Tablet recommendation?

Kurgan

Hey all,

I'm starting my certifcation process and I hate lugging around these 900 page books.
I much prefer reading off of my laptop but I was hoping to find something less weight
that I can hold in my hand, etc.
I looked at the Kindles and they are pretty nice, except there are way too many bells
and whistles that I don't need and don't want to pay for.
Can anyone recommend a simple tablet that I can buy that provides color (i.e. not
black and white scale), simple wi-fi connectivity, and a small hard drive to store my
ebooks?

Thanks in advance. And Happy Holidays!

Priston

The Nexus 7 looks really nice. I'm thinking about getting one myself

da_vato

I have the sony Xperia and the iPad mini, the Xperia does some of the coolest things in the market right now and has a micro-SD slot which makes it so much easier to load and unload files on the tablet. The iPad mini is nice when I want something really compact to take around but thats not too often that I need that compact of a tablet plus everything has to be done through itunes and there is no itunes for Linux ")(*&^%$%^".

Personally I would go for something with an SD card because it makes it so much easier to move files especially if your looking to load your study material plus that means its expandable. The Nexus 7 is a great tablet and pretty good price but it doesn't have an SD card.

Qord

Too many bells and whistles, huh? I can't speak for others, but my experience with low-end tablets has been sub-par. I had a ~$100 one, and it took about 2-3 minutes to open large pdf's, and moving around inside them was painfully slow. You really do get great bang for your buck with something like the Kindle Fire.

CCNTrainee

I always saw the Kindle as the low end of all the tablets, compared to price and features to something like an Ipad or any other "smartphone"-like table. I would suggest the older Kindles like the Kindle 3... had since my first deployment in 2011 and still fits me well for my reading/studying needs. None of the OS bells, just straight reading.

paul78

Just a thought that you may want to consider if cost wasn't a significant consideration...

I have a few tablets - Windows 8 based, iPad, Android based. I never really found one that quite fit the bill for me. And I didn't really like to lug around multiple tablets and laptops.

Recently, I purchased an ultrabook convertible which runs Windows 8.1. And I was able to get rid of a laptop and multiple tablets. Specifically, I got a Dell XPS-12 with an i7/8Gb mem.

While in tablet mode - the XPS-12 is comfortable to hold and great for reading and watching movies. It fits great while using on airplanes without a clunky laptop. Although, it a touch heavier than a tablet, its not posed to be a problem.

The battery-life with the new Haswell processor is outstanding. I get about 8-10 hours with normal surfing and usage. While watching a video, it may be less.

Surprisingly, the XPS-12 is actually quite sturdy. I was expecting that having a convertible form-factor would make the hinges when converting from laptop to tablet to be fragile but the mechanism is very smooth and well-designed.

Also with the SSD and additional memory, I actually run VMPlayer so that I can run Linux VMs and Windows 7 on it. You are not likely to find a tablet that lets you run VMPlayer.

And because of the full-keyboard of a laptop, I can actually do real work on it.

It's also a very quiet device. While the fan does sometimes kick in, it's not very noticeable as with most laptops.

The only downside that I have come across with the XPS-12 is that it lacks HDMI. But that's not a big deal for me.

JustFred

I have the Nexus 7 and love it. Also comes with Google drive so you really do not need an SD card. But like everything it comes down to preference.

DigitalZeroOne

I know that you wanted something color, but if you want something that is for ebooks, I would highly suggest a Kindle Paperwhite. You get a nice lightweight ebook reader that's relatively inexpensive, the battery lasts for weeks, and you get this huge ecosystem for books than you can read on your paperwhite, or any other device since the Kindle app is pretty much available on every smartphone, tablet, PC, etc. You're not just limited to Amazon when you want to buy books, I've purchased about a dozen books from manning.com, they have sales all the time, and I've taken advantage of those usually buying 2 or 3 books at a time.

I have a Nexus 7 and the newer Kindle Paperwhite, and for books, I use the Paperwhite. In my opinion, you can't beat the Paperwhite for reading, especially over long periods of time.

FloOz

I would really recommend the Kindle Fire. It really is worth the extra money. The device is great all around, especially if your looking for a tablet to read from.

Shdwmage

I can't read on tablets. It hurts my eyes way to much. I've had an iPad (with retina display), kindle fire, and a Motorola Xoom. I just purchased a plain jane nook, and I love it. I'm sure the Kindle Paperwhite is nice too. For books I stick strictly with the e-reader now. I fall right to sleep and don't suffer the eye strain if I'm up reading late.

CoolAsAFan

HP TouchPad running latest Android ftw! It has amazing, but cheap hardware (~$150) that has yet to let me down. I use it for all of my ebook studies, as well as streaming my tutorial/school videos from my PC. Even got one for my nephew awhile back (he calls it an ipad lol), and he plays every game that kids love to play and they all run great.

slotzero

+1 for Nexus 7, I really like it. I just upgraded to the latest one and it's pretty snappy. But as others have said, YMMV.

cknapp78

I have a few iPads, an Asus Transformer and a Nook HD+. Love them all for different reasons but for simply reading books and PDFs I prefer my Nook HD. Don't know why, I just prefer it.

Corey

Hypntick

Have a Nexus 7 2013 myself, really enjoying it. Debating on getting a keyboard case for it, but not sure if I can justify it.

DirtySouth

Another vote here for the Nexus 7 (second gen, full HD). Last I checked it was the highest res of any mid-size tablet so its going to be very good on the eyes. Good size, not too bulky.

Nutsacjac

I love tablets, I have at least 5(IPad2, Nexus 7, TouchPad, Transformer, Surface Pro).... to be honest, I prefer books for studying.

The Surface Pro is the one I use the most though, full Win8.

Mike-Mike

FloOz wrote: »

I would really recommend the Kindle Fire. It really is worth the extra money. The device is great all around, especially if your looking for a tablet to read from.

8.9 FTW

I feel like I have posted this a 100 times, but I love my Kindle Fire

tpatt100

From what I have read the Kindle Fire HDX is supposed to have the best display so far in tablets. Now "best display" might be to the average person almost impossible to tell the difference from other mid or high end tablets though.

I have an iPad Retina and my wife got me an iPad Mini Retina for Christmas because I am kinda "over" the big tablets and I like the compact size of the 7-7.9 inch tablets now.

It really depends on how much you would use and what you want, really there are a bunch of really good tablets out now a days. The Kindle Fires get the extra perks from Amazon like being an actual Kindle device so if you want to read the free books Amazon puts out there once in a while that require an actual Kindle device to load them on, you can't use the Kindle app on Android or iOS for that. Then if you get Prime membership Amazon is supposed to start allowing you to download movies for offline viewing but again only on actual Kindle devices.

iOS has it's advantage of it's App Store where odds are developers focus more time on due to more profit being made there. If you are not big on the latest and greatest apps then it's not really an "advantage" pretty much most mainstream apps are on Android and iOS, it seems games is where iOS gets a lot of love which I kinda waste a lot of time with.....

As far as Android I would only get Nexus, you lose out on the SD card which Google doesn't really want around anymore but at least you know you can get updates from Google and not all the third party junk companies load on tablets. I had a Galaxy Tab 10.1 from Samsung before and Samsung actually made it laggier with their skinning, I loaded Cyanogenmod on it, the lag went away.

olaHalo

I enjoy the Surface tablets.

kohr-ah

I have a Nexus 7 (2012 Model) and bought EZPDFReader on the play store.
Couldn't be happier with it for studying.

WafflesAndRootbeer

You can easily get cheap low-end Android tablets if you look around. I've seen $60 Android tablets at the drug stores, discount merchandise stores, and other low-end places. Try Big Lots as there are tons of them all over Ohio.

antielvis

Just a note of interesting in this debate. I've read several times that studies are now showing that reading off a tablet is inferior to reading a book, especially if the tablet is backlit. I've noticed that when I read on my tablet (Kindle on iPad) I tend to skim more than read. I had assumed this was technology ADHD from years of looking at too many things at the same time and loosing my focus. Apparently it might well be the tablet.

I do have a Kindle device now. I find that reading on the Kindle is actually superior to the iPad. There seems to a be a type of warmth in paper or near paper (Kindle). Of course the problem is we've all got WAY too many devices as it is.

SteveLord

The Kindles (not the Fires) being the superior product for reading has been known since their release. Every other iPad/Android tablet causes more strain on your eyes because of their screens.

JeanM

For reading - Paperwhite
For anything else, pick whatever you like. I like the Nexus 7.

SteveLord

I got my son the new paperwhite for his birthday. Pretty nice. But the price adds up when you throw in an accidental damage warranty + simple case. :-\

Kurgan

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone! I think I'll try to save up for a Kindle Fire. I forgot to take into account the videos such as CBT Nuggets and such that I'd also like to view while I'm out and about...