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daveb

daveb

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Once again appealing to the puter nerds.

Have had Amazon Fire 8 for over a year. Slower than death. Don't like interface, gmail sux, getting to kkf sux, fb kinda sux. Couple hours of reading will kill battery. I've added Chrome thingy to it but still - only thing that's easy on it is ordering sh!t from Amazon. Kindle part works well for reading but battery life is killing me and it's time to do something different.

Want something to carry that's smaller than my laptop. (Lenovo Flex 5 thanks to youse guys.)

Fire 10 is in play but wanted to see if there's a comparably priced tablet that will allow me to do some work as well as play - tapping into the company's software applications for timesheet mgmt, supply ordering, etc. Don't anticipate needing accessory keyboard but maybe.

Happy with Lenovo as a brand. Samsung gets pricey fast. Absolutely no interest in Apple. Three listed below are result of my brief google-fu. What else is out there?

90% Kindle stuff (I guess the nerds call them ebook readers)
10% Vid Streaming
10% work stuff if doable.
Android based (guess I could go windows)
8 - 10" display
Would like more storage - I'm always deleting books. Never tried to download a flick.
Decent speaker
Microphone good for telecrap
Some camera
No games. None. Ever.

Want to buy new only.
$200 ish


Bring it. Please.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...ptionId=&linkCode=as2&tag=bestprodtagc1144-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08K8FHX6...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HY8X46...&pd_rd_r=d8b0f6cb-815a-46e3-833f-121137043d05
 
Last edited:
daveb said:
Once again appealing to the puter nerds.

Have had Amazon Fire 8 for over a year. Slower than death. Don't like interface, gmail sux, getting to kkf sux, fb kinda sux. Couple hours of reading will kill battery. I've added Chrome thingy to it but still - only thing that's easy on it is ordering sh!t from Amazon. Kindle part works well for reading but battery life is killing me and it's time to do something different.

Want something to carry that's smaller than my laptop. (Lenovo Flex 5 thanks to youse guys.)

Fire 10 is in play but wanted to see if there's a comparably priced tablet that will allow me to do some work as well as play - tapping into the company's software applications for timesheet mgmt, supply ordering, etc. Don't anticipate needing accessory keyboard but maybe.

Happy with Lenovo as a brand. Samsung gets pricey fast. Absolutely no interest in Apple. Three listed below are result of my brief google-fu. What else is out there?

90% Kindle stuff (I guess the nerds call them ebook readers)
10% Vid Streaming
10% work stuff if doable.
Android based (guess I could go windows)
8 - 10" display
Would like more storage - I'm always deleting books. Never tried to download a flick.
Decent speaker
Microphone good for telecrap
Some camera
No games. None. Ever.

Want to buy new only.
$200 ish
Click to expand...
I just checked Costco, if you are not a member, I bet you know someone who is that would transact this for you. Heck, I will if you want...

Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 10.4" Wi-Fi Tablet 64GB - Gray - Includes Bonus 64GB MicroSD Card
is currently $259

I have a Samsung, primarily used as an ereader (you can use Nook app, Kindle app, or if you are lucky an app your local library supports, I use Libby). Mine is old, speakers aren't great for hifi music listening, but are probably adequate for movies and such, I use headphones for music. That's really all I use mine for except to occasionally surf the web.

I don't use Apple products, so I can't say anything about the Ipad, sounds like you are not interested anyway. We had similar experience with Fire tablets we bought for our kids, they weren't good at all...

good luck, reach out if you want help with Costco, I could probably arrange to have them ship directly to you.

Check out cnet.com for reviews too, they will also have links to retailers.
 
Thanks, I have a Costco membership but it's an hour drive. May find some other reasons to go that way.
 
daveb said:
Thanks, I have a Costco membership but it's an hour drive. May find some other reasons to go that way.
Click to expand...
I was looking online, maybe you want to check out costco.com, you can order from them and they'll ship.

I also found this on Amazon, linked below, I think it is a 2019 model, they had a 32gb for like 70 bucks, but this one has a bit more umph, price is right...

SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab A 8.0-inch Android Tablet 64GB Wi-Fi Lightweight Large Screen Feel Camera Long-Lasting Battery, Black
 
The Dell laptop XPS 13 is a nice small laptop that will run Windows 11. Dell has an outlet store online where you can buy returns and things. I would buy 16 gig and at least 500 gig M2 solid state drive.

I run a Dell 7740 which is a 17-inch beast laptop with 12 cores 64 gig ram and a couple of M2 drives.. I don't use it anywhere but in my easy chair. I had an XPS 13 before but my old eyes got to where it was hard to read using it for hours at a time.

My wife recently bought a MAC book Air and she likes it. It is small and light. The battery lasts a really long time.
 
We picked up a Lenovo M10 last year, and it has been solid. Was less expensive than comparable Samsungs, and way less expensive than comparable crApple.
 
In your situation I’d be tempted to just buy a kindle and use something else for the other 10% of stuff

Like it or not, the tablet space is essentially the iPad space now - the advantages Apple hold here (processor, battery life, software compatibility are stark and other tablets tend to seem as competent as you’ve found the Fire 8 in comparison to a recent iPad atm. Seems unlikely to change anytime soon.

Any savings you make are likely to be eaten up by (much) shorter support provision and a lack of resale value, plus a level of frustration. Samsung are probably the best other option, but they lack commitment to their product range here.
 
I've downselected to Lenovo. Stacking discounts for veteran, 1st time buyer and $30 for the hell of it, this one is right at $200. It will be the one unless someone suggests a viable alternative that meets requirements. Is 6G vice 4G worth an extra $30?

Tab P11 Plus - Slate Grey

It's been in the cart a couple times but going to see what Black Friday sales might do for the price. *&###** Fire was out of juice again yesterday.
 
Dell has always been really good for me. They make hardware that lasts.

I don't think I could use a $200 laptop. It would drive me crazy. The technology would be too old and slow for me. I would rather have a lesser knife and a faster computer than a better knife and a lesser computer buts that just me.
 
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C, I was up front in my requirements. I have an excellent laptop that serves me well. I don't always want to carry it with me. This is not a thread about laptops.

My current ereader (Fire 8 tablet) does ok as ereader but I'm replacing it because of very short battery life and very limited functionality beyond ordering stuff from Amazon. Want more battery life. Want work functionality.

Thanks for your input.
 
Ok. I used my wife's iPad once, that was enough. I do everything from a laptop now. In the past I required a desktop but laptops have gotten better. My laptop with an Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-9980HK CPU @ 2.40GHz 2.40 GHz does OK. Cooling it in a laptop is a problem as the fans get loud if you push it too hard. It is not very portable. I mainly use it at home.
 
I don't know if it's available in the US but here in Europe Realme is launching a tablet in that same budget pricerange that might be worth having a look at.
Reviews are already up on GSMarena (because it's already on the market in India). In general I recommend them for reviews; they cover more of the market than most places so their reviews are better for comparing products than most places.

There's a few more options in that price range from the usual suspects; Samsung, Lenovo and a handful of others. In the end devices in this pricerange are always a compromise; the trick is figuring out which compromise best fits your use-case. Would avoid Huawei due to the google-limitations; you can get around it but that would require being tech-savy.
Figure out whether you want a headphone jack or not; not all of them have one.
For battery life look at actual battery life tests; due to differences in energy consumptions from different chips and screens some devices can have better battery life than others with a smaller battery.
 
daveb said:
I've downselected to Lenovo. Stacking discounts for veteran, 1st time buyer and $30 for the hell of it, this one is right at $200. It will be the one unless someone suggests a viable alternative that meets requirements. Is 6G vice 4G worth an extra $30?

Tab P11 Plus - Slate Grey

It's been in the cart a couple times but going to see what Black Friday sales might do for the price. *&###** Fire was out of juice again yesterday.
Click to expand...

Did you go with this one Dave? Do you like it or whatever you chose? The wife said today after the granddaughter left that she needs a new tablet. No heavy demands here. Movies/TV, social media, games, etc. Hers is getting old enough that the battery isn't so good and she can't get some newer app's to work well.

I remembered this thread so thought I'd brave the resurrection for the input. :)
 
I ended up with the Yoga 11 and not the Tab 11. Couple reasons that I don't remember but a biggie was the Yoga has a headphone jack and the Tab does not. I do just enough time in airplanes that the headphone jack was compelling. In retrospect the Tab has an accessory keyboard that I could use.

Quite happy with purchase. Good for streaming, ebooks, web browsing, etc. Music doesn't suck. I can take it outside to burn a cigar and don't need anything else.
 
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