tablet, laptop or TV

we've had a run of crappy luck with laptops of late - and i cant really justify getting a tablet as we both have smart phones.

ideally i need something that can help me access things like internet banking (sodding WP8 doesnt have one for HSBC at the moment).
other things like dealing with photos/storage/backup etc, and also posting threads on here and other forums will be its main source of use. occasionally streaming films as well.

i've just seen this:

http://www.techfresh.net/ugoos-um2-quad ... -tv-stick/

and wondered, if coupled with a wireless keyboard and with the possibility of cnnecting portable HDD, would it be a viable option?

I'd definitely consider a Chromebook. It sounds like just the sort of thing you'd be after, and they're relatively cheap too.

https://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/chrome/devices/

good shout

I used to rebuild/ repair laptops and PC's for a living and still keep my hand in now and again. I find laptops fat and cumbersome when compared to using a smartphone. Tablets can be a bit fernickety if you dont buy the right one. Recognisable brand names seem to help here. Some of the cheapies can be dreadfully slow despite running Android.

I have built a mini PC with Linux and rebuilt a slim model Dell PC and these are still much nicer to use with a proper keyboard and mouse.

I would love to use those 'computers on a stick' as they are a fantastic idea, but I am hampered by 0.3 to 0.9 meg fraudband.

Netbooks are nice but I dont see many come in at the tip

I've got an old PC hooked up to the television and use a miniature wireless keyboard with a track pad: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-4G-Wireless ... 3cd428e40a. It works quite well for how I use it, but if you need to do a fair bit of typing you can get something a bit larger: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Logitech-K400 ... 1c35e679f7

Raspberry Pi?

is Raspberry pie isnt ready to go out the box is it? plus the mrs will need to use it too - not the most technologically literate person i've met.....

i am warming to the idea of the TV PC stick - means no plugging laptop in, no losing the tablet, but does mean we cant surf the internet and watch tv at the same time.....

I use this in the living room for storing tv an films from eztv etc and for surfing using wireless keyboard. Mine had a 500 gb hard drive, 3gb ram on windows 7 and it runs quite nicely...i recall it cost me 50 quid posted. They are quite small so dont take up much room either. Built well and have dvd drive fitted as well.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Optiplex ... 4ac87329cf



I have the larger form factor one in the bedroom for storing stuff on as well when i want to watch something in bed. Thats got a 750 gb hard drive and was also very cheap and well built. Have stored all the Tales of the unexpected, Buffy , Angel, Hammer house ect and still have loads of space.

l also just got this for 45 quid for by the bed. The screen is a bit dinky but its got 120 gb hard drive, touch screen, tablet mode etc and the batt lasts 2 and a half hours in heavy use. The keyboard is good quality too. The only downer is the size of text is a bit teeny so aim for at least ten inch screens...


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111117638661? ... 1439.l2649

Most laptop manufacturers have sullied their reputation in recent years by releasing dogs. Toshiba and Dell have both failed to maintain quality. The only brand I would consider is HP/Compaq, I work for a company that runs them for shows, they have only just retired machines that were originally on Windows 98!!
The only failures over 40 odd machines has been batteries (which frankly are consumables), the odd power supply and a couple of video cards. Not bad given the have been bounced round Europe many times in the back of a van.
There was an inexpensive HP mini out a couple of years ago, I think Tesco were doing a version. Perhaps not as sexy as one of these tablet things, but a hell of a lot more durable.
Use an older operating system, I have 2 machines still running Win XP, get Firefox and/or Chrome installed for browsing the net. Add some good free AV software like AVast and back things up to a USB hard drive or some form of network or cloud storage.

I have one of those Android TV sticks, well it's not quite a stick but it's based on a similar sort of thing. It's a MiniX Neo5 and I did a bit of research before buying as I found that most of them will not push out Dolby sound on films as the decoders were not added to android, this in my application as a media centre was crucial. So I binned the idea until I found MiniX and found that of all the manufacturers they had the best support and active dev team. They pushed out regular updates and firmwares which addressed users requests and are so far the only company to include a firmware that pushes out Dolby sound. This feature may be a moot point for you but it's the fact that they actually have an active community that they support and respect which means that they are worth looking at for me.

Carl.