[Raffwal]

I have to say that I don't quite get today's tablet frenzy. We have the original iPad and one kid and I sometimes play some games on it, but that's about it. I find it very clumsy as a computer replacement. Feels like using a computer with the non-dominant hand with a mitten on. What I can see it being perfect for is playing media while traveling.

[magkelly]

Raff, my main use for a tablet is as a book reader. It will never replace a PC for me, or my laptop completely, but it's a nice light thing to have when you do a lot of traveling. I'm on the go a lot. I'm always driving people here and there for doctors appts and that. I have to travel to meet clients some. I use my tablet to shop with a lot and I read a lot. I have a very full library of e-books. I am very media oriented and like to listen to music and occasionally watch vids too. Sometimes I browse with it but mostly I prefer the PC for that kind of thing. I definitely don't do email on the tablet though I might I guess if I was on vacation.

Right now I am carrying around a heavy old laptop to do presentations with and I am really trying to replace that for slideshows with clients. One of the reasons I picked this one even though it didn't have an SD card slot was because it was rated so well at media playback. Most tablets have sucky speakers/audio. This one supposedly doesn't and the color rendition is supposedly excellent for the size of screen. If I want to show off my work to clients that's important. I'm tired of lugging the laptop. I've usually got enough stuff to lug without adding that too.

I almost never read dead tree books anymore. My eyesight is not as good as it used to be, illness thing, and I need to be able to large size the text, even on the go. This tablet also supports my favorite lossless media formats, including my favorite FLAC which some tablets apparently don't. It has 64GB of storage which is great lack of SD card notwithstanding. I can put a ton of books and music on this thing and not have to load it all the time like I do my Cruz and that will save me a lot of time.

Eventually I want to do some traveling too. Sooner or later I'm going to Europe, the UK, for at least 4-6 months. I really don't want to lug a heavy laptop like I did when I went to CA. I'm going to be tramping all over, walking a lot and taking the trains and I just want to be able to lessen weight in my carry on bag. I'm already a very light packer compared to most people. I only travel with one small bag and very few clothes, just my camera a couple of lenses etc, but with this in there instead of the laptop it would be so much easier to lug everything I think. Playbook vs laptop it's a weight difference of like 20lbs and the Playbook supposedly travels exceptionally well from country to country so long as you have the current adapter covered. My Cruz I could never really use it to travel. It barely handles reading books.

Yes, Tako, please? I was looking at them and trying to decide. I mainly read epub/mobi or pdf. I'm not fond of the Kobi or Kindle readers. I don't need or want a reader application that makes me sign in and go online all the time to get books. I find that very annoying actually. Any applications that you think I might like to use, please list them? I'd appreciate it. It would save me time and a few $$$ probably trying to figure out which ones are worth it. I'm going to try to sideload some of the android applications I have but who knows what will work and what won't and it would be nice to know the right ones to try for it, at least. Thanks!

[Digitalis]

I still have my ASUS SL101 slider, the built in usb port and Micro SD have proven essential for my day to day work. Though I mostly use it for web browsing and E-mail, it has proven to be most useful for displaying my work to clients.

This tablet also supports my favorite lossless media formats, including my favorite FLAC which some tablets apparently don't.

Not that you would hear the difference between FLAC and a 320kbps MP3 on a tablet pc headphone amp.

[magkelly]

I'm semi-trained musically and I have very good ears. I usually can otherwise but no, I don't know about on a tablet though I do have some really good headphones if that even makes a difference. My Cruz couldn't play them so I never tried. Usually I end up with 320 mp3's anyhow to save space, but there are a few things that I really do prefer to listen to in FLAC. I do meditate to these CD's that have brainwaves mixed in with the music and and that stuff you really should not compress to mp3 for best use. I have done it with 320 mp3 but it does legitimately seem to work better in FLAC or Wav and the people who sell them don't advise it, using mp3's even at 320.

I'm not too impressed with the playbook market site, but I found several good forums. I also just found out the Playbooks are not being supported. The company is abandoning them just as I get one, lol, figures, but I've already found several sites where people have converted a lot of the most popular android applications to bar files. I found about 75% of what I like on my Cruz actually plus some of my favorite PC games I want to try. I may have to sideload a few things though if possible or convert some things myself. Apparently you can a lot of the time. But the more I read the more I think I am going to like this thing. It's a world away from my crappy Cruz...

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Last edited by magkelly; 08-30-2013 at 03:44 AM.

[Digitalis]

I'm semi-trained musically and I have very good ears.

well I have a degree in classical music and I often find that the quality of the headphones have more of an impact on sound than the quality of the recording (to an extent) - but it does depend on exactly what you listen to: as there are some things that don't handle compression well.

[Tako Kichi]

Yes, Tako, please?

Check your PMs.