Help, need tablet.

[Life]

While desktop computer sales are dwindling, most image editing/graphic arts professionals are not giving up their desktop computers.
Just the opposite. Those pros continue to upgrade their desktop systems.

I am well aware of that, but as of right now I want a tablet. I want a desktop too, but with $$ the way it is, I cannot have everything.

FYI My touchscreen windows 8.1 dell laptop was only $350
6gb 250gb hd ... Great for processing Lightroom so far attached to my 3TB external USB drive

if you are going to be processing photos where are you going to have the files?
you will have to use something to get them initially uploaded
so hopefully you can connect the camera or SD card to it but you may run out of local storage quickly then will need cloud storage

of the tablets I've used the cheap ones are so slow and have cheap network/wifi antennas ... Basically you get what you pay for
For a little more you can get alot more like my laptop from Walmart

1: I would never buy something from walmart 2: I know tablets would run out of space, I put my sd card in it, edit the photos, put them on a stick, and transfer it to an computer or different computer, or have them printed right away. My point is, that initially I need a desktop for the major processing. But when i'm out in the field per say, I take a photo, I'd like to grab my tiny little tablet (much smaller than a laptop, and more convenient) plog my SD in it, look at / edit my photos, upload them, done. And then when I get home I can review them again make more adjustments. No a tablet is NOT to replace a computer or anything like that, it's just there to aid me. And besides I love touchy stuff, like iphones n stuff

 

[JClishe]

For what it's worth, I use a Surface Pro 3 for exactly what you've described as wanting to do. Yes it's out of the budget that you've quoted but it works fantastically. I have a career outside of photography and my SP3 has become my main "laptop" for my job; my field editing workstation with Lightroom, PhotoShop, and Nik; and my tablet for watching movies, playing games, etc. Basically it's the only mobile device I use and bring with me regardless of what I'm doing. I haven't even powered on my work laptop or my iPad a single time since getting the SP3.

 

[Life]

For what it's worth, I use a Surface Pro 3 for exactly what you've described as wanting to do. Yes it's out of the budget that you've quoted but it works fantastically. I have a career outside of photography and my SP3 has become my main "laptop" for my job; my field editing workstation with Lightroom, PhotoShop, and Nik; and my tablet for watching movies, playing games, etc. Basically it's the only mobile device I use and bring with me regardless of what I'm doing. I haven't even powered on my work laptop or my iPad a single time since getting the SP3.

Sounds perfect. But $1200.. wow.

FYI this was a helpful post, and wasn't bs. It was someone actually taking time to write a real post.

 

[JClishe]

Sounds perfect. But $1200.. wow.

Yeah. It's both a high powered ultrabook and tablet, with a Core i5 processor, in a form factor that's 1.5 pounds and about as thick as a gen 1 iPad. That kind of engineering feat isn't cheap.

 

[Life]

Sounds perfect. But $1200.. wow.

Yeah. It's both a high powered ultrabook and tablet, with a Core i5 processor, in a form factor that's 1.5 pounds and about as thick as a gen 1 iPad. That kind of engineering feat isn't cheap.

i5? Damn. I guess that can explain the price tag.. If I could hook up a monitor, keyboard, and mouse i'd probably buy it lol.

 

[Theo2]

Well when I'm out in the field I just use a galaxy tablet (~$300-$400) with Photoshop touch as I said. But it really is not the same as bringing my photos home to lightroom and a real PC.

(Haven't tried any Windows tablets so I cannot speak for them.)

 

[JClishe]

Sounds perfect. But $1200.. wow.

Yeah. It's both a high powered ultrabook and tablet, with a Core i5 processor, in a form factor that's 1.5 pounds and about as thick as a gen 1 iPad. That kind of engineering feat isn't cheap.

i5? Damn. I guess that can explain the price tag.. If I could hook up a monitor, keyboard, and mouse i'd probably buy it lol.

You can. It has a USB 3.0 port and a Display Port. At home I have it connected to a Pluggable docking station for mouse, keyboard, dual monitors, external USB storage, and Ethernet. The SP3 can actually be your desktop, laptop, and tablet all in one if that's what you want/need.

 

[pixmedic]

cleaned, reopened, an punishments meted out as warned.

 

[Warhorse]

Censored, on TPF?

I thought we were all adults here...oh wait.

 

[astroNikon]

The Surface Pros are pretty neat though for the price I could have 3 of my laptops ...
I had a iPad 2 (and samsung) and though it was nice and portable I couldn't have it replace my laptop.

For someone lean on funds (like me) sometimes the inconvenience of an open it up laptop saves greatly on everything else.

 

[Life]

The Surface Pros are pretty neat though for the price I could have 3 of my laptops ...
I had a iPad 2 (and samsung) and though it was nice and portable I couldn't have it replace my laptop.

For someone lean on funds (like me) sometimes the inconvenience of an open it up laptop saves greatly on everything else.

Hm. Yeah but a laptop could maybe replace a desktop, it's still not usefull for out in the field really. You really can't stop everything and stand in the middle of nowhere with a laptop lol. I don't know what i'll do yet. I'm fixing up on camera purchases, and lenses, and maybe i'll just wait a couple months and see where I get with everything. Thanks astro

 

[table1349]

11" Mac Book Air


Height: 0.11-0.68 inch (0.3-1.7 cm)
Width: 11.8 inches (30 cm)
Depth: 7.56 inches (19.2 cm)
Weight: 2.38 pounds (1.08 kg)3

Surface Pro 3


Dimensions
11.50 x 7.93 x 0.36 in (292.10 x 201.42 x 9.14 mm)
Weight
1.76 lbs (0.79 kg)

Not a lot of difference in size.

This works real dandy with my 17" MBP. Tripad: The Laptop Stand for your Tripod

Easily would hold a smaller laptop or tablet.

 

[astroNikon]

The Surface Pros are pretty neat though for the price I could have 3 of my laptops ...
I had a iPad 2 (and samsung) and though it was nice and portable I couldn't have it replace my laptop.

For someone lean on funds (like me) sometimes the inconvenience of an open it up laptop saves greatly on everything else.

Hm. Yeah but a laptop could maybe replace a desktop, it's still not usefull for out in the field really. You really can't stop everything and stand in the middle of nowhere with a laptop lol. I don't know what i'll do yet. I'm fixing up on camera purchases, and lenses, and maybe i'll just wait a couple months and see where I get with everything. Thanks astro

My laptop doesn't replace a desktop. I don't have a desktop. I may simply plug in a large tv monitor to it for more controlled editing. and the external drive as my main storage. In LightRoom I can move files from the laptop to the external so I don't store stuff I'm not working on on the laptop.

I use my laptop for all processing. And since it does have a battery in it I can use it in the middle of nowhere, plug it into my car if needed too. And I can process anything just the way I would in the office/home/etc as it's the same device I use for everything. Plus on my laptop I do have internet access as long as my phone has internet access (via a HotSpot).

The more you spend on a laptop, the thinner and lighter they can get. THere are laptops too that the screen rotates over the keyboard to emulate a tablet.
But is sounds like you really want an inexpensive tablet irregardless of other possible solutions.
Good Luck
and good luck on the d200

 

[lambertpix]

I just noticed this post -- looks like a fair amount of ground has already been covered.

I'm not sure if this makes any sense, but small + cheap + powerful in a computing platform is tough -- it's sort of like looking for that f/2.8 lens that zooms from 18mm - 300mm, but you'd like to find it for $500. I think we get spoiled a little bit because computing generally is still getting cheaper faster than photography equipment, but as others have pointed out, it's still really, really common to drop a couple grand on a good desktop solution for image editing. (my latest build, fwiw)

Now, if you're able to give up something somewhere, you can start opening up some interesting possibilities. I frequently connect to my desktop remotely to do light image processing (rating, keywords, cropping -- stuff where I don't absolutely need perfect resolution). I can do this from my couch or a hundred miles away using my laptop, and there's no reason a tablet wouldn't work great for this, too. All the heavy lifting is still done by my desktop in this case, so speed is pretty fair.

Trying to follow along the posts here, it looks like the main use case for you is just to grab the occasional photo off one of your cards out in the field, right? That's pretty important, IMO, because that sort of changes this from a "replace" scenario to a "supplement" scenario. The "upload" bit is sort of key, too -- it sounds like that's a pretty critical part of what you're trying to do, so connectivity is really important. Do you have something in mind in that respect (ie, are you happy with WiFi only or do you need to look at a 3G/4G-connected device)? I'm sort of picturing you posting a couple previews to FB or whatever with "look what I'm doing today", and then going home and doing your "real" editing later -- is that close?

 

[Life]

I just noticed this post -- looks like a fair amount of ground has already been covered.

I'm not sure if this makes any sense, but small + cheap + powerful in a computing platform is tough -- it's sort of like looking for that f/2.8 lens that zooms from 18mm - 300mm, but you'd like to find it for $500. I think we get spoiled a little bit because computing generally is still getting cheaper faster than photography equipment, but as others have pointed out, it's still really, really common to drop a couple grand on a good desktop solution for image editing. (my latest build, fwiw)

Now, if you're able to give up something somewhere, you can start opening up some interesting possibilities. I frequently connect to my desktop remotely to do light image processing (rating, keywords, cropping -- stuff where I don't absolutely need perfect resolution). I can do this from my couch or a hundred miles away using my laptop, and there's no reason a tablet wouldn't work great for this, too. All the heavy lifting is still done by my desktop in this case, so speed is pretty fair.

Trying to follow along the posts here, it looks like the main use case for you is just to grab the occasional photo off one of your cards out in the field, right? That's pretty important, IMO, because that sort of changes this from a "replace" scenario to a "supplement" scenario. The "upload" bit is sort of key, too -- it sounds like that's a pretty critical part of what you're trying to do, so connectivity is really important. Do you have something in mind in that respect (ie, are you happy with WiFi only or do you need to look at a 3G/4G-connected device)? I'm sort of picturing you posting a couple previews to FB or whatever with "look what I'm doing today", and then going home and doing your "real" editing later -- is that close?

" I'm sort of picturing you posting a couple previews to FB or whatever with "look what I'm doing today", and then going home and doing your "real" editing later -- is that close?" Yes pretty much. I don't use FB, but yes. The actual edit it's self will be done on Desktop when im home. I just want to be able to see what I did while i'm still at the scene. Largely because looking at the picture on the camera is far to often not what I see on computer, or on prints. I figure with a tablet with color calibrated, i'll be able to see what I took at the scene, and if I need to make adjustments. Because it happens all too often I take a picture, it looks wrong on teh camera so I adjust the exposure, I get home and bam picture ruined. I figure I could prevent that if I have something like a tablet where I can see it real fast. Without opening a laptop, booting up, keeping it charged, lugging another bag around, and blablabla.. So the answer to your question is pretty much Yes.