Pigman Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 I am completely technically ignorant, thus please excuse lack of technical know how. Having had my PC for several years and having paid out too much to have it repaired, I'm looking at moving to a tablet PC instead. My main connection with the virtual world is a Dell Inspiron 1750 laptop, which I'll be keeping. The PC is mainly used by Mrs Pigman to endlessly e-mail her sister in the UK and browse the web. As we are starting to travel around more, I'm looking to use a tablet PC: a) to keep Mrs Pigman happy; and b ) to be more easily portable than a fairly heft laptop. Features I think I need are: WiFi 3G connectivity - unless I need to future-proof myself and get 4G?? A 7 or 8 inch screen - a 10 inch is starting to get a bit bulky A HDMI connection, to link the tablet to both the PC monitor - Mrs P would not cope with just the tablet screen - and to watch the TV in hotels A USB port to connect a keyboard - Mrs P would never cope with an on screen keyboard Reasonable processing power Android OS rather than horrible Windows or "oh so trendy" Apple Reliability Resilience Ideally a price tag below B10,000, though I will go higher for the right thing What we will not be doing includes: Taking pictures of ourselves every 5 minutes Tweeting Using Faceache Playing games 'Phoning from it Worrying whether it is suitably trendy I've looked at the Google Nexus 7, Amazon Kindle, etc but these appear to fall down on lack of HDMI or other connectivity to an external screen. Suggestions from those who understand these things would be really helpful. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammycic Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 check out samsung galaxy note 8 for 15,000 does the lot very well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damo Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Some good reading /opinions. http://www.topnotchtablets.com/pipo-max-m9-review Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackPuddingBertha Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 check out samsung galaxy note 8 for 15,000 does the lot very well Yes, I have one of these and I think it would be more than suitable for what the OP intends doing. It can also do a hell of a lot more, of course. The OP would need to buy the special HDMI cable and should probably look at a Bluetooth keyboard rather than a USB one, though Samsung do also make a special keyboard/dock combo that does the job well. If 15KB is too much then a Tab 10.1 would be a couple of thousand less, and the 7in Tab can be had for 10K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrilled Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 .I've been checking out the nexus 10 myself.Haven't taken the plunge as of yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ticketmaster Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 (edited) Whatever you get, don't make the mistake of buying Samsung. People may highly recommend the Galaxy and they are great while they work, but theses folks haven't had their Galaxy's long enough for the warranty to run out, which is exactly when they will experience a lot of problems. Moreover, as soon as there is a model change, Samsung stops servicing the predecessor model completely, forcing you to buy a new one. Edited May 10, 2013 by Ticketmaster 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impulse Posted May 11, 2013 Share Posted May 11, 2013 Whatever you get, don't make the mistake of buying Samsung. People may highly recommend the Galaxy and they are great while they work, but theses folks haven't had their Galaxy's long enough for the warranty to run out, which is exactly when they will experience a lot of problems. Moreover, as soon as there is a model change, Samsung stops servicing the predecessor model completely, forcing you to buy a new one. I'm not claiming they don't break. But if you don't like Samsung, please recommend a product with a better warranty and support. My SII phone went belly up and I had to pay $6 for the micro USB socket to fix it myself. I could have paid $8 and had it fixed, but I trust my own labor. And I bought an extra $6 socket because the last one went out due to sweat and pocket lint and I haven't figured out how to stop sweating here in Thailand... I'm ready for the next time. So almost 2 years and I have $12 into parts and have used $6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubberduck Posted May 11, 2013 Share Posted May 11, 2013 Some good reading /opinions. http://www.topnotchtablets.com/pipo-max-m9-review Very interesting, thanks for posting. Does anyone knows if the Pipo M9 is for sale in Thailand ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impulse Posted May 11, 2013 Share Posted May 11, 2013 (edited) If you're willing to settle for a 3G chip you plug into the micro USB port, (or tether via wifi like I do, only one 3G account to pay) the 2990 baht Aigopad M80E should fill the rest of your listed needs. Other limitations, no Bluetooth and no GPS, but you did not list those. I have 2 Aigopad M80D's and the GF and I like them fine. I'm amazed that they can play beautifully on a full HD screen, though I did have to hunt for the micro HDMI to regular HDMI adapter, finding mine in Fortune town. 8" screen, reasonable resolution (1024 x 768 or 800, I think). And very low cost. DO NOT BUY an Aigopad M80. POJ, obsolete, and just a few shops selling them at steep discount. The newer models seem to have worked out the bugs. Caveats: check the specs on the box to make sure they haven't changed any since I bought mine, and your mileage may vary. I have gotten enough use out of mine that I'd buy another at 2990 if it crapped out today. Not saying it will.... Edited May 11, 2013 by impulse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ticketmaster Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 Whatever you get, don't make the mistake of buying Samsung. People may highly recommend the Galaxy and they are great while they work, but theses folks haven't had their Galaxy's long enough for the warranty to run out, which is exactly when they will experience a lot of problems. Moreover, as soon as there is a model change, Samsung stops servicing the predecessor model completely, forcing you to buy a new one. I'm not claiming they don't break. But if you don't like Samsung, please recommend a product with a better warranty and support. My SII phone went belly up and I had to pay $6 for the micro USB socket to fix it myself. I could have paid $8 and had it fixed, but I trust my own labor. And I bought an extra $6 socket because the last one went out due to sweat and pocket lint and I haven't figured out how to stop sweating here in Thailand... I'm ready for the next time. So almost 2 years and I have $12 into parts and have used $6. I have had many different Samsung products and problems with all of them. One of the most annoying was my top-of-the-line MP3 player that needed warranty work for a defective touch screen after I had it for 10 months. The problem recurred at the 14 month point (only 4 months after the warranty fix, and 2 months after warranty expiration). They told me that that model had been discontinued and there was no service available. They suggested that I should buy the new Galaxy. Well THAT was it for me and Samsung. After paying more than $300US for the thing, I felt pretty bitter about the whole situation. I had expected to have it for awhile. That said, I have never owned a tablet; I use a notebook. However, I know many people with the Apple product and they do nothing but sing its praises. I suppose it is more expensive, but eliminating frustration is worth a lot in itself -- especially living here. If you ever figure out how to stop sweating, I would certainly like to learn the secret. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 OP: The usage needs sounds more like an small laptop instead of tablet. There are plenty of small laptops available, which have a real keyboard attached at all times. Maybe some Chromebook? http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophon Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 (edited) If you're willing to settle for a 3G chip you plug into the micro USB port, (or tether via wifi like I do, only one 3G account to pay) the 2990 baht Aigopad M80E should fill the rest of your listed needs. Other limitations, no Bluetooth and no GPS, but you did not list those. I have 2 Aigopad M80D's and the GF and I like them fine. I'm amazed that they can play beautifully on a full HD screen, though I did have to hunt for the micro HDMI to regular HDMI adapter, finding mine in Fortune town. 8" screen, reasonable resolution (1024 x 768 or 800, I think). And very low cost. DO NOT BUY an Aigopad M80. POJ, obsolete, and just a few shops selling them at steep discount. The newer models seem to have worked out the bugs. Caveats: check the specs on the box to make sure they haven't changed any since I bought mine, and your mileage may vary. I have gotten enough use out of mine that I'd buy another at 2990 if it crapped out today. Not saying it will.... I don't think the M80E has a HDMI port, which the OP requires Sophon Edited May 12, 2013 by Sophon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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