Tablet

[Don Quixote]

I am tired of lugging my old heavy laptop around and would like to get a small light tablet for when I go on the road. I don't need much. I would like to be able to retrieve my emails, and open and edit pdf, xls, and doc attachments. Wifi is fine, I don't need this thing to be a phone or a camera. Any suggestions?

[Insomniac]

I am tired of lugging my old heavy laptop around and would like to get a small light tablet for when I go on the road. I don't need much. I would like to be able to retrieve my emails, and open and edit pdf, xls, and doc attachments. Wifi is fine, I don't need this thing to be a phone or a camera. Any suggestions?

I'm going to toss out the Surface (or another Windows tablet) if you want true/full MS Office support. Might need the Pro to add Acrobat to the mix.

[dando]

I am tired of lugging my old heavy laptop around and would like to get a small light tablet for when I go on the road. I don't need much. I would like to be able to retrieve my emails, and open and edit pdf, xls, and doc attachments. Wifi is fine, I don't need this thing to be a phone or a camera. Any suggestions?

Are you looking for a 7" or 10"? You can get refurb iPads through the Apple store, but they are still pricey. The Google Nexus 7 and 10 get good reviews and are much cheaper than the others. Make sure you get one with Jelly Bean. Very, very slick compared to Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). There are plenty of apps that will allow editing, etc. of Office docs, but I have no idea about editing PDFs.. Asus and Sammy also has some slick models. I compared one side-by-side with an iPad last year, and was actually thinner. Stay away from Sony, Toshiba or Viewsonic. No idea about the Amazon tablets.

Also, make sure it has either an SD or MicroSD slot to easily transfer, and boost storage capacity. 16GB is OK, but I would prefer 32GB, but a slot supporting 32GB SD cards will allow you to store apps on the card and free up the onboard memory for the OS. Most also come with rear and front-facing cameras now. Some models may show Honeycomb in the specs, but most mfgs offered updates to at least ICS.

Happy hunting!

-Kevin

[dando]

I'm going to toss out the Surface (or another Windows tablet) if you want true/full MS Office support. Might need the Pro to add Acrobat to the mix.

And the Pro is $900. :eek:

-Kevin

[G.]

I have an Acer A500, got it for a steal about 2 years ago. I like it a lot, but there are certainly better ones out there. The Acer is thick and heavy, but it has 2 USBs (std and micro), mini HDMI, mini SD card...

I have an IPad2. Gave that crap to the wife, it's fine for her. :D

If I bought one today, without further research, I'd grab a Samsung Galaxy. I bought one for my dad, and it is sweet.

[Insomniac]

And the Pro is $900. :eek:

-Kevin

Other manufacturers have cheaper ones. Just saying, if you want native applications, that's likely the only option. I know there are Apps to edit the Office and PDF files on the iPad. I'd expect the same for Android.

[dando]

Other manufacturers have cheaper ones. Just saying, if you want native applications, that's likely the only option. I know there are Apps to edit the Office and PDF files on the iPad. I'd expect the same for Android.

I'm sure there area, I'm just not knowledgeable in that area (PDF editors or RT). Sammy has a 10" model for $650. Still not cheap by any stretch, but it does have 2GB of RAM (sounds like an MSFT OS product) :gomer:). And the apps aren't truly native as they use the Metro platform, so they aren't quite direct ports from Windoze 8. Just not many hardware mfgs or developers willing to get into bed with MSFT these days. The Surface has some really cool features, but it's way late into the game (not that it can't be done, but...). I think it also speaks volumes that the Windoze 8 chief (Sinosky) stepped down not long ago. Admittedly, I have spent much time with Windoze 8 and zero with RT. I'm actually beginning to migrate to OSX full-time (gasp). Mountain Lion has been rock solid since day one.

I did I quick check of the Play Store, and there are plenty of Office apps, but they only have PDF reader capability built in (if that)...and these are premium apps for $15. I found one that had the limited ability to add watermarks, password protect, etc., but not edit the doc. I found another that would create a PDF from a photo, but not text. Reviews were a tad sketchy, too.

There's good, bad and ugly in all of them.

-Kevin

[dando]

I have an Acer A500, got it for a steal about 2 years ago. I like it a lot, but there are certainly better ones out there. The Acer is thick and heavy, but it has 2 USBs (std and micro), mini HDMI, mini SD card...

I have an IPad2. Gave that crap to the wife, it's fine for her. :D

If I bought one today, without further research, I'd grab a Samsung Galaxy. I bought one for my dad, and it is sweet.

I think that's the one I compared to the iPad. Unfortunately Sammy overpriced the Galaxy Tab Notes a bit steep ($399 for an 8" tablet?). That will miss the mark with the mainstream consumer market. Hard to sell that to Joe 6-pack or college student.

-Kevin

[cameraman]

If you want to do any level of work with Excel files then you absolutely do not want an iPad. I don't know what kind of work you are doing but my xlsx files are unwieldy beasts and I would be loathe to try to open them on anything other than a true computer. The Windows 8 Pro version of the Surface will allow you to install computer programs so you can run the full version of Excel.

[Ankf00]

If you want to do any level of work with Excel files then you absolutely do not want an iPad. I don't know what kind of work you are doing but my xlsx files are unwieldy beasts and I would be loathe to try to open them on anything other than a true computer. The Windows 8 Pro version of the Surface will allow you to install computer programs so you can run the full version of Excel.

this. but id rather stab myself in the eye than build excel models on tablet

[cameraman]

this. but id rather stab myself in the eye than build excel models on tablet

The only saving grace would be that the Surface has a keyboard. Still, I hate opening xlsx files on anything less than a 27" monitor...

[Indy]

MacBook Air = most useful machine I have ever owned. The portability of a tablet with full functionality (very fast, actually) and OS X is wonderful. Be aware that Apple is about to introduce a new machine and possibly a new OS X, so you will have the choice of the latest and greatest or a nice discount. You can get a refurbished 11" for about $849.

[nrc]

I'm in the "tablet suck for editing" camp. Consider an ultrabook.

[SteveH]

I'm in the "tablet suck for editing" camp. Consider an ultrabook.

I have and iPad. It is great for consuming data. Not so good for creating or editing data. I can't imagine its limitations are much worse than other tablets. In fact, do you see advertisements for any tablet that focuses on creation of data as documents or spreadsheets? Not so much.

[cameraman]

An iPad simply can't open an Excel file that contains any coding, the Windows 8 slab can. Excel files isn't what an iPad is made for and I would even hate opening one on an 11" Macbook Air. Looking at Excel files on any small screen is a form of torture.

[JoeBob]

If you're willing to sell your soul to Google, and use their apps to update your stuff rather than Office, Chromebooks are a really nice solution... And cheap.

[nrc]

If you're willing to sell your soul to Google, and use their apps to update your stuff rather than Office, Chromebooks are a really nice solution... And cheap.

I considered suggesting that. But I think it depends on how complex your Office documents are. More complex spreadsheets probably aren't going to work.

[dando]

Found this @ Sam's today:

http://www.cnet.com/laptops/samsung-ativ-smart-pc/4505-3121_7-35511640.html

Might be the best of both worlds. Screen comes off to become a tablet, docks with the keyboard to become an ultra-light laptop. Also includes the stylus thingy on the Galaxy Note so you can draw if needed. Looked pretty sweet and runs Windoze 8 for native Office support. $744 @ Sam's.

-Kevin

[Ankf00]

The only saving grace would be that the Surface has a keyboard. Still, I hate opening xlsx files on anything less than a 27" monitor...

once I learned to use keyboard only, I became pretty adept at managing with a 14" screen, but the surface screen is just way to small to do real modeling. but it's enough to tweak and run any simulations you might need to.

you people use excel for most data sets? i would assume at the data set sizes you must have, SAS or Matlab or something would be much more convenient

[nrc]

Looked pretty sweet and runs Windoze 8 ....

wlMegqgGORY

[cameraman]

once I learned to use keyboard only, I became pretty adept at managing with a 14" screen, but the surface screen is just way to small to do real modeling. but it's enough to tweak and run any simulations you might need to.

you people use excel for most data sets? i would assume at the data set sizes you must have, SAS or Matlab or something would be much more convenient

It depends.

One I don't know how to use Matlab and it's just too much work to learn it.

Excel works fine on the small data sets, each plate generates ~384 values * triplicate * conditions, with standard curves, normalizations, and results w/ bar graphs, error bars etc. That's pretty basic stuff but the sheets get annoying to work with simply due to the value you are looking for is always a hundred columns away from wherever you are at that moment in time.

The big data sets coming off of the arrays where you're generating ~36,000 values per run are best worked on with the analysis packages that are designed for the specific platform that you're working with. That way all of the metadata on the genes is automatically linked so that you can see the overall results of your study and then go straight to the NCBI information on whichever gene strikes your fancy.

Some people like to write their own analysis workflow but I have to do the biology and the analyses so I just want to get it done. I've designed the experiments to keep the number of variables a low as possible so the analyses are normally limited to changes over a time course so the math stays relatively simple. We don't claim to have the first hint of a clue as to what is controlling anything so we aren't (hell, we couldn't hope to try) statistical modeling, we are just observing the reaction to changes in conditions. We're just trying to sort out the players. It's the basics of reporting really, who, what, when, where and hopefully how. Why comes later - waaaay later.

[Indy]

http://www.macprices.net/2013/06/10/macbook-air-price-drop-up-to-240-off-2012-models/

MacBook Air 2012's up to $240 off on Amazon. You'll need to act fast to grab one of these.

Turns out the upgrades were somewhat minor - primarily more battery life through a more efficient processor. But I use my 13" off and on all day and rarely need to recharge before I go home.

EDIT: a quick look at apple.com shows refurbished models about another $100 or more below that. These prices are lower than they have been selling for used on eBay.