[warailroader]

Please bare with me on my explanation.  I'm a banjo player and am new to jamming with other bluegrass players.  I've got a 3-ring binder stuffed with music and as I'm sure most of you know it's really hard to find that song someone else wants to play like NOW.  I want to try MS and considered using a tablet, ie an Ipad Pro, but cant quite justify the cost for just organizing my music.  Then I had this brainstorm and thought, my 2 in 1 laptop is almost 10 years old, is quite slow and not upgradeable to windows 11.  What if I got a new shiny 2 in 1 laptop and used it like a tablet?   I could kill two birds with one stone so to speak.

So does anyone out there use MS on a 2 in 1 laptop which folds over and becomes a tablet and how do you like it.  And would your recommend a certain make and model of laptop.  Thanks.

[redroc.k]

Well, I don't have a 2 in 1 laptop, so I can't give you a definitive answer, but I can give you a few suggestions.

I do use MobileSheets on a Windows laptop, and it works great.  I also have a MobileSheets on an iPad, and I can tell you that the song files and setlist files are completely compatible and can be used on both devices.

I would think that one thing to watch out for would be the Windows mouse functionality - highlighting, copy, paste, right click functions, that kind of stuff.  I don't know how a 2 in 1 handles that when it goes from laptop to tablet mode.

Thinking about a 10 year old 2 in 1, I can tell you that hardware does matter.  I have a friend who runs MobileSheets on an inexpensive Surface tablet, and it is a little underpowered, and MobileSheets does run a little slowly.  But, we can also trade song and setlist files back and forth without any problems.

The Windows Store has a trial version of MobileSheets that you can install, maybe give it a try on your existing 2 in 1 and see what you think.

[BRX]

Have used it for quite some time first on a Surface Pro than a Surface Book. Worked well and if I had (few) problems than it was mostly because all the other stuff I stufffed on the 2in1 additionally consuming space and memory (though I consider it an advantage to have something like Musescore or Band-in-a-box also on the tablet). Also it's great to be able to install it on other PCs and to sync and manage your database there without the need of a companion.

I'm using it on an iPad now though because after all it is more fluid than the other alternatives (and I'm saying this as an absolute hater of iOS and the restrictions of the Apple universe).
And the prize of MobileSheets is so low it shouldn't matter if you later decide to switch to iPad (or Android) and have to shell it out for the other platform (I myself have it for all three since I started with Android when MobileSheets was only available for that).

[GraemeJ]

Android based tablets are really cheap, compared to Windows and IOS devices.  My advice would be to buy an Android tablet and use it exclusively for MS.

[ghmerrill]

I am using Mobilesheets on both a Windows "2 in 1" laptop and a Chromebook.  It does not play particularly well with the Chromebook in several respects, but my intention is to use the Chromebook as my Mobilesheets "content management system" along with Google Drive, and use the Windows system as my "display" device.

As a result, I dragged my Windows laptop out of the drawer to which I'd sentenced it (I hate Windows in general), detached the keyboard, and have declared it a special use tablet for Mobilesheets.  It's working quite well (modulo needing a new battery since it's 8 years old at this point -- it's getting that this week).  I have had some glitches with it in editing Setlists, but I'm not sure those are Windows specific and won't go into them here.

My system is a Thinkpad X1 Tablet, 1st Gen, 20GG, manufacturing date is 2016, I bought it new in 2018.  It's running Win 11 Pro, does have 8G of memory and a fast processor (it used to be a development system for me), but I'd be surprised if that makes a difference in running MobileSheets.

I have found that it is better to pull the keyboard off and use the Thinkpad as a straightforward tablet (whether in "tablet mode" or not), at least while using it to read music, and then just attach the keyboard if you have a real need for it.

[mdavej]

I've used Mobile Sheets on a Windows laptop for years. Works great. I've also used it on Android for years. Also works great there. Bandmates of mine use it on iOS as well. Works fine.

For a new purchase, I highly recommend skipping the 2-in-1 Windows laptop mainly due to cost and heft. I agree iPads are also quite expensive. But my Lenovo P12 Android tablet was well under $300 new and works great as a gig tablet as well for entertainment, checking email and surfing the net back in the hotel room or on a plane. It's also thinner and lighter than any 2-in-1. The only caveat is if you do a lot of outdoor gigs, the display is going to wash out in direct sunlight on any device besides e-ink. So you may want to consider that. I can usually manage by finding a shady spot.

[rlindx]

I use MobileSheets on two Windows devices -- a Microsoft Surface Pro 9, and a Lenovo Flex 2-in-1.

If you plan to annotate the music, I'd think you'd want a device with a touchscreen / stylus, so I wonder how viable your decade-old laptop really is.

I bought the Lenovo as a replacement for an older laptop, and because it has a larger screen than the Surface Pro.  Overall, though, I find the Surface Pro to be more satisfactory than the Lenovo -- The Surface Pro runs much longer (10hr+) on a charge, while I begin to sweat about the Lenovo after 3hr; and while the Lenovo's screen is wider than the Surface Pro's, it's no taller, so I really can't display any more of a piece on the Lenovo than I can on Surface Pro.

I find MobileSheets itself to run fine on both devices.

[RAc]

i am using MSP on a Microsoft Surface Pro tablet running Windows 10. It works well. For battery life and sunlight readability reasons, I will switch to an Ebook reader, either a Boox Go or a Boox Air (the latter being more attractive as it also features optional built in lighting, so both dark cellars and outdoor gigs are covered).