It's been ages since I bought a computer or a tablet. Well, perhaps not. I did have to get rid of my trusty, aging Nexus 7 tablet a year ago after I dropped it on the floor and cracked the screen. The Asus Zenpad 8 has been a perfect, sturdy replacement. Prior to this, I'd have to check to find when we purchased a Windows machine.
Firstly, my frustration with an underpowered Acer One V5 is a major reason I'm prompted to make a new purchase. It was perfect for my final year teaching as I needed something light to plug into LED screens in BCIT classrooms. It has just an 11" screen and travels well. I've been retired three years this month, so it is getting long in the tooth. The old netbook came with Win8 installed. It now runs Win10 abet slowly; in fact, too slowly to constructively get much work done. The Acer is not especially light for such a small device either.
Secondly, our current laptop has a big 17.3" screen and generally sits on the dining table. In fact, I'm writing this entry on the Toshiba Satellite now. It's much more productive than trying to use a tablet or phone. This computer, bought in 2013, travelled to both Mexico and Egypt for our winters away. It is nice to have a large screen, but it is like trying to carry around a small boat anchor. I just can't picture lugging it to Malaysia and Cambodia during the next four and a half months.
For these two reasons, I have decided to get an Asus 13.3" Zenbook Flip. As a new UX370 has been released, the older UX360 model is coming on sale. I think it may work for me, although there are cheaper, options. It would be nice to have a little SSD HD rather than a larger, more fragile hard disk. (The only one I ever had to replace in the last thirty years was on the laptop I'm using now. It got banged when going to and coming from Mexico.) Also, I'm willing to pay a bit of a premium to get its touchscreen functionality. The keyboard can be flipped and the screen used like a tablet. Even though I am perfectly happy with Android screens, I may get more use out of a combo device.
So it's time to visit BestBuy. I haven't been in one in years, but writing this message has convinced me ... I might as well.