Many people are now choosing Tablet PCs over full sized laptops because they are smaller and make you look cool but when you are out on the road away from home or the office the limits of tablet operating systems may make them seem more like a toy then something you can really be productive on.
If you are meeting with a client and you need to give them sales figures or produce a last minute presentation the use of a remote desktop client will allow you to log into your home or business computer and access the full array of applications you need to get your work done.
Whether you are using a windows based tablet or an android or iPad there are versions of VNC that will allow you to access a remote computer but not all remote desktop applications work with the same ability as you may have been accustomed to on your laptop.
Accessing pointers on the remote computer means a complex translation of the touch screen to your remote mouse. In addition keyboards are smaller so don’t expect to perform complex and extensive work from your iPad quickly.
Another drawback is that many of the newer clients do not have full function. You will find that although you can access your videos the ability of the vnc client software may not be able to transfer sound. In addition you have to consider the speed of your connections and understand that there will be some loss and differences when using apps that require additional processing and bandwidth. Remember although most cable companies provide great download speeds the upload speeds tend to be rather pitiful.
With all of these factors in mind the ability to access your computer remotely is a big asset and when selecting which remote control app you should use you will be faced with a number of considerations of ease vs functionality and also cost.
If you are using an iPad then you can browse the store for downloadable apps
Mocha VNC Lite is a free ipad app that you can try and you will need to install server software on your desktop computer.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mocha-vnc-lite/
Screens is another VNC app that is payware although it is highly rated. Check to see if you can get a free demo of this app before you buy.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/screens/
Real VNC is a commercial app that works on Windows Unix and Mac platforms
Chicken of the VNC is a VNC client for Mac OS X. A VNC client allows one to display and interact with a remote computer screen. In other words, you can use Chicken of the VNC to interact with a remote computer as though it’s right next to you.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/cotvnc/
Final Note
There are a number of VNC Clients and Servers out there that you can get for free so I would start with a free product to make sure that basic connectivity is something you can make use of before you put down money for a pay app that you may never use.
Extending your productivity with remote apps is a great way to extend your computing power in the field and lets face it if you are on a tablet pc then you need all the help you can get.
Using this tool to its fullest ability will mean you need to have great connections on both your tablet and your remote computer. It will also mean that you need to manage the learning curve of securing your connection with firewalls and address any protocol problems you may have with your client or server network. In other words if you are blocked then this tool is useless.
