I’ve been searching all over for a computer or tablet with long battery life, and a tablet mode or detachable keyboard. I’ve been wanting to take notes and watch videos in portrait mode split screen while I’m out and about.
Firstly, not even the $800 iPad Pro can do split screen in portrait mode. I don’t know why, but I’m not surprised it’s something that Apple has overlooked.
So that leaves you with the option to either get a Surface Pro computer with an i5 or i7 processor with a maximum of 4 hours of battery with these Surface computers, OR you get something like a Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 which has an ARM processor and 11 hours of battery, but the problem is that these Galaxy Tab devices are wildly overpriced and OneUI isn’t exactly my cup of tea.
Only Surface Pro 9 laptops with SQ3 exist, and these are also (shocking!) wildly overpriced. Of course, the 2023 Microsoft Surface Go 4 ARM model was scrapped in favor of an Intel processor, meaning battery life is out the door once again. Until battery life on these Surface computer is at minimum 6-7 hours I won’t even look in their direction.
What gives? Is there any other computer or tablet I’m missing that exists? I don’t want to spend much more than $800 or so on a device that I’d only use for specialized purposes; I’d buy refurbished but it’s still completely insane to spend any more than that.
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I had a galaxy tab and it was hot garbage. Constant and radom reboots when doing basic tasks and the most finicky WiFi I’ve ever come across.
I got a oneplus pad and I’m pretty sure it can portrait mode split. Much better device all around and cheaper. A big con would be no video out over USBC.
I just looked up the OnePlus Pad. It looks extremely promising, other than the fact that the stylus is $99, which would put the price ahead of even the Galaxy S8 refurbished with a stylus included. Since the OnePlus Pad isn’t nearly as popular, I can’t seem to find refurbished or even used ones anywhere either.
I actually use a Galaxy Tab S8 and haven’t experienced any of the issues the parent poster mentioned. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 CPU is pretty fast and in fact, it’s one of the reasons why I bought it, because I use my tab mainly for emulation / gaming. I emulate consoles like the Nintendo Gamecube, Dreamcast and even the Switch, and it handles all of it very well. I also use it for cloud gaming (xCloud) and have no issues with the WiFi cutting off or anything, nor any latency issues.
One thing I have to admit though is that I’m not a fan of the Samsung bloatware, so the first thing I did after getting my tab is running Universal Android Debloater and getting rid of all the junk like Bixby. Once I did that and switched to a custom launcher, the tab was a pleasant experience. One of the Samsung features I actually enjoy is multitasking, the fact that you can have multiple floating windows and a taskbar gives it a more like a desktop-like experience, and makes it far more useful (for multitaskers) compared to stock-ish Android devices like the OnePlus. Also, Samsung has the DeX mode, which allows you to hook up an external monitor/keyboard/mouse and turn it into a full desktop experience, if you ever need that.
I cannot stress to you how terrible the Samsung tablet was. Maybe I got a lemon, I dunno. I don’t use a stylus, so I got the keyboard with my oneplus pad. Maybe keep an eye out for sales, because when I got mine it came with the keyboard (or the stylus) for free
I’ve been tracking the Robo & Kala in my attempts to get a cheaper (almost half the price) pro 9 sq3. It’s been getting great reviews primarily for better battery life over the surface and having an OLED.
It’s essentially the same chip as the sq3 and from all the reviews I’ve read and watched it actually outperforms it in most scenarios. My guess is from the lower resolution and refresh rate?
Here’s one to check out: https://youtu.be/OVsZek_ZCP8?si=PLzf_HMaA4X35-5k
Also very promising, and it’s even on sale on Amazon for $679.99, but two things:
- This is a clone / white-labeled version of this computer (https://youtu.be/GWUrthi7RtU&t=40)
- The pen is sold out on Robo & Kala’s website, it’s nowhere to be found
Yeah, I’m hoping the pen will come back around, unfortunately it seems proprietary?
Interesting! I didn’t see anyone mention that. I’m ok with it being a clone with it being reviewed so well. Mostly for trying to lower the barrier of entry for windows on arm. I really want to get into it, but not for $1300 lol
I’m waiting to see if I can get it for around $550 or lower. That’s what I bought my pro 6 for. But supposedly we’re getting the next gen oryon CPUs in 2024, so I almost want to wait for that being that it’s supposed to be the Apple M1 competitor.
I did see people in the Amazon comments that got it for $599, so I’m gonna do a bit of waiting as well now.
I also did not know about the Oryon CPUs, that does make me want to wait until next year! Apparently they will be revealed at the end of October this year so I’m looking forward to that.
