Tablet vs Chromebook, why?

[badatmath]

Assuming its a second compute used for travel, etc.

Just curious as I currently have neither. I kind of hate to think about this sort of thing as it is too much like w*rk. . .

 

[Bamaman]

We travel with tablets--Fire 8's that were on sale for $59 a day or two ago. They're easy to live with. Sure beats lugging around that old 17" heavy laptop I used to carry.

Many use them for pictures. I have a high line camera for that.

 

[COcheesehead]

We are in the Apple ethos. So tablets it is. Everything we have: music, photos, notes, apps, are on every device. Keeps it easy. New devices are instantly integrated and everything is backed up to the cloud.

 

[Physics Guy]

I'm a big fan of my Surface Pro. Full Windows 10 computer in a tablet form. Pen computing works great on the go and I can plug it in to keyboard, mouse, and external screen if I am not traveling.

 

[Dawg52]

I don't take either when traveling. I use my cell phone. But if I were going for an extended stay I would take my Chrombook. Screen size 11" so not that big.

 

[aja8888]

We use Chromebooks exclusively (work (before we retired), travel, typing this, all internet, etc,) It's all Google here. Laptops are collecting dust in a closet (unless they got thrown out a while ago).

I do have a wired WIN desktop that I do banking on once a month.

 

[Lewis Clark]

Notebook and tablet computers are smaller and lighter than full laptop computers, which is an advantage. But they may have less functionality than full laptops. Notebook computers in particular will usually be less capable than laptops. Less memory, less storage, slower speeds, less able to install software, and so on.

Make sure the machine you get is capable of doing the things you will want to use it for.

 

[target2019]

For tablets, add in swype keyboard if the OS does not have it already. For example, my android 9 phone has this, but older Nexus tablet did not, so I used Swype, which is no longer in development.

A tablet takes up much less room when traveling, and in use.

 

[Bamaman]

Let me just say that if I was traveling domestically on the ground, I'd be taking my laptop. If we were flying somewhere, we'd be carrying tablets.

We are leaving next week for our yearly trip to Europe--with a 7 year old granddaughter to entertain via tablet games.

 

[pacergal]

We are in the Apple ethos. So tablets it is. Everything we have: music, photos, notes, apps, are on every device. Keeps it easy. New devices are instantly integrated and everything is backed up to the cloud.

Same here. Rarely take the laptop, sometimes take the tablet, mostly just use the phone! I will take the tablet mostly for reading books on vacation.

 

[cathy63]

Just got back from a cruise up the Pacific coast and found that I used my phone a lot, but never got out the iPad at all. I read on an e-ink Kindle because I find that to be easier on my eyes than the iPad.

We did not pay for wifi on board, but just connecting to the ship's intranet allowed alerts and texts to come through on my phone anyway. Whenever we were near land, I'd pick up a cell signal as well and emails would come through. (The nice thing about Google Fi is there's no worry it'll connect to the expensive ship's cell service, so I could just leave the cellular data turned on.)

 

[target2019]

On recent NW cruise, I had my Nexus tablet, but found that a new Google Pixel was more than adequate. We didn't add in the expensive internet service (around $25 per day or more!). We did not get any phone calls or texts through the ship's intranet (Holland America). At the three Alaska stops, Verizon came up with a strong signal, and we caught up with email, etc.

 

[dvalley]

I'd pick a tablet because of the size/weight but I'll be honest nothing *feels right* to me unless I'm sitting at my desk at work or at home with dual 24" monitors. Everything else just feels like I'm missing something.

 

[badatmath]

Thanks for the inputs. Haven't decided what I want. . . I adore my (very old) kindle love that screen. Wish everything was like that, honestly.

 

[Cobra9777]

I don't take either when traveling. I use my cell phone...

+1

DW and I both just use our phones when traveling. A few years ago, we would take the laptop, but never once used it. So it was a total waste of space. We like to travel extremely light and our phones do it all. So we don't need any tablets, Chromebooks, or laptops.

We very rarely use the laptop at home either. Just a cumbersome form factor that's slow and overheats. We have a Win7 desktop PC in the office with three 22" monitors for serious computing and online financial stuff. Otherwise, we use our phones for casual computing around the house, like email, social media, browsing, searches, etc.

All that said, at some point, I might get a really small Chromebook and give that a try around the house and maybe for traveling.

 

[target2019]

Thanks for the inputs. Haven't decided what I want. . . I adore my (very old) kindle love that screen. Wish everything was like that, honestly.

It sounds like you'd be very happy with a Fire HD. I purchased one for my spouse last holidays. I bought the HD 8 model with charging stand.

 

[HI Bill]

It sounds like you'd be very happy with a Fire HD. I purchased one for my spouse last holidays. I bought the HD 8 model with charging stand.

..or for the high-end, the re-introduced iPad Mini, if you want a small form factor and the best performance (IMHO).

 

[badatmath]

Hmm.

 

[samcat]

Chromebook here. They are pretty lightweight and have all my Google files, apps, that I need.

 

[target2019]

Hmm.

Amazon must be reading your thoughts. That doesn't surprise me.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/16/amazon-announces-fire-7-tablet-price-availability-and-features.html

 

[kyzymurgist]

I still travel with my ancient Nexus 7 but use Chromebook at home. Why doesn't Google make a Chrome tablet?! I would jump on that.

 

[kcowan]

I find cut&paste and spreadsheet management to be awkward on my iPad so I hang onto my Windows Laptop. Distribution lists are also too much work on the iPad. OTOH the automatic integration of data across 2xiPhones and 2xiPads makes them very handy. So I use all 3 regularly.

We also have MagicApp on all phones. So our incoming calls when we are travelling away from home are easy.