Hybrid Laptop/Tablets

The home laptop broke the other day. (The lid with the screen delaminated. I had never seen this happen before. So, cool.) I decided to replace it with a MS Surface Pro 7. I also picked up and iPad Air primarily for media consumption. I picked up a pen/pencil for both.

Observations for both products:

I LOVE THIS FORM FACTOR! I really like being able to write notes by hand, link in PDFs, link in videos, etc. all in one document. I’m using OneNote on both but also Notability on the iPad. I also like the art apps I picked for the iPad. So, I’m getting productivity and creativity out of the hybrids.

The future is now.

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I’ve got an ipad, mostly use it for netflix. I don’t find it particularly useful for business.

My spouse bought a dell 2-in-1 chromebook a month or so ago. I love it. I think it might actually be better than my thinkpad for work. Super light, good battery life, it’s got a keyboard for the keyboard thing, or you can fold it around and use it as a straight up tablet.

and I don’t really need an OS other than chrome. I put all my business stuff up on a cloud server in 2018 very specifically to seperate function from the data; so now I can treat my computers as a dead terminal where all my data is on a server.

I keep thinking about dumping my thinkpad and getting one of those. It currently seems that I’m just too cheap to spend the $250. Geez.

I almost picked up a Surface Pro for my work computer. Chose against it, mostly on the recommendation of a couple colleagues who have it already. They have had trouble with the processing power being able to run video and audio for a webex at the same time. Also, I need more USB ports than it offered.

Wound up getting a Dell 3390 (2-in-1, has tablet mode)… Really liking it so far. Trying to decide if I need to get the Dell pen for handwritten notes in OneNote, PDF markup, etc… I’ve read mixed reviews on the pen so far.

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Dude who sits behind me in class has I think a surface pro and uses it to take notes. Stylus on glass. Click. Click.CLICKCLICKCLICK. Distracting.

Gaaaaaaah! Lol, first world problems.

Yeah, one critique I’ve seen on youtube is the lack of IO on the surface pro. the most common solution I’ve seen is using a dongle. But, I understand if folks ain’t about that dongle life. It’s not so much an issue for me since I’ve just using it as the living room computer.

As far as using Procreate for drawing and painting on the iPad, I’m amazed everyday about the new tricks I’m learning.

if you have any tips/tricks for OneNote using the pen, hit me up. that’s probably where I would see enough value to get one (if it exists).