Best for Portable Excel?

[Vinman]

Looking to pick up a new detatchable Laptop or Tablet in time for Saratoga that will enable me to bring my Excel spreadsheets and BRIS pp's to the track and finally leave my clunky double sided HP printer at home. Must be a product that I can create and edit on Excel, which I suppose would rule out anything Apple.

Have been leaning toward the detachable HP Envy2 which apparently has 11 hours of battery life. Have seen ads for the Microsoft Surface, but my gut says the Envy2 is better.

Like many others here, I'm not thrilled about the prospect of going from Windows 7 to Windows 8 with its various glitches, which will supposedly be ironed out by a newer version of Windows 8 later this year.

Any thoughts on which machine is best for a portable Excel experience?

Buy now and get the Windows 8 upgrade when it comes out or wait for the new version?

Vinman

[Capper Al]

The tablets may not be there for crunching and using spreadsheets yet. You should be able to read sheets already loaded.

[raybo]

Mostly depends on whether or not you're using macros in Excel. If you are, then you must use an authentic version of Excel. If not, then almost any device can handle spreadsheets, Excel or not. Another consideration would be screen size versus the size of your spreadsheet. If your spreadsheet is fairly compact then a tablet/phablet/notebook will work, if it's larger then a laptop may be the best. Depends on how much scrolling you can handle, really.

As to OS, I still use Vista and don't plan to change soon. I also have a distributors copy of XP which I can load if I buy a new PC with a later version of Windows. The newer versions don't interest me because all I use the PC for is internet/email and Excel.

[HUSKER55]

I have an idea that you might want to think about. The repair shop I go to buys and sells, new, used, parts and etc. and they also service a lot of new computers on warrantees and etc.

Even the used stuff they guarantee for 6 months.

I got a used dell laptop, (old) for $100. It works and does the trick and as long as it lasts a year then I am happy.

When the neighbor girl went to college she got one and it lasted about 3 years before it died. She used it harder than me.

keep in mind, I keep data on a disk. only software is on the computer.

I think it depends on your comfort level.

hope this helps :)