Hello all.

I am on the lookout for a tablet, more for convenience for carrying it around and using outside as a laptop can be a little heavy.

I'm not tied to an ipad as I do not have an apple laptop.

The things I will use it for will be watching livestream tennis online and reading pdf patterns for knitting/crochet. Also to listen to music also.

One question I have is do tablets allow livestreaming from online sources? I have read sometimes they do not.

I like the look of the samsung galaxy tab 4 and have also heard that it's a good performer.

So does anyone have any advice/recommendations for a great tablet? Thanks.

All tablets will stream on WiFi, but not on 3g/4g unless you have one with a Sim card.

Tablets are not that good in playing music as speakers tend to be rather poor but if you connect headphones ( cordless if using Bluetooth) the music is fine.

Samsung tablets are fine but if you want a budget range Tesco Hudl is well recommended (you can use your club card points if you have any, and often you get double points).

To a degree, the more you pay, the better you get (more memory, better screen resolution etc) but there comes a point where it is not worth it for most average users. I made mistake of buying a £400 tablet and in six months it was surpassed by better ones at half the price!

Really, you should set yourself a fixed budget and buy the best you can get at that price.

For your proposed use, you should not have to pay much more than £150-200 to get a reasonable tablet.

Thank you.

My budget is about £150 to £200.

I am looking at the tab 3 too, I don't really know the difference between the 3 and 4, the RRP on amazon seems to be higher on the tab 3 for some reason. I don't really know what the difference is.

I haven't seen much of the tesco one. Is it good value?

With Windows tablets everything that works on your PC will work on the tablet, too. So you get no surprises that something that was supposed to work doesn't.

I would recommend that you check out 8 inch screens and not 7 inch, the extra inch makes all the difference (as the actress said to the bishop!)

Unfortunately the extra inch does make a big difference when carrying it around outside ~ unless you have very big pockets.

Really? I think the samsung ones are 10 inches.

I would prefer a bigger screen, otherwise I may as well use my phone.

The larger size is not a big issue as I will be putting it in my bag for using outside of home.

Does this seem like a good deal/good value for money?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Gala...A18BEDU2RK1ETK

Sorry for the questions, I am not tech savvy..

Yes, it's a good price, and Amazon a great if you need to return goods.

I've had an iPad mini for a year and a half and have been really happy with it. It fits in my handbag easily too. I'd tried Samsung but decided on the mini after using my son's iPad, I just found the android really clunky, but down to personal preference, obviously.

HUDL2, £129, you can't go wrong.

If you end up looking at a windows 8.1 (full windows) tablet then i can recommend the Linx 8 that can be picked up for £70-£100

I love the linx 8 but for your needs I am not sure it is best type of system. If you want windows it is great, but requires quite a bit of configuration to be of use like any PC.

The android tablets are less flexible but meet needs of most users, and are relatively easy to use.

I've just ordered iPad 2 air from USA. I have a cheapo tablet that I bought last year and already, it's sluggish and reports memory low all the time. I can barely use it with all the apps. Ipad or Samsung galaxy tablets are the real deal imo, anything else is just toys.

For the price, that is excellent value for money.

After ongoing frustrations with a 2012 Nexus 7 I recently bought the Samsung Tab S 10.5 after I came into some unexpected money through a work bonus. It is a slightly better spec then the 10.1 (but no much) and more expensive. The difference between the two is mostly in the screen and faster processor: http://www.tabletpcreview.com/featur...xy-tab-4-10-1/

I'm staggered about how good the Tab S 10.5 is in comparison to the Nexus 7 - it makes it look like a pocket calculator but you are paying more for their top of the market tablet. The screen is jaw-droppingly good but there's nothing wrong with the one on the Tab 4 10.1 either.

I suppose it all comes down to
- how much you want to pay
- how big you want (will you be carrying it around all day or just use at home on the sofa?)
- what you want to do with it

Hudl2

What do people think about this win 8.1 tablet?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...pf_rd_i=468294

Cheap Chinese import with no support I suspect.

For around the same price I'd get a Linx 10"

Hmm cheers for the advice, is Linx a good make? I've never heard of them.

The reviews of them are pretty good, the linx 8" can be bought for £80-90. The linx 10" has double the r.a.m of the 8" almost doubling the price.
We are thinking of getting the linx8" as its basically a Windows PC in miniature, the 1gb r.a.m obviously has its limitations, but for the price seems good value.
Believe linx are UK based so support should be ok.

*edit* You also get a years free sub to Office (usually £60) and free Cloud storage too.

Really depends on what you want it for. I'm sure it would be fine for a few basic apps but if you are expecting similar speeds you get from a normal Windows laptop, even a cheap one, then you are going to be very disappointed. These cheap windows 8.1 aren't really normal PCs "in miniature" they are just cheap gadgets with Windows installed. You wouldn't want to attach a keyboard and monitor and use it as your main machine.

This is the CPU compared to other common models:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php....33GHz&id=2400

But if you bought a laptop with an i5 it wouldn't be £80 would it?

Indeed not. I dread to think what sort of laptop or desktop you'd get for £80.

It just shows that low-end tablets aren't laptop replacements so people shouldn't expect to be able to plug a keyboard and monitor in and be able to do the same things.

That's really good to know that it is excellent value for money. I have read an awful lot of good reviews on it and from people who have it and the tab 2 even and are happy with them.

I have decided to order one, I have had samsung phones for years and have samsung tvs and all my cameras have been samsung and I always find them really user friendly and of a good quality. For what I wanted it for and the money I was willing to spend on it, it seemed the best option out there and something that's actually quite good quality.

So yes, decision made, thank you all for your help on it, I'm looking forwards to getting it now and exploring it.