Laptop vs Tablet for reading PDFs: How is a tablet better?

[fjtorres]

If portability is no issue, why go with a laptop?
A desktop with a portrait monitor will be even better and cheaper.
24 in screen for starters.

[cromag]

I'd go with a tablet. I do some reading on my Acer netbook, but when I read I tend to sit for extended periods. I shift around in the chair, shift the device in my hands, etc., all to get comfortable. Doing that with even a small netbook was awkward. Before I had a tablet, it was okay, but since I got the tablet I almost never read PDFs on my netbook, It's just a lot easier with a tablet.

[EndlessWaves]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

If portability is no issue, why go with a laptop?

Because he's already got the laptop, he's asking if there is a substantial enough improvement in reading PDFs on a tablet to be worth buying one.

Some of the display factors that will influence readability of PDFs are:

1. Screen brightness. Tablets are probably a bit brighter on average than laptops. Not an issue if you're reading in a garage.

2. General screen quality (contrast, viewing angles, colour calibration). Tablets generally consist of low end components and fewer bits so it's cheaper to get a decent quality screen. Although 12" laptops are often premium models. However, assuming most of your reading is text then it's not going to make a whole lot of difference.

3. Screen type. Both Laptops and Tablets use emissive screens, both LCDs in fact and generally of the same types (primarily TN with a few IPS).

4. Screen resolution. PDF is a format designed to replicate appearances as closely as possible rather than aiming for maximum readability so it is actually affected by screen resolution unlike most text. Denser screens will help mitigate the fuzzyness of PDF text and this is probably the best argument for getting a different device, with a tablet probably being the cheaper option.

Of course, the component to be considered is ergonomics. Whether it would be more comfortable to position a large tablet than a small laptop when reading for extended lengths of time.

Personally I would start using the laptop. You've already got it and then if you find you can't read it as you want, you can look into other options.

[EbookNovice]

Thanks a lot for the replies guys!

So will a 10" tablet be big enough for reading?

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by EbookNovice

Thanks a lot for the replies guys!

So will a 10" tablet be big enough for reading?

I read all of my PDF's in landscape mode, on a 10.1 widescreen tablet. It is just one contiuous long scroll, like a huge website. Works fine.

[WillAdams]

Originally Posted by EndlessWaves

4. Screen resolution. PDF is a format designed to replicate appearances as closely as possible rather than aiming for maximum readability so it is actually affected by screen resolution unlike most text. Denser screens will help mitigate the fuzzyness of PDF text and this is probably the best argument for getting a different device, with a tablet probably being the cheaper option.

I don't understand the comment ``fuzzyness of PDF text'' --- text in a .pdf is stored as text, possibly along w/ an embedded font --- it's all-but unheard of for the font to not be a vector font these days, so it will be rendered using the technology and settings which the .pdf viewer uses.

Type display has long been a subject of optimization / rendering improvement, so should render quite well, and I'm unaware of any technology intrinsically limited to a tablet, e.g., a MacBook w/ a Retina display should render text just as nicely as an iPad w/ a similar pixel density Retina display.

That said, I find a tablet quite convenient to read a .pdf on, even though I use either convertible or slate-format Tablet PCs. Advantages (as noted in this thread) are battery life, screen brightness, unit weight / size.

On the other hand, it's not that bad reading on the slate machine (and it has the advantage of a transflective LCD which is readable in full daylight), and for the convertible, sometimes I read it w/ a rotated page display, holding it in laptop mode as if it were a book.

[barutanseijin]

I sometimes use a laptop for displaying pdf manual pages. Mine has a 13" screen, so it's similar. A laptop's upright screen is handy. With a tablet, you'll have to lay it flat, hold it, or find some sort of stand. pdf rendering on laptops is just fine.

My first choice is printing a hard copy of the pages i need. I don't have to worry about dropping paper, and if i need it out of my way, i can fold it up and stick it in my pocket. That won't work so well with a tablet or laptop.

[EndlessWaves]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

I don't understand the comment ``fuzzyness of PDF text'' --- text in a .pdf is stored as text, possibly along w/ an embedded font --- it's all-but unheard of for the font to not be a vector font these days, so it will be rendered using the technology and settings which the .pdf viewer uses.

I wrote a post detailing the flaws of PDF and then downloaded the latest version of Adobe's PDF reader to check the same applied to that - I was using an alternative as last time I had it installed it was abysmal.

I'm impressed, They've certainly done a lot of work on it recently. It's not perfect, it never will be on a fixed layout format on a 96dpi screen, but the readability is far better than it was four or five years ago. They've even added an option to turn off font smoothing which I never thought I'd see from Adobe (at least for the document, the interface still looks rubbish).

The fast scrolling is still lumpy and it wants me to restart my system just to install an updated version, but it wouldn't be Adobe if it all worked well

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by EbookNovice

Thanks a lot for the replies guys!

So will a 10" tablet be big enough for reading?

That completely depends on the person... I personally find 10" way too large to comfortably read on. I now have an 8" tablet (coming from a 7") and I really think that's the largest I find comfortable...

[Penforhire]

I've got a straight forward reason to use a tablet in, say, the garage. Using my normal bifocal glasses a tablet is much easier to read than a laptop (where I have to tilt my head up more). When I sit at a laptop or desktop computer for any significant length of time I switch to reading glasses (which are not ideal for working on a vehicle).

[Barty]

It's much easier to angle a tablet to a comfortable angle for reading, esp if you want to lean back or lie down to read. Plus, unless you have a,really good laptop, it probably does not have as good a screen as a tablet with decent PPI.

Here, I'm going to put in a plug for the nook hd+. At 9" 1920x1200 and less than $150 used on eBay, it makes for a terrific PDF reader.

Downfall of the tablet is glossiness, but I assume you have good lighting control in your garage.

[EbookNovice]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I read all of my PDF's in landscape mode, on a 10.1 widescreen tablet. It is just one contiuous long scroll, like a huge website. Works fine.

Oh, alright. How do you copy down quotes you like from e-books?

[EbookNovice]

Originally Posted by EndlessWaves

I wrote a post detailing the flaws of PDF and then downloaded the latest version of Adobe's PDF reader to check the same applied to that - I was using an alternative as last time I had it installed it was abysmal.

I'm impressed, They've certainly done a lot of work on it recently. It's not perfect, it never will be on a fixed layout format on a 96dpi screen, but the readability is far better than it was four or five years ago. They've even added an option to turn off font smoothing which I never thought I'd see from Adobe (at least for the document, the interface still looks rubbish).

The fast scrolling is still lumpy and it wants me to restart my system just to install an updated version, but it wouldn't be Adobe if it all worked well

Alright, thanks so Adobe is the best app to read .pdfs with? I want to be able to upload quotes to Evernote. How do I do this with Adobe?

My Android tablet came in today

[EbookNovice]

Originally Posted by Barty

It's much easier to angle a tablet to a comfortable angle for reading, esp if you want to lean back or lie down to read. Plus, unless you have a,really good laptop, it probably does not have as good a screen as a tablet with decent PPI.

Here, I'm going to put in a plug for the nook hd+. At 9" 1920x1200 and less than $150 used on eBay, it makes for a terrific PDF reader.

Downfall of the tablet is glossiness, but I assume you have good lighting control in your garage.

Thanks!

Right, I've got pretty good lighting in the garage.

[WillAdams]

Originally Posted by EndlessWaves

I wrote a post detailing the flaws of PDF and then downloaded the latest version of Adobe's PDF reader to check the same applied to that - I was using an alternative as last time I had it installed it was abysmal.

Link?