UKC

I'm having a 6 week trip next year, but will need to communicate with my office in the UK on a semi regular basis. I don't want to take my laptop with me and am mulling over whether to get a notebook or a tablet and wondering what the collective experience of UKC would recommend.

In reply to Lord of Starkness:
Or you could just take a smartphone.
Much lighter, smaller and cheaper.

In reply to almost sane:

Thought about it - but may have to review technical drawings so need something with a bit bigger screen than you get on a smartphone.

In reply to Lord of Starkness:

Do you mean netbook or notebook? I thought "notebook" was just another word for laptop but I am happy to be proven wrong!

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I am a numpty -- it should have been Netbook.

In reply to Blue Straggler:


I think the only term which doesnt have multiple meanings depending on which manufacturer/reviewer is talking is Ultrabook (since it is an intel trademark thingy).

For OP: it will depend heavily on you. I personally far prefer a proper keyboard for any real typing but i know some peeps who get on with tablets ok.
You mention technical drawing, does that mean you will need some specialist software in which case you might not have a choice in terms of what you need to do.
Only real advice is to try each and see.

In reply to Lord of Starkness: If work are paying or you can get a student discount, may be worth looking at a macbook air 11 or 13" (I prefer the 13"). I'm not a massive apple fan due to their fanboys and pricing(I'd never buy the iMac, cant justify the iPad etc) but its light, fully operational with a big enough screen to do enough work from, full keyboard. Battery life lasts around 6-7 hours I find between work, movies etc.

However I have not played with any of the brand new Asus Ultrabooks. But should you be a 'Which' fan the apple comes out top.

I had a netbook before which I really liked the only downside was doing any work, I found the screen a bit too small and the keyboard too compact.

iPad may be what you need, if the screen is big enough for you to work from and you don't mind the touch keyboard.

In reply to dissonance:

I was wondering that, and also the size of the drawings. Even if specialist software is not needed and the OP is just looking at PDFs, they can be pretty big and if screen size and resolution means twice as much scrolling around, it could get annoying! Then again the work is only "occasional" according to OP.
I have just been playing with a netbook for the first time, for a week. Haven't tried any "work" yet but I like it and I think it could fit this niche quite well. I've never used a tablet but I'm not sure that it work so well for the OP - doesn't the on screen keyboard take up a fair amount of display space?

In reply to Lord of Starkness: I have both and would think that for technical drawings (so long as you have the right software) the iPad would be much better. It's also smaller and lighter. Downside - it's more expensive so I'd be more worried about it getting damaged on a trip.

You can get a pretty good keyboard for the iPad from Logitech. Worth it if you need to write emails / documents which are more than a few lines long

In reply to Lord of Starkness: would definitely consider an ultrabook depending on your budget, however for the high end I would recommend an Asus over an apple, lower end acer is probably your best shout. But if you want to spend less I would probably say get a tablet.

In reply to Lord of Starkness:

I would have thought that viewing drawings would be easier on an Ipad then a small laptop. You could get yourself a mini keyboard incase you need to write more then just a few lines. Check first though that Ipad has the correct software for viewing your drawings. File size and storage of large files could be an issue too with an ipad v laptop.

In reply to Lord of Starkness: What format are the drawings - you obviously need to check if there are software issue. As an ipad owner the thing that I don't like is typing on it, and anything that requires mouse manipulation is going to require an addon. You should see if you can borrow one to test drive.

In reply to Lord of Starkness: one thing to bear in mind if you go for a netbook is they they generally cone with 1 gig of ram, for your sort of work look for one with 2 gig or one that you can upgrade to 2 gig. A 2 gig stick you cost about 20 quid and you'd prob get a tenner back for your old 1 gig. Most netbooks have windows 7 starter and its limited to 2 gig anyway so you couldnt go higher than 2 gig. An external mouse would be handy as the touchpad on them is quite small for accurate stuff

The ASUS transformer range could be perfect, its a netbook and a tablet. Being non-apple, it should be easier and much cheaper to get the software you need on it to review drawings or see what happens when the surface comes out in a few months, pricing is still under wraps with rumours aplenty, but will be very similar to the transformer but has a tracker pad which could make all the difference.

In reply to wbo:

Most drawings are either .pdf or viewable in Autocad Drawing Review.

I'll not acutally be doing any drawings other than possibly marking up .pdf's

Netbook seems to be the way to go -- anyone got a decent s/h one going cheap?