Tablets?

Good point on the keyboard. Most of character building can be done by clicking on the appropriate power/skill/disadvantage, but there is some typing involved -- if nothing else, naming the character file so I can save it.

I won't actually be writing Java code, but Hero Designer is a JAR file. So if I were to get an Android tablet, I'd have to tinker with it.

It might be simpler to leave Hero Designer on the laptop, and just use a tablet (if I get one) as a rulebook/scenario library. That Kickstarter is getting me six or so long PDFs, and I've got several other gaming books in that format as well.

So far, all the Windows tablets I've seen have been more expensive than my laptop. Granted, the laptop isn't a touchscreen.

No matter what you're going to be using it for, I'd suggest getting a laptop with Windows 8 (which you'll be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free pretty soon, if you want to). There are a lot of what's called "hybrid laptops" or "2-in-1 laptops" on the market right now and with Windows 10 coming out soon there are going to be more to choose from and they're possibly going to become cheaper very soon as well.

In case you've never heard of it before, a hybrid laptop is a regular laptop with a screen that either folds completely over, so you can stand it up like a tablet, or even remove the screen completely and literally use it as a tablet with a full on touch screen. Since it's Windows based you won't have any trouble with lacking Java support and you get the best of both worlds. The full functionality of a laptop when the screen is docked and the convenience of a tablet when it's not.

A little Googling told me that you can get a good hybrid/2-in-1 laptop for around $600 - $2,000, depending on what you want it to do. According to most tests I've found, the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 is the best one, but it's also a little pricey and might be able to do more than you need it to. Acer, Asus and Lenovo (Lenovo seems to have the biggest selection) all make cheaper ones. Depending on what you want to use it for, you might want to tread cautiously though. Many models don't have an optical drive and a few are WiFi only, so if you want to be able to connect it to your network via ethernet cable, that's something you should be asking about at the store/looking for on the web before buying.

A friend of mine just bought the Asus Transformer Book T200 and is very happy with it. He's a truck driver and primarily uses it to surf the web, read and write email and watch movies when he's on long trips. The only downside with this model, compared to other, more expensive ones, is that the display isn't in full HD. It still gives a good, crisp picture though and at only around $550 it's probably the cheapest of the best.

I believe there's more future in this design than in real tablets. As I've said many times before, I don't know if the tablet is an underdeveloped concept, or the smart phone just evolved faster than anyone anticipated when they started making tablets, but at this point, tablets are more or less just overgrown smart phones. There's very little you can do with a tablet that you can't do with your phone these days (besides better being able to see stuff on the bigger screen). Many people - myself included - were hoping the tablet would be more of a smart phone/laptop crossover than it ended up being. We may finally be getting that now with these hybrids.

I would personally stick with the laptop either way. I can't really picture a situation where I'd want or need to detatch the screen, so I'd probably end up leaving it docked all the time anyway.

Just thought I'd mention it, since you do seem to have that need and I didn't know if you were aware of the hybrids/2-in-1's.