The Gun Counter

I was talking with a tech saavy friend recently, and he talked me into having a separate laptop, tablet, and e-reader. When he travels, which is often, he carries all three. His reasoning, a laptop can do what a laptop can do, so it is essential.

However...

A good sized tablet isn't necessarily also good as an e-reader, since the closer to actual book size you get, the more comfortable it is to use. Using it for internet/games as well as reading also sucks the life out of the battery faster than my cheating, succubus, ex-girfriend could do the same to your soul. On Chris' recommendation, I originally bought a Nook Color for use as a tablet and e-reader. Not having access to the kindle library and not wanting to jailbreak the Nook Color, I just bought a Kindle Paperwhite.

I love it. I have access to Kindle's larger (and generally cheaper) library and, for now, the Nook Color still does all the Netflix/email/Facebook stuff I need it to do. I think I'm a convert. When I'm done with the Nook Color, I'll replace it with a newer tablet dedicated to that use only, while keeping a separate e-reader.

The Advantages
Better battery life when your e-reader is used for that purpose only
lighter, easier to hold when reading in bed, etc.

The Disadvantages
You have to buy a separate device
You have to carry an additional device around, which hasn't been a problem. I've got a nice Swiss Army laptop bag which easily carries my laptop, Nook Color, and Kindle Paperwhite, plus accessories.

Even if some of you argue to the contrary, I'm satisfied with this purchase, since my main goal was to have an e-reader which would allow me access to kindle without messing with the Nook Color. The argument for/against separate e-reader and tablet I'm just throwing out there for debate.

What do you think?

Fire Away!

Kindle's are much better devices to read from than my iPad. So, I guess I've always done this - although I've never carried a tablet and a laptop - but I'm not much on movies, etc.

It's the specialist vs generalist argument all over again, just in a new context.

Certainly, a laptop, tablet and e-reader (dedicated, with an e-ink screen, optimized for battery life) all have things that they are best at. But there are overlaps in functionality, each of those devices (except the e-reader) could make an adequate substitute for one or more of the others.

It comes down to you looking at your own personal use cases (what do you *do*, precisely?) and deciding how much you want to optimize for those particular uses (with the downside of potentially purchasing more devices, and carrying more devices), vs the attractions of going with more versatile but possibly less optimal devices.

There are so many possible permutations of use cases vs gadget loadout to cover them that I wouldn't dream of trying to describe them all. But in general, unless you do a LOT of electronic reading of *just* books that are text only (as in, no online content, no pictures) - and very few people are like that - than an e-reader is just unnecessary complication/duplication/expense.

And to clear up some terminology, a Nook/Kindle that *doesn't* have an e-ink screen, counts as a tablet not an e-reader.

I used to haul a Dell Studio 17 with me everytime I traveled. When I had my Gen II Kindle, I actually took both for a few trips. Once I moved to the Kindle Fire, it basically replaced everything. It's lighter, smaller, fits in my pocket, and duplicates just about exactly everything I was asking of a laptop when traveling. It even fits on the food tray in aircraft better. At this point, I've replaced the Fire with a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 and will be sending the Fire to my Mom. She's been using a Gen I Kindle up until now.

Now, not traveling? A laptop is a laptop. The Galaxy is the Galaxy.

Greg brings up a great point. Yes, I do a lot of "just" reading. For me, carrying the extra device is still a space saver. I'd normally be carrying 2-3 books which would, cumulatively, take up more space and weigh more than the Paperwhite, anyway. The only reason I didn't buy an older Kindle was for the backlight. A kindle without it is about like having a Gameboy Advantage before the version with the backlight. If you ever use it in the dark, you need that backlight. For me, it was worth the extra $$$. Like I said, I'm interested in the debate and opinions, but for me, this was the right move.

I haven't touched my Sony Reader since I got my Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (except to load up books for Darlin' Daughters use during our summer travels).

The Galaxy is much better for me as a reader (Screen size,color and back lighting) than the Sony I have. Plus, with the Kindle and Aldiko apps I have pretty good access to the majority of formats out there, including my collection from the Sony. Throw in Calibre for conversion and Baen's multi format download for any previously purchased e-books, and I'm good.

Maybe a newer model reader would be more competition, but close enough is good enough for me at this point and I don't feel a need to go looking for more toys to buy.

I'm going to try the upcoming trip without a laptop, sharing the one Darlin' Daughter borrowed from her grandfather as required. Right now the only things I think I might need on the laptop are moderating the forum (kind of a pain on the Galaxy to me), and backing up/manipulating pictures from the various cameras*, and remote access to my home PC if I need it. We'll see. I certainly don't need to lug a laptop on an airliner, so the increased functionality of the tablet over the e-reader will be much appreciated on this year's trip vs last years.

*And I have convertor cables to allow me to dump from cameras to the Galaxy, just that the laptop has much more storage room for archiving.

skb12172 wrote:Greg brings up a great point. Yes, I do a lot of "just" reading. For me, carrying the extra device is still a space saver. I'd normally be carrying 2-3 books which would, cumulatively, take up more space and weigh more than the Paperwhite, anyway. The only reason I didn't buy an older Kindle was for the backlight. A kindle without it is about like having a Gameboy Advantage before the version with the backlight. If you ever use it in the dark, you need that backlight. For me, it was worth the extra $$$. Like I said, I'm interested in the debate and opinions, but for me, this was the right move.

Ah, if you read a lot then you definitely would benefit from an e-reader with the proper screen. Easier on your eyes, superb battery life... you just won't be web surfing or watching youtube.

Chris brings up a great point that I meant to express, but failed to do. I love having access to the free books in Kindle format. When I do replace the Nook with another tablet, it will probably be a Kindle product as well, so that I can also access the free video. If this is VHS vs. Beta Max, I believe Kindle is going to win this format war.

However, the best result would probably be multi-format compatibility, ala' Apple finally biting the bullet and becoming cross compatible with PC.

I like the non-backlit screen on my Sony for plain old ePub reading (it's not worth beans for a PDF because of what it does to the line breaks). Less eyestrain. I'm a laptop/reader believer. Like to get a more game-friendly laptop at some point; this one handles Il-2 all right, but wheezes and groans trying to run Star Trek Online in Steam.

Too much crap , I carry a 7" tablet and my phone , and the less stuff the better , ymmv.