Results: Ipad Mini RDP vs HP Stream 7 Local

[Isaac]

I’m going to keep this short and precise. After weeks of testing the results are in:

Speed:
Winner: Ipad Mini

Reliability
Winner: Ipad Mini
Why: You may find with RDP that the connection might freeze, but when you reconnect you are able to carry on from where you left off unlike the local method if there is a connection issue the software will freeze, a error will come up and you will have to relaunch the software. Orders have been lost on the HP Stream.

Cost
Winner: HP Stream at only £99 whereas a iPad Mini will cost £199

Convenience of Use
Winner: iPad Mini
Why: 1" advantage over the HP Stream and simply the bigger the better. The 7" screen is better operated with a touchpen whereas the iPad using your fingers in fine. Also the iPad is a slimmer and slightly lighter tablet. Both have great batterry life and once fully charged will easily cope with 10-12hr usage. Lowering the screen brightness will improve battery life.

Overall Winner
iPad Mini

It might cost more but reliability, speed and convenience of use outweighs the difference by a mile. The local method can be improved if the way the software handles the lost of connection better. i.e having a reconnect option instead of the software crashing. If I was to buy a Windows tablet again, it will have to have a minimum screen size of 8".

Request for better handling of crashes has been requested in this post:

Automatically Re-establish Connection to Database

Hi @emre After testing the HP Stream Tablet running SambaPOS locally, one of the downfalls that I found was that when SambaPOS cannot communicate with the database it produces a error message or crashes and has to be closed down and relaunched. This can be time consuming especially whilst taking a order. I am aware this is not the case with the RDP method as it will freeze and then eventually catch-up without having the need to restart the application. Is it possible to have a user friendly me…

Hope this helps.

[Jesse]

So I am interested. How does it compare if both are RDP? Since what you really tested aside from a few details is RDP vs Local

[Isaac]

Thats a very good point. Never even crossed my mind to use pocketcloud on the HP Stream. I no longer have the tablet as it was too small for our menu so cant test.

[Jesse]

I personally still find windows tablets a more cost friendly purchase. RDP or not they just offer more for less in most situations that I came across. I will write a review of the surface pro 3 vs iPad air as I own both. Both are rather costly but I find I get more utility from my surface.

Good review though I am sure many wondered how it did for you.

I also own a surface 2 which can connect RDP I will post some screens of it as well.

Something interesting with the next windows server version is multipoint desktop services.

[singbkt]

Love this thread. Thanks for sharing with us Isaac, great information. Anyway, is connection issue using Windows tablet often happened? once per week?

What causing the issue? The wireless connection?