Looking for a good tablet 12"+

ZikO

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Mar 5, 2010
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Hello,

This is my first post in this forum. I am looking for a new tablet. I would like to share my thoughts on some tablets I found and see recommendations. It will be my first tablet and I am not 100% which one I should choose.

Below is a long post with focus on a couple of things: the purpose for the tablet, parameters I would prefer, e.g. screen size, memory, battery, and OS etc.

This is my list of tablets I found:
- iPad Pro 12.9" (128GB)
- iPad Pro 9.7" (128GB)
- Samsung Tab S3 (32GB but can be extended to 256GB)
- Samsung Galaxy View 18.4"

I also looked at "hybrid" tablets (2 in 1 as they call them):
- Samsung Tab Pro S (12")
- Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (12")

Size.
The purpose is the music reading of new pieces. I need to regularly download and play from notes. I will be downloading a lot of PDF documents, like piano sheets. I would just like to avoid a lot of printing etc. The bigger tablet the better. I am thinking of 9.7+ and 12" is what I would expect but I am not sure about cost. I'd also like a fairly good screen quality. The tablet will be put on a piano stand (piano rack) and I should also consider something not too thick.

Additionally, I will watch videos, online courses, movies, sometimes enjoy watching game and youtube streams etc.

The secondary purpose is to record myself occasionally when I play piano. I would like to share videos on Youtube as well. I know it is not going to be a pro camera but I'd like to have high quality videos to be decent and not to too painful to watch. File processing (Audio, Video) would definitely be a nice option although files can be uploaded to the main computer to process them there.

The memory.
What memory I should go for? Personally I don't think 32GB would be enough. I am going to store some documents (PDFs I guess) and perhaps audio and video files. They will eventually be put somewhere else but I may need extra storage. I guess I should go for something like 128GB.

Battery.
I understand I can't expect battery to stay for 1 week but I'd like to expect to use tablets at least for a couple of hours without major problem with battery. I have read Samsung Tab Pro S is really bad regarding this.

OS.
This is my main concern, perhaps misunderstood. My concerns might not be justified at all. Here we go.
I am sceptical to chose anything related to Apple and with iOS! I like iPads but its parts are expensive when things break. I have heard iPads are also problematic and have restrictions on many things like sharing, downloading, uploading files using PCs etc. Additional extra "gear" is also expensive. I am not sure how much those things are important while using tablets. It looks like Android is more flexible.

Cost.
It's funny because everything I have found when I was thinking about my criteria cost over around £700 etc. I was thinking of tablets with desktop systems like Windows 10 whose cost is comparable but can be used as laptops. My main concern is that all in all it is going to be overkill for my main purpose. I cannot find anything relatively decent and less "costly" that would have good 12" screen quality.

I would really appreciate any comments on the device I should choose.

Thanks.

---

List of Android tables.
Samsung.
- Samsung Tab S3 £669. Screen is only 9.7". 32GB (can be extended up to 256GB using MicroSD cards; 128GB cards cost around £35. OS: Android 7.0.
- Galaxy View £499. Screen 18.4" would be an excellent but cannot put it on piano stand :/

Apple.
- iPad Pro 12.7" 128BG £819. The price is really high for a tablet!!! I heard it is a good battery and excellent screen quality.
- iPad Pro 9.7" 128GB £639. Like 12.9" but has only 9.7" screen size.

2 in 1 tablets with destop OS:
- Microsoft Surface Pro (4). ~£900 my configuration, Windows 10 OS decent battery.
- Samsung Tab Pro S
 

jaslion

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Dec 17, 2012
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Firstly I recommend moving this to Tomshardware as you will get more answers there (people don't like to relogin on tomsguide for some reason).

Alright here we go.
From everything I've read you want to do a lot of things normal android and ios devices will not do good enough so those are out of the question already. The problem I see happening here is that you need to go to more expensive devices. I myself own a sony vaio windows tablet with an i5-4200u. I got it refurbished for 300€ instead of its 1200€ asking price. A windows 10 (full non rt version) is a lot better and way more usefull and in your case the only option really.

I would honestly suggest you get a small laptop or a laptop with a touchscreen that can fold over (toshiba, dell and hp have a couple good ones that aren't too expensive). The 2 in 1 market will be your best bet.

Here are some other alternatives that are "affordable":

Dell venue Pro 10
Lenvo Miix (whatever version you can find that floats your boat).
When I was looking I found this quite handy link:
http://www.pcmag.com/roundup/310159/the-best-windows-tablets
The moment you go above 10 inches it gets quite expensive.

Hope this helps
 

ZikO

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Mar 5, 2010
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Hi jalion.

It did help. Thanks