# Prefered Tablet.



## scenicsauthoff (Aug 1, 2014)

I am heading off to grad school soon to earn my MFA in Production Design and Production and I wanted to get a tablet that would be the most useful in our field. 
I will be doing general school work/papers/etc. But plan to use in the the theatre during builds and tech with Vectorworks.

I am not that computer savvy and wanted some input in the best brands/models to get.

Thanks all.


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## doctrjohn (Aug 1, 2014)

I use Vectorworks on my Surface Pro all the time. It gets a little laggy when rendering, but not nearly as bad as I would have expected. For normal light plot drafting it keeps up just fine; including some very large project files with lots of imported images/pdf's and scenery/construction layers.

Best,
John


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## de27192 (Oct 2, 2014)

I have an iPad and I think it generally sucks. It's just too 'locked down' in terms of what you can put on it to ever be particularly useful. As a frequent traveller, I don't regret buying it at all - it's absolutely brilliant for music, games and video and a bit of web browsing because the battery lasts ages, the touch screen interface is very good and the range of accessories is good. But if I were buying a tablet for work, with the knowledge I have now, it would 100% be a Surface Pro or Surface Pro 2... the ability to install a proper version of Windows on it just opens it up to do whatever you want it to.

But then personally, for college, I'd buy a laptop. Typing on a screen will get boring *very* quickly.


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## techieman33 (Oct 2, 2014)

I think a surface pro 3 would be the one to look at.


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## blackisthenewblack (Oct 2, 2014)

Look at the consoles that your venue has. Most Consoles have an IOS app, but not a Windows or Android equivalent. Also, Qlab.


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## Footer (Oct 2, 2014)

blackisthenewblack said:


> Look at the consoles that your venue has. Most Consoles have an IOS app, but not a Windows or Android equivalent. Also, Qlab.



Remote controlling the console should be something that comes with the venue, not something that every technician must bring with them. If your grad school does not have this I would ask where your money is going. 

Your vectorworks issue pretty much puts you right into a surface pro, no question about it. If you want something more portable, nexus 7. If your already in the mac world, you know your answer already.


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## de27192 (Oct 2, 2014)

blackisthenewblack said:


> Look at the consoles that your venue has. Most Consoles have an IOS app, but not a Windows or Android equivalent. Also, Qlab.



In addition to the point made above, if you select a tablet which runs a full version of Windows (IE Surface Pro) then you will not have to worry about apps at all. You can run the full software. (Except of course mac only software IE Midas).

QLab is a valid point but then there is loads of software which doesn't work on macs so it's 6 and half a dozen.

I still think (as a graduate) that university involves a lot of writing and you should get something with an actual, large, comfortable keyboard. I wrote some uber massive essays on my Macbook Pro and I still think it has one of the best computer keyboards around. Big keys and big gaps and good back lighting.


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## techieman33 (Oct 2, 2014)

blackisthenewblack said:


> Look at the consoles that your venue has. Most Consoles have an IOS app, but not a Windows or Android equivalent. Also, Qlab.



It looks like they are more interested in the scenic side of things, not lighting. And while as a lighting guy I love being able to just pull my phone out of my pocket and to make a lighting change I don't see that as being very important to a scenic designer. For them being able to run the full version of vectorworks, or any other design program will be much more valuable than have a lighting remote app. And if they really want remote capability to a lighting console they can always use their phone for that. I prefer a phone sized device for that function anyway, most of the remote apps just get blown up to big for their own good.


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