Possible tablet or netbook for PDF, Word, RDP... 2

[DrB0b]

Gentlemen and possible ladies,
In the future I will be looking at buying some tablets to have all around our plant for people to view drawings, diagrams, and tool lists. Something either with a big enough screen to see or the ability to zoom to check out pics inside a PDF or Word doc.

That being said, it needs to be able to ope PDF, Word, and Excel docs. Not sure if there is a free reader out there that can do that. Or hell even a paid one. Would prefer if it was Domain accessible, but I know that is highly unlikely. Has to be wireless, which should be a given. Would like some sort of additional case or padding to put on it because it is in a rough environment.

The reason I ask, is because I havent been able to really find anything that would suit my needs and dont have a lot of experience in the tablet market. Hoping someone has used these for more that surfing the web and playing random FB games.T

If this isnt possible, interested in anyone hwo has experience with netbooks, interacting them with a Domain, and if they can RPD.

Thanks all!

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[FredWagner]

Have you looked at some of the ruggedized laptops with WiFi? a Bing query on Ruggedized Laptop Reviews brings up items on Dell, HP and Panasonic units...
another approach would be to go with a low end tablet, and just replace them when they break - you could buy a dozen or more for the price of a ruggedized laptop. The military is starting to take this approach....

Fred Wagner

 

[DrB0b]

We have a couple toughbooks but Im more concerned about the capabilites of the tablets/netbooks. Since they are so cheap, if they do meet their demise, replacement is an easy solution.

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[vacunita]

Netbooks will for the most part work as laptops.

For Tablets perhaps a more rugged solution such as the Lenovo Convertible Tablets may be what you need. Though being convertible they are more expensive than regular tablets.

http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/thinkpad/xtablet-series/x220-tablet/

Other than that the alternative Android Tablets doing the round can work. I'm sure there's an APP in the Android Market that can let you RDP into the tablets. I'm also sure there's apps that will let you open Word and PDFs directly on the tablets.

If you have them hosted in a server the tablets can access via web even through the local intranet, the viewing should be quite simple.

You'll want to stay away from iPads as the RDP is a no go. Though PDF and Word viewing should be no problem.




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Phil AKA Vacunita
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
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[DrB0b]

Thanks all,
Trying to stay low cost on this, as we already have 6 thin clients set up w/ touch screen LCDs but we are trying to go lower cost and greater portability.

A netbook with a Linux OS that can do something akin to RDP so it can log into the TS to run a specific application would work. Or Windows one that is Domain joinable would be nice.

We have an internal wifi network for whatever to access. Starting out it will just be accessing a shared folder off our File Server, then will be logging into our TS to run said app. When accessing the FS, it will need to be able to handle Office files and PDFs. Ill have to look a little deeper in the Android Tablets to see what we can do.

Definitely not going with iPads do to the cost issue, especially the theft aspect.

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[rclarke250]

The problem with netbooks that run windows 7 only come with starter, so no domain till the OS is updated, other than that, the capabilities of the atom, or neo cpu's are close to the mobile pentiums from about 4 years ago. Also they will be limited to 2 GB of ram, a limitation of the chipset used.

And in Android, my tablet, can view pdf with the Adobe reader application, the same as on windows. As for windows office docs, there is docs2go. It works ok, but is a pay service. Tablets at the moment top out with 1GB of ram, as for the cpu, they are akin to the atoms, but slower clocks. Android itself is an OS written with a custom java, over a Linux kernel. So there are a ton of apps, that utilize the capabilities of linux in the work environment.

Mine navigates my nas files with ease, and I also have it so I can use VPN and control my windows 7 desktop from the Android tablet, when I'm out of state. The biggest limitation is the 1024 x 600 display resolution which is the same as the wife's netbook. I also have a Gateway convertible that converts from laptop to tablet, and has a wacom digitizer built it, of the 3 for looking at drawings or pics, the power and extra memory, and larger screen of the convertible is the only way to go.

 

[xwb]

There are lots of cheap laptops with 15.6" screens 1366x768 resolution. Sometimes cheaper than netbooks with 10.1" screens and 1024x600 resolution. If you're viewing diagrams, I'd go for the bigger screen.

When you say rough environment, do you mean heavy bits of machinery moving round or lots of heavy handed operators or outdoors in tents and subzero temperatures? If it is outdoors the thing you have to worry about is thunderflies. They get into the LCD/TFT screen and die there so you get left with a permanent insect on your display that you cannot remove.

Remember not to block the cooling vents when you put in the padding.

MS do free Word and Excel Viewers and Adobe does a free PDF reader. The restriction with Excel is that they must be xl* files: not CSV. The single most annoying thing about Excel Viewers is that they will not do CSV.

If you can bulk buy without an OS, most Linux office utilities are free.

Some people feel the need to pick up tablets so there is a good chance that they will be dropped. Somehow they cannot operate tablets lying flat on a table. After a while, oily fingerprints will mess up the screen and you start losing the fine detail. Also, if your network is slow responding, do your people hit the screen harder (like some idiots do on keyboards and mice). You might be safer with a cheap laptop in that case.

 

[normntwrk]

I know my ASUS Transformer will do everything you are asking for as I would suspect any Tablet that runs Android. It is super easy to use carrying around , it just takes a short learning curve . I can view Autocad drawings with super clarity using a free Autocad App but the drawing needs to be uploaded to Autocad's website for that Application

The Transformer is nice in that you can also buy a keyboard that it snaps into (which extends the battery life by several hrs) for any work that is difficult to do by touching the screen

Norm

 

[DrB0b]

Thanks for all the answers, I ended up ordering a Lenovo Ideapad A1:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246233

I got it for a steal at $150 brand new, w/ the Android OS and App Market. After playing around on my first gen Motorola Driod(forgot about it) I found apps to take care of all I will need. As it turns out now, will just need to open excel and PDF which a couple apps will take care of, as well as tunneling into the network share.

Thanks all, after I get the tablet and remember the apps names, Ill update this posting.

Thanks all.

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[DrB0b]

I doubt anyone can answer this question outside of, " Return it", butI bought the tablet above.

Was brand new fresh from the box, connected to our wifi at work, has an IP and even states it has an uptime of 10 min, can be pinged from another PC on the network but it will not browse or connect to the App store. Any ideas? Tried resetting to factory defaults and connecting again but no luck.

The thing that sucks about this is it was bought off of eBay auction for about $150 and apparently the guy who sold it bought it from walmart new for $213 then shipped it to me so I guess he lost about $60 on the deal. :/ Being it bought that way, If I return it to the guy I bought it from, he will just refund my money to cut his loss and not get me another tablet and I dont think I can return this online to Walmart but have to bring it to a store for credit and none of the local stores have this tablet in stock.

So what would you do? Return the tablet for the cash and net $60 on the deal and buy a different tablet? Or return it to the original "seller" and see if he will send another one?

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[normntwrk]

Sounds like it either isn't getting a DNS server or the gateway. Have you tried it at home , perhaps at work they have some policy configured ??

You could tell if it's DNS by browsing to an IP address

http://74.125.226.233

should get you to google

Norm

 

[JimInKS]

DNS and Gateway correct?

Try on a different wireless network ie at home.

Don't know anything about Lenovo app store, but with Apple you need an itunes account. Do you need to establish some kind of account to enable the app store?

You can buy an ipad 2 for $399

 

[DrB0b]

I have a first gen Motorola Driod from Verizon running the same OS and it connects to the network just fine with the exact same information, can be pinged from another PC, and can even navigate the Shared File Server. As long as my thinking is correct, that once my phone enters a wifi network, it shuts down the 3G connection and everything internet wise is going through that wireless connection then I think there is a hardware issue with the tablet.
Googles IP as you posted above works on my phone but not on my tablet. I wish this wasnt brand new because I want to get inside and see what type of wifi card it has in it and reseat it........

Does anyone know if they make a wireless mini-USB dongle? Not that Id use it in this scenario but more just curious.

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[normntwrk]

I know with my Asus tablet I can do a hard reset that can clear up some issue. See if your tablet has the same type of bootup (I have to hold the volume button and power button for about 10-15 seconds)

I doubt that they have a drive for a wireless dongle

Norm

 

[DrB0b]

Need to stay cheap or an iPad would be an attractive proposition.

There is only a power button and an up and down volume control as far as buttons go and your button combo didn't work for me.

Kinda figured there wasn't a market for the MiniUSB dongles but didn't know if someone heard of one.

The OS on my phone is 2.2 while the Ideapad is 2.3 but one would speculate that the newer OS wouldn't have networking issues if the previous didn't.... I heard of some people playing with the Android OS on PCs and having issues connecting to wireless that doesnt serve as the DHCP provider, which is the case here. On break Im heading to our local McDonals to see if I can connect there. If so then I will have to manually set the Gateway and DNS which for some reason doesnt get set. Any one know how to do that on a phone or tablet?

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[Triton101]

Also,
Maybe your work uses a PROXY for their web access, i'm not sure if that can be set in the default web browser on the tablet somewhere.


__________________________________________________________
Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life. - Confucius

 

[DrB0b]

Im the entire IT dept here and no proxy. Found out how to set the DNS, Gateway, and Subnet of the tablet and the internet now works. Just need to find an App that allows me to open network shares and read them...

Thanks all for the assistance.

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.