More and more we see people buying these ultra thin tablet and even notebook, but is that a smart choice? Have you truly considered all the repercussions of such a purchase?
Now beyond considerations like:
- Apple doesn’t support flash, so no you can’t use any flash website or flash applications
- Ports! Many of these devices don’t include something as simple as a USB port to upload/download content (images, videos, …)
- OS! Not all tablet can’t run applications such as Microsoft Office (kind of important if it is for business).
- Hardware specifications & limits. Many have very limited storage and since they are sealed cannot be upgraded in any manner.
recently one of my clients was caught off guard when their Surface Pro 2 suddenly failed and they discovered
- Their backups were not running properly
- Because it was a tablet, there was absolutely no way to extract the Hard Drive to recover any of their files!
- Microsoft no longer supports the device
Let’s briefly review each of these elements for a second.
Their backups were not running properly
Now this is entirely on them and once again illustrated the critical importance of backups, but more importantly actually testing them to insure they are working and not corrupted. Something as simple as using a media with the wrong file format (say fat32) and your files above 4 GB will be useless. Validation should actually be done very frequently as backups can fail at any point in time.
There is absolutely no way to extract the Hard Drive
Unlike conventional desktop or laptop computers with which you remove a few screws and you can slave your hard drive onto any other PC and recover your files with ease, newer tablets and even certain laptops are glued shut, in many cases components are welded together making it virtually impossible to extract the hard drives (or any other component). So when your unit fails, it is good for the garbage, that’s it! Once again illustrating the critical importance of frequent and reliable backups.
I’d recommend always doing a little online investigating to see if the unit you are looking at can be repaired if a problem arose. A great resource for this is https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown. Look at their comments and ratings. You don’t want to have to rely on the manufacturer when problems arise. You want to be able to go see a computer tech and have your problem fixed immediately, rather than sent away for weeks. Furthermore, what I’ve seen of say hard drive issues is that manufacturer replace the drive, but your data is gone! Think long and hard about that nice shinny, new tablet vs. actually being able to recover from disaster.
Microsoft no longer supports their device
This was the thing that got me the most out of my client’s predicament. When you actually need support, Microsoft abandons you. They provide support when you for the first years of your purchase, but realistically you shouldn’t need any, but a few years later, when problems are likely to arise, they want absolutely nothing to do with you or their product. Money was not the issue here, my client was more than willing to pay, but Microsoft offers no support for Surface Pro 2 tablets any more.
It is nice that Microsoft makes a product that cannot be maintained (Microsoft Surface Pro 2 Teardown) yet wipes their hands of the product after a few years and thus completely abandoning their clients.
I can tell you this client (who buys high end devices very regularly) will never buy another Microsoft product. So this level of support is VERY short sighted of Microsoft. (and yes I know they don’t care)
Conclusions
Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with tablets, but you need to be aware of their base limitations (flash, software, storage, …).
That said, this situation, offers us several lessons to learn from, but at the end of the day I think one stands out: Backups! Frequent, validated backups would solve pretty much anyone’s headaches with their PC. It is also a good idea to have 2 sets of backups, in case one fails. So you could do a local external hard drive backup and another cloud backup.
As an added security blanket, standard laptops will allow extracting the hard drives to recover your data. Something to think about before you make your next purchase.