Same here mate, nothing against them at all and I'm in my job because of them, but I don't really want to deal with it, or be reminded of it, when I get home... ;)
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    LostFoolLostFool Posts: 90,662
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    #9
    Tablets have their place but I wouldn't want to be without my laptop. Whenever my desktop eventually dies I will have to think whether that is worth replacing as I could probably live without and just use my NAS for storage and steaming.
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    Kaz159Kaz159 Posts: 11,824
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    #10
    We've not had a desktop for over a year now.

    We all have laptops and tablets but I still use my laptop more than my tablet. (The others don't).

    I'm not sure that helps the OP.
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    GeordiePaulGeordiePaul Posts: 1,323
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    #11
    I've had a bit of a play this weekend trying to use the tablet for everything. It's fine for some things, but still a compromise on others. Main problem are the apps which are promising but not quite mature enough to have all of the features you expect, at least, not unless you pay for it. For example, I was surprised to find it so hard to find an all in one free image editing app that can resize images, like who knows how many free PC apps. I reckon we're not too far away from having these things be genuine laptop replacements, but they are not quite there just yet...

    There's still quite a few tasks I prefer to do on the laptop, and, if I have to do anything productive, even stuff like booking a ticket, for some reason I reach for the PC, the tablet seems like slightly harder work, never mind the odd time when I have to do some work.

    So.... I think I am going to stick with what I have for now, what I have seems a decent compromise the more I think of it.

    I reckon you could get by with a tablet but if you don't have to....

    Question is, do I sell the ultra book and bag £500 even though it is a very nice machine, or just use a cheap business laptop shoved in a cupboard (SSD and 4gb so not great but not too shabby) or maybe even seek out a touchscreen laptop or grab a surface.

    I wish I could make my mind up on things :D
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    Debb1eDebb1e Posts: 451
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    #12
    Why not have a Linux box? You could install Ubuntu or Mint, both of which are awesome.

    In fact, I can't understand why people PAY for Windows when Linux, and all its software, are completely free.

    Since I discovered Ubuntu over a year ago, I've never found anything you can do with Windows that you can't do with Linux.
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