Tablets and freelance writing

[thdoctada]

So, I was looking around the threads in this section and the making money section and did a few different searches and came up empty on this one. But would a cheap tablet and keyboard be sufficient to realistically attempt freelance writing while traveling? Or would a Chromebook be better? Or would I need a full on laptop? I should mention that I am a pretty avid writer and really want something bigger than a smartphone, if only for my personal projects. But I have no professional experience writing. What type of hardware do really need? Because I honestly just got my first tablet and I am starting to wonder if I even need to own a laptop anymore.

 

[MetalBryan]

I didn't price it out, but I would think a keyboard for the tablet you already own is a good place to start. You can get closer to a full sized layout than you'd get with a chromebook. I had a netbook years ago, which is similar, and I loved it for writing. Inexpensive so less painful to replace compared to a laptop which is larger and in my experience more fragile. It did all the normal internet stuff too.

I got the basic model of a gaming laptop at the beginning of covid because I wanted to edit audio/video and kill time playing games. It's 30% of the space in my backpack. WHEN it breaks, I will not be replacing it. I think tablets have caught up with processing power to edit audio/video and maybe games aren't for travelers. Though I did give this kid a thumbs up on an Amtrak - he had his whole fucking gaming rig setup on an entire 4 person table in the observation car all day and I thought that was cool.

 

[BobDole]

Writer here as well. Tablets are great cuz they're in the middle of a phone and a laptop, so they're portable, and depending on the size, you can carry them in your pocket easily. Newer ones have much better battery life. Id say bring a power bank or two. I prefer physical keyboard, and dislike wireless, so I plan on getting a foldable smaller keyboard that I plug into OTG on my phone's port. I recently found out that one thing my mama got me for Christmas - a phone screen magnifier (some plastic sheet on a white stand with a phone stand pop out) works well enough for me. Now if only the privacy of my laptop (I disable wifi card and the webcam and mic) were possible on my phone... lol