Oooh... I'd love to get a Surface myself. Not sure the Pro would have any advantage over the normal version unless you need the better processing power, though.

A friend of mine has the original Surface and the keyboard, while nice, has no tactile feedback. I'm not sure if that changed, so keep in mind that it is not as good as a real PC/Laptop keyboard (but you can just hook up a regular keyboard through the USB port - imagine a Surface + Model M!)

luckybob wrote:

I've come to really like most of the people here. We share the same interests, so I'm about to receive a sizable tax rebate check here in the next week or so, i would welcome your input on how exactly to spend it.

I "WANT" a tablet. A big one and not some cheap no-name Chinese crap. I've told myself I would use it for leisure reading and a place to put all my retro computing manuals. So for quite a while I've been looking at the Sony DPTS1 LINK I was completely committed to the unit. Until I read up on the Surface pro. I'll admit i'm smitten. My hangup with the Surface is I fear that I will end up playing games instead. I can just see myself playing Civ V in bed.

I welcome input.

Sounds to me like you need to nail down your requirements a bit. Proprietary vs Android vs Windows 10, x86 vs ARM, size, weight, etc. What would be it's primary use? Would others use it? Would a compact laptop be a better investment? Does Civ V work well with a touchscreen interface?

Originally I only wanted something I could read for hours and is very pdf friendly. The Sony and its e-ink screen fit the bill perfectly. However the Surface would be more useful, but i'm concerned that I would be playing Civ V instead of doing something more productive. Civ V would work very well on a touchscreen, it even asks you if you want touchscreen mode every time you start the program. The Sony will last for WEEKS on a charge, where it looks like the surface will get 3-5 hours depending. Which would kinda suck.

luckybob wrote:

Originally I only wanted something I could read for hours and is very pdf friendly. The Sony and its e-ink screen fit the bill perfectly. However the Surface would be more useful, but i'm concerned that I would be playing Civ V instead of doing something more productive. Civ V would work very well on a touchscreen, it even asks you if you want touchscreen mode every time you start the program. The Sony will last for WEEKS on a charge, where it looks like the surface will get 3-5 hours depending. Which would kinda suck.

If you can do without Windows, I like what Sony is doing with their Xperia devices. The Z4 Tablet looks like an amazing device, and the best part is that Sony is providing full build trees, configuration information, and vendor supplied vanilla AOSP roms for their devices. Quite a change from the spyware scandal.

yea the Sony device looks awesome. Windows is like.... well Windows. And I would not pay for an Apple device even if it cured cancer. The Sony is also quite a LOT cheaper.

Tablets have more or less hit the point where they can all do the same core set of things. Which one is "best" for you personally is going to come down to what you want to do that is slightly left of centre. So as suggested, nail down a set of wants/needs and go from there.

If hackability/customisation isn't a priority and your focus is more on using the device for tasks than tinkering with the device itself, then iPad Air is a good buy for weight, build quality, screen quality and battery life. Obviously if hackability IS important then you'll want to look elsewhere. You did say no Apple devices, but just putting this out there anyway.

Surface Pro is extremely well built and very powerful, but also heavy and power hungry. Being normal desktop Windows of course means you can do whatever you want to it. Of course this all comes at a price.

Android tabs are wicked fun as a tinkering tool, especially coupled with a USB-OtG adaptor and a custom ROM. They can be had very cheap too, but expect plastic-y, low-res madness at the entry level. Many of the no-name tablet makers are shipping old versions of Android too, some of them don't even come with the Google Apps (i.e. Play Store).

If you really want it for reading, consider an e-Reader like Kobo, Kindle, Nook, or that rad-looking Sony thing you linked in the OP.

My 2c.

If you want to read, get an ereader. With bigger tablets which let you do more, you get more weight. And even though they all don't weigh much, it's not as comfortable.
I've been reading on mini notebooks and tablets for years now (some sony small one, an HP TC1100, iPad1, iPad3 and now an iPad Mini). For reading the small iPad Mini is great and I use it for many other things, largely for playing 😉
If I weren't into reading comics a lot, too, I'd have gone for an ereader already 😉

So, get an ereader 😉

If you really want to avoid playing games or browsing the web, get an e-reader. The battery life is a bonus.

I think i'm going to try for a deal on a used one on ebay. seems they are almost a reasonable price there.

luckybob wrote:

I think i'm going to try for a deal on a used one on ebay. seems they are almost a reasonable price there.

Use one what?

The sony. I'm starting a new job and I can use e-readers, but full tablets are kinda prohibited.

It's a good choice, then. Although I love my tablet, E-ink is so much better in sunlight.

I've got myself a Dell Venue 11 Pro (7140), which comes with a Core M 5Y10a processor, 4GB RAM. I have upgraded the SSD to 512GB. Using Windows 10 Home 64-bit. Also made a separate partition for Ubuntu 15.10.

I'm just using the folio case/keyboard - which is enough for me, and the trackpad is extremely well functioning, that it rivals even the trackpads on some actual notebooks.

Despite it's modest CPU, the tablet is very smooth for everyday use. No lag noticeable when going through all the windows.

Downloaded the whole Computer Gaming World magazines from Computer Gaming World Museum (link currently offline) for offline reading. Works well as a reader with the Adobe Reader Touch app from Windows Store.

Quite a respectable battery life operation.

And once a retrogamer, always a retro gamer : Installed Dosbox (Via D-Fend Reloaded) and MUNT the first day itself. Works without a hitch, even with the MT-32 Emulation. And most of the space in the SSD is oocupied by the Dos games I have archived and the Dos Games CD ISOs to be used with Dosbox.

I'm using the touch-enabled SDL for touch display support, and can play point&click adventures surprisingly well in tablet mode.

I don't know much about what's out there. Yet....
My woman is using an Samsung 10 inch (I think it is) Galaxy (something with A?)
She have had that for about 3 months or so. No glitches or anything.

Malik,

Any issues with that tablet so far? Heat? Weight? Durability? etc.

Going on a deployment on a looong military flight so the battery life looks really good.

The sony claims 3 WEEKS of battery life. Thats a big plus in my book. I hate the feeling of being tethered to a wall.

DosFreak wrote:

Malik,

Any issues with that tablet so far? Heat? Weight? Durability? etc.

Going on a deployment on a looong military flight so the battery life looks really good.

Heat-wise, it's very comfortable, when not charging. While charging, the upper right corner at the back (while facing screen) gets a bit hot, but otherwise, on normal use, it's pleasant to use.

It's quite thin and light to carry around. Won't be an issue on the move. With the folio case which has the thin built-in keyboard and doubles as the screen protector, is basic but very responsive... especially the trackpad..

The only downside is that when the keyboard is attached, the screen does not auto-rotate and on-screen keyboard does not pop up, when the keyboard is folded back. You have to detach the folio/keyboard for these functions to work like a tablet. The said on-screen functions do exist by touching the relevant options on screen but does not work automatically when the keyboard is still attached.

Yes, the battery life is very good. It's nice to see the battery level hardly drops even after sometime of using the tablet.`

@luckybob:

If I were you, I would get a tablet that can do other things than only read PDF for that money.

After sometime, you might feel like you could have got something else that is not just restricted to reading and displaying PDF files, which most phones themselves can do nowadays.

Yes, the claimed 3 weeks battery life is good, but you can always charge any device, like when going to sleep, unless you are going camping for a few days. But even then, you could only read PDF files, right?

One would think you could get an 8 or 10" e-reader for 150-200 USD, but I don't know that market so well.