Laptop? Tablet + keyboard? SO very confused!! :(

Arrrrrgh! I am half bald from pulling at my hair, trying to make a decision about WHAT to purchase for my business. I've spent the last 3 weeks visiting different tech review sites and the actual manufacturer's sites and honestly, there are just TOO MANY DARN CHOICES and I'm stalled out. My last tech purchase was over 3 years ago and since then, the choices have exploded into my personal overload.

I need some fresh eyes and opinions on this topic as I'm frankly burnt out on researching it myself.

What I need:

1) As a landscape architect who's owned their own company for 24 years, I need a dedicated laptop (I think), that allows me to do 8-10 straight hours of proposals, research, billing and answer an obscene amount of client emails.

2) A tablet that is my hard-core Work Horse while away from the office that allows me to check emails and respond, check radar, do research on plants/items, and especially take photos of job sites, pre and post construction.

What I own:

1) An antiquated ASUS netbook (8 years old?) that has the obsolete Windows XP. I've been told to just recycle it as it can't be updated to Windows 8. Very light weight and tiny, it was perfect prior to a tablet's invention.

2) My personal 'God Device'...the original 3G Froyo Samsung Galaxy tablet that is now almost 3 years old! When I purchased it, there were only 2 tablets in the World: the original iPad (had no camera!) and the Gal Tab. It is worth it's weight in GOLD to me and is used 24 hours a day by me. Yes, that's the truth! Contacts, camera, 3G (which newer tablets don't have!), and I use it as my alarm/radio.

3) 2 laptops: an 8 year old Gateway and a 12 year old Sony Vaio. Both have been updated to the last point that they can be, since they are only single core processors. The Sony is super tiny and light weight but is constantly stalling out on me and the Gateway is an absolute anvil, weighing as much as a small toddler! I only travel with it when I'm forced to do extreme paperwork.

4) A 4 year old $9.00 Samsung flip phone that I picked up at Walmart. I absolutely refuse to own a Smartphone for many reasons: a) dismal battery life! 4-8 hours of alleged battery life vs my 9 DAYS OF TALK TIME! b) Theft factor! I'm not dying over someone wanting my smart phone! c) Fragility: I work construction. 100% of my employees with smartphones have destroyed them at the job sites and are at their 3rd or 4th replacement...if they have insurance. The rest of them talk with their busted up screens taped together. d) Constant chronic "new & improved" smartphones that come out every 4 months. I own a phone to TALK, maybe text a 6 word reply. That's it. My tablet is to me, what a smartphone is to others.

My tech ecosystem:

A Windows/Samsung Gal from the git-go, all my emails are from Outlook, I use Windows Office and Excel. I have 24 years of saved files on Hotmail/Outlook, Office and Excel and really don't want to transfer them to another OS or iOS.

I truly love Windows because I'm a) used to it and b) as an artist, I love the graphic nature of it's home page. I can't stand chrome, safari or other browsers and I've tried them all and deleted them. I currently use I.E.

What I need:

This is the problem. There are SO many hybrids of things out there now, I'm just stumped.

a) I'm an expert SWYPE'r but am NOT going to use SWYPE to write up a 3 hour proposal!! I need a real keyboard that my arms can rest upon so I don't go insane with proposals/billing. I've looked at Microsoft's Surface tablet with keyboard but don't believe it will work for many reasons: a) the keyboard isn't elevated and I don't want to buy a wireless keyboard; I want it attached to the screen. I don't believe the Surface tablet will do what I need it to do at the job sites, mainly take photos and allow me to SWYPE messages and tiny answers to emails.

b) The Galaxy Line: why the heck does Samsung need to make it so difficult??? Galaxy Pro, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Blah-Blah...and not a single one of them has 3G capacity any longer. Boo! Hiss!

When the Galaxy Note line came out, I was 100% convinced that that was what I was going to purchase, along with a new laptop. But, not a single Galaxy Note is available with 3G and at raw job sites, I must have access to the internet, somehow. My poor 3 year old Samsung Galaxy is on it's last gasp of working.

Why I want the Note: my job is all about "visualization." If I can take photos of an existing job, use the split screen and annotate what the NEW landscape will look like to show the client, it will give me a huge boost in business!

c) Laptops. Companies that were fantastic are no longer. I am absolutely NOT interested in a Chrome book as I hate Chrome for a search engine and I need a dedicated hard drive to store over 10,000 landscape photos to reference for jobs and showcase to clients. As I previously mentioned, many job sites have no electric so therefore there's no WiFi and with photos stored on my hard drive, I can pull up each folder with ease.

I was a dedicated SONY gal but they seem to have missed the last boat on Technology. Gateway 'was' good but reviews of the newest models are dismal, along with HP.

If I'm absolutely FORCED INTO IT, I'll pick up a Galaxy 5" Note from my carrier (as a second line), so I can get 3G service. But, I was going after the 8" or 10" Note originally, to showcase landscape photos.

So, there you have it. I need to replace my tablet due to age and my laptop, too, for the same reason. I bought a book on Windows 8 and have been reading it in advance of owning one so that's not a stumbling block. What IS the stumbling block is the sheer amount of choices and hybrids out there which has stymied me, but good.

I would love a fresh set of eyes helping me out with these burdensome problems. Thanks in advance to anyone who can take the time to read my post and reply.