So, we're toying with VMware view, and want something in tablet form that will enable our users to check email on the road, do maps and all the other tablet-y stuff - yet run office if required either using touch while out of the office (preferably via View, but native could work too), or when paired or plugged into a keyboard and mouse (and monitor maybe) when back at their desk. I.e., as a desktop replacement: all user data / operating system stuff stored on our View cluster.
I'm going through alternatives one by one as I get sent eval kit and will chronicle it here
First up... the iPads
iPad 4
Pros:
Cons:
iPad mini
As above with the following additions:
Pro: very light and easy to carry around
Con: due to smaller size, the virtual keyboard is a bit harder to use and feels cramped
HP Envy Tablet/Laptop
I really had high hopes for this. A Surface with a keyboard you can use on your lap, that can run native x86 apps, with better battery life than a Surface Pro. Sure, performance won't be blistering, but...
Unfortunately... it misses the mark
• VMware View client unusable with touch - can't zoom screen, windows 7 widgets (in view session) too small. keyboard / ui responsiveness is crap, attempting to select text or textboxes is hit/miss - often can't do with keyboard displayed.
• trackpad is standard pc fare, a bit better than normal even - occasional virtual right clicks registered instead of left (even though using 1 finger).
• touch screen in windows 8 native (not VDI) seems responsive enough and works well.
• performance – crippled. It doesn’t use SSD, but a micro-SD card internally, which is SLOOOWWW. Opening apps, opening things on the network, or doing much lags the machine horribly, so you think it didn’t process what you wanted to open (no feedback). So you try again and again… then 15 seconds later what you were trying to do happens 5 times…
• virtual keyboard seems to work ok.
• Handwriting recognition is hilariously bad.
• screen auto rotation seems to be a bit random. I saw it rotate into portrait once when I was carrying it around. Upon trying to get the device into portrait mode however I couldn’t make it work.
• Connecting to the domain and managing to log in with no Ethernet (only wifi) is an exercise in frustration.
• The machine itself is fairly unstable when you tilt the screen back far enough to be comfortable – if you use touch you’re liable to knock it over.
• When in tablet mode, there is no stand (like the ipad cover or surface kickstand) to prop it up to type on with the touch screen. So it’s FLAT on the desk and awkward. It is also very slippery, and will be likely to fall off your lap if trying to type on it there. At least the ipad has a cover which grips clothing when used like this.
Hardware Summary: crippled by 2GB ram, and micro-SD instead of SSD. Otherwise I think it would be in the ballpark. But it is simply not tablet responsive, doesn’t have any significant tablet apps and is not PC powerful. It’s not good enough for me to care that it can get 7-10 hours of battery life – the user experience is just overwhelmingly annoying. Maybe it would be better with Linux or something? If only they used a real SSD - I suspect performance would be way better. It's just crippled for IO.
Windows 8 summary: ironically, using it with touch for VDI (VMware view) is worse than the ipad, as you can’t zoom into screen elements to make them easier to click when running win7 in the VDI client. The iPad has keyboard bugs when using a physical keyboard, but at least works well when using it as a tablet. The Envy (and win8 in general FAILS as a touch based VDI terminal). Which means you want to run native apps – office is available native, but the widgets are still small in office 2010, and there’s still no desktop application pinch to zoom like on iPad. Maybe office 2013 will be better?
I'm going through alternatives one by one as I get sent eval kit and will chronicle it here
First up... the iPads
iPad 4
Pros:
- awesome screen
- pinch to zoom in/out within View. this means even non-touch based OSes or apps such as Office 2010 on Windows 7 or 8 can be used as you can zoom in to make widgets bigger
- 3G or 4G/LTE connectivity
- native iOS apps are touch-based and easy to use for email/web/maps/etc whilst not needing Windows for productivity (Office or native mission critical Windows app) stuff
- good battery life
Cons:
- Keyboard bugs! Using an apple BT keyboard, various apps have problems with keypressed being received properly or at all. The keyboard within iOS itself is fine, but there are various use cases (e.g., RDP session from within View client, or various native iOS apps such as 2X RDP) where the keyboard just plain doesn't work properly - either not sending the shift key state properly, dropping characters or just not working at all within the app.
- No mouse support. When at my desk, if i was to use the iPad as a complete desktop replacement (via View, plugged into a monitor) i'd like to be able to use a mouse
- Lightning VGA adapter video quality - at least when hooked up to my 22" LCD, the video quality is a bit.... crap.
iPad mini
As above with the following additions:
Pro: very light and easy to carry around
Con: due to smaller size, the virtual keyboard is a bit harder to use and feels cramped
HP Envy Tablet/Laptop
I really had high hopes for this. A Surface with a keyboard you can use on your lap, that can run native x86 apps, with better battery life than a Surface Pro. Sure, performance won't be blistering, but...
Unfortunately... it misses the mark
• VMware View client unusable with touch - can't zoom screen, windows 7 widgets (in view session) too small. keyboard / ui responsiveness is crap, attempting to select text or textboxes is hit/miss - often can't do with keyboard displayed.
• trackpad is standard pc fare, a bit better than normal even - occasional virtual right clicks registered instead of left (even though using 1 finger).
• touch screen in windows 8 native (not VDI) seems responsive enough and works well.
• performance – crippled. It doesn’t use SSD, but a micro-SD card internally, which is SLOOOWWW. Opening apps, opening things on the network, or doing much lags the machine horribly, so you think it didn’t process what you wanted to open (no feedback). So you try again and again… then 15 seconds later what you were trying to do happens 5 times…
• virtual keyboard seems to work ok.
• Handwriting recognition is hilariously bad.
• screen auto rotation seems to be a bit random. I saw it rotate into portrait once when I was carrying it around. Upon trying to get the device into portrait mode however I couldn’t make it work.
• Connecting to the domain and managing to log in with no Ethernet (only wifi) is an exercise in frustration.
• The machine itself is fairly unstable when you tilt the screen back far enough to be comfortable – if you use touch you’re liable to knock it over.
• When in tablet mode, there is no stand (like the ipad cover or surface kickstand) to prop it up to type on with the touch screen. So it’s FLAT on the desk and awkward. It is also very slippery, and will be likely to fall off your lap if trying to type on it there. At least the ipad has a cover which grips clothing when used like this.
Hardware Summary: crippled by 2GB ram, and micro-SD instead of SSD. Otherwise I think it would be in the ballpark. But it is simply not tablet responsive, doesn’t have any significant tablet apps and is not PC powerful. It’s not good enough for me to care that it can get 7-10 hours of battery life – the user experience is just overwhelmingly annoying. Maybe it would be better with Linux or something? If only they used a real SSD - I suspect performance would be way better. It's just crippled for IO.
Windows 8 summary: ironically, using it with touch for VDI (VMware view) is worse than the ipad, as you can’t zoom into screen elements to make them easier to click when running win7 in the VDI client. The iPad has keyboard bugs when using a physical keyboard, but at least works well when using it as a tablet. The Envy (and win8 in general FAILS as a touch based VDI terminal). Which means you want to run native apps – office is available native, but the widgets are still small in office 2010, and there’s still no desktop application pinch to zoom like on iPad. Maybe office 2013 will be better?
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