By: Will Fleenor, CPA, PhD, K2 Enterprises
Blog Series: Which Tablet is Best for You?
Post 5 of 5
Part 5: Screen Size & Hardware
Tablet screen sizes range from seven to 12 inches. The following are some considerations for deciding screen size:
- Higher screen resolution is more important with larger screens
- A 16:9 aspect ratio is much better for HD TV and movies
- A 4:3 aspect ratio, is currently used for many still cameras and is better for photo display
- Web pages are generally easier to read with 4:3 aspect ratio
- Many TVs and data projectors come with 4:3 aspect ratio—if you plan on projecting images, consider your projector and screen size
- The bigger the screen, the bulkier and heavier the tablet
What hardware features are important to me?
Performance is rarely an issue with tablets (other than Windows 8 tablets) and the speed of the processor is not usually an option the way it is in desktop PCs. So, don’t worry about the processor—the same is true for RAM.
Internal storage is another issue—if you use your tablet to store high definition photos and video, storage can fill up quickly. On tablets with USB ports, you can use flash drives to supplement storage.
Even on Windows™ 8.1 tablets, you may want to rethink how big the hard drive needs to be. For security reasons, you want to carry as little sensitive information as possible—so, the days of carrying out entire directories of files into the field, “just in case,” should be long gone. Further, with the advent of the Cloud, we don’t need to carry as much around with us on our mobile devices.
If you plan to do anything other than information consumption on your tablet, you will need a keyboard. Get a keyboard that has a good touch and feel and is backlit since your tablet is your away-from-the-desk machine, and you may often have poor lighting.
Battery life may be important if you travel for a living and often don’t have the time or ability to recharge. As you might expect, smaller devices usually have longer battery lives. However, battery lives differ widely between tablets so you should take a look before purchasing. If you do not have a warranty, replacing the battery in an iPad can cost up to $99.
Hopefully this blog series has helped you to better understand what to consider when selecting your next tablet, but keep doing your research—new technology is developed in about the same amount of time it takes us to decide which products are right for us!
For more information on making tech work for you, join experts from K2 Enterprises at NCACPA’s TechFest Summer Conference, August 18–19, 2014, for the nuts and bolts of today’s technical solutions and how to confidently put them to work for your business!
William C. Fleenor, CPA, Ph.D.
• Past Chair of the AICPA’s National Microcomputer Conference
• Published articles in the Journal of Accountancy & CPA Journal
• Winner of the AICPA “Accounting Educator of the Year Award”
• Has conducted continuing education for CPAs in 48 states