Tablet / ChromeBook / laptop for tech hobby?

The Raspad is interesting! I don't recall having seen it before but it does seem to fit the bill of it handling all the tech things. Sad thing is the price of it is up there alongside some very nice Android tablets that I expect will be faster with sharper screens. I'll keep it on my radar though.

Thanks Doug! I see your point about the name-brand stuff feeling painfully expensive for the use, and I've been looking at some off brands too. Interestingly, the Amazon Fire tablets are very competitively priced for what appears to be premium hardware. True about the constant upgrades and replacements with tablets though... although Naomi's iPad Pro is about 5 years old now and still going strong.

I like how the higher end ones can be straight up power houses and handle mainstream software like any standard computer, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to spend big bucks on something that (for now) seems like it will be just secondary use for me.

I'd forgotten about the Microsoft hardware... interesting option, and a lot of tech software is still Windows based. Price point seems ok actually, appears to be like half of the big brands. I haven't really seen much second hand here sadly, living in a relatively low-tech area. I'm a little hesitant to go Linux still, it just seems to require too much extra effort still.

Thanks for sharing, impressive that you're mainly Linux!
I'm with you when it comes to productivity away from my main desk, so I'm not sure if my quest will lead to any success... here's hoping LOL.

I kinda use my iPhone for that "quick look up" stuff, but I find it too small to spend extended time on it.

I have my aging 2009 MacBook that is still fast enough for general tech things, and I'd probably stick with it except that it's starting to get a little flakey - it shuts down every few hours. So I guess it's the MacBook I'm really trying to replace when I think about it, but in a much lighter more portable form factor. In all honesty, I really haven't used it much at all, which is why I don't want to spend too much on something new only to have it end up in a drawer like your spouse's Samsung tablet!

On that note, my wife says she's ready for an iPad upgrade now and I can have her hand-me-down - this just got really expensive

Thanks Mike!

interesting second vote for the Surface... I should really have a closer look.

Price is of course important, but it doesn't make sense to buy something inexpensive if it means I never use it.

Interesting you mention the Fire Tablet though - at about $200 Canadian that 10" one seems like a steal of a deal compared to the competition, as well as compared to the random-branded stuff. My FireTV, as well as the 2 Echos I have seem very well built and fast, and surprisingly affordable.

Also interesting you say to skip the smaller screens - my hunch was exactly that. The pricing and portability made me think maybe a mid-sized would be ok... but then that's not much bigger than my phone... or an upgraded version of my phone.

Also good to hear your -1 vote re the unused Chromebook... I'm still wondering where the market is for those.

I did also at one point have a super cheap tiny tablet that I only used for teaching Android dev, and then never used again. I had a 10" tablet at one point that I did use for a while, but also not much - but I was still working full time back then.

LOL yes SuperArtGirl Naomi already told me earlier today that she'd be ready to update NOW! and I can have her hand-me-down iPad Pro. Those are nice though - 13" screen is the same size as my old laptop! And even at 5 years old it's still super fast feeling. She does use it for sketching with Pro-Create (+ Apple pencil) all the time, which is why we bought it. It replaced one of those separate track-pad type of sketch tablets ("Bamboo" ? I think?), and also a very expensive pen-input monitor she had.

She's part of the reason why I'm considering a tablet - she rarely uses her iMac these days, using the iPad most of the time, and the iPhone only while on the go. And she has an Apple Watch to see notifications and handle voice-input text messaging.

And as you noticed - that doesn't stop the purchasing of allll of those regular art supplies! 

Thanks for all the advice, everyone!

Interesting how most of us now have more than one device. I still remember when I had to pack actual paper to class back in university 

I'll look around a bit more. I'm leaning towards either iPad (for it's ability to integrate with my other stuff), or the Amazon Fire 10" tablet because of its price point for the level of hardware (about $200 Canadian) and because I have a hunch that Android will let me to do more tech things than the restricted Apple system allows.

edit: Also thinking I'd get a keyboard case with the tablet, as that seems to make a huge difference for actual usability when programming things like Arduinos.

Hi Nico,

I found the Chromebook competent for general office work, but nothing compelling compared to normal laptops, and tablets and phones. If I'm writing (say) a Word doc, then it's fine to do it with a Chromebook, but then I may as well bring out the larger high-res laptop and have the space to browse, pull up documents in parallel, edit diagrams etc all much nicer on the full Windows machine. Also the Chromebooks are built down to a price-point, and it wasn't much lighter either, in fact it felt approximately as heavy as the larger full PC. Guessing it's aluminium versus magnesium.

Pick a tablet that has a good stylus feature capable of allowing you your work without delay. Most importantly look for RAM and Internet options on your new Tablet. If you can determine how much power, data, and time you consume on your regular system doing the same work operating the same software then you can choose alternatively the same type of tablet you want as well. If you also have budgetary restrictions then it would also be helpful for me to determine which Tablet is extremely compatible with you. 
Layout the details of you Softwares and RaM usage history and daily power consumption chart I will list after researching on your behalf.
Keep Well Stay Safe.

Thanks for that and the offer to research it

The problem is I'm not 100% sure. I have my main computer that does all the things requiring extra coding / power / storage / display size. And my phone is useful for quick look things too, but nearly impossible to use for any coding type things.

I think I would be using a new device mainly for the same things as my iPhone, but with an easier to see bigger display, and I would like to add the ability to update Arduino firmware right from the tablet - this allows me to be in a more social setting while working on those things, while my wife works on her art in the studio, for example.

Budget is definitely a concern. The new iPad Pros look nice, but at $1500 (CAD) I'm not sure it's worth it for me right now. The big brand names like Samsung are expensive too. That's why I think the Amazon Fire might be a good option - brand name, good specs, but still affordable. No sense spending money on extra features, power, and storage that I might never use much.

I like your idea of looking for stylus support - seems very handy, plus that would make it feel another step less like work!