Practically speaking I'd be surprised if you ended up doing many Office tasks on the tablet. Personally I would never choose to use ablet for Office work when there is a laptop or a desktop in the same house, and I don't think any of my colleagues do either. It's OK for looking stuff up if you are away from home and need a reference, but creating anything other than a short basic Word file would be tricky. OTOH certainly better than a phone for email and web browsing.

Thank you - that's really helpful. I am concerned if I continue to 'chat' that it takes this thread away from original.

My thoughts/questions if you are able to help me further are -

1. Would I be able to access my Microsoft Office 365 - mail (not Hotmail) on it?
2. Could I link it to the TV to access 'catch-up' for example. Might be a silly question but have brought laptop down from upstairs to do that job.
3. This shows my lack of tech knowledge. I see there are re-furbished iPads from Apple - so would one of those be able to have the Office Mail downloaded.

Another plus, I thought my husband might enjoy learning to search web for Classic Car info from his armchair. He isn't too good on laptop and gets cross - so could be easier for him.

Yes to all these questions. My Mum is the least technical person on the planet - and who had never ever in 30 years of trying been able to use any of my Dad's kit - is able to do all of these things on her Ipad. The only thing I don't know about would be about the refurbished Ipads. They will certainly continue to work with their existing configuration, there comes a point when it is impossible to download any new or updated apps for them, because the technical specs have changed so much.

Thank you so much for your help. So are Apple the iPads that most people have? If so I do have to go into the 'City' on Monday and we will in a small village. So perhaps I should look to see what 'size' is best maybe....

(Have to go to another help - BT new router has stopped my printer working! Technology ... but I would hate to be without it even at 72 in a few weeks time.)

The MS office apps on the iPad/Android are excellent and I use them every day..
I spend most of the day using Word/Excel/Powerpoint/Onenote for business and personal use. But mostly business.
All my team use either iOS/Android via phones or tablets with it. Its our main communication set of tools. Being the business we are in, I'm an IT consultant/Architect and manage many projects and teams and spend a lot of time creating from scratch detailed reports and presentations (with my own base templates of course ) and am getting many during the day to read/approve/edit or comment on.
The cloud, whether using Onedrive, dropbox personal/business and other similar home/business cloud platforms make this so easy to use/share.
The thought of going back to using Office on a laptop/desktop would make me cry (and I'm saying that spending many decades providing enterprise support and managing teams working with an MS server environment).
It takes a little learning like any new app and 'touching' office is just beautiful and if you are attaching photos, video, text or files etc. its a breeze with the apps. The apps are full spec office and yes your 365 sub will integrate perfectly.
One great thing is when you are out and about and have your phone and someone says, have a look/edit/approve etc. you can do so easily, your office in your pocket and having a presentation ready in your pocket makes life so much easier.
The MS office apps on iOS and Android are now updated at the same rate and work well on either device, so either platform will be good for it..
I also use the Linx 1010b windows tablet and do like the MS office 10 store apps too (now same as the iOS/Android apps), no need to have the full office 'old fashioned install program' wasting that devices valuable portable 32gb disk space.
I'm a very fast typist, all my life working in IT, so have no problem on a 9.7inch device, but you can always add a cheap bluetooth keyboard (I also use dictation on tablets/phones for when I'm writing a very long/detailed report and also do my personal novels and non-fiction books that I write/sell that way) to any phone or tablet easily. If I had a preference Id go with the iPad as a tablet and android as a phone, but that's only as at home and what I have bought within our business are my most used devices.

A used iPad Air is what you're after.

Thank you all - so much. I now have some reading to do which is very welcome. It is so helpful to have this feedback. All the words used, when you are not in the everyday use of these products, can be so confusing and your help is really appreciated.

OK - got my cup of tea - and started reading. (Still wonder if i should start another thread)

So I have looked at refurbished - would this be what you are both talking about.
http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product...6gb-space-grey

Then I look at John Lewsi - who I get most of my purchases from because of good service -
http://www.johnlewis.com/browse/elec...z13zz4Z1z0qzc4

Hence - specs are too baffling for me. Are they more than I would need?

To my non-tech knowledge - they both look same so are they?

The JL one is the original Air (version 1). The refurb is the Air 2. The newer one has a slightly higher specification. Both have 16GB RAM which should be fine unless you're planning to store a large number of photos or videos on it.

I'd go for the Apple refurb Air 2.

Agree, buying refurbs from Apple is fine, it does bring the cost down a little.
Only extra deal from John Lewis is their 2/3 year guarantee, which for extended service I would not fault them.

Yes agree the Air 2 and 16gb would work very well for you, no need for the Pro version.
All the catchup tv services, just seen you mentioned that would work beautifully, the Air2 has a very good screen., you will enjoy that experience alone on an iPad Air 2.

Thank you for your thoughts.

So they are both same price £299 but refurb higher spec. One year warranty does go very quickly - JL is 2 year warranty.

Decisions

Would someone like me really notice the difference between the two models?

The other plus is from JL if there are any issues my local Waitrose would take it back and deal with it - no postage, etc.

Well you could get the iPad mini 2 in 16GB.

I decided to phone a cousin of mine who does not live locally and ask his thoughts - he is in the technology world - I said what I wanted to do and of course he knows us.

He questioned me spending nearly £300 on an iPad and suggested I look at for example Samsung, Sony for less money and if I needed more memory add it. (Oh! I learnt there was a tech piece called a Chromecast, from him, us oldies can be so out of touch can't we - but we try.)

He thought the iPad for us was an excellent idea but to be careful on spending more than we need to do the job we wanted and felt I really should look at some first. I still would like to stick to JL if I can as I know the after sales will suit me. If I look at some on there they can be £100 cheaper.......

http://www.johnlewis.com/browse/elec...N-5nlvZ1z0ww04

So maybe I take the models from here and see if I can see them in a shop. One again I really do appreciate your help.

I agree with your cousin.

At this stage, getting a cheaper but capable tablet to dip your toe into the market is advisable, especially given your modest requirements.

The Lenovo A10 Full HD one looks a good choice - decent enough screen resolution (which is important for browsing & office tasks) and expandable storage via a MicroSD card slot should you need it. At £140 it's a very decent specification (if money were no object I'd go for the Samsung Tab S2 9.7" but at half the price the Lenovo is a sensible choice). One cautionary note is the Microsoft mobile apps are a bit poor right now but the tablet comes with Kingsoft Office which is a decent alternative to view/edit your MS Office documents and spreadsheets.

As for Chromecast - highly recommended and easy to use. Casting video content to your TV is two presses away in many video apps and you can then carry on using the tablet independently once the Chromecast on the TV takes over.

So I'd recommend fondling the Lenovo A10 at JL.

If you are using a iPhone, and iPad is the best solution for you. It works exactly the same way as an iPhone, and you can do Facetime, iMessage etc. seemlessly.

Duplicate.

The MS office mobile apps on my iPads, iphone and Android tablets are excellent and the best office apps now by far
That Lenovo A10 is very old and only runs Kitkat, quite an old Android OS version now, that tablet will not get updated
The Samsung tab A 9.7 is probably a good cheaper alternative
16gb may just be ok and that one is upgradeable to marshmellow, the latest Android software
One poor thing with Samsung tablets is it gets loaded wiith a lot of apps you cannot remove and probably will not use or use better ones, it does take away a lot of the gb space, beware
Chromecast is great if you want to show your tablet apps like the catchup ones and tablet screen on your tv, that includes iPads
My choice would be an iPad though, they are worth the extra price
Your best bet would be to go to a John Lewis store and have a good play with them and talk to their good tech experts
Would recommend John Lewis for anything tech and their advice is good and not hard sell

Pressed back button and lost my message!!!

My memory into play now.

Samsung I guess is this one - but reviews do say about annoying apps.

http://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-gal...abinfo-ratings.

Lenova

My nearest JL is 35 miles away so PC World is 15 miles away and I have looked on their site but they don't do the same Lenova they do this one.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/comput...37564-pdt.html

I have found JL stores if I have phoned them have had something not on site and have sent it to me e.g. Oxford Street Store.

Would I be able to download my Microsoft Office for Office 365 for my mail on the Lenova.

Once again you are all worth your weight in 'ipads'

Some fair points but I recommended the A10 as the poster's requirements were "thought it could be useful to carry around house to search on the web, check emails and - possibly use my Microsoft Office 365 subscription". An iPad for that is totally OTT. The A10 may be 18 months old but would be fine for the needs specified despite the Android version (note a Lollipop update is available) and easily trumps the Tab A with a much better display resolution for reading text which appears to be the primary intended use.

Of course, if money is not an issue then an iPad is a sound choice but I just feel for the intended use, total overkill. My thinking was if the poster found themselves using the tablet a lot over the next couple of years then upgrading to a premium device would then make sense but I personally don't think at this "nice to have" stage it's the right move.

From everything you've said I would really recommend the Linx 1010.

Since you have a Windows laptop and a Windows phone it will use your same Microsoft account and automatically synch all your OneDrive documents, photos etc. Take a picture with your phone and it will appear in the Photos folder on the tablet. Open a Word document with Word Mobile and edit it and it will save to your one drive and so on. Plus you don't have to learn a new tablet OS since it is full Windows 10.

Windows 10 has two modes, tablet where the buttons are big and easy to press with finders and all apps open full screen or 'desktop' mode where it is the same as a Windows laptop. I personally use it in that mode as a tablet but that's just my preference. You swap from one mode to the other by pressing a button or if you dock it into the keyboard it will change automatically.

It comes with Office apps, Word, Outlook, Excel etc as app versions, so again they're easy to use with fingers while sitting on the sofa. They also save automatically so you can write something and just close the app and it's saved.

For the ease of working automatically with your Windows phone and laptop it is definitely something I'd recommend. And it's far cheaper than an iPad yet does far more. For times when you might go on holiday for example, it can easily replace your laptop. The keyboard and trackpad, or you can use any wireless mouse, make it easy to use. The iPad can't use a mouse and their (optional extra cost) keyboard doesn't have a trackpad.

Yes, and on any Android based tablet.
The MS outlook app from the google play store is what you could (loads of ways in Android to view your email) use along with your other office apps like word,excel, powerpoint etc
You will use your MS account login with it and connect as part of your 365 subscription.

That lenovo yoga would not be a good buy in my view, its the cheaper of the yoga range. It is not the greatest screen, quote laggy at times and its a bit poor performance wise.
The more expensive Yoga tab pro 3 at £399 would be the only one in that range to consider.

The Samsung Galaxy tab A 9.7 would be ideal good all round starter tablet for you, at £199 in Currys. All Samsung tablets come with a two year guarantee.
Samsung do put on a few of their own apps (but so do many other manufacturers), but recently Samsung have not done that as much.
Just buy a mini sd card ad use to store your photos, videos, apps etc and then it will not be an issue.
I have recently had access to one of these and had a good play with it, would be ideal for what you want.
John Lewis do price match.

It is a real shame that Tesco do not still do the Tesco Hudl, that was a great starter tablet.

Thank you both - looked at reviews for Linx and Samsung.

As you know if I can go JL route it gives me peace of mind. Had issues with Currys years ago plus any of these stores if I have to go back if there is a problem with it means travel distance.

So I need to get out and try and see some physically - in meantime I want to make a list of what I want to actually - hold in my hand. So your help is appreciated when you have time.

JL do not do the Linx only the Lenova

Looking at Samsung in Currys

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computi...32622-pdt.html priced at £199

However, JL - is this the same model but has a pen? Another £40...

http://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-gal...wi-fi/p2009426

Phew ...

The otherwise excellent value Linx 1010 shares the Samsung Tab A's drawback of low screen resolution for a tablet of this size - so worth comparing with the Lenovo whenever reading finer text as on a lower resolution screen such texts may lack sharpness - important when used primarily for browsing and office tasks.

The higher priced Tab A appears to highlight the fact it comes with a stylus (S Pen) so this may be the reason for the price difference but it's not clear

Be careful reading those Amazon reviews and Q+A, they for some bizarre reason lump the eight inch version and last years ten inch all together with the new 1010. So comments like it only has a micro USB port are last years model.

As for resolution it is lower spec than some other tablets but I have a HD demo video that looks fantastic when I play it. I have never once thought "I wish the screen was higher resolution".

There is an S Pen version of the Tab A, it also has 2gb ram instead of the 1.5gb of the non-S Pen version (must admit did not notice that the JL one was the S Pen version when I looked at those links earlier), the extra ram is there to cope with the S-Pen use and app S-Pen specific app requirements, that's the only difference.
The res on the Linx and the Tab A are fine and I would have no problem recommending them.