Cycleops
Legendary Member
- Location
- Accra, Ghana
You can talk about CPUs and PSUs but at the end of the day I believe a tablet would be perfect for the OP's needs. Quick start up, fast, portable and easy to use.
Laptop or Tower?
- Thread starter Shadow
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Tablets are terrible for spreadsheet work unless you use external mouse and keyboard, at which point you might as well have a laptop.
Cycleops
Legendary Member
- Location
- Accra, Ghana
I would go beyond that, the processors in new tablets are essentially 'desktop' equivalents. My day job is spent writing documents, making presentation, working with data - all in-between constant emails/Teams meetings.
The iPad Pro I have for work can literally do 99% of what the Elitebook can do. Though the Elitebook is portable, the iPad take it to a different level, I can work almost anywhere and everywhere when paired with my phones 5G data plan.
For example today I was working on some work stuff whilst waiting for my daughters various weekend classes to finish. You could do this with the Elitebook but just isn’t as easy.
The other ‘killer’ changes that’s come recently for tablets in addition to their processing power is USB-C. It's not quite 100% perfect yet for me to drop my Elitebook for work, I need x3 screen support. But it's not far off.
For OPs needs of general home use, tablets + a USB-c Dock for a desk would be more than enough interms of productivity and media consumption.
@gzoom
At that level a tablet would be up to the job yes. However the cost of an iPad Pro plus USB-c dock plus decent external peripherals, you’re well into very good laptop territory. For spreadsheets you’re going to need external screens unless you go for the larger, expensive tablets. A 10” screen is sub optimal for spreadsheets The OP will get tons more flexibility for their money from a good mid range laptop.
At that level a tablet would be up to the job yes. However the cost of an iPad Pro plus USB-c dock plus decent external peripherals, you’re well into very good laptop territory. For spreadsheets you’re going to need external screens unless you go for the larger, expensive tablets. A 10” screen is sub optimal for spreadsheets The OP will get tons more flexibility for their money from a good mid range laptop.
raleighnut
Legendary Member
- Location
- One of the 'Elite'
Yep I'd suggest Mogadon
@Dadam I have no doubt a cheap/mid range lap would be cheaper than a decent tablet + 22inch screen/keyboard/mouse via USB--C.
However the tablet will be better in many ways, just today I was doddling room layouts on the iPad with the pencil whilst having tea, so much more flexible and easier to use than a conventional laptop.
I've got access to a 15inch MacBookPro, x2 HP EliteBooks in the house for work, the iPad Pro is by far my favourite device to use for work or play.
However the tablet will be better in many ways, just today I was doddling room layouts on the iPad with the pencil whilst having tea, so much more flexible and easier to use than a conventional laptop.
I've got access to a 15inch MacBookPro, x2 HP EliteBooks in the house for work, the iPad Pro is by far my favourite device to use for work or play.
Last edited:
bonzobanana
Guru
I use a hp stream 11 laptop with a Celeron n4120 processor. It only has 4GB non upgradable but I use a bit of the 64GB storage as virtual memory which is very fast and have a 512GB SD card permanently installed which I picked up from amazon warehouse for about £12. The laptop was about £50 from cashconverters. It's running windows 11 but I've run a utility to debloat it and the laptop seems very fast and stable. It has office 2016 installed. I have a Ryzen laptop but unfortunately the battery only lasts about one and a half hours. The HP stream can last up to 14hrs although with my settings which are performance settings its more like 8-9hrs but still a full day's work without being tied to a power socket.
