I recently gave my dad my old HP Chromebook X2, so I've been on the lookout for a new remote development and gaming solution. I decided to head to my local Best Buy to browse tablets and laptops in person, to hopefully get a feel for which I'd like best. As soon as I saw the S8 Ultra, it was game over.
I bought the S8 Ultra hoping to use it as a tablet and laptop replacement. I do a lot of remote development using VS Code, and I like to play games from my desktop remotely using Parsec and a bluetooth controller.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is a beautiful device. Truly. The AMOLED screen is captivating, the S Pen feels great and responsive. But my compliments end there. It's a great tablet, and a terrible laptop.
What made the laptop experience so terrible? From a hardware perspective, the official Samsung keyboard cover feels cheap:
- There's a lot of "give", meaning it bends left to right with not much pressure.
- The trackpad clicks from underneath the keyboard. With the device in my lap, I'd be inadvertently clicking around the screen as the pressure from my keypresses engaged the trackpad.
- The kickstand on the back is very uncomfortable for use in your lap. The edge digs into your legs. It's difficult to adjust the angle just right, necessitating 2 hands usually, otherwise you end up disconnecting the tablet from the keyboard accidentally.
From a software perspective, Samsung DEX looks like a desktop, but lacks the comforts of a true desktop experience. For example, when using Chrome, scrolling with the trackpad would often be unresponsive or over-responsive. You can't use keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl +, Ctrl - to adjust the zoom. You're often reminded that you are indeed interacting with an Android tablet, not a laptop, so the experience is not seamless.
I don't want to be too harsh, most of my gripes are common to all tablets-as-laptops. To my dismay, there isn't a single detachable device on the market that doesn't have that horrible kickstand on the back (besides Apple's Magic Keyboard). If you know of any, please let me know in the comments.
Where am I now? I've resorted to using my only portable device at the moment, which is a 2015 Macbook Air. And you know what? It's fantastic. It's a laptop, and it's a Mac, so everything just works. It's light, the keyboard feels great, the trackpad gestures are inviting, and I feel terrible for thinking less of it. The screen resolution and quality leave me wanting, but all in all it's a much better experience for me than the $1,300+ Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra.
After much reflection, I realized a laptop is what fits my needs best at the moment. I would not make enough use of the touchscreen or stylus of a tablet / 2-in-1. Now, my main features I'm looking to optimize are:
- Battery life
- Portability (weight)
- Pretty pictures (a nice screen)
- Not Windows (I love Windows for desktops, but for laptops I've never had a good experience).
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