New Tablet or Laptop Purchase. Can't decide.

[Kirin]

So I think I am going to drop a chunk of my tax return on a portable device, but it seems in this sector of the market there is a lot of moving parts so to speak in regards to tablets vs laptops vs ones that convert and then the whole Windows 8 shit-storm.

I would probably lean toward Android over Apple if going the tablet route. Price isn't a big deal, but I don't want to go blow 1200+ on it.

I would use it like any other tablet user, streaming/movies/web surfing/etc. I would be fine with wi-fi only.

I would like to be able to do NES/SNES emulation on it. Though a lot of these tablets I am seeing lack a USB port for a controller. Would you rely on touchscreen controls for that or is there a USB converter option?

In terms of the differences between a straight tablet and one of the conversion laptop/tablet models, how are those in terms of a product standpoint? Are there sacrifices anywhere to achieve the versatility, or are they going to be generally as strong as a priced tablet counterpart? Are they sturdy enough to feel like it isnt going to fall apart if you sneeze on it?

[djzombie]

i would probably go for a small(11-14") laptop. if you can get the touchscreen on it, great. most new laptops come with windows 8 installed, and its not a bad interface if you have a touchscreen, but if you don't have the touchscreen, its really not very quick or efficient to do certain things. and not really worth learning a new operating system for either, unless you have that touchscreen to make things easy.

you could get a surface tablet if you really wanted a tablet, surface 2 pro runs full windows 8 so you can run any software windows can run(and you ahve the specs for), surface 2 and surface r/t only run windows r/t, which is basically mobile windows 8 that only runs apps from the webstore.

i've heard of various hacks out there to change your r/t device into full windows 8, never had a surface though to try it.

my personal favorite for mobile os is android, just because its a more open environment, and carriers/manufacturers have little say about what i can and can't do with my device.

are there emulators on iOS? i would guess that sort of thing is not officially tolerated or available on the app store, but jailbroken devices can still sideload apps.

oh as far as a controller goes for tablets, there are very few with usb devices, and usually the ones that have usb devices only interface with usb memory sticks to read data, you'll want to look into a bluetooth controller, some have an apparatus built in to dock your phone to the controller so they become only one device to hold on to, but i haven't looked recently to see if they've got anything that extends wide enough to dock a tablet.

as far as android tablets go both the google nexus and the samsung tabs are all really well made, very quick and responsive as well.

[Serra]

I bought a Lenovo Yoga 2 over the holidays and so I'm a big proponent of the hybrids. It gives me the portability of a tablet when I need it, and the full functionality of a laptop for most things (back when iPads were the only real option and everyone was buying them, I could never understand spending $600 given you couldn't run so many things on them). I will say, Windows 8.1 does have it's flaws, but it's not as terrible as I was expecting.

[Ricolastaru]

Hi sorry to post here but kinda same topic, I have played ffxi on and off since rise of Zilart and started on a ps2. Years after I upgraded to the 360 and last year I played for the first time on my pc and I loved it. It was a e machine so it wasn't that great but the improvement to the graphics and resolution was great after playing on consoles my whole ffxi life. That computer has died I believe, the issue is it will cut off shortly after loading the desktop, I wiped my hard drive and loaded Linux to test and I still have the same cutting off issue so I'm unable to use the pc and that just sucks

So now I'm looking for a new pc to hold me over till I buy a new pc and I think I found one for a great price, but I'm not to knowledgeable about parts and how well they perform.

Will this pc be able to run FFXI at high settings even during a high traffic area or at least good seeing with high fps. Please help and thank you for your time

[Ricolastaru]

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