Best Tablet for Student

Eddiethking

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Dec 5, 2010
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Hey guys,

I am looking to buy a tablet for school. I am a graduate student and the main things I aim to use are Google Books, Kindle app, and maybe some note taking. Okay, and NFL Audio Pass. A camera would help for my field research (skype and such). I want a tablet that is WiFi only, or has that option at least. I am looking to buy a tablet that will last me at least another year or two, in terms of specs and build quality.

Do you guys have any ideas? Makes and Models would be great.

I appreciate your help in advance.
 

NickA

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I recommend the Asus Eee Pad Transformer with the keyboard dock. I'ma little biased because I have one, but I have tried all the other Android tablets (except the new ones like Sony and Lenovo). For note taking, you can't beat the keyboard. And it comes with Polaris Office (an MS Office compatible suite) And the keyboard will actually charge the tablet so when you are in the field, battery life won't be an issue.

Most the the brand name Android tables have the same specs, so it comes down to features and price. And when I say features, I mean things like size, ports, etc. Now a days, seems like there is a new Android device every few months, so I don't know about the specs being relative 2 years from now.
 

Eddiethking

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Thanks for the suggestions.

I am a bit weary about getting a keyboard adapter, mostly because I already have a laptop. Plus for the price of the adapter and tablet, I might as well get a new laptop.

The Asus Eee does looks pretty nice though. I am a huge fan of HTC, any thoughts on their tablets?
 

NickA

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How about one of the new Lenovo tablets? The ThinkPad tablet has an available pen for taking notes. I watched a couple reviews of it and it looks pretty sweet.
 

michikade#AC

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I'm in a similar situation. I'm a returning student working on my nursing degree and just picked up the Vizio tablet.

I don't know what your budget looks like, but I had to do best bang for the buck (cause I'm broke) and since this one was wifi only (I don't need the 3/4G, I have hotspot and wifi at school) , flash capable (have to have it for a couple online projects/websites), and a nice size at 8" it works great for me.
 

NickA

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I'm in a similar situation. I'm a returning student working on my nursing degree and just picked up the Vizio tablet.

I don't know what your budget looks like, but I had to do best bang for the buck (cause I'm broke) and since this one was wifi only (I don't need the 3/4G, I have hotspot and wifi at school) , flash capable (have to have it for a couple online projects/websites), and a nice size at 8" it works great for me.

When I got the Acer Iconia A100 last week (which I returned yesterday), it was a toss up between that and the Visio 8". It got really good reviews. How do you like it so far, and is there anything it doesn't do that you wish it did?
 

michikade#AC

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Other than not being able to root, I really like it. I haven't run into many snags at all - I had a bad app that ate the market but that's fixed now (could have happened to any device though).

Rendering video is gorgeous, surfing the web is great, the size is just right for me at 8", and battery is better than expected (averaging 7-9 hours, box says up to 10 but I have some weak wifi signal issues unrelated to the tablet so it drains a little faster for me) . Once I can overclock, I'll be perfectly happy with this device.

I've only had it since Tuesday night, though, so I haven't done everything yet.
 

michikade#AC

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Vizio runs Gingerbread 2.3.2

I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually gets Honeycomb. But the gingerbread version is pretty dang flawless.
 

Major

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I'd wait until the holiday season. I am sure some new and exciting stuff will be coming out then. At the very least, you can possibly get a serious discount the day after Thanksgiving.
 

Eddiethking

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Well that would be about two months of school gone.


The Vizio seems pretty sweet, any ideas when it will be rootable. It seems like the only draw back on the device is the laggy UI.
 

michikade#AC

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It'll be rooted whenever someone who knows what they're doing figures it out and spreads the word. No idea on a timeframe, as I don't know enough about it to have a go - I'm waiting like everyone else.
 

Eddiethking

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Hey, where did you get the reviews? The ones on Amazon or not very stellar.


I want something that will cleanly and easily perform the following:

PDF reader
Kindle App
Google Books App

And perhaps some multimedia. Do you think the Vizio will do this well?
 

michikade#AC

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I do all those things on my Vizio. It does all that pretty flawlessly. In fact, it does such a good job I haven't cracked open my laptop in a week.
 

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