Are tablet laptop hybrid things any good?

[SaRo|Rapidash]

Soooo, my iPads on it's last legs and has started going screwy with the touch screen so I've decided it's time to replace it, prolly at Christmas. Don't want another iPad, I need something with windows OS more than I need iOS, as much as I prefer iOS, and it doesn't need to do much more than run Microsoft word and fairly un processor hungry games (sims 2/3, RCT3 etc). Looking at this atm, anyone know if it's good or not? Am I better off just getting a regular laptop or are these kinds of thing decent enough? I'd be using it mostly for college work and I'd have it round college a lot so I want something fairly portable?

[Shaymin]

so by laptop/tablet hybrids you mean touch screen laptops cause i know about them otherwise disregard the following

i have an acer aspire v5 - pretty dang good. i don't use the touchscreen very often though you can get games for it where you can use it (only one i have besides the ones it came with are sid meier's civ 5, which is very nicely touch screen enabled but gets tiring).

the laptop/tablet you've linked should run sims 2 with little difficulty and should be all right w/ sims 3 but just be aware of how hot it will get - cause it will

windows 8 is improving from when i first used it (which was the first release). it has its faults, as do all OSs, but it could be a lot worse. i wouldn't advise getting a windows 8 non touch screen - it's really made for tablets/touchscreens :y

[Lord Raven]

I have this and it's fine.  Powerful enough to run mathematica and it takes my notes just fine.

[SaRo|Rapidash]

so by laptop/tablet hybrids you mean touch screen laptops cause i know about them otherwise disregard the following

Kinda meant more touch screen ones that also flip round, kinda like transformer laptops? But yeah, touchscreen would work too if it got me a more powerful one I guess

i have an acer aspire v5 - pretty dang good. i don't use the touchscreen very often though you can get games for it where you can use it (only one i have besides the ones it came with are sid meier's civ 5, which is very nicely touch screen enabled but gets tiring).

Ill take a look at that, although my last laptop was acer aspire and that was garbage (One D255 iirc?)

the laptop/tablet you've linked should run sims 2 with little difficulty and should be all right w/ sims 3 but just be aware of how hot it will get - cause it will

Alright, that's awesome! I'd heard a lot of people say windows 8 was dead power hungry so was worried it might not do like anything past word xD

windows 8 is improving from when i first used it (which was the first release). it has its faults, as do all OSs, but it could be a lot worse. i wouldn't advise getting a windows 8 non touch screen - it's really made for tablets/touchscreens :y

Yeah, I've heard it's got quite a strange design flaw in that it's designed for tablets but uses 1-2GB RAM which is a lot of most tablets power

I have this and it's fine.  Powerful enough to run mathematica and it takes my notes just fine.

I did look at the Sony Vaio, and that'd probably be my first choice, but I'm kinda looking for something a bit cheaper I think? That ones $850 which is roughly £500-550. Just wondering - do you find the hybrid function actually useful or do you just sort of find it to be only used as a laptop?

[Lord Raven]

I find it pretty useful though it is a little on the hefty side but it's a good 2-in-1.  You need to buy a special digitizer stylus if you want to use the tablet properly though; but the stylus itself lets you write small (and I write small so it's perfect for me).  I also have a 14 inch with an i5, i think theres a 13 inch version that's slower.  It's pretty razor thin for a laptop though, but the tablet part isn't as thin as a tablet.

One warning though is that the wireless card is put in the most awkward spot possible, so it is hard to get a good wifi signal when you're decently far away.  I'm talking like next door or so far away; I had a hard time getting signal in my room in my apartment last year before I bought a dongle (and used the ethernet).

[SaRo|Rapidash]

I find it pretty useful though it is a little on the hefty side but it's a good 2-in-1.  You need to buy a special digitizer stylus if you want to use the tablet properly though; but the stylus itself lets you write small (and I write small so it's perfect for me).  I also have a 14 inch with an i5, i think theres a 13 inch version that's slower.  It's pretty razor thin for a laptop though, but the tablet part isn't as thin as a tablet.

Looking around, seems the digitizer stylus is available fairly cheaply so that's not much of a problem, would Probably want one anyways to avoid finger prints. The laptop being so thin is really important tbh, I have very little space in my bag for anything else so a laptop being as thin as possible would be helpful. I've always had my iPad in a case too, so I think it'd prolly make up for the additional layer on the 2in1?

One warning though is that the wireless card is put in the most awkward spot possible, so it is hard to get a good wifi signal when you're decently far away.  I'm talking like next door or so far away; I had a hard time getting signal in my room in my apartment last year before I bought a dongle (and used the ethernet).

Is that just a problem with the Vaio or 2in1s in general? Because I'll likely be getting something cheaper than the Vaio (just looked around on English sites for the price and it's like £600-1000 depending on model, I'd be looking at more £400 tops ($650ish)) so if it's a Vaio problem it hopefully won't matter.

[Lord Raven]

It's an issue with the Vaio.  2-in-1s are probably more logically designed.

I currently have perfect wifi anyway, but my router is also like 2 feet away.  When I go into my bedroom (I live in a single-bedroom apartment) my wifi drops, though part of that is probably the fact that my wifi is killed in my room for basically everything - but even in my apartment last year if I went to my room from my dorm/apartment's living room I'd get no signal.  It's because the wireless card is like right below the keyboard.

[Milsap]

The Microsoft stuff is supposed to be okay, that new one that's supposed to 'replace your laptop' looks good, mainly for the USB drive.