Tablets

[Zirak]

Not really gaming hardware but I may be in the market to buy a tablet soon and I know that several Purge members own various brands so - what do folks feel are the best tablets on the market these days? And, sorry Grieve, but I'm excluding the iPad from my list of potentials.

[Jakensama]

Do you want a full size or a 7 inch one? The Nexus 7 has been a great little travel-along to read and mess around with the playstation/snes emulators available for free on android.

[Zirak]

Full size tablet.

[Jakensama]

Nexus 10 is good, but doesn't have an expansion slot. Up to you if this is a deal breaker or not depending on how you are going to use it.

I hear the Note 10.1 is pretty much the best, but its also the most expensive starting at $550 Comes with a stylus if you care to make handwritten notes or anything.

The newest Asus transformer is pretty good too and if you get the keyboard option it becomes a decent laptop replacement, plus the additional battery in the keyboard gives it a 17 hour battery. My brother got one and loves it.

No idea if any of the Microsoft products are decent.

[strife]

Unfortunately I'd say stay away from Surface, the app store is so limited, but otherwise it's good(if you're competent enough to understand Windows 8).

Samsung is releasing new Galaxy Note/Tab whatever that you can preorder on Newegg(not sure if this is the same one that Jake was referring to)... the 10.1 is like $500 but you can get it in 12.1" if you want something bigger(or 8.4). I'd probably go with that if I were in the market and had $500 or so to spend. That one doesn't come out until 2/13

[Skelas]

I just bought a Samsung Galaxy tab 3 10.1 for $349 on Amazon, it's not the latest but it's not really meant for the latest FPS or anything. It's nice, does everything i've seen an Ipad do.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D029...UTF8&psc=1

[Maren]

I'd probably stay away from the Surface RX. I really like my Surface Pro though - even though it fits more in the ultrabook niche than tablet - but I am able to play games (and host multiplayer) like Europa Universalis 4, Crusader Kings 2, Hearts of Iron 3, etc. on it (actually Civ 5 has a touch screen mode that works awesome with it).

[Rallick]

I got a Samsung Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) for Christmas. Love it! Great tablet. I've reduced my computer time a lot by having it.

They are coming out with a 12.2 version shortly as well if you want something even larger (as noted by Strife and others )

[Zirak]

I've seen some reviews on the new Galaxy 10.1 that complain of some performance issues. Have you had any problems at all with yours Rallick? This is the on that I am currently leaning towards.

[Rallick]

I personally haven't had any issues. If you want a good place to read up on some of the tablet you should check out this board - <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-10-2014">http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-10-2014</a><!-- m -->

[grizzle]

I'd probably stay away from the Surface RX. I really like my Surface Pro though - even though it fits more in the ultrabook niche than tablet - but I am able to play games (and host multiplayer) like Europa Universalis 4, Crusader Kings 2, Hearts of Iron 3, etc. on it (actually Civ 5 has a touch screen mode that works awesome with it).

Yeah, the Surface Pro 2 is probably the best tablet out there in terms of performance and what/how it can run. Windows apps, of course, are very lacking. So, you need to decide whether you primarily want to use your tablet for running apps, or for running high performance programs like games, Photoshop, etc.

Agreed on staying away from the RT and RT 2.

[Zirak]

Thanks for the info folks. I picked up a 32GB Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition on Saturday. I haven't done a whole lot with it yet but it has handled the few tasks I have required of it so far quite well.