tablet vs. notebook vs. netbook

[nature boy]

i'm looking for something for work and travel. having a webcam is a must for when i'm out of town so i can skype the fam, and it needs to be able to handle whatever my travelling needs require (email, word docs, pdf's, excel sheets, etc). of course portability is a huge plus, but is the trade off worth it?

what do you guys think? i'm not wanting a debate on which tablet is better than which (because i know which you guys WON'T vote for lol) or which brand is better than which, i'm just talking about the format for each.

obvious pros and cons:
tablets boot up fast and are crazy portable
netbooks have the full keyboard and are still portable
notebooks are somewhat portable but pack a pretty big punch

discuss.

[jeSteR]

Got a Macbook air specifically for this. Love it

[nature boy]

the thing with a netbook/notebook is that i find that it's not convenient to pull out of my bag at a coffee shop or in a line up or even taking a dump anymore. maybe i'm just spoiled because our phones can do so much that taking something so big out to do something that something so small can do seems almost pointless.

what can your macbook air do that a tablet can't? i guess i'm just looking at the trade-offs.

[geForce]

What i don't understand is... why do tablets have such awesome processors that can do multimedia and multitasking so smoothly, but yet a netbook uses a crappy Atom processor?

[jeSteR]

[joel]

yeah i would say the value should depend a lot on if you need/want a keyboard and how much processing power you need. if a tablet provides sufficient processing power and you dont' care about the keyboard i say your mind is already made up...

[nature boy]

[joel]

a netbook is cheapest of all the options you listed. but for the value you get more storage space, but probably the least powerful solution in terms of processing power (depending on the processor). although for a small additional investment (upgrade in ram + SSD, i imagine that performance probably come close to par with a tablet, but then so does price)

it seems like the tablet fits your needs based on your comments.

for myself i could never really do "work type" stuff without an actual keyboard... not that i have tried typing much on a touch screen but i imagine it would be about 10 times slower for me.

a notebook is generally more versatile, and probably the safest bet to be able to handle needs that you aren't currently considering now but may need in the future or just haven't thought of yet. slightly more expensive than the netbook and i imagine comparable in price to a tablet depending on specs..

i think you can't go that wrong with any choice. all 3 could probably handle your needs adequately, so it just comes down to what you prefer. you don't have to be married to the choice either... you'll probably be finding you'll need another upgrade after 2 years (max maybe 5 years) no matter what option you choose. b/c in the end as with computer tech things get outdated pretty quick and there is always something new and shiny that comes out that your device won't be able to accomplish in a year or two...

and who are we kidding... you totally sound like you want a playbook. so if that's what you want, i think you should go with it... better that than going with something else and always be thinking, "man, i wish i got a playbook instead.."

[jeSteR]

^ What he said Mang... get the playbook. Even if you end up not using it, at least you don't have the "what if" question looming over your head. And having instant portrait mode is kinda cool sometimes, but again, only really necessary because of your lack of resolution.

[nature boy]

[jeSteR]

^ Uh.... nope..

Among the mainstream tablets, only the Atrix, and the Asus Eee PC has less

The Flyer, Adam, Archos, and Gtab have the same

And the following all have a res higher than 1024 x 600

Galaxy Tab, Touchpad, Asus Transformer, Xoom, Optimus, Streak, Ant, Asus Slate, iPad 1 and 2

But that was a general statement as I personally define any display with less than 1000 lines of vertical resolution as substandard, thus a portrait mode makes it easier for my tastes.

That's the only detractor for me with the Air, especially considering that I can browse web pages in portrait mode on my iPhone with 960 lines of vertical resolution.

[nature boy]

but the playbook has 1024x600 on a 7" screen giving it 170 pixels per inch, while the ipad has 1024x768 on a 10" screen giving it roughly 132 ppi, but i guess i was using the wrong terminology... i thought that would mean it has a higher res because essentially it's squeezing more pixels in a smaller space. to me, it'd look better per inch than an ipad.

[geForce]

No, you got the right terminology.. but the term "resolution" is just a kind of vague term. What you're talking about is resolution density, and what Jai is talking about is resolution depth.

[nature boy]

what's the difference?

[geForce]

Resolution density is how many pixels are packed into each inch of the physical screen.
Resolution depth is the format in which the screen is displaying the video (i.e. 1024 pixels horizontal x 768 pixels vertical)