semi-OT laptop black friday (bike commute without pack!)

[jh_on_the_cape]

Sorry I am not a fan of the OT posts but I was googling around for a laptop and it's overwhelming and really just all ads.
I want to get another laptop for home so I don't have to take my work laptop home on the bike and ditch the pack.
I want something that is like a tablet (I don't own one) but runs windows so I can install software. This will not be used for anything like gaming that's needs computational power. Home accounting, google suite, watching sports, looking at forums (haha), reading. and zwift or rouvy.
Budget about $500.
I am kind of fed up so I was just going to get the best microsoft surface I can get for $500 on amazon during black friday.
But thought I would check here first.

happy trails!

[tuxbailey]

https://slickdeals.net/f/17897208-as...?src=frontpage

Edit: Oops. I missed the part you wanted a tablet.

[ColonelJLloyd]

I use a Surface Pro 6 for some out-of-the-office work stuff, but would not recommend it for general browsing or watching "TV" because without an aftermarket case of some sort it can't easily or comfortably sit on your lap. For that, I use a MacBook Air, but that doesn't meet your criteria.

[jh_on_the_cape]

thanks that's helpful.
I basically want a tablet that runs windows so I can use software.
I will mostly use an external monitor/mouse and maybe even keyboard for at-desk work.
I have no apple products and don't want to mix it up

Originally Posted by ColonelJLloyd

I use a Surface Pro 6 for some out-of-the-office work stuff, but would not recommend it for general browsing or watching "TV" because without an aftermarket case of some sort it can't easily or comfortably sit on your lap. For that, I use a MacBook Air, but that doesn't meet your criteria.

[benb]

Do you work for yourself or something? This is a really interesting use case.

It would be extremely hard for me to split my work between two machines like that.

And in any case it would be forbidden for a) security reasons b) They wouldn't approve another $3-4k machine!

Syncing files and such between the two machines could be challenging depending on what exactly you are doing.

I sympathize though, carrying a laptop on a bike is annoying!

[Turkle]

My experiences with any non-Apple tablet have been universally terrible.

I love Lenovo laptops and I enthusiastically recommend them to friends and family. Their Ideapad line is super affordable and does everything I need it to.

I bought my current Ideapad in 2018 and I use it for work, for music production/recording, watching movies/sports (HDMI to the TV), and whatever else. It's still going strong! It's not capable of high-end gaming, but I don't play any games more intense than chess and crossword puzzles, so it is not a big deal.

This is where I would start looking.

[benb]

Dell has some nice machines. They also have multiple tiers of ultra crappy machines.

If you work at a cheap company where IT is just viewed as a cost center and the goal is always minimize costs they always buy the crap tier ones. My wife has one.

But where I work users are demanding, computing is the profit center, and the people who use Windows get non-crap Dells.

Do not think they are all crap just cause you're so likely to have had a crap one.

Also I bought my wife one of the brand new MS Surface laptops. It is absolutely not crap, it is the closest I've seen a Windows machine come to an Apple level of polish and quality. It's a *really* nice machine and she's had zero issues with it. Killer value for me as I have probably spent no more than 5 minutes fixing or helping with it at all.

[jh_on_the_cape]

It's all on google cloud or other web-based stuff with 2stepauth. academia.
anything not on cloud is on an external drive.
I am paying for this myself. my work laptop is low end lenovo.
I want this to run stuff like tax software.

Originally Posted by benb

Do you work for yourself or something? This is a really interesting use case.

It would be extremely hard for me to split my work between two machines like that.

And in any case it would be forbidden for a) security reasons b) They wouldn't approve another $3-4k machine!

Syncing files and such between the two machines could be challenging depending on what exactly you are doing.

I sympathize though, carrying a laptop on a bike is annoying!

[Alistair]

So, you won't actually use this for work?

Most industries, working from a non-approved device is a fireable offense. IP loss is the primary concern.

Anyways, Windows-based tablets - I'd cross-shop the Surface line, whatever Lenovo offers, and Dell. But, be forewarned - that budget is likely to get you a less-than-elegant device with dubious build quality. Bumping it a bit might get you a much nicer, longer-lived product. All that said, I've been all-in on Apple for a while, so can't recommend specific models - just basing my comment off what my company offers to Windows users.

[jh_on_the_cape]

well not in academia. many people do not use the crappy work issued laptop ($300 laptop, no options). then put stuff on google drive then on the work laptop in order to use the printer.

I will use this for work. emails, preparing documents, but nothing computationally heavy.

Originally Posted by Alistair

So, you won't actually use this for work?

Most industries, working from a non-approved device is a fireable offense. IP loss is the primary concern.

Anyways, Windows-based tablets - I'd cross-shop the Surface line, whatever Lenovo offers, and Dell. But, be forewarned - that budget is likely to get you a less-than-elegant device with dubious build quality. Bumping it a bit might get you a much nicer, longer-lived product. All that said, I've been all-in on Apple for a while, so can't recommend specific models - just basing my comment off what my company offers to Windows users.

[echappist]

Originally Posted by jh_on_the_cape

It's all on google cloud or other web-based stuff with 2stepauth. academia.
anything not on cloud is on an external drive.
I am paying for this myself. my work laptop is low end lenovo.
I want this to run stuff like tax software.

A few things for your consideration.

How much would your employer monitor your own personal computer once you do work-related stuff on it? I'm not that comfortable with the invasion of privacy, in particular if I'm the one forking out for the privilege.

As for the laptop itself, I have a Dell Inspiron 2-in-1, with stylus support. Nominally could be used like a tablet, but i've found it cumbersome. For one, it's quite heavy and bulky. I do like the stylus option though, but I haven't found it useful for other contexts.

An alternative to consider could be the cheapest iPad but with stylus and keyboard support. My wife used such a set-up in professional school, and it was amazing to me (as someone who took notes on pen-and-paper only), how much she was able to accomplish, doing marking-up on her tablet.

I'd imagine a Surface Laptop as mentioned upthread would come closest to that.

One other caveat, a lot of traditionally swappable components are now hard-soldered onto the motherboard (at least memory, if not hard drive as well). The memory on mine crapped out after five years, but replacing it was a trivial and cheap task. The same won't be the case for the likes of the Surface Laptop and others (such as my wife's HP Envy laptop).

[tellyho]

This is fascinating - clearly industry life is very different from academic life. Nobody is monitoring anything about your device / location in the academic world. You can work on whatever. You are happy to get any tech support or anything approaching a modern computer.

IMO, a tablet is never going to be acceptable as a laptop substitute. Happy to be corrected, though.

[Alistair]

Originally Posted by tellyho

This is fascinating - clearly industry life is very different from academic life. Nobody is monitoring anything about your device / location in the academic world. You can work on whatever. You are happy to get any tech support or anything approaching a modern computer.

IMO, a tablet is never going to be acceptable as a laptop substitute. Happy to be corrected, though.

Yeah, I'm gobsmacked that academia takes such a laissez faire approach to info-sec. I work at a software company - all our laptops (and company phones, tablets, etc) are managed through IT. All services are either behind a firewall (VPN required) or behind MFA in Okta (ServiceNow, Peoplesoft, basically all the "SaaS" products we use). But, because I'm in engineering, I can at least install software and stuff. And as long as I'm willing to install an MDM profile on my phone, I can get my email and calendar on it (I realize many people would NOT do that - if I weren't in management I wouldn't bother, but I need the reminders when I have 7am meetings, etc).

My wife is at a bank and her laptop is so locked down she can't print at home, connect any USB devices, etc. And very few of their services are available via Okta (or equivalent), so zero access from personal devices.

As for tablets as laptop substitutes, I haven't had a personal laptop for years. Just an iPad Pro. The only thing I can't do that I want to do is torrent EuroSport races. Everything else I do is either directly on the web or has iOS/iPadOS versions of the software. Granted, I'm not doing anything computationally complex - just normal home "surfing".