RootAnn Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 In the vein of the "laptop" or "desktop" thread, I have a question of my own. We are not a tech-heavy household. We have a dumb phone as our cell phone, one desktop hooked up to the internet, one desktop not hooked up to the internet (for the kids to mainly work with), and two never-had-service smart phones primarily used for audiobook listening. I am looking for a device so that dd#2 can watch DVDs for one of her classes next year, take part in an online class (let's say a WTMA class - so it doesn't have to have a camera), and type/edit the books she writes all the time. Am I looking for a tablet with some bells/whistles or a laptop? Let's say my budget is $300-$400. Link to what you recommend, if you could. Thank you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 IMO, laptop if she is going to be doing writing. I own a tablet which I adore for portability and watching Netflix or school videos, but I wouldn't want to type on it, mine is a 10" table though. You can get a decent 13" in your price range. I haven't looked at the latest models, so no current recommendations. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim in Appalachia Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 If your child is going to be taking a class online, then I say a laptop. I think a tablet would be harder to deal with. You really want a decent keyboard and you'll also want the greater speed of the laptop, especially at your price point. Make sure you don't get anything under 4RAM. Lenovo makes a great laptop, and you can look at them at Best Buy. You may also be able to purchase and "open box" one, which would save you money. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 I agree with the others. Tablets are great, but not for doing a lot of writing. I was going to suggest a Chromebook, but I see that you want to use it for DVD's, and I don't think a Chromebook can do that. But they sure are affordable! https://store.google.com/category/chromebooks?utm_source=en-ha-na-sem&utm_medium=text&utm_content=bkws&utm_campaign=chromebook&gclid=Cj0KEQiA_MK0BRDQsf_bsZS-_OIBEiQADPf--t76GC6JkI_9HsObiNiiYoWVwa6rx-JDdyAMIPE1JJ0aAgmJ8P8HAQ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 For videos, tablets are great. Not for DVDs, though, no drive. I love my tablet (regular size iPad), and with a keyboard, it functions very much like a small laptop. It's not comfortable to type much or to write papers using its screen keyboard. It does have a Word app and Notability, so it can be used for typing with the keyboard. (The keyboards haven't held up well for me, though, so I mostly use the on screen keyboard for short typing and a full computer for longer typing.) My tablet also loses for space, although some allow for an extra card, which means I don't keep a lot of music or photos on it. But it holds a lot of apps, Kindle books, PDFs, etc. very nicely. I love that it has a decent sized screen, unlike a phone or mini tablet, but it's also very portable and lightweight. It's quite a bit smaller than the new laptop I got, so I can see times when I will definitely prefer one over the other. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 I agree with the others. Tablets are great, but not for doing a lot of writing. I was going to suggest a Chromebook, but I see that you want to use it for DVD's, and I don't think a Chromebook can do that. But they sure are affordable! https://store.google.com/category/chromebooks?utm_source=en-ha-na-sem&utm_medium=text&utm_content=bkws&utm_campaign=chromebook&gclid=Cj0KEQiA_MK0BRDQsf_bsZS-_OIBEiQADPf--t76GC6JkI_9HsObiNiiYoWVwa6rx-JDdyAMIPE1JJ0aAgmJ8P8HAQ :iagree: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 I strongly suggest going with a Laptop. Preferably one that was designed for and sold to Enterprise (Corporate) customers. We have 3 Refurbished Dell Latitude E6400 laptops, purchased from Blair Technology Group (BlairTG) and recently I've purchased 2 Used Dell Latitude E6410 laptops in eBay auctions, from a company in Hughesville PA. The E6410 is more recent technology and more powerful. Your budget will permit you to purchase a nice E6410 from Blair, with a one year warranty on everything but the battery and a fresh, legal copy of Windows. Blair is a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher. GL with what you decide to go with! If possible, get the E6410 with 8 GB of RAM. Mine has 4 GB, but when I bid on it in the auction, I knew that I would spent the $40 to buy 8 GB of RAM for it and swap the RAM and I will probably do that this week... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 (edited) You asked for links. I would consider going with one of these. This gives you an opportunity to choose a Windows 7 box or a Windows 8.1 box. http://stores.ebay.com/Blair-Technology-Group/Dell-Laptop-Notebook-Computer-/_i.html?_nkw=Dell+Latitude+E6410&submit=Search&LH_TitleDesc=1&_sop=15&_fsub=1858346013&_sc=1&_sid=14505673 Mostly we are Windows 7 here and that is tried and proven, but last May, to my astonishment, Blair had Dell Latitude E6400 laptops with Windows 8.1 on them, with a great hardware configuration, for $180, and we bought one of those for DD. I read up about how to configure it during the OOBE (first boot of Windows) so that the Login is from a local User account (not from Windows Hotmail, etc.) and that it boots directly to the Desktop. DD has not had any problems with Windows 8.1. Her desktop is a Windows 7 box. Note: We were very lucky and each of the 3 laptops we purchased from Blair arrived with better configurations than was shown in their listings. What you see is probably what you will receive (it is the minimum you will receive), but, if you are lucky, possibly you will receive a better hardware configuration. Note: I am too tired to see what the difference is between the 2 Windows 8.1 models, with 250 GB hard disk drives. One is $10 more than the other. I would probably go for one of those, with a hard disk drive with a larger capacity. That said, this Used E6410 had a 160 GB hard disk drive in it when I got it and I had purchased a "New Other" 500 GB 7200 RPM (very fast) hard drive for less than $35 on eBay and I am running on that and the 160 GB drive that came in it is a spare now. You can probably buy a 1 TB 5400 RPM hard disk drive for about $60 - 70, if you need that kind of capacity. I don't need that. Edited January 11, 2016 by Lanny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1GirlTwinBoys Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I prefer a laptop because I'm a very fast typer. The touch screen drives me crazy after a while. Tablets have their purpose which I think is more for reading, videos, apps etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I don't know any tablets that could support an external DVD drive so laptop would be a clear choice if you need to watch lessons videos off a DVD. My kids do programming mainly on their laptops because it is easier. Same for online classes. We watch lessons available on YouTube on my iPad Pro or on TV because little typing required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 In the vein of the "laptop" or "desktop" thread, I have a question of my own. We are not a tech-heavy household. We have a dumb phone as our cell phone, one desktop hooked up to the internet, one desktop not hooked up to the internet (for the kids to mainly work with), and two never-had-service smart phones primarily used for audiobook listening. I am looking for a device so that dd#2 can watch DVDs for one of her classes next year, take part in an online class (let's say a WTMA class - so it doesn't have to have a camera), and type/edit the books she writes all the time. Am I looking for a tablet with some bells/whistles or a laptop? Let's say my budget is $300-$400. Link to what you recommend, if you could. Thank you. A soft rule is, tablet for consumption, laptop for production. That said, my sister has a Surface and she said it's a great in-between. A Surface won't suffice for the level of production (data analysis) I do, but she said for writing and presentations, it's great, and that it has almost everything she gets from her iPad. Bonus is you might find one with the Office suite included. You have to buy the keyboard separately, and it sounds like you need to find software to play DVDs, but it's do-able. http://windowsitpro.com/microsoft-surface/playing-dvds-and-blu-ray-discs-surface-pro But at $400, I think you're best off with a cheap Dell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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