Cheap Tablet / Laptop or Notepad and pen

[Cush]

Next month I am going on a five day course (not work related) that will involve a lot of writing. To get too and from the course I will have at least 1 1/2 hours each way on the train. I have looked at laptops and e notebooks but they seem heavy and awkward to carry on the bike and then plonk on a table and take notes on. Question is can I take notes easily with a Tablet like the cheaper versions of the Kindle or would it be better to buy a small refurbished or second hand laptop?.
Incidentally getting the best fare on the train has proved to be a nightmare. I have now decided to get a 7 day pass as this is about £10 cheaper than getting five day tickets and then use the Saturday and Sunday to transport the bike to Newcastle and have two rides from there.

 

[IDMark2]

If you can type on a keyboard fast enough to take notes 'live' then I think a small laptop is OK, thing is I don't think a older, smaller or refurbished one will have the sort of battery life to be worry-free during a typical course day. Tablet keyboards are touch screen and, predictive or not, they can be a pain to manage to write notes on fast and live, but it depends on how much information you'll want to keep writing really. Personally I'd go with a Nexus 7 or Tesco Hudl tablet, reasonably cheap, get something like the Evernote app (free) and if it fails to be as easy to use as an A4 pad and a pen then just use an A4 pad and pen and scan your handwritten notes with the tablets camera into Evernote for safe keeping and reference at the end of the day!

 

[Kies]

check out the asus vivobook S200E - small 11.6" screen running windows 8 .

using it right now and bought specifically for commuting as it's light. even the charger is lightweight

 

[marknotgeorge]

You can get keyboard cases for the various thalwegs. I mean tablets. WTF is a thalweg?

 

[PeteXXX]

You can get keyboard cases for the various thalwegs. I mean tablets. WTF is a thalweg?

thalweg or talweg (ˈtɑːlvɛɡ)

— n
1. the longitudinal outline of a riverbed from source to mouth
2. the line of steepest descent from any point on the land surface

 

[IDMark2]

A good shout @Kies but judging from the OP's options of 'a cheaper version of the Kindle' I think maybe the budget we're working with is more like £100-150 than £400.

 

[IDMark2]

I think I descended a thalweg yesterday...

 

[vickster]

Pad and a couple of biros?

 

[simon the viking]

Pad and a couple of biros?

This^^^^ never had a battery go down a biro! type up later if required

 

[DWiggy]

thought about a chrome book? http://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/ch...esk+Tab+|+Text+|+BKWS#foreveryone-promo-hp-cb

 

[MontyVeda]

digital voice recorder?

that way you can look and listen and not worry about taking notes when you should be looking and listening at whatever it is you're attending. Then take your notes from the recording after the event.

 

[Sara_H]

Next month I am going on a five day course (not work related) that will involve a lot of writing. To get too and from the course I will have at least 1 1/2 hours each way on the train. I have looked at laptops and e notebooks but they seem heavy and awkward to carry on the bike and then plonk on a table and take notes on. Question is can I take notes easily with a Tablet like the cheaper versions of the Kindle or would it be better to buy a small refurbished or second hand laptop?.
Incidentally getting the best fare on the train has proved to be a nightmare. I have now decided to get a 7 day pass as this is about £10 cheaper than getting five day tickets and then use the Saturday and Sunday to transport the bike to Newcastle and have two rides from there.

My OH recently bought a nook tablet and a bluetooth keyboard case and thinks its brilliant. He uses google docs alot, which is easy to use on the Nook.

 

[Pale Rider]

digital voice recorder?

that way you can look and listen and not worry about taking notes when you should be looking and listening at whatever it is you're attending. Then take your notes from the recording after the event.

Fine for a few minutes, but transcribing hours of recording with any accuracy will take, well, hours and hours and hours.

 

[MontyVeda]

as will typing it all on the fly.

 

[ASC1951]

Pad and a couple of biros?

I can write ten times faster than I can type and stuff is very easy to review and search on paper. My only issue is keeping it legible, especially if I'm scanning it into Evernote or OneNote. A durable notepad is a very very good way of recording things on the move.