Do I Need a PC?

Bigpupp

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 8, 2008
2,390
New Mexico
So my Laptop just gave out, and as I was looking for a replacement I started to wonder if I even need one going forward. A year and a half ago I changed my phone to a Note 2 and I have loved everyone about the Android universe. Currently, I use my phone about 90% of the time I need a device, and the only thing that has me attached to a PC is that I'm getting my Masters in Education and have to spend a few hours a week writing papers or making lesson plans. I know that Android Tablets are capable of having Bluetooth mice and keyboards attached, but is it possible to use them as a word processing device that can handle APA formatting?
 

Blacken

Robespierre in a Cape
SoSH Member
Jul 24, 2007
12,152
It might be possible, but I wouldn't try it. I own a Nexus 10 and a keyboard and the only worthwhile text editing tool I've been able to find is Vim over SSH into a real computer. (This is not something I would recommend for someone who doesn't know what both of those things are, and maybe not even then.) QuickOffice sucks (though the Google Drive integration is nice, Kingsoft sucks (and has no redeeming qualities), Android Office sucks (no redemption here either).

I'd just buy a laptop. You'll spend the same in the long run and be frustrated less.
 

Curll

Guest
Jul 13, 2005
9,205
Hell, if you get a Win 8 laptop with a touchscreen/Ultrabook, you'll enjoy the benefits of both UIs. I'd imagine lots of a tables and massive spreadsheets would be a freakin' blast to swipe through. Like a 2D minority report with a practical application!
 
But, I digress. Android is not the OS for real work. At minimum a Chromebook would be needed, but even then, the limitations would cause more problems than solutions. 
 

Al Zarilla

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Dec 8, 2005
58,867
San Andreas Fault
Bigpupp said:
So my Laptop just gave out, and as I was looking for a replacement I started to wonder if I even need one going forward. A year and a half ago I changed my phone to a Note 2 and I have loved everyone about the Android universe. Currently, I use my phone about 90% of the time I need a device, and the only thing that has me attached to a PC is that I'm getting my Masters in Education and have to spend a few hours a week writing papers or making lesson plans. I know that Android Tablets are capable of having Bluetooth mice and keyboards attached, but is it possible to use them as a word processing device that can handle APA formatting?
How did it give out? My experience: my laptop CPU fan got louder and louder and finally stopped. Refused to boot up or anything. So, I took it apart, redid the heat sink to processor gunk and now it runs great, quieter than ever. However, you have to take it completely apart, all the drives, keyboard, motherboard, all the cables and connectors to get to the fan and heat sink. And, the screws are tiny, several different sizes and who keeps track of which go where for when it comes time to reassemble? For some of the connections, male to female, had to use reading glasses and a magnifying glass to see to get them back together they were so small. I told my wife, who helped, that my confidence went from maybe 60 - 40 down to 5 - 95 that it would ever work again, it was so weird all the way through disassembly and reassembly. Couldn't believe it when it came back up. If we weren't retired and had the time, doubt if we would have kept going. 
 

Bigpupp

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 8, 2008
2,390
New Mexico
Its just an older PC that I was wanting to update soon anyway. It had been overheating recently and just didn't finish booting this weekend.
 
I have never tried word processing on an Android but these were the types of responses I was fearing. Oh well.
 

Blacken

Robespierre in a Cape
SoSH Member
Jul 24, 2007
12,152
Curll said:
Hell, if you get a Win 8 laptop with a touchscreen/Ultrabook, you'll enjoy the benefits of both UIs. I'd imagine lots of a tables and massive spreadsheets would be a freakin' blast to swipe through.
It's not great. It's really hard to make desktop Windows work with touch and so nobody does it. (I just took back a Surface Pro 2 for that reason.)

Numbers on an iPad feels a lot better, even though it's limited and pretty shitty.
 

topps148

Member
SoSH Member
I bought a Dell Inspiron 11 with W8.1 and MS Office a few weeks ago, and I find the touch interface to be just fine.   The screen is pretty bad in an area with a lot of glare, and compared to a "real" PC it's pretty slow, but I don't find it objectionable.
 
After watching a friend "type" on an IPad, I refused to even consider anything with a virtual keyboard, and the add-ons for the various tablets didn't seem very robust, but this is designed as a touch-enabled notebook from the ground up.  Sometimes I'm not able to accurately "touch" a particular point on the screen, in which case I use the touchpad to manipulate the pointer.  It's also fine with MS Word.
 
I'd never use this as my primary computer, but for carrying into the Whoopee Bowl and making sure that my failing memory doesn't have me buying yet another copy of some semi-obscure vinyl, it's exactly what I want.
 

Frank Fenway

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Apr 23, 2009
5,339
San Jose, CA
Blacken said:
It's not great. It's really hard to make desktop Windows work with touch and so nobody does it. (I just took back a Surface Pro 2 for that reason.)

Numbers on an iPad feels a lot better, even though it's limited and pretty shitty.
 
I have a kickass HP touchscreen and it works great, it's  just that a keyboard and mouse can't be beat.