Laptop or Tablet

[88hawkfan]

Is anyone using a tablet for their connectivity troubleshooting yet or is it still strictly netbook or laptop? I ask because I need to get my techs either new netbooks or maybe a tablet. They don't do much connectivity troubleshooting, but for reading manuals and such I think a tablet maybe the way to go. As usual, we try to get the most bang for our buck so I thought I would ask here first.

[ntbann]

Re: Laptop or Tablet

Ive been doing research on this also. One thing I found is most tablets don't have an RJ45 port. So a usb to Ethernet adaptor would also have to be purchased. Has any one experimented with this set up yet?

[Hansoon]

Re: Laptop or Tablet

For real solid network diagnosing and testing I must have a RJ45 as well as Windows with a multiboot environment for XP, W7-32, W7-64 both Home and Professional and soon W10. (W8 left out on purpose....) I'm old fashioned I know and when one day I'll become a social network junkie too, perhaps I'll would be happy with a tablet.

Hans

[ruben]

Re: Laptop or Tablet

I use an Acer W500 tablet with the optional keyboard, it includes an ethernet port. Can be started quickly, has built in WiFi and SD card expansion. It came with Windows 7 Home but I installed Professional instead, from my many free copies I got through the Academic Alliance (rip).

[88hawkfan]

Re: Laptop or Tablet

Not to sound demeaning, but a laptop or netbook has the same capabilities for social media so I'm not sure what your point is. I should've mentioned we are looking at the tablets that are running Windows 8 or 8.1, so we really only miss the keyboard and the RJ-45 port.

[Hansoon]

Re: Laptop or Tablet

but a laptop or netbook has the same capabilities for social media so I'm not sure what your point is

Ofcourse, even I know that but I wanted to point out that for me the only purpose to have a mobile computer with me all day is work only. Visiting social networks is not part of my work. When I see the tablets and smart phones all around me they are loaded with (IMHO) social network crap but a good PDF reader and an app allowing to print a simple PDF easily is not part of it.

Hans

[faxman28]

Re: Laptop or Tablet

I use macbook air 11" with thunderbolt Ethernet adapter and osx 10.10.1 and Dell venue pro 11 win 8.1, usb Ethernet, no issues so far for network connectivity issues and Sharp mfp.

[emujo]

Re: Laptop or Tablet

I have both and use both frequently, if the customer has wireless and the MFPs are accessible, I can use my android. If not my laptop is in the same bag. But until a RJ45 port is standard on the mini devices a laptop is a must. Emujo

[habik]

Laptop or Tablet

Laptop all the way. I think we already had similar thread. Got Mac for 90% of work: whether network diagnostics or manuals or firmware loading. Applications/ programs loaded to point to customer if they need help with MS Office or Adobe resolving print issues or designing banners ... Lately a lot of them Haven't worked with anything faster so far. W7 old laptop for firmware especially using konica toolkit.

Tablet would be a bit fragile and slow for my taste. The only positive, its light weight.


Sent from my iDon't believe in marketing device using Tapatalk

[JPiek]

Re: Laptop or Tablet

Toshiba Netbook with keyboard-dock (extra USB port, RJ45, HDMI, VGA) with Windows 8...
Works like a charm...

Ohh, with Classic shell installed and IP-Switcher for swap "Fixed IP Canon" or DHCP

[qbert69]

Re: Laptop or Tablet

Recommend Laptop

Recommended Minimum!:

Windows 7 PROFESSIONAL, 64 bit.

WHY?

It has something called "Print Management" so you can easily go in and manage printers, IP Addresses, ports, & drivers for all aspects of networking.

The Geek's Way of Managing Printers - The Print Management Console

Don't forget the various "compatibility modes" to run older windows software in!

[TheOwl]

Re: Laptop or Tablet

Windows Surface Pro all the way!!!

I use mine all the time and the good thing about Windows 8 is the Hyper-V is an installable feature allowing you to have virtual machines such as a server for diagnosing DHCP issues, scan to email and all that stuff.

I know there won't be too many people running Server 2012 with Exchange 2013 as a virtual test machine on their laptops / tablets, but I can assure you that it works very well.

You can get the RJ45 adapter for the Surface Pro's along with other accessories, but the main reason I like mine so much is that it is light and extremely portable.