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Should I get a handheld PC instead of a tablet?

justiceiro

Marlboro: Other M
Guys, I have been considering getting a tablet for quite some time now, mostly to have a device I can have on the go for typing my thesis and watch some videos on a bigger screen. A laptop wouldn't be as portable and I'm still trying to get rid of my old one, but having windows would make it much more useful.

Then I saw this surge of handheld gaming PC and started to wonder if there is none that would fit my needs. Bizarrely, gaming performance is the least I care about, since I would only play indies, old school emulators.

I do care about decent touch screen, having it's own stand/add on keyboard, being thin and having windows support.

What do you guys recommend?
 

Edgelord79

Gold Member
iPad. I have an iPad Pro 11 inch and it fits all my needs for travel and work. I got the pen as well so I can markup documents quickly. Worth every penny. Works with all Bluetooth keyboards and mice. Can be connected to an external monitor.
 
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acm2000

Member
if you dont care about gaming, hell no, high end samsung tablet or ipad or if money not an object get one of those foldable touchscreen laptop things like the surface.
 
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Vandole

Member
For your main goals of having a portable and lightweight device in order to type a thesis, a handheld PC would only be a slight improvement over a grapefruit.

Get the tablet or a surface pro.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Get an iPad w/ magic keyboard or a Lenovo Extreme or similar device with a raised tablet over the keyboard interface.

Handheld PCs are great for gaming, better than the tablet (better game selection and built in controls) but they pale in comparison at work (I'd very much argue tablets don't cut it either compared to a slim laptop) but tablets are a nice halfway point and they are great for consuming media compared to a phone/handheld device, both with are drastically worse. I'd say tablets are on par with slim laptops generally speaking, as they likely will have better speakers, especially the iPad Pro, unless you're comparing to a Mac Book Pro M2 or Lenovo laptop with a speaker bar built in.
 

IAmRei

Member
In my studio, my lead using ROG ally for work, of course with external mouse, keyboard, and monitor. This makes me to consider to use it as workstation. As it is cheaper and useful for some gaming needs when i outside. Even my wife consider it cheaper and enough for working. Maybe next year...
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
I have a Samsung S8 Plus tablet and it's surprisingly capable at emulation and all that stuff. I run Dolphin on it no problem. Sync up a gamepad and good to go, and you're not dealing with iPadOS restrictions that imo are still holding it back today.

The handheld PCs, you're getting a smaller screen, you dont get things like the keyboard case I'm typing this on now, and it's just not designed as a general purpose machine the way tablets are.
 
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Sleepwalker

Member
I have a S9 tab ultra that I use way more than my steam deck. The processor can emulate up to wii no problem, is compatible with any BT headphone, keyboard, controller.

Has functionality to act as a secondary touch screen for your main PC, includes the pencil and a SD card slot so you can realistically expand it to 2tb or more of storage. The screen is beautiful, I prefer it over the biggest ipad pro available.

Plus you can stream your PC to it + geforce now + xcloud + ps remote.
 
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ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Just go get a tablet and a physical keyboard if you’re using for typing a thesis. It has a bigger screen, and you will probably set it on a table for typing anyway.
 
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