Need a 10 " tablet for work.
Excel spreadsheet & word doc compatibility of paramount importance
Mainly it will be used to access e mails & drop box when in meetings & presentations, and to look at and work on excel spreadsheets & word documents.


All advice appreciated.

Phil

What's your budget? The upcoming Surface tablets (2013) are perfect as they come with MS office.

Budget is around £300-£350 ish think they might be too expensive?

If you're an Office 365 subscriber, you can use the official Android and iOS apps.

Alternatively there are loads of other apps (many of them free) that are compatible. Eg CloudOn and QuickOffice.

A lot of these apps work well with online cloud services. Such as Google Drive, SkyDrive, Dropbox etc. so it's easy to share/transfer documents to/from your computer(s).

I like kingsoft office.

Wish there was a freebie that did access though

Surface RT is now for £279, Surface 2 can be pre-ordered for £359. The type/touch cover not included. You may not need it and for a serious typing you can connect an USB keyboard. They are high quality build tablets. Surface 2 has a better processor and a screen as well. I have Surface RT and it's been great to be able to view and edit Office files on it.

Thanks for your replies. I realised the product is within budget after all.

It seems to make sense, so now to shop around and purchase, or wait a few more weeks to get surface 2.
Now I can drive myself insane checking prices & reading the specs

You get get the Dell Latitude 10 tablet from Dell Outlet for less than £300. This is a real PC, and not an RT tablet. You would need to add the cost of Office, or use Office web apps though.

I would suggest the Surface 2 with a type cover.

You should bear in mind that the Surface 2 runs Windows RT not Windows 8 so apart from Office, it will only run Metro apps.

If you do buy this tablet, you should change your workflow to use Skydrive rather than Dropbox as Skydrive will be natively integrated into Windows RT 8.1 and you can't use the dropbox desktop sync client on RT.

The biggest differences between the Surface RT and Surface 2 are a newer processor (so performance is much improved), a significantly better screen plus improved battery life. Make sure you buy a newer type cover too not the old one.

What's the difference between Windows RT 8.1 and Windows 8 at used on the current Surface tablet? Also, can you clarify "newer type cover"? will the current cover not work?

You will be able to update Surface RT to 8.1 for free, so it's just hardware that's different. I tried 8.1 preview on my Surface and it runs fine. With Surface 2 new touch and type covers are coming as well. The most visible difference is that they are backlit and slightly thinner. Inside the grid that detects what key was pressed has more cells, so it should improve the detection.

Be careful about buying a Windows RT tablet like the Surface 2. It can be suitable for a specific purpose but the app selection outside of anything not Microsoft is awful.

As someone else mentioned, if you are a subscriber to Office you should consider using Office through the iOS app and getting an iPad. There are around 400,000 tablet apps available for the iPad, which is far more than even Android. Plus you also have far more third party accessories for the iPad and the best resale value when it comes time to upgrade. Something to consider, even if it may be beyond your current budget.

There is no Office app for the iPad, only for the iPhone and Android devices. Besides, you only get touch-optimised office suites on an iPad not an "full versions" that are designed to be used with keyboard and mouse.

My colleague has an ipad (which he likes)however, he finds incompatibility with certain bespoke word and excel documents we use, so that's why I'm looking at other tablets that will work on said documents.
It'll mainly be used in meetings off site where I need to refer to or amend existing word/excel docs.
I notice you can pre order on Microsoft website for £359. Covers are between £99 and £110 extra

I'd wait with the cover, maybe you won't need it. I use it only as a screen protection. But it also depends how you want to use it. For me soft on-screen keyboard is enough for most cases. Office is certainly a big advantage. I get a lot of work emails with word and excel attachments. I like being able to check them on my tablet.

Sounds like a laptop would be much better for this kind of job why do you need it to be a tablet ?

Android apps can't scale unlike iOS which is set to one single resolution so that's why there aren't many dedicated tablet apps.

Also, if he wants to use MS Office specifically then the Surface in this instance is perfect. Should the OP want other apps then you may have some valid points though.

Size/weight...I want something small /light... If I'm not sitting in a meeting room working on a spreadsheet, or reading/sending an email, or showing some presentation or other, I'll probably be wandering around from room to room taking some photos, and don't want to lug a laptop around.

Noted your comment, however, I think a tablet will do what I need?

True, but an iPad version is rumored to be released soon.

The iOS tablet apps I was referring to are not scaled up phone apps.


I'm thinking now maybe an Ultrabook would be his best option. I don't see much of a future for Windows RT.

Get a small ultrabook like an 11" Macbook Air.

There's budget to consider. I don't think you can get one of those for £350.

Perhaps an Asus Vivobook 11.6" would be in budget and may be worth considering?

If that's everything you want to do with the tablet, the Surface 2 will do what you need, if there's other things, you should note them down here.

Try to be comprehensive in the use cases you want.

You can get a touch screen 11.6 inch acer laptop for £299 at pc world these days.

I'd forget anything running windows RT as it will have very limited support. It has to have been one of the biggest flops in computing history.