Please help me, I've been living in a cave...(for all practical purposes anyway)

[Geronimo]

Hello and greetings to all! This is my first post here and I found the site through googling some of the questions I'm going to ask your help on.

Let me first explain the situation so you realize the kind of language you'll need to use if I'm to understand the answers you (hopefully) provide. I've been living on a small island in the Pacific for the last 4 years and I've never even seen (in real life) a Kindle, an iPad, a Galaxy tab, etc. I've seen Smartphones but since most of them wouldn't work to their full potential with this island's phone service providers, it's kind of rare to see them and I've never been able to walk into a store and ask any questions,etc. We obviously have internet or I wouldn't be able to post this message but I admit I didn't make use of it to stay up with the developing technology. So, I realize it's my own fault for my current state of affairs...not really the island's.

SO.....I have hundreds, perhaps more than a thousand books in pdf format. I like to read. I'm also currently taking graduate school courses online and it seems most of the assigned readings come in pdf format. One of the best things I did do recently was get Adobe Acrobat X Pro which lets me highlight sections of the texts, cut out/extract pages, etc. I love marking the pdf's I read so I don't have to search for the important part later when I want to cite it in an essay. I use the 'extract' function to cut out pages of magazines that have the article I want and therefore I don't have to flip through the whole thing to get to what I want. As I've spent the last 6 months printing pdf to put in binders, then trying to lug binders around so I can read during lunch breaks, etc, I've grown increasingly envious of the pictures I see online of people using tablets like the Kindle, Nook, iPad, etc.

Ok, so...I want one and the MAIN reason I want one is for reading pdf's and being able to mark them and dissect them the way I described.

But....I'm also getting ready to try escaping this island and head back to a life as an ESL teacher in Korea. So...I also have to think about whether I should be getting something that would be useful as a teacher. I'm so stupid I just realized last night that most tablets like the Galaxy tab don't use Windows and (as I currently understand it, please correct me if I'm wrong) I wouldn't be able to use Powerpoint, MS Word, excel, etc. And I wouldn't be able to load my beloved Adobe Acrobat X Pro on an android tablet either. I may be about the last one on the planet to figure that out. There are a lot of useful programs I use on my computer and I really don't know how I'd adjust to a tablet PC that couldn't use those programs.

At this point, I'm completely confused on what I should do. Should I:
1) get a simple pdf reader that allows highlighting, taking notes etc, AND a laptop for the more advanced uses I might have for teaching? or...
2) just go for a laptop that uses Windows and forget about a lightweight device for reading? or....
3) just go for a lightweight tablet that allows reading, highlighting and dissecting of pdf's.

I tend to think I should go with option #3 right now as it seems the most like sticking a toe in to 'test the waters' and see how I like these android things before I go off and buy a laptop too.

But if I do go with option #3, then I still can't figure out which tablets would let me do what I want to do with pdf's. I'm pretty sure I don't want an iPad. I had thought I'd go with the Galaxy Tab because I want a big screen for reading pdf's, not anything small. I envisioned something about the size of a clipboard. The 10.1" screens seem to be about the biggest ones out there, right?

I should mention that I seriously considered the The Inspiron Duo Tablet PC after seeing someone on this site recommend it to someone else. I like several things about it such as the USB ports and card readers, having a keyboard and being able to flip it around and use it like a tablet. My only concern is that it lists it as 3.4 pounds...so I don't know if that'd really satisfy me for being able to read comfortably on the couch, in bed or on the subway (once back in Korea). As a test, I plan on adding enough paper to my clipboard to get it to equal about 3-3.4 pounds and then seeing how it feels to hold it up, carry it around and read from it at different angles. I used a 2 pound book last night and thought anything more would get uncomfortable after awhile. I guess maybe I should also mention I liked the idea of being able to use a pen/stylus to mark the part I'm interested in but if a reader works by finger touch (*and it's works well) I guess that's fine too.


I'm sorry for such a long-winded intro to my request for help, but I'm hoping to get some advice from the knowledgeable people here. If this is really such a mess of stupid questions that you delete my posting, I completely understand. If you do take the time to read this SOS and reply, thank you in advance!

[Steve S]

Ger: Beyond the basics, which I think you have defined pretty well, it would be helpful if you could provide a price point that you might like to stay below and a few other personal preferences beyond simple weight.

In the meantime, there are a few tabletPCs that might work for you. On the lower end of the cost scale, there is the Dell Duo (which I've handled and which didn't strike me as weighing 3.5 lbs...?!??), the Fujitsu Q550 and the HP Slate 500. The Dell Duo is touch only, but the Q550 and the Slate 500 feature pen and touch. All are under $1000 new. In addition, you can look for many older models of tablets on sites like eBay; both convertibles (screen + keyboards) and slates (screen only with virtual (onscreen) keyboards). Companies like Dell also offer refurbished tablets like the XT2, which is a powerful Core 2 Duo model, for just around $1000. Refurbished hardware typically looks new and can be a great value: http://www.dell.com/us/dfb/p/latitude-xt2/pd

Above $1000 there are several nice options. The Asus EP121 is both powerful and reasonably light at about 2.5 lb. The brand new Samsung Series 7 Slate is even more powerful yet lighter at about 2 lbs. Fujitsu, Lenovo and others also offer powerful convertibles convertibles in the $1500 to $2000+ range.

All of these devices run Windows and are perfectly capable of running Office and Acrobat.

Without knowing more, I would tentatively recommend the Asus EP121 ( http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Slate-EP121-1A010M-12-1-Inch-Tablet/dp/B004HKIIFI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318025602&sr=8-1 ). You can see that its owners rate it very highly. I own several slates but I have to admit that I also prefer my EP121.

Hopefully, other forum members will chime in with their thoughts as well. In the meantime, continue doing research; this is actually a great time to get into tablets!

[Geronimo]

Thank you Steve, I appreciate all the options you laid out there. I'd just come across the Slate 500 and the Asus EP121 had me drooling but....I don't think I can swing that kind of expenditure before Christmas.

This is another reason I'm thinking of going with Option #3, which is to get some kind of slate for reading my pdf's and hold off on a more intensive (and expensive) laptop.

So, I tried searching to see if there were any 'slate tablets' with a stylus that are less than $600 but didn't find much other than some no-name units on Amazon. so, now I'm wondering if I could accomplish the pdf reading (and at least the highlighting) on a Kindle or Nook. Like I said, I've never used one but I'm reading a review now where the person is saying the Nook Color reads pdf's okay. I'd like to be able to see the highlighted sections I've already made in some of my readings over the last six months. I have no idea if they'd show up. I'll keep reading but if anyone else has any other alternatives, options, or insight, I'm very much interested in hearing what you have to say.

Thanks again Steve, those are certainly units I'm going to read up on for when I can swing a full laptop purchase.

[Michelle Mastin]

Another option to consider if you want to stay under a $600 would be the Thinkpad tablet (http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/tablet/thinkpad/). It's android based, but comes with office compatible software. It comes with an active digitizer for marking up PDFs. It's 1.6lbs, so definitely easy to hold for reading, while still giving you the screen space to be more useful for PDFs and markup.

Being Android, it will be a little more limited when it comes to standard office and teaching tasks. It will be compatible with office files via Documents to Go, and there are several good PDF annotation programs available for Android. But it will be an adjustment if you're coming from windows. The only things I can't do with my Android based Evo View are OneNote (I've been using evernote more as it has a great android app) and SmartMusic (a program specific to my work as a music teacher). Everything else - email, internet, working with office documents that I keep in Dropbox, reading books via the nook app, casual gaming, even streaming netflix all work just fine on Android.

That said, I don't know anyone who can get by with Android only. There will likely always be one or two things that you'll want to have that Windows laptop around for.

[Geronimo]

Michelle, thank you so much for the suggestion! It sounds like it's got everything I need AND the price is within reach too! I'm excited. I'm looking into the weight a little more though...the website you linked to said, "Starting at 1.65 lbs" but the Amazon website lists it as 4.35 lbs. That's not the shipping weight either. So, how can they have such different weights listed? Maybe Amazon's listing as just goofy...Steve mentioned that the weight I quoted before for the The Inspiron Duo Tablet PC was higher than he remembered and I took that from the Amazon website also. So, I guess I need to look elsewhere to find the actual weights.

I like this though because it lets me play with the docs I want (especially pdf) and it lets me play around with android apps...some of which I think sound cool. Having the stylus is a nice touch too. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[Michelle Mastin]

The tablet by itself weighs 1.65. I've had the privilege of holding one of those, and while not as slim and light as an iPad 2, the weight was well balanced, and I found it pretty easy to hold. I'm certain the Amazon listing is the shipping weight; they tend to do that.

[Geronimo]

Michelle, or anyone,
I have another question. I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet (32GB) but I do have a few questions about something I read here (http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/29/thinkpad-tablet-review/) but I didn't entirely understand it.

As for that SIM slot next to the SD card reader, Lenovo has yet to announce a subsidized version here in the states, though it assures us it'll be announced next month for AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. At some later date, you'll also be able to buy a 3G-ready version with a Gobi radio and roll with whatever SIM cards you already happen to have. If you buy today, though, yours most certainly won't have that inside, even though the SIM card slot will still be there, hanging out next to the SD reader.

When it says it comes with a SIM card slot, what exactly does that allow you to do if you bought the Wi-Fi only version? What's the use of a SIM card slot? Wouldn't that only be useful for the 3G version?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Michelle Mastin]

It's not uncommon now to see machines with SIM slots that don't do anything. I think it's just easier and cheaper to build one main board with a SIM reader, and one casing with the hole for it, and just not put the modem on the ones that are wifi only, than it is to build two different main boards and casings. You can put a SIM in the slot, but it won't do anything other than take up space.