You can use a tablet as a laptop? Accessories and applications needed
Steve Jobs once theorized that the tablet would, at some point, achieved normal desktop computers and supplanted the notebook market.
At that moment it seemed the declaration of a madman, why give up on a real PC to use a small portable device with which it is impossible to work?
In his speech, Jobs had made a comparison between trucks and cars saying that before, when the country was predominantly agricultural, trucks were used more than cars, why and what is needed, then urbanization has changed everything, and the car has become more popular.
The PC is the truck, the tablet is the machine, smaller, slimmer, faster.
Although personally I do not believe this simile so apt, it must be admitted that the prediction of Steve Jobs has come true, at least partially.
The tablet will not completely replace desktop PCs, especially in the office, but it certainly can be good substitutes of laptops.
Desktop and laptop computers will not be rendered obsolete by the tablet, but they are certainly now less necessary and more replaceable.
The more time passes the more it becomes handy and portfolio use a tablet, such as the Apple iPad, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Android or Google, just like a real computer.
Below, how to make a tablet like the iPad or the Samsung Galaxy Tab powerful and can be used like a normal desktop PC.
1) Support to prop up the touchscreen tablet
If you wish to work for many hours on a tablet, it is necessary to put it in a position such that it can be used as a monitor resting on the table.
For an iPad, a Galaxy Tab or a Nexus 7 you can buy a case or cover with vertical support.
The tablet then you can rest on a flat surface can be angled in bari ways and can be closed by this flexible cover to cover the screen er put it in stand-by mode.
2) Keyboard
It 'obvious that to work on a screen, you must have a keyboard to make it really like a laptop, as well as a trackpad or mouse.
As for the mouse, a tablet just tap with your finger on the touchscreen to do all the operations, then the mouse is useless and it just feels the need.
The real physical keyboard and instead may be unnecessary if you use the tablet just to write, but it is essential if you want to work as you would with a laptop.
If until recently it was necessary to spend a lot of money for a keyboard to be attached to the iPad and Android tablet with built-in keyboard like the Asus Transformer they cost a lot, now you can attach a keyboard to the tablet without overspending.
On Amazon you can find enclosures with integrated keyboard for about 30 Euro for the Galaxy Tab or iPad.
Most of these keyboards are connected to the tablet via Bluetooth, wireless, trouble-free configuration.
Alternatively, only on Android you can use the normal keyboard with USB adapter that does not cost more than 5 euros.
A tablet like the Microsoft Surface RT already includes a keyboard / cover that you can detach and attach quickly.
3) Applications and Programs
Once we got comfortable you are, the next step is to install the programs.
Like smartphones, even on the tablet there are applications, different depending on the operating system: iOS iPad, Android on Samsung Galaxy Nexus and other models and Windows 8 on Surface (unless you buy a Microsoft Surface Pro that has Windows 8 Pro with desktop and programs).
The only thing to know is that the same application can have a version for phones and one optimized for the tablet; generally these take in the name of the suffix HD.
4) Office
To take quick notes, writing papers or writing a blog, there is always an app specific.
To work on the computer the most important program is Microsoft Office Word, Excel and Powerpoint.
Well there is Office 2013 on Microsoft Surface smooth.
In another article instead explains how to install Microsoft Office on iPad and Android tablets.
There are also suites of alternative programs such as free Kingsoft Office for Android and Google Drive to create documents in collaboration with others.
5) Browser
Most of the browsers that are used on normal computers are also available on the tablet: Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari (mobile) and Opera are available for both iOS and Android and Microsoft Surface is Internet Explorer 10.
If you are using Chrome on your computer, you can also synchronize the same browser on the tablet to have the same bookmarks and the same settings.
For Android tablet there are also other browsers such as Maxthon HD, UC Browser and others.
6) Social Networking and communication
One of the easiest things to do on a tablet is connected to social networks.
All major sites have official applications: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to name a few.
On the tablet is also great app such as Skype that it becomes easier to use than a desktop computer because camera and microphone are integrated into the screen.
7) Music and Video
You can listen to all kinds of music with a tablet using various applications.
8) Cloud
One big difference between ordinary computers or laptops and tablet is the internal storage of the data or, in other words, the disk space.
Tablets are always sold with limited memory and, in many cases (on the iPad), you can even expand it with USB memory sticks or SD cards.
For this reason, on a tablet becomes indispensable the use of cloud storage services that offer a free space to save the data.
These are Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, SkyDrive, SugarSync, Bitcasa and there are also many others of which there is an app to load and open files, documents, photos, videos, music and so on.
9) Connect the tablet to your computer
At the end with a tablet you can not do everything, so if you had really need some specific program, you can always connect to remote desktop to your computer and use it by touch screen.
Among the best applications to connect a computer to a tablet adu there are Splashtop eTeamviewer.
In this way we have transformed the tablet into a real computer without overspending and easily.
10/03/2013
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Translated via software
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Source:
Italian version of ReteArchitetti.it