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Looking for laptop/tablet recommendations. — Parallax Forums

Looking for laptop/tablet recommendations.

kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
edited 2015-03-19 09:25 in General Discussion
I'm looking for a new laptop or tablet, mainly for instrument diagnostic and calibration software that needs Windows, but would like something I can use for comfortable reading on a plane as well. The HP 13-A068 laptop with a 360 degree screen rotation or the Toshiba WT10PE-A264 Encore 2 Write tablet looked like they would work for that.

Anyone have any experience with them or any other recommendations? More interested in reliability and battery life than high speed.

My minimum requirements are: 1.3GHz dual core cpu, 2GB ram, 2 USB 2, 1 SD slot, 1 HDMI, WiFi, and Bluetooth. For storage either a 500GB drive or 64GB SD/eMMC and an external sd slot.

Comments

  • CuriousOneCuriousOne Posts: 931
    edited 2015-03-18 08:15
    I would add/modify requirements as follows:

    1. Fanless
    2. Full HD or better, IPS panel screen

    Dell venue pro/Lenovo Miix2 in certain configurations meet both yours and my criterias.
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2015-03-18 09:34
    Kwinn,

    I have one of these (Santa was nice to me, or had the wrong address):

    ASUS Transformer Book 12-Inch T200TA-C1-BL 2-in-1 Detachable Touchscreen Laptop, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB Storage

    I like the 4GB memory, the fact that it is a 12" tablet (nice for my aging eyes), it seems pretty peppy and it has a bay in the dock that you can put a 2.5" SSD into! I haven't tried any propeller tools on it yet but indications from the HP Stream 7 folks is they work fine (the one I have and the Stream 7 share processors but this one has more memory and more storage) Once again, as a 12" tablet it is very nice and it works well as a laptop.
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    edited 2015-03-18 19:51
    Thanks for the suggestions. I will be looking them over in the morning.
  • MicksterMickster Posts: 2,693
    edited 2015-03-19 04:39
    I spend a lot of time on plant floors and was never comfortable with a consumer-grade laptop. My perfect solution was a Panasonic Toughbook from eBay. There always seems to be lots of them available and they are cheap because there obviously isn't a huge market for used rugged laptops. My CF18 doesn't have HDMI but it has:

    - Swivel touchscreen with stylus (folds to like a tablet and works surprisingly well with Windows XP)
    - 9-pin serial port
    - VGA
    - 2 USB
    - Ethernet
    - Modem
    - 2 PCMCIA
    - 2 SD card slots
    - BT
    - WiFi
    - Rugged PSU
    - Lockable side doors for PCMCIA/SD, Hard-drive, Battery
    - Rubber protectors on all ports
    - Headphone/mic port
    - Another headphone port

    I get a good 4-5 hours from the battery when using a terminal program to tune servo systems and with TeamViewer constantly online

    I paid < $200 for this wonderful piece of kit.
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    edited 2015-03-19 07:56
    Thanks Mickster, added to my list and will be looking on ebay in a few minutes.
  • PaulPaul Posts: 263
    edited 2015-03-19 09:25
    Stay away from ASUS. My 2.5 year old laptop came with a bad hard drive that I didn't discover until I tried installing WIN-8. ASUS support was absolutely no help at all. I finally got a H/D from Ebay. (and downloaded Linux Mint)
    The battery only lasted just over a year. The WIFI is now dead and I have to use the RJ45 cable. The SD socket never did work.
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