Any larges screen (14"+) color readers or tablets on the way?

[Mastiff]

Yeah, I have tried to find one of those too, so far without any luck. The problem is that they all stop at 14" or less, at least all those that I have seen. If you have heard about one with a 15.6" screen, please let me know! It doesn't matter where I have to import it from, money really isn't a problem, at least within reasonable limits, like £2000.

I was very close to buying a £1000 Dell Latitude XT3 with an i7 and 256 meg SSD, which would have been useful as a backup work computer as well since it fits the Dell docking stations that I have both at home and at my cabin, but that was 14" as well. I tried with my wife's Latitude 14", and it's a few centimeters too small. So I hope there is a 15,6" convertible laptop coming, or I'll end up with the very "secret" 18" all in one that Dell's supposedly coming with this spring.

[Mastiff]

And the winner is...a 15.6" Android tablet:

http://www.digiverse.co.uk/prods/15-...ith-3g-811.htm



I'm going to contact the company and ask if they will ship to Norway. The screen format looks perfect for comic books too!

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Mastiff

And the winner is...a 15.6" Android tablet:

http://www.digiverse.co.uk/prods/15-...ith-3g-811.htm

I'm going to contact the company and ask if they will ship to Norway. The screen format looks perfect for comic books too!

Ouch. With a resolution of 1024x600, I don't think so.
It also appears to be mains-powered only.
I think this is basically a small smart-TV, rather than a tablet.
It seems to be locked down to a content management system.

[Mastiff]

The Retail Tablet Battery life is maximized due to the Stand By Mode, which significantly reduces battery power consumption.

As for the resolution, what resolution do you think a regular comic book has? This unit is going to be used for two things: 95 % reading of comic books. 5 % surfing when my Adam's charging. I don't watch movies on anything smaller than 55" (I prefer my home theater, where the size of the screen is measured in feet, but I have a 55" with a 9.2 surround system (the .2 is two 15" subwoofers) at my cabin). I don't game on anything that can't give me the WSDA keys to move + a mouse to shoot with. So I really don't think that the resolution would be much of a problem. Do you think so, with my kind of use? I'll wait and see if I hear back from them about the content management system, and if it's fully locked down or just an optional thing.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Mastiff

As for the resolution, what resolution do you think a regular comic book has?

Any digital comics offering will be greater than 1024x600.
Most originally targetted 1024x768 because that is what the iPad offered.
Comixology (which provides the backend to most comic offerings) has now increased that to match the retina iPad resolution.
Modern comic scans seem to be closer to the 3000x2000 range.

So I really don't think that the resolution would be much of a problem. Do you think so, with my kind of use?

You can try it out right now.
Take some of your current comic images, resize them to the smaller of 1024 height or 600 width, and see how readable they are.
This is worse than the original iPad. I found that to be ok for single pages, but iffy for double-page spreads. I don't think you'll find double pages readable at only 600 in what is then the height dimension.
I think you were interested in larger comics like Asterix? I think you might struggle with some of the text on those larger pages. But the best thing to do is try it out now and see.

To put this in perspective, it is the same resolution as my 2+ year old Nook Color, but on a screen that is more than twice the size in each direction.
I think it would be acceptable in most cases, but that is an awful lot of money to spend on a solution that is only acceptable and weighs 1.5kg.
Personally I would much rather have a super-high resolution device that is smaller and much cheaper and just hold it a bit closer, than a larger screen with such low resolution.

[Mastiff]

Oh god... You and me have very, very, very different views on what comic books are. A warning: This next piece is not directed at you, it's more of a general observation, so don't take it personal.

In my not so very humble opinion almost anything made after around 1990 is total garbage. Period. X-Men was OK until maybe around 1995, before the drawings started to look like surrealistic japanese crap. DC fell into that trap before that. There is one small exception, though: The Superman/Doomsday saga is pretty good, but that's the strenght in the storyline, not the drawings. They are terrible.

I'm talking about scanned comics from my collection of Marvel, DC, Conan, Calvin & Hobbes, Asterix, Lukcy Luke, Mad Magazine and golden age Carl Barks Disney. I really don't think they were made with the iBull in mind, with a possible exception for the Carl Barks stuff. He was always ahead of his time...

I have tried with Asterix, and the full size page of an Asterix is about 1 cm less in size than the monitor on my daughter's pc, a 15.6" Acer laptop. My wife's 14" Dell Latitude E is about 2 cm too small. I am of course going to use this unit portrait mode, not landscape. I will agree that double page spreads is a small problem, but they were much less common when comic books were still good. As for the money I think I've said before that it doesn't really matter to me, at least not up to twice as much as this thing costs. I have a lot more money than time, to be honest...

I just did your experiment, almost. I have an old 15.6" Asus K50C, and I could get it to display 1024x768, which is a bit more than 600, but still... A page from Lucky Luke, when zoomed so it took up all the width, but not all of the height (the format isn't exactly like a computer screen) it looked great, except for of course the laptop's extreme glossy mirror surface. I must find out if the tablet is that offensive. Of course 16:10 would fit the use better than 16:9, but I can live with the top and bottom border.

[Mastiff]

If you don't understand what I mean by "japanese crap", here is a very typical example:



I'll never be a manga fan...

[Mastiff]

Crap. No battery. Bad wording on the webpage. The hunt continues.

[Mastiff]

All good things comes to those who wait, it seems:

http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/13/d...es-xps-18-aio/

In a month or so I'm all good.

[Mastiff]

And when it rains, it pours:

http://www.asus.com/AllinOne_PCs/ASU...mer_AiO_P1801/

In a month or so I'm either Delling with Windows or Asusing with Android. So now I only have to make the choice...