Tablets V Real Computers.

Tablets Vs. Real Computers.

Has anyone tried running Freeship or its variants on any tablet based computer?

I'm primarily curious regarding the Microsoft Surface(s). There is also the Dell Venue and a smattering of other windows based tablets.

Considering that Freeship has been around for over a decade, I'm thinking that some of the chipsets in these tablets might be up to the task. I'm not looking to run full blown 3D modeling software.

Reading revues of these products runs the gamut of "love it" to "don't waste your money." Most reviews are positive, but it's the really negative ones that scare me. Getting hot seems to be a common theme. The basic problem may be the there is not enough real estate, even in the larger ones, to keep a processor running cool.

I'm due for a new computer. I've always bought the largest display that I could justify in the laptops that I've purchased and that has been cumbersome at times. I'm thinking of trying to work with a smaller display, but maybe a 11.8 inches is taking it to the extreme, especially at the price tag of the Surface with any amount of memory.

The other direction I've though about going was the 2 in 1's, but again the reviews make me nervous. They a basically tablets with detachable keyboards and that limits the size of the cooling real estate again. Some don't have the detachable option and I find that a more stable option as laptop hinges have been around a while and are more dependable. It also increases the "electronics footprint" as the componetry can be divided between the display and the keyboard.

One last question. Does a touch screen have any effect on software that's not designed for a touch screen?

 

Among all things that you said, I'd like to give my opinion only in relation to one aspect. It is not the size of the screen but the resolution of it. Try to work with a table of values (say a spreadsheet) with 30 rows and 20 columns. If the resolution is small, however great the screen, the work will be very painful. Not to mention, for example, smoothing of a boat forms with a low resolution screen.

 

A lot of the problems with over heating are caused by people using laptops/tablets etc in bed! nowhere for nice cool air to circulate with the device sitting on a quilt....

I'm afraid I'm a bit old school on computers - my graphics card is probably bigger than a lot of tablets... however a plug in and sync one is not a bad option. Certainly for 2D drawings etc a small device can be useful in the field, but 3D really needs a decent quality 19"+ screen. Currently I have a 23" one which is pretty reasonable. Most serious CAD packages use Open GL for generating the screen image rather than Direct X so you need to ensure that any small devices graphics properly support that. FWIW certainly in the past the Nvidia graphics cards had better Open GL support than the Radeons, though I don't know bout their onboard chipsets on these mobile devices.

I can see how a device capable of taking pictures and notes can be useful, but think that it would be easier to sync that to the main work machine, rather than try and use it as the only option.

 

Thanks for the replies guys.

Sounds like I'm trying to explore uncharted territory. I don't have familiarity with the performance of windows based tablets. I have seen what the iPads are capable of when it comes to 3D games. I'm thinking that the windows based products should offer similar performance. Otherwise, why compete? I would think that kind of 3D gaming capability could be used for modeling software also.

The non-response of anyone attempting what I am suggesting speaks volumes and makes the decision to go conservative (laptop) easier and cheaper. Or, fix my old laptop and say explicatives.

 

Another thing to consider is that 3D games are not a good indicator of system capabilities. A CAD program has to do a lot more calculations per frame and they have to be correct. Games just need to look good and not be unresponsive. After pushing off textures and vertices to the GPU there's just a bit of logic, input handling and collision detection in a 3D game.