Laptop/notebook. netbook, chromebook or tablet

[elvisruns]

I asked this question in a different forum but thought I would ask here as well.

I am changing careers and will be going from a desk job to a sales job and need to start thinking about how best to accomplish things away from home. I'm a desktop user at heart. I see the benefit of having something very portable to use like a tablet, but have seen some of the struggles my wife has gone through trying to do business on her iPad. Granted, I am more savvy with hardware (and software) than she is.
It seems that a lot of documents that I'll soon be working with will be cloud-based (digital transmission and signatures, etc), but I still love the thought of and ability to dump something out of a PDF to Open Office, dump an image out and modify in Gimp - basically what I think a lot of us would normally do on a computer. I just haven't been convinced yet that the tablets are able to easily do everything I want.
I like the thought of constant connectivity to a network or wi-fi (tablet) but it seems like its a bit harder to come by if I favor a notebook/netbook.

Some guys in the other forum suggested touchscreen notebook, Surface Pro, or a Windows-based convertable tablet. I haven't begun my research in earnest. The touchscreen for me isn't a deal breaker - personally, I could care less if I have one. Does it look slick? Perhaps. But I can still do everything faster and more accurately with a mouse.

Any thoughts on this, and recommendations as to products I may want to research would be great as I'm trying not to have any preconcieved notions (even though I do!).

 

[getochkn]

You could have asked in your original thread instead of making 2 new ones.

Mostly, it comes down to what apps or programs you will be using. Do you need full blown MS Office running for your work, or Photoshop or something? If so, then it's a no brainer as those app's don't exist for ipad/android/chromebook or anything else other than Windows.

If you can get by with openoffice and gimp, those are still windows/office programs and not really on android/chromebook/ipad.

Figure out what apps you need, what platform they exist on, and that will narrow your choice a lot right there.

 

[thdarkshadow]

If you want something light and portable like a tablet, get the w700 by acer. Basically ultrabook specs in a tablet. If you will be standing up and using it no doubt get a tablet. But if you have an area to set the device down during use go for an ultra book. Pretty much there is not a bad brand if you buy an ultrabook as long as its intel certified.
If you live near a best buy I would go in there and look around just to make sure you dont buy the wrong form factor

 

[elvisruns]

Thanks, I thought I did ask in my other post, but didn't get much more follow up.
I'm thinking something along the lines of the ultrabook or windows-based convertable would be the way to go. Not so much presentation in front of clients - although that could be done - but mostly putting contracts together and being able to do research and data gathering online. Some editing of marketing materials will need to be done as well (which is really why I think I favor programs vs apps).

I'm definitely not going to pull the trigger on something too quickly, as I'm just beginning to see what and how I might be using the hardware. The convertable tablet is actually a pretty neat way of bridging gaps. Any further thoughts on things I may or may not want to consider when I look at those? Anything coming out before the end of the year that I may want to wait for, etc?

 

[getochkn]

I like the idea of a Windows based convertible, tablet when you need light weight stuff and to carry around and work in a tablet like mode and a keyboard option when you need to type lots, want a track pad or mouse, need USB external drives, etc.