Windows 10 Home/Pro replacing Android

JessieD

JessieD

JessieD

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I'm thinking of getting a windows 10 laptop/tablet to replace an old android one.
I have Windows 7 on my PC, so I'm flying blind here.

I'd like ALL of the functionality with browsers that I have on my win7 desktop. With regard to extensions, adblockers & using a full version of a browser not a stunted mobile one. Will windows 10 on a laptop/tablet give me this?
I'm not fussed about lack of apps at all as long as I have the freedom I have with Windows 7 but on a laptop/tablet. And I really just prefer windows to android & always have.
I really just want unrestricted versions of browsers (I use more than one) & various extensions
&
Paint
What do you think?

Also in terms of messing around with regedit (I'll be disabling Cortana immediately ~ nasty little spy) is there a difference between Home & Pro? Is one more restrictive than the other? I know pro has bitlocker & such, that isn't anything I need.
Thanks heaps
 
A Windows tablet (as long as its not ARM/RT) can be setup just like a desktop if you wish - though I'd recommend going for something with more than common 2GB RAM/32GB storage if you want a full desktop style browser setup with adblock and several extensions, etc.

If Pro is an option I'd go for that as you can more easily disable/take some control over things like Windows update which seem to have been implemented with zero consideration for tablet functionality in 10 as well as all the annoying telemetry and additional stuff like Cortana.
 
Rroff said:
A Windows tablet (as long as its not ARM/RT) can be setup just like a desktop if you wish - though I'd recommend going for something with more than common 2GB RAM/32GB storage if you want a full desktop style browser setup with adblock and several extensions, etc.
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Hi thanks
I'm hoping to stretch to 4GB RAM minimum
& hopefully 64GB storage. And all the ones I've seen with bigger (11'1 & up screens) seem to be intel

I'm looking at things like the acer spin
I want no less than 11.1 screen, I'd prefer 12 or 13.
4GB RAM minimum
& hopefully 64GB storage
And I'd prefer a laptop/tablet hybrid (failing that then just a tablet)

So I wouldn't be restricted then? I find android really confining
 
It's full fat Windows so just think of it as a laptop but without the keyboard. Anything that will work on the desktop/laptop will work on the tablet/hybrid with no issues.

I have a Surface Pro 4 which I replaced my Nexus 10 for the same reasons, finding Android too limited for the tablet. And it pretty much mirrors my desktop in terms of daily apps I use. Well, except games but that's because the Intel IGP is just poor and the power limit for the chips themselves will be low.
 
Orcvader said:
It's full fat Windows so just think of it as a laptop but without the keyboard. Anything that will work on the desktop/laptop will work on the tablet/hybrid with no issues.

I have a Surface Pro 4 which I replaced my Nexus 10 for the same reasons, finding Android too limited for the tablet. And it pretty much mirrors my desktop in terms of daily apps I use. Well, except games but that's because the Intel IGP is just poor and the power limit for the chips themselves will be low.
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Seriously that is what I'm replacing too, a Nexus 10 :D
I spent half an hour trying to get it to take a screengrab in a browser the other day. I gave up in the end (& power & vol- did not work either)
If I can play mahjong & some kind of jigsaw puzzle thing I'll be happy games wise

Any reason why I should worry about having Pro over Home or visa versa?
Any suggestions for a hybrid under £250 (I'm thinking I may have to up it to £300)?
 
You're still using a Nexus 10? Wow... it was a great tablet when it was released but after the Lollipop update it started to feel sluggish. I found flashing back to Kitkat was better performance wise but a lot of apps were starting to drop support for it...

Pro as mentioned before will have access to group policy, which makes it a lot easier to disable the extra stuff. And probably due to my printer being ancient, it has print management as well which is a lot easier solving printer issues. Apart from that, there's not much difference between home and pro.

Bare in mind most of the cheap hybrids will come with home, so you'll need to factor in the upgrade cost to pro.

Honestly I'm not sure what to suggest for that price range, for under £300 it will most likely be the Atom that powers it but that will be fine for general browsing and light games.
 
Some of the Atom models aren't too bad - assuming the tablet has sufficient cooling it doesn't almost immediately throttle under load - one of the problems with the noname models that look great on paper spec wise :s
 
Orcvader said:
You're still using a Nexus 10? Wow... it was a great tablet when it was released but after the Lollipop update it started to feel sluggish. I found flashing back to Kitkat was better performance wise but a lot of apps were starting to drop support for it...
Pro as mentioned before will have access to group policy, which makes it a lot easier to disable the extra stuff. And probably due to my printer being ancient, it has print management as well which is a lot easier solving printer issues. Apart from that, there's not much difference between home and pro.
Bare in mind most of the cheap hybrids will come with home, so you'll need to factor in the upgrade cost to pro.
Honestly I'm not sure what to suggest for that price range, for under £300 it will most likely be the Atom that powers it but that will be fine for general browsing and light games.
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I'm on 4.4.4 too I went back to it after finding jellybean to be slower & more annoying. Regarding "group policy" I thought that was something to do with sharing info with others I didn't realise it was to do with controlling things. I'm a disable absolutely everything type person. Should I get pro? Up my minimum spend?

Rroff said:
Some of the Atom models aren't too bad - assuming the tablet has sufficient cooling it doesn't almost immediately throttle under load - one of the problems with the noname models that look great on paper spec wise :s
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If it doesn't have an atom cpu but is a lesser known brand with decent specs would that be ok or no?
 
It will almost definitely be either one of the Atoms or something along the lines of the Core i3 M3-7Y30 if its a Windows tablet or two in one.
 
Rroff said:
It will almost definitely be either one of the Atoms or something along the lines of the Core i3 M3-7Y30 if its a Windows tablet or two in one.
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Time for me to hit passmark. I haven't a clue about these mobile cpu's. Last time I was cpu buying it was for a Ryzen 5
 
JessieD said:
I really just want unrestricted versions of browsers (I use more than one) & various extensions
&
Paint
What do you think?
Click to expand...

The pen is really good for note taking on Surface Pro, but I'm not sure how well paint works with it (or on other tablets), so may need a wireless mouse, for browser use too.

...without a separate monitor+mouse and its keyboard, I always felt it was not as productive as it should have been, for the price, versus an Android tablet.
 
I had used a Linx 10 in the past as well as a microsoft surface. ( The first one cos its useless )
Both had 2GB RAM 32GB storage, and so what I did, was add a Micro SD card and then setup my user folders to the SD Card and that was fine for most things.

The Surface is now too old to update and nothing works on it anyway, and the Linx has finally given up teh ghost and so I went looking and I found a brilliant Windows tablet made by Gigabyte.

It takes normal Laptop RAM, and it did come with 64GB storage that I soon found out was simply an mSata drive in an adapter and so it can and has taken a thin HD. I have since now replaced that with a 240GB SSD and so I hve a 60GB C: and a whatever the hell was left as D: and I have played about with various versions of Linux before putting Windows back on.

My one and only issue with it, is that I have not yet found a case and keyboard for it, but hey ho, thats a small issue.

I will also confess, that the only use it has, is movies and a bit of browsing before bed, so its not really pushed hard and so for me, the thing is just peachy.
 
JessieD said:
My budget just doubled on account of every ones advice :D
Which would you pick between an Acer Spin 5 & an Asus Zenbook Flip?

https://www.asus.com/uk/2-in-1-PCs/ASUS-ZenBook-Flip-S-UX370UA/
https://www.asus.com/uk/2-in-1-PCs/ASUS-ZenBook-Flip-UX360CA/specifications/

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/EE/content/model/NX.GK4EL.015
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What kind of budget are you talking about? the Zenbook is overall better device but after my experiences with Asus I'm begrudging to recommend them.
 
From experience, avoid anything that uses eMMC - especially the Linx 12x64! Slow slow slow slow and slow! Its fine in an Android tablet, as Linux doesn't demand too much of hardware, but for Windows, I found it verging on unusable - certainly when my brand new aforementioned Linx decided to carry out the 1709 update - it took hours and hours, even though the download came through pretty sharpish!

Sadly, the build quality of the Linx is also absent, mine failed after two weeks (broken screen) and my uncle's had a failed keyboard/dock in a similar amount of time!
 
That depends a lot on the tablet brand - though at the end of the day eMMC isn't in the same league as an SSD but it does have speeds comparable to or faster than a top end HDD without the delays in access/seek times. Unfortunately some implementations of it aren't great and/or have great read times but poor write and some of the generic brands cheap out completely on it.
 
I'm thinking what I want isn't really achievable with modern hardware & its incompatibilities with Windows 7. I'm going to have look at linux instead. Although driver issues may be just as hard to overcome with that too.
 
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