Keep taking the tablets......

Hello All,

Up to now I haven't owned a tablet but I'm currently looking to get one (maybe a mini version) , possibly for a bit of web browsing, film watching etc. on the train for an hour or two when I'm travelling to work (and possibly on other trips). Now, this isn't for work, as such, but as Excel is one of my hobbies I naturally want to access Excelforum and use Excel.

I confess I probably don't know all the options but doing a small amount of research I see mention of tablets "for work" which would probably require me to have Windows and install Office to get excel.......or I could get an ipad and access Excel through an Office 365 app (with a subscription).

Does anybody here have experience of using excel on a tablet (especially the ipad option). What do you think, any plus or minus points?

....or are there alternative ways to access excel that I haven't mentioned (note: I'm not particularly keen on other spreadsheet options like google docs)

Any and all contributions appreciated, thanks

Thinkpad 8. 8 inch tablet, Thinkpad build quality, Windows OS, Intel CPU, comes with Office Home and Student 2013 installed as far as I know.

I don't own one but I've played with them, they seem decent

Apple likes to do things like have proprietary charging cables, no expandable memory, more restrictive operating system, and so on.

Thanks Speshul and Whizbang,

Yeah, what I forgot to say is that I currently have an android phone (and I'm not intending to change that) so I'm aware that an ipad might give me some compatability issues - interesting to see from that link that an Android Office app is on the way.....

I have a Nexus 7 with a bluetooth keyboard and can open Excel workbooks quite happily on it and they retain a lot of their functionality. Would I choose to work on it for any period of time though? Nope. It's great for consuming media, playing quick games and web browsing. Anything more serious work or games wise and it's back to the laptop.

If your budget will stretch try this tablet/laptop combination.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptop...65509-pdt.html

I have used my one to watch all of Breaking Bad whilst on the daily commute. And it's comfortable to use, with keyboard attached, for serious excel work.

Originally Posted by Andy Pope

I have used my one to watch all of Breaking Bad whilst on the daily commute. And it's comfortable to use, with keyboard attached, for serious excel work.

Thanks Andy,

In the end I got an ipad mini and I'm trying out an Excel subscription - it's not bad but I wouldn't want to use it for long periods

The ipad is wireless only and I'm tethering to my phone's 3g/4g data, that works quite well for most of my journey

I've got some episodes of "The Wire" that I'm re-watching, but I'm a bit nervous about watching on the train - I need subtitles for The Wire and every other word is M********* or ****** and comes up in large CAPS on the screen for anyone watching across the aisle to see......

*thread hijack* lol

I have used my one to watch all of Breaking Bad whilst on the daily commute.

awsome series!!!

Office for iPad v 1.2 is out. It has been completely overhauled.

You can view Excel files if you don't sign in.
You can use basic editing if you sign in with a Microsoft ID (previously Live ID)
If you have an Office 365 subscription, you can do more than just the basic editing.

With version 1.2, Dropbox has been added as a storage location, in addition to OneDrive and Sharepoint.

Excel for iPad still only has a fraction of the functionality of desktop Excel, but it is quite impressive what it can do on iOS.

Minimum requirements are iOs 7.1.2. Older hardware, like my iPad 2 may be able to handle it, but it will be slow.