A Month with the Note 8: Can Samsung's Phablet Replace a Laptop?

[Guest]

Pair a Galaxy Note 8 with Samsung's DeX dock, and you can leave your laptop behind. Or at least that's the theory we put to the test.

A Month with the Note 8: Can Samsung's Phablet Replace a Laptop? : Read more

 

[nana10phil]

Great review! I really like your website

 

[mrmike16]

It's a cool feature and all, but it simply can't replace a PC. It's missing something big, and I didn't see it mentioned. It runs Android, a mobile OS, not a desktop OS like Windows. It can't be used as a PC everywhere, only where you take the dock and Bluetooth speaker, and have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse available, unlike a laptop, Windows tablet, or a 2/3-in-1 which you can bring anywhere you want and it's, well, a full PC. The Note 8 only needs the power of a netbook to do things that Windows XP can do (Many desktop games, the vast amount of desktop programs, etc), and yet it can't. I don't think a phone could be compared to a PC in any way. They are two different types of devices used for different purposes in 2017.

I am more than happy having a desktop and a Surface, and I don't even need a smartphone which would be about $500 every 2 years or so if I want it to stay secure.

I get that Samsung is trying to do what Microsoft's Continuum does, but Android/iOS and Windows just don't mix. One is for phones, one is for computers. Windows on phones failed, and Android on PCs would fail as well, for that reason.

Just my opinion on the subject.

 

[bdsm_tommy]

This is the future! With LED projektor as tiny a the Note 8 you could project the image on too a wall. The phone could even project a keyboard.

 

[aliensrhereguy]

im guessing plugging in a external hdd should be able to be detected and used as well.
assuming you have access to symmetrical / fast upload inet, a follow up with some of the cloud services, say adobe creative cloud and how well they do/dont work would be nice.
very interesting read.

 

[nleeds01]

No it cannot at least not for anyone in any type of technical job role where you actually write and execute code

Try writing a program in R or Python on your note 8. Let me know how that works out.

Try placing any modern PC game on your note 8, no it hardly is as good as even a low end $1100 laptop

 

[leroyhardin]

The USB ports are actually 2.0.

 

[roarlions]

NLEEDS01,

No, it can't be used for coding and high level gaming. But the Note 8 + DEX is more than capable of running day to day businesses centric operations like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Email, Gmail, web browsing, etc.? Done, done and done. When you need to get up and go, just disconnect. Windows phone is dead. But Android is not. And the Note is way more capable than ANY Windows phone ever made.

So no, you can't code or play League of Legends. But you can take your Note with you with all its additional capabilities. And you still have access to all your info via the cloud.

Try THAT with your overpriced Alienware...

 

[harley.r.strain]

If a chromebook can replace your laptop, then there's a good chance a note 8 can too

 

[damirb]

Thank you for the review, Brian. Love using my Note 8 and Dex. Are there any concerns regarding battery life/performance if the Note 8 is left plugged into the Dex all day, everyday? I only use the Dex sparingly as I'm paranoid about degrading my Note 8 battery life.

 

[Charles Alden]

Actually, I run Python code all the time on my Note 8, as well as PHP, CShell and Perl. How, simple, Android is based on Linux, as such you can install a Chroot with more typical Linux commands and applications. Heck, I even have X11 that allows me to startup up GUI applications and tools. Some of you really have no idea what you can actually do with Android and DEX.

Basically you can do everything a normal desktop computer can do and a whole lore more.