The old thread is a year old so i figured technology has changed enough to make a new one.

I want to get a tablet PC before my trip to Europe. Any recommendations besides an IPad?

6/28/2013 4:40:56 PM

Thinkpad Tablet 2

6/28/2013 6:20:38 PM

The nexus 7 is the best android pad on the market right now, but there's supposed to be a new version of it coming out soon(tm)

7/15/2013 12:12:08 PM

Picked up a Samsung Galaxy Pro Tab 8.4 for $399. A little pricey but otherwise it beats the new Nexus 7 and is a little larger. The issue I had with the 7 was my Note 2 is only 1.5" smaller. I wanted something slightly larger than the nexus but definitely smaller than an iPad sized tablet. So far it's pretty sweet.

3/6/2014 11:21:35 AM

Quote :

"A little pricey but otherwise it beats the new Nexus 7 and is a little larger. "

Explain

3/6/2014 11:53:32 AM

So I've got status at Bestbuy so I have a bad habit of picking up a tablet and returning it no restocking fee within the 30 day return window and I've done that with the first two generations of Nexus 7's. I've enjoyed them both but considering they're only slightly larger than my phone I wanted something bigger so:

Pros over Nexus 7:
1. Slightly larger at 8.4" instead of 7" (pro to me)
2. Higher resolution 2560 by 1600 screen compared to 1920 by 1200. 323 ppi on N7 versus 359ppi on the GTP8.4.
3. Faster GPU (Adreno 330 versus 320 - haven't really looked into benchmarks yet)
4. Faster CPU (Snap Dragon 800 2.3ghz versus S4 pro 1.5Gz on Nexus)
5. SD Slot (big pro for me)
6. Better camera (both front and back ) and inclusion of flash
7. Brighter screen
8. Better driver support (Samsung does a really good job with plug and play mice, game controllers, etc). i.e. I can plug in whatever I want and it works compared to having to fiddle with config files on a vanilla Google device.
9. Build quality is much better on the Samsung (I had to swap out three Nexus 7's before I had one that didn't have issues).
10. Thinner by a little (0.28 versus 0.35)

Cons over Nexus 7:
1. The bezels aren't as large and I really enjoyed having the extra holding room. Sometimes with the small bezels on the Galaxy you accidentally hit the back button.
2. Price obviously ($399 compared to $229 for the 16GB).
3. Have to deal with Samsung's Touchwiz (although I install Nova Launcher Primer right away and there's really not a lot of bloatware on this thing which is nice. Samsung has done a decent job of cutting down Touchwiz after user complaints).

All in all I might end up keeping this one. I currently don't own a tablet (well now I do) just my phone and Yoga 2 Pro which kind of doubles as a larger tablet (with Win 8.1 though).

3/6/2014 12:48:27 PM

Quote :

"I've got status at Bestbuy"

Does that mean you consistently overspend for your technology?

3/6/2014 3:13:34 PM

It simply means you spent more than $1500 in a year so you get 30 days to return instead of 15 and a few other benefits.

--Also I never buy anything at Bestbuy unless it matches or beats online prices. My TV was on sale for $200 cheaper than Amazon. Both my receiver and speakers were open box deals and WAAAY cheaper than online.

Other things I've bought at Bestbuy (like the tablet) were the same price as online. In fact when I picked up my Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro from Bestbuy for $1199 Amazon barely had them in stock and the ones in stock were $2000+. Bestbuy was even $200 cheaper than Lenovo's website.

The days of Bestbuy being overpriced or even a little bit more expensive than online are long gone. They've learned to match online pricing pretty consistently to stay in business. In fact lately when I see price drops on Amazon or Newegg Bestbuy updates their site within a day.

Plus being able to drop by the store a mile from my apartment and return or exchange something is way faster and easier than having to deal with shipping with Amazon.

[Edited on March 6, 2014 at 4:17 PM. Reason : s]

3/6/2014 4:11:30 PM

Quote :

"(I had to swap out three Nexus 7's before I had one that didn't have issues)."

I heard someone else say this the other day and found it surprising. I've never really heard of build issues with the Nexus 7 until recently. I love mine. I understand it's not much bigger than a phone, but that's not really the metric I use for usefulness. I basically use it as a comfortable/fast reader and browser for lounging and traveling with easily. Any bigger (my boss just gave me the 4th-gen iPad Retina and it feels like too much, or isn't quite as comfortable (though I will say the 4th-gen iPad is still very nice).

I can see the Pro Tab 8.4 being a nice balance in between if I wasn't so happy with the Nexus 7 iterations.

3/7/2014 11:35:40 AM

It's actually slightly thinner than the Nexus 7 although it weighs slightly more. I really do miss the larger bezels. Yeah it seems like there's always quality control issues with the nexus. Then again I'm pretty thorough when catching stuff like that. I only had to exchange this Galaxy Tab once. The first one I got had a slight dust bubble beneath the glass and the back clicks in two places when you held it. The one i exchanged it for is about perfect.

3/7/2014 1:02:38 PM