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Old 09-15-2012, 05:11 AM   #16
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The Transformer Pad T300 is another good option then.
If an Android tablet is the need I too can easily recommend the Asus TF300t. Best Buy is a good place to go and handle a number of devices to see what is best for you.

For me the TF300 has most everything I need, not everything but not totally horrible.

Some oddness can be found in the Bluetooth implementation. I haven't been able to get it to pair with the mic in my LG HBS-700 stereo headset. Others report various issues with BT as well as external mic's. There can also be some weird behavior when reconnecting, especially when in multi-point mode where the headset is paired and active with my phone and tablet. I just don't have the energy to invest in really looking at this issue.

I have the mostly great keyboard dock as well. I can touch type on it no problem. Key travel is nice and the keys feel right. The trackpad has issues when trying to enter text with it active so there is a hotkey to quickly disable/enable the trackpad. It solves most issues.

Wifi reception and transmission seems strong and reliable. I use it with our muni wifi all the time. I was never able to get reliable connections with my old laptops or even my Kindle Fire. So to me the wifi is excellent.

Other probs seem to be centered around apps more than hardware. None of the Android browsers really are great so I've simply learned to live with running keeping about 5-7 installed at any given time with no set as default. I switch when one has problems.

The touch screen works well as I expected. The only time it gets laggy is after a long day of work or when running battery saver mode with it set to keep the CPU in low-power. Since the update to Android 4.1.1 I do notice a difference in the CPU performnce settings with "balanced" being OK 90% of the time. I really only use low-power mode when I know it is goning to be a long day.

I also like the textured pattern on the back of the tablet case itself. It feels better in my hand than a metal case. Obviously though as it is a plastic case it might feel a bit low end but this is far from a low end tablet. Adding the keyboard dock to any of the Asus Transformer line is a fantastic idea. Plus they are a reasonable way to add additional batteries to your device. By that I mean for ~$99-$150 you can add a keyboard and several hours of runtime. If you already have the dock adding additional docks gives you backup keyboards plus more runtime. I have two extra docks as I am often away from power for extended periods yet need to run my tablets.

Last is Asus has an oddly implemented power management scheme. It won't begin charging the tablet from the keyboard battery until the tablet drops to about 70% while in use. The idea seems to be to keep temps down thus extending the lifespan of the batteries. Problem is I deplete the keydock batteries several times per week so I expect I'll burn through more docks than tablet batteries if I keep using this after the Win8 Pro tablets flesh themselves out next year sometime.
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Old 09-15-2012, 05:21 AM   #17
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Oh, and if it helps, I was on a tigght budget myself when I bought this earlier this year and am very happy I opted for the keydock at the same time. I paid full retail at the time but it was the first month and I never do that. For the first time in ages I am not underwhelemed with such a purchase.

Good luck on your choices. And just to mess with you, were I to buy a tablet right now it would be the Galaxy Note 10.1 because it has that active digitizer. Such a digitizer is always going to be far better thanusing those marshmallow tipped styli we have to use on capactive screen based tablets. But we are talking a whole different price-point as well as not as nice a keyboard solution on the Note 10.1.

I missed what you want from our tablet. If it involves photo editing you might end up being let down across the board. But that is mostly apps with a bit on the hardware and it's poor contrast as well as color gamut added to zero ability to even minimally calibrate the gamma of the display. No RAW editors as of this microsecond in time so it is JPG or PNG of some flavor being your only options out of the camera. I don't know is anything even edits TIFF.

Otherwise apps are OK and just enough there to be useful within limits. Make sure the apps you want are there before buying anything. If it's for entertainment you can't go wrong with the new Kindle Fire's or the Galaxy Nexus but there are tradeoffs there too. Small displays are the most obvious.
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Old 09-17-2012, 05:18 AM   #18
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Sure the Asus Transformer TF300 is a great tablet. I was thinking seriously of getting it myself. However, the price was a big deterrent, and the weight too. In the end I decided on the Archos 8 inch because it was smaller, lighter and much cheaper. I was suggesting it also because teh603 was asking about an 8 inch tablet.
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Old 09-17-2012, 07:17 AM   #19
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Sure the Asus Transformer TF300 is a great tablet. I was thinking seriously of getting it myself. However, the price was a big deterrent, and the weight too. In the end I decided on the Archos 8 inch because it was smaller, lighter and much cheaper. I was suggesting it also because teh603 was asking about an 8 inch tablet.
Well, 8" or larger. 7" tends to make me squint because of the excessively high resolution.
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Old 09-17-2012, 11:01 AM   #20
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I have a Transformer TF101 which I got second hand several months ago so I paid about $200; I believe it would be cheaper today. I am very happy with it, but I did get a dock recently because I found myself typing a lot, and while the on-screen keyboard is good, a physical one is better. You can definitely pair it with a bluetooth keyboard, but where I live it would have cost me more to get one locally than buying the dock online, so I can't say anything about the connectivity.

I found it's a very stable tablet, with long battery life, but they could have provided it with a longer charger cord. It has a slot for a micro sd card up to 32 GB. WiFi is excellent; I use it at my uni and it picks up all our networks as well as some of the surrounding ones. It has Google Play access, as well as Google Music and Movies, and a Netflix app if you're also interested in using it for entertainment. I can't due to my location. There's a Polaris office app which can read and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents (.doc, not .docx). I presume a .txt app could be found on Google Play.

If you do get the Transformer with the dock, it might be good to know I was also able to connect a 250GB hard drive (WD) to it and could access files, play music and videos. I hear people were able to connect 500GB, or even 1TB hard drives.
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Old 09-25-2012, 07:25 PM   #21
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The Transformer Pad T300 is another good option then.
Ok, update time. Looks like I'm going to be going with a TF300, since I've gotten more good reviews on them than you can shake... well, something shakeable at. Its going to be almost a month because of work issues (notably lack thereof), but that's the decision.

Thanks everyone who contributed.
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Old 09-25-2012, 09:36 PM   #22
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Ok, update time. Looks like I'm going to be going with a TF300, since I've gotten more good reviews on them than you can shake... well, something shakeable at. Its going to be almost a month because of work issues (notably lack thereof), but that's the decision.

Thanks everyone who contributed.
Congratulations (in advance) for your new gadget. Enjoy it!

And the word you're looking for is "stick"!
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Old 09-25-2012, 10:39 PM   #23
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Congratulations (in advance) for your new gadget. Enjoy it!
I dunno, I wouldn't call it a gadget. One of the many tasks I plan on having it do is replace my now-missing iRiver Story as the previewer device for my ebooks. I can get both an Android reader and an ePub reader for twice the fun.

And then there's the whole NaNoWriMo thing...
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