I was gifted an expensive iPad thinking that I would have all sorts of uses for it but really it’s not doing anything beyond behaving as second monitor. Found something that seems to get some of the best of both platforms.
What does a remote table enable?
- Do just about everything in Windows via a touch interface. I had to zoom in to use some older programs that have very small interfaces designed for a mouse.
- Prefer some Windows e-reader programs, music, and voice-to-text tools.
- Tablet voice recognition function better than Window's own tools.
- Get to use the actual Firefox browser on iOS (and not just another Safari front-end).
System requirements
- Network: I recommend a fast and responsive wireless router. Responsiveness is more important than speed for 95% of operations, so it's ideal to plug your destination Windows machine into the router via Ethernet.
- Machines: Destination machine should be Windows 10 Pro, does not need to be recent. Tablet devices also don't need to be brand new. I tested this on a 10 year old laptop and a 3 year old iPad. EDIT: Windows 10 Home does not have Remote Desktop but there are some suggestions later in this thread about alternatives. Thanks Andrew Lee.
Steps
- Setup RDP on your laptop/desktop and download RDP on the tablet
- Install a program like Net Analyzer to track down the local up address.
- Once you find your device on the local network, connect to numbered address -- it's usually something like 192.168.1.5. (It's possible to setup "static" addresses so you don't have to mess with these numbers every time.)
- Enable sizing, font, and other settings:
In your browser, increase tab and font sizes (I set mine it to 120%):
Other notes:
- Press and hold to right click
- Use the included zoom feature if the screen is especially small
- Remember that the built-in keyboard does not allow for audio. You need to use the RDP keyboard
- Don’t bother with the windows narrator, it’s exceptionally hard to use in this mode.
- "Tablet mode" is not especially better than just using larger fonts.
- You can open the task manager by opening the keyboard and pressing control, alt, delete buttons
Other
Why not just buy a tablet computer?
- Generally more expensive than standard laptops.
- Windows tablet or 3-in-one devices tend to be fragile. The two touchscreen devices I have both have bubbling screen oddities, and I've seen other people with similar issues.
What’s is wrong with the iPad?
Although the build quality is strong and the case I got for the device is great, I've been remarkably disappointed:
- In terms of freeware, any “free” or freemium apps on the app store are full of adware. There's a reason I don't talk about iOS on a freeware site despite having multiple iOS-based devices.
- Loads of blah default apps like Apple Maps, Pages, and Numbers. Safari just not a great browser for anything but power efficiency and basic searching. Apple's plans for all these apps is to maybe slightly improve them over the coming 10 years.
- Connecting to non-Apple tools and services or sync for everything from videos, audio, contacts, etc. basically the same as 10 years ago. As a company it's much more interested in it's profitable services business.
- Lackluster eBook readers - Readdle's Documents is good but really for PDFs.
- Annoying “upgrade” to HEIF image format.
- If you have problems enabling Remote Desktop
- Microsoft Remote Desktop app is a nice way to get the Windows experience on the Tab S6. (Reddit)