Tablets for retro-gaming?

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shponglefan:
I'm thinking about getting a tablet. Never owned one before.

Right now I'm deciding between either a Surface 3 (regular one, not the Surface Pro) or an Android tablet like a Galaxy Tab S. Apple can go suck a big donkey dick.

My primary use will be web browsing, porn videos and digital comics. But the more I can use this thing, the more I can justify getting one. So I'm wondering how good they are for gaming and particularly retro-gaming.

The Surface 3 seems ideal because it's basically a Windows computer, so it will run any Windows compatible software. Being able to use it for both retro PC gaming as well as console emulation (NES/SNES mostly) is ideal. I'm not sure how well Android tabs do in this regard, but obviously retro PC stuff might be out...

Anyone use tablets for retro gaming? Any pros/cons to consider?

pbj:
Use tablets for tablet stuff. iPads far surpass competitors at the tablet experience.

Xiaou2:
Bleh.

I got a Galaxy Note 2.. as a smartphone was a Requirement for one of the Jobs I had.

Apple phone was going to be released a little sooner.. but I wanted the N2 for the Pressure sensitive Stylus... as I like to draw.

Ive found the whole phone experience to be a huge pain in the butt. The interfacing is slow and clunky. The lack of something like a d-pad makes games worthless. Ive thought about picking up one of the new gamepads... but fear its not worth it, due to the low processing power, and that most games are written to be stupid easy... due to the fact that most are playing them without a controller.

(of course, playing them with your fingers in the way... these games are horrible. No tactile control = absolute crap control = frustration = Dont bother playing)

As for the Stylus.. its really nice. The problem is... I cant find any drawing applications that dont Stink. They are the absolute worst. It takes you so much effort to do something with them... that you spend 85% of your time trying to manipulate the wretched interface... than actually creating something. A lot of them are also so slow... that it causes lag when trying to draw. It then is futile.. as you end up having to undo / erase .. when the thing got out-of-sync.. and messed up your lines.

I believe Android tablets are nothing more than larger screens.. using the same kind of technology. Maybe theres a slight performance boost. But you still have the same crap apps.

At least with something like Surface... you have windows functionality.. I think. Which would allow for the standard apps to be ran in full... not crippled...? I think the surface is also more akin to laptop level of performance. Though, I could be mistaken.

Android is such a pain to deal with.. that I often just dont bother with it. I got a used Fujitsu lifebook laptop that has a digitizer screen... and I use it far more than anything else. Im curious to know how Surface stacks up.. but I dont have the money these days anyways.

I have no real experience with Apple. They dont have pressure sensitive stylus displays.. and they are far too pricy... so I never bothered.
I think they are also quite locked-down, in what they do, software wise. Maybe their interface is better... but I wouldnt know.

Howard_Casto:
Ok without going into too much detail, I've tried all three and my findings are to get the best emulator experience (not to mention overall tablet experience) if you can afford it, go with a true windows tablet. Buyer beware though... there are windows tablets and there are windows rt tablets. Windows rt is kind of like windows ce back in the day. It's windows "ish" and thus not all programs will run on it. If you get a windows tablet though, you essentially have a laptop. Windows 10 is the first windows OS that fully supports tablet features, so you are good to go. Gamepads just work as you are running windows (DUH).

Apple tablets are crippled by the fact that they have to run the awful iOS. If you want to use a gamepad or what have you, be prepared to fork over more money for a Bluetooth gamepad that is compatible with apple apps.

Android tablets are fantastic.... when you get an expensive one. If you get an expensive one though, it isn't much more to get a surface or an asus convertible. You can get gamepads and other USB devices to work on some of the higher end tablets, but if the actual app supports it is a crap shot. Thankfully most emulators do.

knave:
I am using a dell windows tablet to write this. it is I got the attachable keyboard so it is basically a small laptop. Plays games just like any windows computer with intel 4000 graphics. I like it a lot and I found the dell version with 4 gb ram and a core i3 cpu to be about half a comparable surface.

It plays most of my steam library fine. The keyboard is small to use to control games but I can use an xbox controller if I like. The better experience are for games where touch control is a feature not just a substitute for a mouse. Playing touch games on an 11 inch 1080 screen is a pleasure.

I bought the tablet for portable light productivity work, games and surfing and it does a great job. (great battery life)

But:

In the end I realized that I was able to do 90% of what I wanted with a better interface with a small laptop. not to mention the laptop was half again the cost of the tablet. (1/4 the cost of a surface)

I don't regret the tablet but if I were going to do it again I would pick up a high end convertible touch screen laptop for a better experience.

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