CHROME BOOK,SMART PHONE OR TABLET? I AM NOT A GEEK

[dave e]

I wanted something for travel but now with xp not getting anymore support i need something sooner.Apparently,tabs and chromebooks are safe from virus attacks?

i went to best buy and noticed that getting around on the touchscreen of a tab it was glitchy,slow,unresponsive sometimes…also the touchscreen keyboard is something i dont know if i will ever get used to.Of course,the ipad is flawless but its 2x the price and bigger than the samsung,nexus etc.

so this brings me to a chromebook…they are made by many different companies but are all google based it seems= i dont know what this means?they also dont have a harddrive so they dont get hot..the chromebooks also have a real keyboard and you can download photos etc.The drawback for travel is you cant shove them in your pocket.

any advice here?thanks

[Paul Magnanti]

First, nothing is truly safe from virus and malware attacks. As these devices become more popular, so will people wanting to do not-so-nice-things

In fact, it has already happened as one quick example:
https://www.lookout.com/resources/know-your-mobile/android-virus

Sooo….before a device is suggested, what do you want do with it? I use a tablet, phone and laptop…all for different things. :)

[Levon Jensen]

the current best deal if you have an old xp laptop

http://www.omgchrome.com/best-buy-xp-trade-chromebook-offer-99/

And the acer c720 is in my opinion the chrome book to get.

If not it depends on what you need to do, i use a nexus 7hd for most things, its great fast and lasts about 16 hours on the battery browsing the web.

If i need to type or write anything its not that great and the screen size takes some getting used to.

The chrome book will not let you install any programs, and is for browsing the web only. with google docs and a few other chrome addons.

[Roger Caffin]

> but now with xp not getting anymore support i need something sooner
Why?
XP works just as well today as it did last week. The only problem with XP is that you are not transferring dollars from your wallet to MS's wallet, and that is strictly their problem.

> getting around on the touchscreen of a tab it was glitchy, slow, unresponsive
Funny about that. I believe they get worse as they get older too.

> the ipad is flawless
ROTFLMAO

Cheers

[Ian]

Ignore Roger. There are two kinds of tablet people… those who have iPads and those who wish they bought an iPad.

Teasing aside, we've had several iPads in my extended family and have had a total of zero problems with them. My largest gripe is they'll stop updating it long before the hardware is ready to give up the ghost. Our Gen 1 ipad is there now and is in suspended animation. Still works fine though and the kids still use them. You've already mentioned that you don't want to go there so I won't discuss that further.

I also have the Google Nexus tablet. It's been great for me and I'd highly recommend it.

I bought my wife a Kindle Fire HD earlier this year. It died within a month of purchase. We know a few other people who've had the same problem.

[dave e]

apparently hackers are going after xp luddites like me so i dont want to do any online financial stuff,whether checking my bank accounts or entering my credit card…

ipad seemed flawless compared to samsung tabs.

so for chromebooks you cant download any software?is this true for tabs?lets say i want to dl stock trading platform program from ameritrade etc?

[Glenn S]

I can't speak on chromebooks, since I wouldn't go that route. It seems a rather useless device without an internet connection.

If you're interested in a tablet, you have three choices. Windows 8, an iPad, or some flavor of Android. I'd stay far away from Windows for this, and I say this as a Windows fan, but that's in the context of a real computer. This leaves you with Android, which is owned by Google, and iPad, which is an Apple product. Apple makes both the software and hardware for its products (generalizing here, for you purists), whereas Google makes the software (Android), but has very limited hardware exposure, the Nexus being about the only one. A ton of companies make tablets (and phones) that run off googles Android software, and a tablet is really not much more than a bigscreen phone. Many tablets and iPads have the option to come with cellular service as well as WiFi. Much of this you might already know, I'm just trying to be somewhat thorough.

No matter what brand of tablet you would get, they should all have bluetooth (check before buying of course), and there are many bluetooth keyboard options available. Not many people use them, and 90% of all I write on these forums, including this post, is done by speed-pecking on a glass screen. Once you do it for awhile, it's actually fairly efficient compared to a tiny phone screen IMO.

Android will have more of a file directory, if you're used to sifting through folders and moving documents and pictures around by actually moving the files themselves. Apple does not give you this option. You will not have any direct access to your files what so ever, unless you start jailbreaking your system and getting crazy-nerd all over it. But then you wouldn't be asking this question, so skip ever seeing your files with apple. (Again, generalizing. Purists will ante up work-arounds, special apps, tricks, etc.) Apple has very proprietary software and they don't want anyone to see it, touch it, deviate from it… Nothing. You do what they say. If you buy an app, and they later deem it innapropriate, they can wipe it off your device. They are very control hungry. That being said, the iPad is built like a brick house and the software runs smoother than most anything else you'll find.

With no real user level file directory, there's no effective way to manage external storage, which is why you won't find expandable SD card ports on apple products. Once again, there are tricks to renaming images so an SD card can use an adapter in the charge slot, but it's very unwieldy. You certainly won't be filling SD cards up with movies, music, pictures, pdf manuals, oddball backup files, or any of the other storage solutions you may be accustomed to, and swapping it around in different devices. Although with android, the file system is essentially just like what you're used to with windowa xp. I can pop an SD card in my XP Netbook, drag files or folders of any kind onto it, even backing up my Windows programs, then remove the card and put it in my android device and it's all right there in the file directory, just like windows, albeit a bit adapted for the smaller screen. Tablets don't run multiple "windows" after all, it was just one window at a time only until recently. Even if a file type is unknown to android and it can't run it, it will still be viewable, moveable, deletable, renameable, etc.

There is apple, and then there's everything else. This can be good, or bad, depending on your point of view. Apple is just a very controlled and closed environment compared to the open source nature of android. A big bonus to this lockdown mentality apple has, is it's also very safe and fairly virus free compared to the android environment. If security is a major concern, and file management is low priority, then apple would be a good move IMO.

As far as downloading programs, you don't. It's just like a phone. You download and run "apps". Yes, they are "programs", but tablets are different animals. So what I would suggest, is take a trip to both the "apple app store", and "Google play", and look through a variety of apps they offer. Most developers make apps for both platforms, but you might start getting a better feel of what the different environments are like by looking at some screenshots, etc.

That's about all I have on tabs, I use my XP netbook for more detailed spreadsheet work, and I might boot up my quad core, dual vidcard/monitor desktop if I need to run my antiquated printer (since I don't game much with it anymore, which is what I built it for), but for web, shopping, email, banking, bills, social, minor spreadsheet work… It's all tablet anymore.

[Dave G]

Dave,

Ameritrade's "Web Platform" and "Trade Architect" are both web-based and should work on a Chromebook (ie. no installation required)

Dave

[dave e]

thanks Dave for explaining that.

thanks Glenn for your tutorial…i dont follow all this tech stuff and updates…i think i will skip the chromebook and go back to debating whether to get a large screen smartphone(to be used as a tab ) for its greater portability factor not so much as a phone as i hate phone contracts.

[Nick Gatel]

"Sooo….before a device is suggested, what do you want do with it? I use a tablet, phone and laptop…all for different things. :)"

I can do almost anything with an iPhone and an iPad, except serious computing work, which I use a laptop for. iPhone for actually calling people and occasionally other stuff. If WiFi is available I pull out the iPad.

[Author]

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