Advice: Surface, iPad, Fire, or Nexus?

Tomorrow, I walk away from my current job to join a startup. As part of my departure, I'll be turning in my iPad 1 and Thinkpad. I'm covered in terms of a netbook at home, as well as a decent gaming-level PC running Windows 8 Pro. I have a ruggedized Android phone (G'Zone Commando). I'm now starting to look for a replacement tablet, and am hemming and hawing over the decision.

On the iPad front, I have a lot of games that I (in theory) want to check out, but I rarely if ever game on it. Most of my time is spent browsing the web, managing email, and viewing PDFs at the game table when running Cthulhu or Pathfinder. I'd like to primarily find a replacement for those things, which is obviously fairly minimal for any of the choices above.

I'm leaning towards a Windows 8 (non-RT) ultabook or tablet, so that I can hook into the same infrastructure that I'm using on my desktop. What choices and options would you folks suggest? Will I be kicking myself if I don't pick up an iPad 4?

I think its hard to compare a Windows 8 Ultrabook/Tablet to an iPad... since they do so many different things.. in terms of a pure Tablet the only real thing the iPad has going for it is the sheer number and quality of Apps available (not just games). But it won't connect to a Corporate Network or Docking station to drive an external monitor/keyboard and mouse.. You will have to live with the sometimes awkward Cloud storage model for getting Files off and on the device.. in addition to non-Office applications.

Obviously iTunes has a superior selection of music, and video..but Microsoft has been improving the selection of their store so most of the major stuff is there.. plus the $99 Music Pass gives you unlimited access to just about every song on there.

If you want to do anything other than Amazon-sanctioned things I'd avoid a Fire.

TheGameguru wrote:

Obviously iTunes has a superior selection of music, and video..but Microsoft has been improving the selection of their store so most of the major stuff is there.. plus the $99 Music Pass gives you unlimited access to just about every song on there.

Since the change to Xbox Music from Zune quite a few things on my list have magically disappeared from their store. Including albums I was slowly chipping away at with my 10 free monthly song credits.

I would consider waiting a month or two until the Hybrid Windows 8 laptop/tablets have a chance to get some hands-on with paying customers. Personally I'm keeping a serious eye on the HP Spectre XT Touchsmart.

Rezzy wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:

Obviously iTunes has a superior selection of music, and video..but Microsoft has been improving the selection of their store so most of the major stuff is there.. plus the $99 Music Pass gives you unlimited access to just about every song on there.

Since the change to Xbox Music from Zune quite a few things on my list have magically disappeared from their store. Including albums I was slowly chipping away at with my 10 free monthly song credits.

I would consider waiting a month or two until the Hybrid Windows 8 laptop/tablets have a chance to get some hands-on with paying customers. Personally I'm keeping a serious eye on the HP Spectre XT Touchsmart.

Yeah its going to be like Netflix where certain Albums will get removed as agreements expire... I'm suprised they were removed completely and cannot be purchased.. I've seen some Albums get removed from being part of the Pass but I could still purchase them.

I have an iPad 3 and a Nexus 7. The N7 is a lovely little piece of kit, but way too small for any kind of productivity. Even typing a note or an email is a pain in the arse. I can only assume that I would have the same issue with a Fire.

Actually, I have just reread the title, and assume that you mean larger tablets, not the 7" ones?

Though I have no experience with the Win 8 stuff (I have an HP convertible laptop from work, running 7, and it ain't great) but it sounds like a Windows tablet is the way to go, since it would allow you to hook into your home and work systems far more easily, as you say, once the Pro tablets start coming out.

Kindle stuff has it's strength in being a content delivery system for Amazon. Of course, it can serve other purposes, but primary design is for media consumption, and it doesn't sound like that is what you would really want it for.

How heavily are you hooked into iOS or Google Play for apps? You current usage would seem to indicate that a high cost iPad 4 isn't really what you need, and that a cheaper Android tablet would meet your needs, but if it involved spending a lot of time and money to replace the apps that you have, that might defray the cost a bit.

I don't see any reason to regret not getting an iPad 4, since you might regret getting one once the iPad 5 turns up in 6 months

I have the Kindle Fire HD, I had the Nexus 7 and I'm getting the iPad 4. I think the Kindle Fire HD is the best content consumption device there is. Amazon's ecosystem is something I've bought into hard and it's great for movies, comics, books and tv shows.

I am getting the iPad for apps. Not productivity. Like GameGuru said, the iPad isn't going to help you be more productive. I might get the Surface as a laptop replacement once the SurfacePro comes out.

I'm leaning away from the iPad primarily on account of its closed ecosystem and cost; having had an iPad 1 since launch, I'm just not finding myself using it for any of the specialty apps, and while I have a handful of programs that I use on both the iPad and on my phone, I'm not tied into either to the point of not being able to find equivalents on other platforms.

Given my existing hardware (and since new job provides a new Macbook Pro, with the entire software stack I'll be bringing to the market being both OS-neutral and in the cloud, with the office using all Apple products), this will primarily be a content consumption purchase, plus some very lightweight text entry. As a Windows/Linux guy, I'm inclined towards either a Google or Microsoft tablet for the flexibility of the OS. Windows 8 certainly seems to offer the most flexibility there, as a good tablet would let me run DOSBOX games, lighter-weight titles like FTL, and still hit the Office/Google application stacks that I use regularly.

7" seems too small for longer emails/webpage comment forms. I don't read comics, I have a Kindle Touch for eBooks, and Movies/TV from Amazon Prime gets streamed to the TV via its native client, so that's not a huge draw. It sounds like the Fire HD isn't for me.

So, with the comments and discussion so far, I can narrow it down to either a Nexus 10, a current non-RT Win8 tablet, or waiting to see what the next iteration of the tablets from the OEMs brings. Alternatively, I could pick up an iPad 3 or 4 now, as I don't really care much about having the latest and greatest, and am largely immune to the Cult of Apple mentality that seems to result in regret when new hardware is announced.

As long as the Nexus 10 doesn't suffer from the build quality issues of the horrendous Galaxy Note 10.1, it should be a crazy-good piece of hardware for the price. Hopefully we'll see some reviews soon.

TheHipGamer wrote:

I'm leaning away from the iPad primarily on account of its closed ecosystem and cost; having had an iPad 1 since launch, I'm just not finding myself using it for any of the specialty apps, and while I have a handful of programs that I use on both the iPad and on my phone, I'm not tied into either to the point of not being able to find equivalents on other platforms.

Given my existing hardware (and since new job provides a new Macbook Pro, with the entire software stack I'll be bringing to the market being both OS-neutral and in the cloud, with the office using all Apple products), this will primarily be a content consumption purchase, plus some very lightweight text entry. As a Windows/Linux guy, I'm inclined towards either a Google or Microsoft tablet for the flexibility of the OS. Windows 8 certainly seems to offer the most flexibility there, as a good tablet would let me run DOSBOX games, lighter-weight titles like FTL, and still hit the Office/Google application stacks that I use regularly.

7" seems too small for longer emails/webpage comment forms. I don't read comics, I have a Kindle Touch for eBooks, and Movies/TV from Amazon Prime gets streamed to the TV via its native client, so that's not a huge draw. It sounds like the Fire HD isn't for me.

So, with the comments and discussion so far, I can narrow it down to either a Nexus 10, a current non-RT Win8 tablet, or waiting to see what the next iteration of the tablets from the OEMs brings. Alternatively, I could pick up an iPad 3 or 4 now, as I don't really care much about having the latest and greatest, and am largely immune to the Cult of Apple mentality that seems to result in regret when new hardware is announced. :)

I actually found it easy to type long form things on the 7" table in portrait. I hated doing anything long form on the tablets anyway because they are horrible for long form writing, bot typing on the tablet and how hard it is to edit with the devices.

I have an 8GB Google Nexus 7, and I love it. It's lightweight enough for one-handed treadmill gaming, *just* big enough for reading books, and adequately competent for web-surfing (Chrome), as well as the occasional email.

I'm eagerly looking forward to additional hard info on the surface pro; a 2-pounder that can (purportedly) play Fallout 3/new Vegas at medium settings is attractive to me.

Puce wrote:

It's lightweight enough for one-handed treadmill gaming

Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

pneuman wrote:

As long as the Nexus 10 doesn't suffer from the build quality issues of the horrendous Galaxy Note 10.1, it should be a crazy-good piece of hardware for the price. Hopefully we'll see some reviews soon.

Word. I'm trying very hard to talk myself out of buying a Nexus 10 to go with my Nexus 7...

I'm really tempted by the Nexus 10. I already have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, which was at the time easily the nicest overall android tablet on the market, but it's basically abandoned as far as updates go so it will never have Chrome or any number of other things that come in updates.

I figure going for a Nexus device straight from Google will be the most likely way to avoid that problem in the future. Or at least avoid encountering it so quickly after buying the device. My Galaxy Tab hasn't had an update since a few months after I got it.

Puce Moose wrote:

I'm eagerly looking forward to additional hard info on the surface pro; a 2-pounder that can (purportedly) play Fallout 3/new Vegas at medium settings is attractive to me.

This is how I feel, as well.