How to turn your tablet into a mobile workstation

Talkback

• Or...

  you could buy a Surface RT/keyboard combo and use the included MS Office and Skydrive. If you prefer making your life more complicated, I suppose you could fight with an iPad to try to get it to do what you need.

  

  kstap

  17 January, 2013 18:24

  Reply 15 Votes

  • That is a fair point

    It would have been nice to see an in depth comparison.
    
    Personally, I would prefer a very thin and light notebook (11.5" screen and well under 3 lbs, with a good keyboard and track pad, mouse optional) AND a "phablet" with a BT headset. Total weight would still be well under 3 lbs.
    
    I wonder what the total weight of all the hardware is. The solution somehow seems overly cumbersome to me.

    

    D.T.Long

    17 January, 2013 18:39

    Reply 5 Votes

    • +1

      n/t

      

      Ram U

      17 January, 2013 19:25

      Reply 2 Votes

      • and +1

        n/t

        

        Jaime69

        18 January, 2013 20:47

        Reply Vote

    • Wow

      Love my job, since I've been bringing in $5600… I sit at home, music playing while I work in front of my new iMac that I got now that I'm making it online(Click on menu Home)
      ......http://goo.gl/yBPjH
      
      Happy New Year!

      

      StephenPhillip

      17 January, 2013 21:48

      Reply Vote

      • StephenPhillip...did you hire Loverock Davidson yet?

        He's out of work and is in a bad way......he's trying to pay off all those Surfaces that he purchased at Christmas that given back to him because of Flashing Metro Tiles were giving all his friends migraine headaches. He hasn't had a hit on e-bay even at 50% off..... you could write Loverock Davidson at Zdnet if you want to buy his Surfaces real cheep................

        

        Linux_Forever

        19 January, 2013 16:42

        Reply 1 Vote

      • Just can't stop spamming, Stevie, eh?

        The only way you're bringing in $5600 is by being a boy-toy at a leather bar. Oh, and how's your mom doing?

        

        thetwonkey

        22 January, 2013 11:50

        Reply Vote

  • Surface

    I'm so ready to get my Surface Pro when it's available and leave this iPad behind, and finally have a tablet that I can "use" at work.

    

    WBCO

    17 January, 2013 20:45

    Reply 3 Votes

  • Or not...

    The Surface keyboard does not do it for me. It sucks to be honest. I personally use an iPad with a Logitech Ultraslim keyboard case, which has the advantage that it works as a case and is ACTUALLY A KEYBOARD. Slim, 6 month battery, works awesome. As for those "pesky" microsoft documents someone else mentioned, I open and edit all of those just fine thank you. Evernote is awesome as well, and that jawbone bluetooth is flawless (for me anyway).

    

    NBrazil

    18 January, 2013 16:22

    Reply Vote

  • Really? all that extra stuff?

    75% of what you showed could be dumped if you just used an ultrabook for the light weight and battery life. By the time you added all the crap together it weights more than an old style laptop. Technology gone too far.

    

    jmp_omaha@...

    19 January, 2013 14:55

    Reply 1 Vote

  • Or...

    You could have just bought a laptop - like an ultrabook.
    
    The moment you take a tablet like an iPad (or Android) and start grafting things onto it to get it to the point where it can be as useful as a laptop - you're almost at the same pricepoint as a good laptop.
    
    Why compromise?
    
    Especially with all the Win8/Dockables out now - a full laptop AND a full tablet. "Battery life!" I hear you say - photograph 6, I reply. He's already carrying around an external battery - get a slightly beefier one and problem solved.

    

    TheWerewolf

    20 January, 2013 13:33

    Reply Vote

  • AKH or Kendrick will never agree Surface is a good product, as its Apple

    Pathetic level of bias, on one side iPad is productive with keyboard + this + that + whatever but never see the same value in Surface.

    

    ninjacut

    21 January, 2013 18:10

    Reply Vote

• Wow.

  "Those pesky Microsoft Office documents people send me".
  
  I'm shocked you installed Skype! :)

  

  William Farrel

  17 January, 2013 18:30

  Reply 2 Votes

• How to turn your tablet into a mobile workstation

  My oh my that is an expensive mobile workstation. $820 for the iPad, roughly $100 for keyboard and case, another $30 for the bluetooth, you still use your phone so that's another couple hundred. Plus too many accessories. I'll stick with a $500 laptop for my mobile workstation. It can run a wide variety of apps, connect to the corporate VPN, and run more than one app at a time. I like to work smarter not harder.

  

  Loverock-Davidson

  17 January, 2013 18:34

  Reply 8 Votes

  • The ultimate oxymoron

    LD and smarter

    

    D.T.Long

    17 January, 2013 18:42

    Reply 2 Votes

  • LD Please.

    Can you even attempt to honestly add the costs? The BlueTooth headset and phone dont count, nor really does a good car charger, given the utter suckitude of standard sub 1 amp chargers. Also your 820 for the iPad cost is insane, way to assume the highest price point.
    
    It would be awesome if you could post smarter, sometime.

    

    Non-Euclidean

    17 January, 2013 19:06

    Reply 1 Vote

    • He actually makes a good point

      As much as everyone hates LD, here he is correct. Even if we adjust the prices a bit and assume you already have a phone, this mobile workstation (ipad + accessories) is much more expensive than a more capable laptop. Even iPad + Keyboard and case is more than a laptop. An iPad with Retina Display (don't even try to claim an iPad mini would be acceptable) is at least $500. Keyboard + case is another $100. Look here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834101303
      A laptop with more storage, a bigger screen, more ram, and a full powered OS for for $320. That's cheaper than an iPad 2.

      

      Patrick Aupperle

      18 January, 2013 17:33

      Reply 4 Votes

      • Patrick Aupperle .. more sence than a Surface RT with its rubber keyboard

        ONLY IF YOU HAVE WINDOWS 7 ON IT

        

        Linux_Forever

        19 January, 2013 16:49

        Reply Vote

      • what?

        you act like the point is to buy an iPad and just use it like a laptop... this is something you can do with your iPad you already bought if you'd like, and still have the option of using it like a normal iPad most of the time too, and option you do not have buying some cheap big heavy laptop.

        

        doh123

        20 January, 2013 00:03

        Reply Vote

        • Except the point of the article...

          Is to justify using an iPad as a laptop replacement. It's not written from the perspective of 'hey - you have an iPad lying around - want to make it useful' it's 'you want to buy a tablet and use it for business.'

          

          TheWerewolf

          20 January, 2013 13:36

          Reply Vote