Recommended tablet/2in1 for ~$1200?
My company has given me a budget of around ~$1200 to purchase a device. Its technically for "education" so my excuse is that I'll be doing online certifications with it, but the reality is that its going to be primarily a toy to play with, watch movies, play some light games, etc.
Does anyone have any recommendations? I know the ipad pro is the big dog in town but I've never been much of an apple fan and don't have any skin in their ecosystem, I'm mostly an android guy but I'm not married to the idea of an android tablet.
Here were some of the ones I've looked at so far:
Surface pro 9
Dell XPS 13 2in1
Lenovo Yoga 9i
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+
They all seem like decent options honestly, but I was wondering if anyone had first hand experience with them and could give some thoughts.
Hey, OP, warranty field technician for Dell and Lenovo here.
If you want to be able to easily transfer work from your 2-in-1 to your desktop/laptop, I recommend the Dell XPS, as it runs Windows and is actually serviceable (by which I mean, able to be serviced). Spring for the extended warranty as well.
If you want an Android machine for whatever reason, go with the Samsung.
I strongly caution against the Surface. They cannot be repaired, full stop. If you need to make a warranty claim, they will simply replace the unit. That's fine if you don't care about data loss because you use a cloud service or just don't have anything you mind losing on it, but from a sustainability standpoint, it's terrible. Microsoft should be fined for their disposable design philosophy. They took all the wrong lessons from Apple's successes.
The Yoga is an alright machine, but the build quality is so-so, and Lenovo has had serious difficulties with USB-C power inputs of late. They are also not the easiest machines to repair, though not nearly as terrible as the Surface. Performance is comparable to the XPS.
Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.
I'm in the market too for a tablet and don't really have a recommendation. This time around, I want to move from a standard 10.1" tablet to something larger. I'm not in a hurry and so... every time I come across a larger tablet, I've been making a note of it.
This is what I've compiled so far in the category of larger than 10.1" tablets, in case this is something you didn't know you wanted:-) (or for others looking into this category).
So far, I'm leaning toward the upcoming StarLite Mk V Linux tablet from Star Labs. I'm personally excited about the privacy respecting OS (Linux) but please note the critical comments from the two links below.
CHUWI 2023 UBook XPro Tablet 13"
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ 12.4”
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Plus 12.4"
SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra 14.6"
Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ 12.4"
Honor MagicPad, MagicOS 7.2, 13"
Lenovo Tab P12, 12.7"
Lenovo Xiaoxin Pad Pro 12.7"
Have you seen the folding tablets from Lenovo and Asus? I really hope that form factor becomes a thing. ~17 inch screen and keyboard that fits in the same space as a laptop.
I'd love this category to explode and help drive down prices. Right now, I'm just glossing it all over because it's out of my price range. The smartphone to mini/tablet category is my favorite.
I loved the surface pro line.
I, on the other hand, absolutely despised mine. Its battery life (while okay at the beginning) quickly declined into 1.5 hours if I was unplugged and the screen was on. The performance was terrible with the Intel HD graphics trying to run that (admittedly gorgeous) high resolution display.
The only app that used the pen (and ran well while doing so) was OneNote. Adobe software barely ran on mine and Krita would take forever to boot up then drawing was always super laggy.
Maybe they’ve refined it more since the Surface Pro 4, but when I ran one as my laptop for 3 years, I hated so much about it.
My only positives were: the charger port was almost as good as Apples MagSafe, the display once again was amazing, and that kick stand built into the device itself was super smooth.
I hated everything else about it. Hell, even the pen itself liked to disconnect from the tablet. I had to go into Bluetooth settings for 5-10 minutes to get it to reconnect.
And don’t get me started on the number of times I would pull it out of my backpack to find it had dropped from 100% battery to 20% just during my commute. Still haven’t figured out why it would wake from sleep and kill its battery randomly.
First, I strongly recommend not getting a 2 in 1 if you will be writing or drawing. You will probably end up buying a Bluetooth keyboard after getting tired of flipping back and forth between laptop and tablet mode.
Second I strongly recommend against Lenovo, except for their ThinkPad Bluetooth keyboards if you like their keyboards. Had tons of bad luck with their laptop and tablet products. The X1 Carbon tablets at one point had some thunderbolt charging driver issue that could actually brick the entire device (they fixed it eventually).
I definitely prefer Windows tablets over Android because OneNote for Windows 10 is actually pretty slick. The Android app is usable, but missing a lot of features.
I don't even consider Apple for anything, so can't comment.
Samsung might be ok? They have made the best phones I have ever used (Note 9 and 10+), so I assume their tablets would be good. If you get a Samsung look into "Good Lock" and "Fine Lock" for customization....You can customize some things almost like a Linux distribution for babies.......which is actually impressive in the mobile space.
Finally, if I were getting a work tablet, I would be scouring the internet for a good quality used/refurbished MS SurfaceBook with the NVidia graphics card in the keyboard base. Use the base as a docking station at home and actually play some games, use a bt keyboard and tablet section when moving around. Outside of the super expensive folding tablets with Qi capable keyboards from Lenovo and Asus, the SurfaceBook is the best form factor I have seen for a general "do a little bit of everything" tablet.
The Asus Z13 is a gaming tablet, and has been on sale at Best Buy for ~$1000 if you’re in the US.
In the Android camp, I'm loving my 11.5" OnePlus Pad, which is currently on Amazon sale at $400. The keyboard is a must, and a good typing experience for the size. I think OnePlus also has a package at $479 that throws in the $99 keyboard for free, so that's a slightly better deal. Carry weight with keyboard is 1 kg, which makes it very easy to have along with me.
The screen is gorgeous with a 144 Hz refresh rate, though some reviews suggest the processor won't handle the most demanding games well. Battery life (13+ hours, real life experience) and charging speed are among the best available for any tablet.
I got it for reading (the 7:5 display ratio is perfectly optimized for crisp, side-by-side page display, browsing, graphic novels, and textbooks with graphs and photos), writing, sketching, and media consumption. OnePlus provides 4 years of OS updates, which beats the snot out of Samsung. The OnePlus OxygenOS skin on Android 13 is smooth and lets me put everything where I need it.
A matte screen protector will make reading and stylus use much better. The screen is somewhat delicate - I managed to get a noticeable scratch the day before the screen protector arrived.
I might have gone for the StarLite Linux tablet to have a more versatile OS with better longevity, but it was released just after the OnePlus, and I haven't found any apps I needed more OS options for at this display size. The OnePlus chipset is very proprietary, so I'm not expecting there will be ROMs to support it in future - I haven't even checked for boot unlocking yet.
My experience with Windows systems in the 12 - 13" display range is that they leave a lot to be desired for professional use when undocked. The battery life is poor, and 2-in-1's are uncomfortable to hold for long in tablet mode. They just don't bridge tablet and laptop use cases very well.
Footnote: NotebookCheck did a deep dive comparison of iPads, Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Lenovo tablets. There are compromises like the LED screen instead of AMOLED, but the OnePlus Pad is pretty much unbeatable at function for price.]
Got an LG Gram 2 in 1 from Costco at that price.
Love it.
I recently purchased an Asus Vivobook for my brother, and he's been enjoying it. It's a slightly bulkier product than the examples you've listed, so keep that in mind, but then it's also a fully fledged windows laptop if you need it to be.
I'd avoid the regular Surface Pro, the kickstand is nice but the keyboard is awful and you really have trouble using it in your lap, on the couch, etc. The same goes for the Samsung tab and any other kickstand designs.
The Surface Laptop Studio has a better design and is actually usable as a laptop, plus its hinge hides the keyboard so you don't have the awkward buttons on the back when in tablet mode. On the other hand I would worry some about durability with that design if you tend to be rough on devices. I don't have much hands on experience this one, my co-worker has one and he loves it.
My wife has the XPS, it's a nice machine and she has few complaints about build quality, battery life, or speed. It does overheat and throttle if you play demanding games, but I think anything in the ultra thin class will do that.
I'd skip the Android tablets if this is going to be your only computer. The Tab S series is very good, but it's always going to be less capable than a full computer. You may find that your certification courses don't always provide an Android app. Plus Android app developers tend to consider tablets as an afterthought, so often tablet apps just have huge versions of the phone app UI.
If you're planning to draw, I think the Surface line and the Samsung Tab S (but not Tab A) have the best pens for drawing. The pens have good integration with popular drawing programs, supporting pressure sensitivity, erasers, and some other extra functions.
Personally I'd go with the XPS unless drawing is important.
If you want Android and budget allows then definitely go with Samsung tabs.
For a tablet, it's hard not to go with an iPad Pro. Android tablets just aren't even in the same league as what Apple is doing unfortunately, especially in this price bracket.
The best iPad alternatives are Windows devices like the Surface Pro or Lenovo Yoga. Great machines, but I feel they lean more towards laptop than tablet. Something to keep in mind depending on your use case. Most Windows software is still designed with a mouse and keyboard in mind.
I can give a shout out for the surface pro line. I bought the surface pro 5 back when it was new, and I talked my mother into getting a surface pro 7 a few years ago. My sister ended up using my pro 5 for many years until the battery tanked so hard that it throttles down to the minimum CPU speed. Except for that issue, its still a good device.
I think that the surface pro hardware is my PERFECT tablet. I just really hate windows for a tablet. That is why I transitioned to an iPad (Currently an iPad Pro 12.9"). My ideal tablet would be a surface pro running iPadOS.