Tablet for business usage....(Windoes 8 or iOS?)

R.O.S.S.I

R.O.S.S.I

R.O.S.S.I

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Hi all, been tasked with trying to dig out some tablets for work for management to use when out at conferences and in meetings etc and i'm just wondering what people find the best type of tablet for business use?

Should I get Windows RT which I know has a pretty much fully fledged Office install on it, but be limited to only Marketplace apps?

Should I try and find a Windows 8 Pro tablet which will have the added benefits of being able to install our already licensed software (and anything else we can find), but can be added to the domain and be locked down in the same way our laptops are?

Or should I opt for an iPad (with Retina) and use iOS and the millions of already well established apps out there?

I think basically the ability to run our internal web applications in the browser on the devices would be a big bonus, and obviously the ability to open and fully edit any of our documents (word, excel, powerpoint, pdf, access) would be great but other than that i'm not sure what else I should be looking for!

Or is it a case that all 3 of the devices above would do it fine and just pick whichever is the best price point for us?

Any help, advice or insight is much appreciated!
 
What apps do you want? It might be small, but it still has plenty of apps and most of the big names are there(except spotify)
Also think about keyboard like the smart covers. As well as things like connectors for projectors.
Personally look at atom if you don't need processing power, i3/i5 if you do.

Acer w700 is likely to be a no go, due to no clamshell keyboard dock, which I'm assuming you will need.
 
I'd definitely go Windows 8 for that usage, e.g. one of the x86 ones. Atom will give better battery life but from me experience of meetings/conferences there's always power available so might as well get the i3/i5 ones for the extra performance...
 
The ultrabook vs tablet thing is a good shout tbh. I've watched loads of places go with tablets and I'm left scratching my head because almost all of them buy keyboard cases for them.

Hopefully tablet fever will die down and people start making more rational purchases.
 
theheyes said:
The ultrabook vs tablet thing is a good shout tbh. I've watched loads of places go with tablets and I'm left scratching my head because almost all of them buy keyboard cases for them.

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Maybe as they want both. An ultra book can not transform to a tablet. A tablet can and does act as a very good ultra book.

I think people are making ration choices already, that being they won't to spend the least amount of money to do multiple tasks and that means one device.
 
theheyes said:
The ultrabook vs tablet thing is a good shout tbh. I've watched loads of places go with tablets and I'm left scratching my head because almost all of them buy keyboard cases for them.

Hopefully tablet fever will die down and people start making more rational purchases.
Click to expand...

My plan is exactly that for a tablet. One that can be both, as a tablet is incredibly useful with my programs on it, but sometimes, you just need a keyboard. And since its also the case, it just makes sense.
 
I haven't used one in anger but I really can't see the Surface keyboard cases (which appear to be by far the best of the type) being that great to do serious typing on, way better than on-screen keyboards yes but if they're not significantly worse than even ultrabook/laptop keyboards I'd be surprised.

Of course there are also the 'transformer' style tablets/docks, they make by far the most sense.

But then this is for managers, do they ever do serious typing? :p
 
Glaucus said:
Maybe as they want both. An ultra book can not transform to a tablet.
Click to expand...

Trust me, the ones I'm referring to stay permanently attached to the keyboard cover. They ought to have just bought a netbook but hey ho it's not my money they're misspending.
 
I echo the Ultra book shout, the Sammy 6 Series is only about £100 more than a Surface RT with a case.

The only comparison that might swing it would be battery life.
 
There isn't a great need for something with a keyboard dock really but its a great plus point to be fair.

Think we are looking at around £500ish per machine. It will only really be for social networking I.e making a response to news etc via Twitter and updating Facebook. And then the ability to just play media files and open office documents. Also the ability to hook up to a projector as a good bonus - do many tablets offer this?

I wanted to stay away from a laptop'y style devices and just get a full on tablet if possible. The Win 8 Pro devices look good but thinking about it I wouldn't actually need to install any extra applications on it other than what has been mentioned already and they are all readily available from all app stores across all platforms, so the extra expense may not be needed!
 
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Not keen on tablet keyboard covers myself, they seem like a bit of an inconvenience when not in use, which to me represents the vast majority of the time.

I just have a microsoft wedge keyboard that I take with me when needed (though it pretty much lives in my bag now). Best of both worlds and with the added benefit that it isn't device specific.
 
From my experience with office documents on both Android and iOS, I would say Windows is the better choice, not all documents get displayed properly and Microsoft Office is the best so far.

I've no idea how well the RT version of Office performs though.
 
Office RT is pretty much Office with the exception of add-ons and macro support.

Windows (whichever flavour) is the best fit. In regards to hooking to a projector the Surface RT has a mini hdmi out and supports the normal duplicate/extent modes you'd expect. I believe the Surface Pro has a display port. Other tablets may vary.
 
I think i'll probably plump for some of the RT tablets then. Just want the easiest thing for management to use and the Windows tablets seem to offer the best solution.

Are there any recommendations for RT tablets or is the Surface the one to go for? Is the Samsung Ativ Tab anygood?
 
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