Please Help Me Choose a Tablet?

[forkastronomer]

Hello,

I have been using my Galaxy Tab 10.1 2014 Edition (running Android 5.1.1) for school since I got it but its age is starting to really have an effect on my notes(I have a laptop for engineering software and heavier load stuff). I use OneNote, and to say the least... Android << iPadOS < Windows

I don't want to spend a lot of money and realistically expect to spend around 450. I find myself trying to decide between the Windows experience on the Surface Go (1 or 2)(or maybe an older model refurb?) and the power of the new iPad 10.2".

I'm a Windows user so the familiarity of the Surface is a plus, as well as the IO and better OneNote experience. However, I worry about the power of these cheaper models over time and compared to the iPad, they seem very under powered.

 

What are your experiences/opinions? Is there something I haven't thought of? Is OneNote more complete on more recent versions of Android?

[Donut417]

On 9/16/2020 at 2:31 PM, forkastronomer said:

What are your experiences/opinions? Is there something I haven't thought of? Is OneNote more complete on more recent versions of Android?

A few years back Google pretty much said to hell with tablets. So they don't actively try to optimize apps for tablet use and such. So that pretty much means you're at the  mercy of the device maker. I have heard that the iPad is one of the best tablets out there as far as one running a mobile OS. But with the surface you do a get FULL desktop OS. Id imagine that the battery life on the iPad would likely be better. But will the Surface you will likely get the FULLEST MS Office experience. 

 

For me Id get the iPad, Why? I have an iPhone and MacBook Pro. For you, your probably better off with the surface as your most used to Windows and you should get the best experience with MS Office Products on Windows 10. I do recall from my college days figuring out that MS Office on Windows was worlds better than what was on Android. 

[Commodus]

On 9/16/2020 at 2:31 PM, forkastronomer said:

Hello,

I have been using my Galaxy Tab 10.1 2014 Edition (running Android 5.1.1) for school since I got it but its age is starting to really have an effect on my notes(I have a laptop for engineering software and heavier load stuff). I use OneNote, and to say the least... Android << iPadOS < Windows

I don't want to spend a lot of money and realistically expect to spend around 450. I find myself trying to decide between the Windows experience on the Surface Go (1 or 2)(or maybe an older model refurb?) and the power of the new iPad 10.2".

I'm a Windows user so the familiarity of the Surface is a plus, as well as the IO and better OneNote experience. However, I worry about the power of these cheaper models over time and compared to the iPad, they seem very under powered.

 

What are your experiences/opinions? Is there something I haven't thought of? Is OneNote more complete on more recent versions of Android?

I would lean toward a new iPad over the Surface Go. Simply put, those tablets are underpowered. They do have a couple of advantages (mainly a desktop OS and the OneNote integration), but they're offset by an overall experience that isn't as good as you'd think it would be.

 

The main catch: to hit the $450 mark, you'd buy a 32GB iPad and an Apple Pencil. That might be fine if you're mainly using it for notes, not so much if you intend to play lots of games or store videos locally.