Deciding on a Win8 Tablet - Windows 8 General

I have made up my mind that I want to upgrade from my old iPad 2 to an x86 Win8 tablet, but I have been trying to decide which one to get. The Surface Pro 2 looks nice, but the battery life seems a bit lacking from reviews that I have seen, and Bay Trail seems to be reasonably powerful for a cheaper cost and longer life, but I'm still unsure. The main reason I want a Win8 tablet is PC gaming. I know I won't be able to run games anywhere near the highest settings; I just want to run them, period. Would Bay Trail suffice, or do I need an i-series processor to get reasonable gaming capability? Second, I want the tablet to have a digitizer & stylus. I have been totally spoiled by my Galaxy Note 2, and now I use it to take notes in all my classes, but would appreciate the extra screen real estate. As for price, I don't want to spend over a grand for a tablet, as I already have a primary Windows machine. I would like the tablet to get at least 6 hours of battery (The Acer Iconia W700 originally caught my eye thanks to its 8 hours), since I'm used to iPad-length use and would like to have something that can at least manage 3/4ths of that. The Dell Latitude 11 looks promising, but with no confirmation on a US release date nor the cost of options, I'm not sure if it is worth the wait. Opinions?

I have an intel core i3 laptop running at 1.8ghz with the default intel HD4000 graphics. Runs BF3 on minimum *just* and skyrim with a config hack. I doubt baytrail will run either one at all sadly. Surface pro will definitely run both (and thanks to the updated graphics may not require the config hack, if not all you need is notepad to fix skyrim), its more powerful than my laptop is, just lacking in battery department as you say and rather expensive.
I would perhaps look on youtube for when people start posting their own unboxing videos and ask them *nicely* if they could test X program. Youtube user robaxx did a few demos of user requests with his clovertrail device.
If gaming wasnt a requirement baytrail would probably be overqualified immediately. The old atom chips from netbooks were quite happy with office and visual studio etc, VLC even seems capable of decoding 1080p video on my brothers 1.3ghz netbook (however he only has a 1024*600 screen or something so it certainly doesnt play at 1080p, the video file is natively 1080p). However minecraft with the optifine mod still only squeezes 15fps on both tiny and short render (seriously, same on both distances, weird).

I have this one and absolutely love it. It's a little bulkier than the Surface but runs really well. The only minor complaint I have is that the screen prevents you from viewing from multiple angles (basically the screen gets dark when looking at it from the side).
Otherwise, it's fantastic! I use it as a tablet most of the time, but having the option to connect to a keyboard with an extra battery and USB/HDMI ports really comes in handy.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/split-x...pp04-102?id=1219018164751&skuId=9432051&st=hp split x2&cp=1&lp=1

Related

Is the Acer Iconia W510 the way to go?

Price wise, it is really catching my eye, although I'm speaking the "Tablet" only.
I feel as though the dock bundle is a bit pricey. $750.
Anyone have this & want to share a mini review or an alternative peice of hardware in comparison, value wise?
Genjinaro said:
Price wise, it is really catching my eye, although I'm speaking the "Tablet" only.
I feel as though the dock bundle is a bit pricey. $750.
Anyone have this & want to share a mini review or an alternative peice of hardware in comparison, value wise?
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Got to get that x86 processor. Prices for intel w8 tablets should drop around $500 soon. $750 is way too much for a glorified netbook.
True... Hell, surface really screwed the new wave of Windows, price wise.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
What happened to it?
The Acer W510 tablets have been yanked off all the Best Buy and Future Shop web sites - like it never existed? Anybody hear what happened?
Probably because it has only 32GB. For full Win8, that means only a few GB remains for data use. There's no space for anything else. It's not a usable device.
Perhaps not so coincidentally, the 32GB W510 is available now in MS Store as a $399 Cyber Monday deal.
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/Acer-Iconia-W510-1674-Tablet/productID.258447300
I'm definitely planning on getting this device..at the price point it seems to offer the most bang for the buck. I like the size and weight and think it'll serve its purpose (consumption tablet w/ the ability to run full xbmc and ACTUAL desktop web pages) just fine. Aside from its lack of availability the only other thing I'm waiting for is a more detailed video review. In the meantime I've found this:
http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Iconia-W...dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
Samsung Series 7 Slate equals win.
Genjinaro said:
Price wise, it is really catching my eye, although I'm speaking the "Tablet" only.
I feel as though the dock bundle is a bit pricey. $750.
Anyone have this & want to share a mini review or an alternative peice of hardware in comparison, value wise?
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I have the Samsung Series 7 slate that came with Windows 7. I love it, with Win8 that is. It has 64gb of space and you can add a microsd as well. Also has the i5 processor and 4gb ram. You can get one on eBay for maybe 600 or less tablet only. I was tempted a bit by the new Ativ 500, but it has the atom processor and half the ram. They are releasing a new series 7 but really pricey. Get the series 7 with win 7, pay the 40 for the upgrade and you won't regret it.:good:
Spectredroid said:
I have the Samsung Series 7 slate that came with Windows 7. I love it, with Win8 that is. It has 64gb of space and you can add a microsd as well. Also has the i5 processor and 4gb ram. You can get one on eBay for maybe 600 or less tablet only. I was tempted a bit by the new Ativ 500, but it has the atom processor and half the ram. They are releasing a new series 7 but really pricey. Get the series 7 with win 7, pay the 40 for the upgrade and you won't regret it.:good:
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for me it becomes a question of battery life and portability..how does it fare in those areas? If I didn't already have a laptop, I can defly see a home application for it. But I'm looking for something that I can take on the road
Yep.
KERKEDAGAIN said:
for me it becomes a question of battery life and portability..how does it fare in those areas? If I didn't already have a laptop, I can defly see a home application for it. But I'm looking for something that I can take on the road
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I take it with me everywhere. The 11.6 really to me is great. I mean, obviously it is a little bigger, but the screen resolution is so nice it is great. I got the Samsung Book cover for it, and carry it with me no problems. I had a 10.1 sammy gtab before. Battery life is good, except if you watch a lot of video, then it sucks it up. but that is true with any tablet. It lasts me all day though. I have never had to charge it before maybe 8 in the evening. The thing that is great over every tablet I have seen running win8 is no lag at all. I mean this thing is butter smooth. I have replaced my laptop completely with this. It runs desktop software great. Some are not made for touch though, so the stylus make that experience much better. If you want, the bluetooth keyboard works very well too.
For me, i'm still haven't decided between asus vivobook and acer iconia w7.
I still can't decided which form factor i want, a tablet or a touch screen laptop.
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The Vivo is nice, but I just can't get with rt only. I really like win8, I think is great for a tablet, and if you want something this is completely usable, rt just isn't there yet. Surface pro will be out, but 1 grand. Stiff. 4 hours battery life. Bummer. I love the form factor though. :good:
Spectredroid said:
I take it with me everywhere. The 11.6 really to me is great. I mean, obviously it is a little bigger, but the screen resolution is so nice it is great. I got the Samsung Book cover for it, and carry it with me no problems. I had a 10.1 sammy gtab before. Battery life is good, except if you watch a lot of video, then it sucks it up. but that is true with any tablet. It lasts me all day though. I have never had to charge it before maybe 8 in the evening. The thing that is great over every tablet I have seen running win8 is no lag at all. I mean this thing is butter smooth. I have replaced my laptop completely with this. It runs desktop software great. Some are not made for touch though, so the stylus make that experience much better. If you want, the bluetooth keyboard works very well too.
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I'm pretty amazed that a past generation i5 processor can last you all day.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834110479
That's cheap, and has a great Reslolution, for 300 bucks. It's got an atom, but it's cheaper than the Iconia, with double the storage. You'll have to install 8 through USB, though.
jrk190 said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834110479
That's cheap, and has a great Reslolution, for 300 bucks. It's got an atom, but it's cheaper than the Iconia, with double the storage. You'll have to install 8 through USB, though.
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That is a headache waiting to happen. The processor is far too weak to get any real use out of it, even with an SSD.
Sometimes its worth saving just a little extra.
This device is a great tablet at a great price
I got the iconia W510 and I have to admin that I love it. It will take a little time to get used to the windows 8 gestures but after that it works very well. Also the $400 price tag is a steal for a fully x86 compatible tablet. Even though it has only the Atom clover trail, it's fast enough and does not really lag. It can do hbo-go from the browser with no issues. The screen is beautiful and clear. It also has NFC even though that does not seem to be advertised and not sure what it could be used for yet.... And for the record I am NOT a Microsoft fan boy, I have an IPad 3, an iPad mini, iPhone 5 and still love those devices but I got to admit that this tablet is great and I can use it to replace my laptop using the BT keyboard and mouse. I just need to get the keyboard dock and that can definitely replace a work laptop...
I decided on this device w/keyboard dock for these personal reasons:
not RT - 'nuff said
price - ivy bridge would be great, but not at those prices, I just assume sacrifice the hybrid flexibility and get a kick-ass ultrabook
size - 11.6" is cool for a notebook, but too cumbersome for a tablet
keyboard dock - it's very stable when docked and easy to connect/disconnect, the Asus less so, and I've heard multiple complaints of the Samsung Ativ frequently losing its connection altogether (no keyboard response), not acceptable
battery life - can work all day while docked and still have a fully charged tablet battery, the surface pro estimates are pathetic
storage - wish it had more on-board, I eliminated any 32 gb model from consideration
performance - granted, there's a hit compared to ivy bridge, but no doubt clover trail is an improvement over the previous atom, so far this has not been an issue for what I do with the device
For sure, my purchase decision is filled with compromises and trade-offs, but I guess that's how it is when considering a 1st-generation hybrid. I could have waited for the next gen when there will likely be less trade-offs and better values. But no, I wanted one of these now! I'm loving the flexibility of having a laptop and tablet in one device, and being able to run x86 apps helps make up for stuff lacking in the Windows store (i.e. DropBox).
Anyone able to comment on multitasking and gaming? specifically what is gaming like on the devcice. I know you wont get performance when playing games like modern warfare crysis etc but whats it like on the tablet games angry birds/jetpack joyride/riptide gp etc? I want something purely for consumption multimedia light gaming and internet surfing streaming, and am trying to deciede between intel and rt.
blucmal said:
Anyone able to comment on multitasking and gaming? specifically what is gaming like on the devcice. I know you wont get performance when playing games like modern warfare crysis etc but whats it like on the tablet games angry birds/jetpack joyride/riptide gp etc? I want something purely for consumption multimedia light gaming and internet surfing streaming, and am trying to deciede between intel and rt.
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I have the Asus Vivo Tab 11.6" one with Clover Trail processor like the Acer W510 and it does all the games from the Windows store quite well. It does Pinball FX2, and RIptide perfectly smooth. Hydro Thunder for some reason isn't as smooth on some parts but still smooth enough to be playable. I even installed Iron Man PC game from 2007 and it plays really well. Even the newest Google earth with 3d buildings works decently, but it sometimes crashes the graphics driver.
Multitasking is very smooth. When installing apps I can tell it takes like twice as long as an I5 or I7 PC but there's no lag at least. Switching between apps is very fast and smooth no matter what I have running on the background.
I have the Samsung 500T. I picked it because I wanted a 11.6 inch tablet for the more spacious keyboard. I had a real bad time with Acer's TF300 keyboard being too small and worried the W510 would be a similar experience.
That said. I do hate how slick the back of the 500T is. And it's really bad with 1080p videos. A reviewer mentioned their 500T had problems with 1080p also, but the W510 had no problems at all. So hopefully it's not a hardware limitation and Samsung can fix this eventually.
It's a shame so many Windows 8 Atom tablets have been delayed until mid January. Had I more patience, I probably should have waited. I think I might have liked the HP Envy X2 more. The ASUS seems to be out of the question with it's crazy price tag of $800 just for the tablet.
As for multitasking. I try to do it sparingly. And I avoid doing anything at all while x86 apps are installing as it's very laggy. I tend to spend most of my time with desktop apps. On the Windows 8 (Metro) those apps usually fly (as long as they don't involve playing 1080p videos).
Hey guys...typing this from the w510 keyboard dock I got from acer today. I bought my 32gb w510 from microcenter for $399 plus tax. Keyboard was $160 shipped. I've been using the keyboard for 10 minutes and will say I freaking love it. I guess I'm just so attracted to the functionality that a keyboard/touchpad add (had the original asus transformer). feels even more natural in the windows 8 environment.
The tablet itself is very lightweight, and I personally really like how it looks, the white trim, silver back, clean design. yes its plastic but mine feels really good.
Now for you guys new to the w510 there are some possible game breakers for you as far as bugs...
Sound will randomally just die and you have to restart the tablet to get it back. This has NOT happened to me since I installed the latest bios/drivers. Similarly, it has frozen on me a couple times, again - this has not happened to me since the drivers. Finally there is a big issue with the touchpad becoming wildly inaccurate. theres a debate whether that's a hardware issue or driver issue. Mine has not gone bonkers yet.
I gotta say I really like this tablet overall... especially with the dock for the price. My nexus 10 arrived today, I'm only keeping one of them.... I'll be honest and say its gonna be really hard to give up the w510 because of the overall package.
Those interested in gaming - the atom is not graphics friendly but it will play the windows store games. Performance wise, the atom should deliver similar non gaming/graphics functionality to that of the n10's xyneos (spelling) - I believe anandtech did a comparison on this.

[Q]Best tablet/laptop to develop ON?

My main, 4-5 year old macbook pro, seems to slowly be dying. HDD making weird noises, dead pixels on edges, power randomly turning off all the way, the works. I know some of this stuff is fixable, and I'll probably come around to it later, but right now I'm looking into getting a new computer, preferably a windows 8/ windows 8.1. While looking around for what my replacement would be, I know that some tablets, such as the surface pro, run windows 8. I think it would be cool to have a computer i could develop on and then go to class and turn it into a tablet and take notes on it. I don't know much about development, since I am a noob at it, and I'm going to collage in computer science next year, I don't know much about computer specifications for development. So, what would be a good choice for a tablet pc for developing? I do understand that a laptop or a full on PC would probably be better, but I'm just looking at options right now.
The main criteria for serious development (note: nothing you do in the first year or two of a CS curriculum is likely to qualify, unless you're going to MIT or something) are:
A) High-resolution display (1920 x 1080 is what I'd consider to be the bare minimum for a dev box) with a large enough screen that you can read it easily at default DPI. This is needed so you can have multiple code views, or code + documentation, open at once.
B) A pretty good supply of RAM. Depending on the languages and IDEs you're using, and the size of the code bases you're working on, just what is *enough* RAM will vary, but I wouldn't want to use anything less than around 8GB in a dev box. That lets me have multiple IDEs open, and a ton of browser tabs and history (for documentation), all at the same time without swapping.
C) SSD if you can afford it; the performance boost on stuff like compiling is substantial. You'll want to make sure you have plenty of space, though; source code even for large projects is only occasionally into and rarely much past single-digits of gigabytes, but the full repository history for a long-running project can be huge, and you will probably want to have room for virtual machines too (which are literally full additional OS installations) so you can test on different systems, or learn to develop for both Windows and Linux on the same machine, etc.
D) A really good keyboard is a must. You'll spend a long time using it, and you'll use a lot of weird keys that you aren't used to hitting right now. You want a full keyboard (no missing keys; did you know that there are actually times when Scroll Lock is useful? No joke...) with full-sized key-spacings (a cramped keyboard will slow you down and be uncomfortable really quickly). What type of "feel" you want to the keyboard is up to you, but most people really like the Lenovo keyboards for laptops, for example; your basic cheap membrane keyboard is probably *not* going to be pleasant to use.
Surface Pro 2 might work, if you got the Type Cover, but I wouldn't really recommend it. You want a bigger display on a dev box, usually, and the keyboard is optimized for everyday use but not for development.
Different people have different preferences for development machines. However I think GoodDayToDies suggestions are all good ones.
I am currently a first year computer science student at the university of northampton. I went with just getting a laptop rather than a tablet hybrid of some sort. Ultimately settled on the HP Sleekbook 14. Its only an intel core i3 @1.8ghz with HD4000 graphics and 6gb of RAM, but for everything you do in first and 2nd year (and potentially 3rd if there is a 3rd year not really sure how things work in the US) thats actually plenty powerful. It isn't a solid state drive, which would have been nice. There is only one criticism with it for programming and that is the screen resolution, at 14" the physical size is fine, but it is only 1366*768 which I can fit my stuff onto but it would be much nicer to have a higher res screen as with a higher res you can fit more code on without having to decrease font sizes or hide task bars in your IDE or whatever (I decrease font size and unpin the solution explorer and toolbox etc in visual studio, eclipse I dont unpin anything because I am still trying to get used to it, its only when you use something else that you realise how good visual studio is).
I did computer science as one of my A-Level subjects. I didn't bother with getting a laptop for that, I used the school machines in lesson, took bus home, used my desktop PC at home (and seeming as I commute to northampton daily from home instead of staying on halls, I can still do the same, but for convenience sake I use the laptop still, with my setup its more comfortable). I did have a friend though that didn't have a desktop PC at home or anything, his only computer was a 10" netbook, 1.3ghz dual core atom on 1gb of RAM and one of those really sucky 600p displays. He did his entire A-Level computing coursework on it, didn't use the school machines for anything other than testing and viewing documentation (as in that school we weren't allowed details for the WiFi which also had a hidden SSID, even if we did connect to the network via wifi or plain old ethernet, there was a proxy server nobody had details for either, so no internet for unauthorised machines). He was perfectly happy to bash out code on a tiny keyboard and only see a few lines of it at one time, I really wouldnt recommend it though. Visual studio was also perfectly happy to run on that machine (albeit with about a 10 minute load time when first opening it), compiled and debugged ASP.net applications perfectly fine too.
Under default settings in eclipse and with the console window thing pinned open at the bottom of the display. I can fit 28 lines of code on a 768 pixel tall screen.
Tablets for taking notes dont last long. Only people still doing that since the beginning of term are either using a surface with touch cover and typing yet still having a pad of paper for drawing diagrams or there are 2 people with surface pro's who use the digitiser stylus. Under lecture note taking conditions capacitive pens and virtual keyboards dont cut it. Also seen a small handful of people using bluetooth keyboards with iPads. One of the 2 surface pro guys does also use the surface in lab sessions for doing his work, the other switches to a uni machine. If your fine with a small keyboard then yeah, you might be able to do devwork on a surface pro, but there are @"keys"^Which>'R'|arely {if ever} get touched during daily usage; They are often placed on smaller buttons on smaller keyboards, much harder to hit. If your going to spend a few seconds trying to hit shift+2 to type a " (I'm british, our keyboards arent the same) then its going to slow you down considerably, my mate with the netbook didn't have a problem with this, I couldnt do it though. I have used the apple wireless keyboard and can type reasonably well on that (even though its about netbook size), but I cannot use it for programming, although in my case thats because apple are morons who don't know what a british keyboard looks like so the symbols are in the wrong place for me (their idea of a british layout keyboard, because they do sell one, is slap a £ sign on the 3 key and give us a double height enter/return key, that is it, all of their changes), that wouldnt effect you in the US.
I would say anything with a core i3/i5 or even i7 will have the CPU horsepower to get your work done.
For first year stuff I highly doubt more than 4gb of RAM will be needed. but I will recommend 6-8 anyway for future proofing.
Unless you are doing a specialised pathway with graphics or gaming, don't bother with an integrated GPU, you won't really need it.
1366*768 screen res should be the absolute bare minimum, 1080p highly recommended though. When this machine is replaced one day, I will definitely be going 1080p.
You need a keyboard which is comfortable to use. Go to best buy or whoever else sells computers out there, use a few machines, see what features you do or do not want.
I cannot recommend something 10" in size for most people. I use 14", I wouldnt go smaller than 13". For that reason I wouldn't recommend a convertible. If you were to go convertible, at least go active digitiser to make up for it. Some of my lectures I just type up, most I just go old fashioned with active digitiser mk1 (also known as pen and paper).
I am however looking at either the dell venue 8 pro or the EVGA tegra note tablets as a note taking tool. Can't really justify the expense though on something that would purely be that, a note taking tool.
4 GB of RAM should be enough unless you plan to use emulators. If you use emulators, you might wanna boost that up to 8.
A video card is also useful, regardless of how "weak" performance it has in gaming. If you use a CPU built-in one, you will lose up to 1 GB of RAM depending on what you do.
The display is probably the most important of them all. You will spend lots of time looking at it trying to figure out what is going wrong, and if your eyes do not agree with the display, you will find your efficiency greatly reduced.

[Q] should i buy acer w700 tablet ?

hello all,
my university gives a 400 pounds credit to buy from studentstore.uk i was planning to get a windows 8 tab but they dont stock sony,asus or dell products .i was planning to get a baytrail tablet like dell venue pro 11.with a maximum budget of 600 pounds(400+200).
so my only option is to get an acer w700 with i3,4gb ram 64 gb memory available for 570 pounds.or wait till samsung,lenovo and acer brings in 10-11 inch baytrail tablet.
so do you think its a good idea to get w700 or just wait till others comes with baytrail tablets(any idea when on earth they will launch it ).?
At this late date, what you see (in the MS store) are what'll be available for this Q4.
My suggestion is to ignore the one-device-fits-all PR hype and get two devices: a 12"-13" laptop for productivity, and a separate tablet for portable use. The meat-and-potato work box comes first, obviously. For my college days, I used a 12" IBM Thinkpad X series, which I lugged everywhere. It wasn't light, but it was built like a tank. The bottom line for me wasn't about best speed or battery life, but good old reliability.
rkoforever90 said:
hello all,
my university gives a 400 pounds credit to buy from studentstore.uk i was planning to get a windows 8 tab but they dont stock sony,asus or dell products .i was planning to get a baytrail tablet like dell venue pro 11.with a maximum budget of 600 pounds(400+200).
so my only option is to get an acer w700 with i3,4gb ram 64 gb memory available for 570 pounds.or wait till samsung,lenovo and acer brings in 10-11 inch baytrail tablet.
so do you think its a good idea to get w700 or just wait till others comes with baytrail tablets(any idea when on earth they will launch it ).?
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Your choice definitely depends on what you plan to do with it. Do you want something that will serve as a PC as well as a tablet, or just a portable typing device, or just for entertainment? I've also heard that those who do computer science/programming degrees, you'll want something a lot more powerful. However, for humanities subjects, i'm sure an i3 will be just fine.
If you ask me, you should never get anything Acer made.
SammiSaysHello said:
Your choice definitely depends on what you plan to do with it. Do you want something that will serve as a PC as well as a tablet, or just a portable typing device, or just for entertainment? I've also heard that those who do computer science/programming degrees, you'll want something a lot more powerful. However, for humanities subjects, i'm sure an i3 will be just fine.
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i dont want an ultra book or laptop since i already have a laptop.i want a windows 8 tablet which is thin light and with good battery backup.
Deusdies said:
If you ask me, you should never get anything Acer made.
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i had acer desktop (in 2005) then an acer laptop (bought in 2009) and then another one in 2011(which iam still using) my brother has an acer s3 ultrabook.
i never had any problem with acer till now, also one of my relative works at acer service centre.
rkoforever90 said:
i had acer desktop (in 2005) then an acer laptop (bought in 2009) and then another one in 2011(which iam still using) my brother has an acer s3 ultrabook.
i never had any problem with acer till now, also one of my relative works at acer service centre.
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My experience with the acer repair service isn't great, just got my w700 back and it has gained a load of scratches (came back quite dirty as well) and the rubber section on the back which they clearly removed to open it up hasn't been stuck down properly and now comes away from the case.
Also OP you should be aware that Acer support in general is awful, they delete posts on the forums they don't like (mainly people complaining about the terrible support) and there is a throttling issue with the i5 version which they refuse to fix, you should check out the 52 page thread on their forums which has been going on for over a year.
twisted89 said:
My experience with the acer repair service isn't great, just got my w700 back and it has gained a load of scratches (came back quite dirty as well) and the rubber section on the back which they clearly removed to open it up hasn't been stuck down properly and now comes away from the case.
Also OP you should be aware that Acer support in general is awful, they delete posts on the forums they don't like (mainly people complaining about the terrible support) and there is a throttling issue with the i5 version which they refuse to fix, you should check out the 52 page thread on their forums which has been going on for over a year.
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the problem is i dont have an option to purchase other than student store u.k and they dont have much options either.
you can have a look and suggest if anything better is there for the price.
http://www.studentstore.co.uk/getech/all-manufacturers/Tablets/for-students.aspx
What subject are you studying at university/what is the tablet required for?
SixSixSevenSeven said:
What subject are you studying at university/what is the tablet required for?
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iam doing mechanical engineering.mostly i need it for entertainment purpose, taking notes , power point presentations etc. but i have a laptop also .
rkoforever90 said:
iam doing mechanical engineering.mostly i need it for entertainment purpose, taking notes , power point presentations etc. but i have a laptop also .
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That should be fine. You don't need something very powerful for that. Actually, I only had an Android tablet (Xperia Tablet S) to do that and it handled those kind of tasks fine for me.
PowerPoint you can install on the device anyway so your fine on that front (uni may offer it for free too). Entertainment is up to you. Note taking should be fine, depends on if you are OK with touch keyboards/small keyboards or not, or using a touchscreen to write with (to my knowledge there is no wacom or synaptics stylus, only the bog standard touch screen).
SixSixSevenSeven said:
PowerPoint you can install on the device anyway so your fine on that front (uni may offer it for free too). Entertainment is up to you. Note taking should be fine, depends on if you are OK with touch keyboards/small keyboards or not, or using a touchscreen to write with (to my knowledge there is no wacom or synaptics stylus, only the bog standard touch screen).
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so which model of acer w700 you own?.how is the overall experience and battery backup?
rkoforever90 said:
so which model of acer w700 you own?.how is the overall experience and battery backup?
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I dont
Since I have an Acer W700 tablet, I would let you know something about the W700. I will compare it mostly with the Surface Pro because its a gold standard for Intel Core tablets
First thing first, W700 lacks the active digitizer. Don't expect writing and drawing to feel like the Surface Pro or Galaxy Note. Its far from it. I use Adonit Jot stylus, it helps a lot compared to other styli or finger input, but still nowhere as good as the Surface Pro.
Second, the battery last like Haswell tablets. This tablet is insane in term of battery life. I mostly get 6-7 hours for my usage. I use this tablets mostly for browsing, downloading, playing casual games, taking notes (OneNote FTW!), watching videos/movies and listening to music. If you look for an Ivy Bridge tablet that last like Haswell tablets, this is the only one.
Third, since I mentioned videos, movies, and music, I would say this tablet has great screen and speaker. The speaker is great for a tablet. If you enable the Dolby enhancement, the speaker will get louder (with some distortion), on par with cheaper multimedia laptops. Definitely better than the Surface Pro. The screen is also better than any tablet screen Ive ever used.
Fourth, it has no great keyboard solution. Unlike the Surface Pro which has options like the Type and Touch cover, the W700 relies on a Bluetooth keyboard or a case with integrated Bluetooth keyboard. Consult the seller first on which version you get. I would recommend the former since the latter is not comfortable (very, very thin), it is nice though. If you are a bit unlucky like me, youll get neither of them. I got a Perixx 804 Bluetooth keyboard for €25, and it works reliably over Bluetooth. This keyboard feels like a keyboard from Acer V5 or most Sony VAIOs (a bit harder than MacBooks)
Fifth, it has WiFi issue. This issue plagues mostly early generation of this tablet, but you might get this as well. On my W700, I have no problem with the disconnection. However, the signal is not as good as other devices. Usually, when the other devices still get 1 bar of signal, the W700 has lost connection.
Sixth, its graphic performance is not as great as how a HD4000 should be. The GPU suffers from bad throttling, making the performance only comparable to HD3000 GPU on most laptops (I tried with i5-2410M)
Overall, this tablet is geared towards entertainment (great screen and speaker) than business/work (no active digitizer and no keyboard solution). This device is great if you want to use one device rather than two (tablet+laptop), but don't expect too much. Since Haswell tablets are just behind the corner, I would suggest you to wait for some affordable Haswell tablets. However, if you cant wait, I would recommend this device over any Atom tablets unless you need an active digitizer.
My W700 is the i5-3317U model with 64 GB of storage. I wish I had the 128 GB model.
patrick_spd4u said:
My W700 is the i5-3317U model with 64 GB of storage. I wish I had the 128 GB model.
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Thermal throttling on the i5 model seems very common, yet rare on the i3 model
patrick_spd4u said:
Since I have an Acer W700 tablet, I would let you know something about the W700. I will compare it mostly with the Surface Pro because its a gold standard for Intel Core tablets
First thing first, W700 lacks the active digitizer. Don't expect writing and drawing to feel like the Surface Pro or Galaxy Note. Its far from it. I use Adonit Jot stylus, it helps a lot compared to other styli or finger input, but still nowhere as good as the Surface Pro.
Second, the battery last like Haswell tablets. This tablet is insane in term of battery life. I mostly get 6-7 hours for my usage. I use this tablets mostly for browsing, downloading, playing casual games, taking notes (OneNote FTW!), watching videos/movies and listening to music. If you look for an Ivy Bridge tablet that last like Haswell tablets, this is the only one.
Third, since I mentioned videos, movies, and music, I would say this tablet has great screen and speaker. The speaker is great for a tablet. If you enable the Dolby enhancement, the speaker will get louder (with some distortion), on par with cheaper multimedia laptops. Definitely better than the Surface Pro. The screen is also better than any tablet screen Ive ever used.
Fourth, it has no great keyboard solution. Unlike the Surface Pro which has options like the Type and Touch cover, the W700 relies on a Bluetooth keyboard or a case with integrated Bluetooth keyboard. Consult the seller first on which version you get. I would recommend the former since the latter is not comfortable (very, very thin), it is nice though. If you are a bit unlucky like me, youll get neither of them. I got a Perixx 804 Bluetooth keyboard for €25, and it works reliably over Bluetooth. This keyboard feels like a keyboard from Acer V5 or most Sony VAIOs (a bit harder than MacBooks)
Fifth, it has WiFi issue. This issue plagues mostly early generation of this tablet, but you might get this as well. On my W700, I have no problem with the disconnection. However, the signal is not as good as other devices. Usually, when the other devices still get 1 bar of signal, the W700 has lost connection.
Sixth, its graphic performance is not as great as how a HD4000 should be. The GPU suffers from bad throttling, making the performance only comparable to HD3000 GPU on most laptops (I tried with i5-2410M)
Overall, this tablet is geared towards entertainment (great screen and speaker) than business/work (no active digitizer and no keyboard solution). This device is great if you want to use one device rather than two (tablet+laptop), but don't expect too much. Since Haswell tablets are just behind the corner, I would suggest you to wait for some affordable Haswell tablets. However, if you cant wait, I would recommend this device over any Atom tablets unless you need an active digitizer.
My W700 is the i5-3317U model with 64 GB of storage. I wish I had the 128 GB model.
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Click to collapse
Thanks a lot , and sorry for the late reply. iam getting a 450 pounds voucher of student store u.k from my uni and i asked them about the keyboard they told that it comes with the dock & keyboard + the case cover with keyboard out of box so i dont need to buy it seperately . also student store u.k dont have much options to choose from so either i need to wait till lenovo and acer comes out with baytrail or haswell 10+ inch tablets as the studentstore dont stock Asus, HP or Dell .
Also another thing i need to know is that whether the weight and thickness of w700 is an issue to use it as a tablet .
I'd wait to purchase a dell. Acer was terrible when I had it. Dell seems more reliable.
I have the i5 version that came with the dock and the keyboard case. Despite being labelled as having an i5-3317 processor on the box, mine says it has a i5-3337 inside. A patch has fixed the throttling issue for me. The tablet is relatively heavy, it gets uncomfortable to hold and use rather quickly. The thickness isn't a problem; it's actually pretty thin. It's fine to use with the keyboard case on the lap though.
I don't mind the keyboard case. It has full width keys, seems sturdy and keeps the whole setup light. The keys don't press down far due to the thinness of it though. I have to say I like keyboard docks more after using the Asus Transformer TF101, but that would mean adding weight to balance the tablet.
Changing the SSD inside is a bit challenging, but it's possible. It uses a standard mSATA interface according to those who've replaced it. The omission of a SD/microSD slot is a bit strange, but I'd say it has enough storage for most people.
I haven't had any issues with the Wi-Fi, although it seems many others are having trouble with it.
The recovery is on a couple of DVDs. If anything goes awry, you may need to get an external DVD drive. Windows 8 does have the refresh option, which makes things easier if Windows is the problem.
The cameras on the device work alright. Pictures taken look rather poor quality, but I find these things tend to be that way. I really don't know why they put a back facing camera on this thing; I think people using their iPads to take pictures is bad enough. I haven't used it for video chatting yet. Some have reported that the microphone isn't great. The mic is on the bottom edge, which might have something to do with it, but I haven't used it yet.
I enjoy having this tablet. It's as powerful as a laptop and it's fast.

Cube iWork 8 Windows 8 Tablet Review - Cheapeast Windows Tablet Ever

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Once considered a novelty, 8-inch Windows tablets are now everywhere: Lenovo has two; Acer has two, Dell has one, so does Toshiba. Not to be left out, Some Chinese manufacturers recently started shipping their own 8-inch Windows tablet.
For
Good battery life
Nice display
Solid design and build quality
Full desktop functionalities
HDMI support
MicroSD card support
Sensible price
Against
Slightly sluggish performance with heavier applications
Poor cameras
Small internal storage
BOTTOM LINE
The Acube iWork 8 may not stand out in any one area, but it is a small Windows tablet with a solid design, a pleasant display and long battery life.
Key Features
8-inch IPS capacitive touchscreen of 1280 x 800 px resolution;
1.8GHZ Intel Atom Bay-Trail-T Z3735E Quad-core Processor, Intel HD Graphic (Gen7) GPU
1GB of LPDDR3 RAM
Windows 8.1
16GB of SSD built-in Storage
2MP front-facing camera/2MP rear-facing camera
Back-mounted stereo speakers
Wi-Fi 802.11
Bluetooth v4.0
USB 2.0 host (dongle required)
Micro SD card slot
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
HDMI V1.4
5,000mAh Li-Po battery
What is the Cube iWork 8?​
The Cube iWork 8 an 8-inch, Windows 8.1 tablet joining the not so great but insanely priced Ramos i8pro and the more impressive Dell Venue Pro 8 as a place where you can get all the benefits of a full Windows PC like access to Microsoft Office and the ability to download desktop applications all in a much smaller, compact body.
As a member of the second generation of 8-inch Windows 8 tablet line, it is definitely thinner and lighter, yet still dogged by some minor performance issues.
Design
Looks aren't everything. But to the extent that good design and build quality matter (especially on budget devices like these), Cube is off to a fine start. Unlike most of its rivals, the iWork 8 is more designed for horizontal use, you could tell that from its boot screen and also the logo placement on its back. It makes sense because most of the applications are made for landscape mode. But whenever you want to use it in portrait, the small bezel really helps you to have a solid hold.
You'll be hard-pressed to find an 8-inch tablet that isn't thin, light and easy to hold in one hand. Nonetheless, all that's true of the Cube iWork 8: measuring at 206*126*10mm, it immediately makes a good case for choosing an 8-inch tablet over a 10- or 11-inch one. The small bezel makes it look even more compact than the Dell Venue 8 pro and the Acer Iconia W4. Weighing at only 340g, it is even lighter than my first 7-inch Galaxy Tab.
One thing that makes the iWork 8 a bit strange to use at first: It appears to be missing a Start button. More precisely, it has one; it's just not where you'd expect it to be. Instead of a touch-sensitive Start button built into one of the bezels, the tablet has a physical Start key located on the top horizontal edge of the device, right next to the volume rocker. I'll be honest, it took me quite a little while to stop tapping the bezels and go straight for the physical button. That said, now that I've gotten the hang of it, I have to give Cube credit for at least choosing the button location carefully. Since the key sits on the top edge, over toward the left, it's easy to hit when you're using the tablet in landscape mode, and also when you flip it over into portrait, at which point the button is within reach of your right thumb. Still, a capacitive key would've been even easier.
The power/standby key and all the ports and slots are hosted on the left edge, you will find the 2.5mm DC port, a 3.5mm audio jack, a MicroSD card slot which you will surely need to compensate the small 16GB internal storage, as well as a Mini HDMI port. I am so glad that Cube includes the HDMI output for the iWork 8, which neither Lenovo Miix 2 8 nor Dell Venue 8 Pro has.
Display and Sound​
Given that the same series of Bay Trail processors power all these 8-inch Windows tablets, there aren't many opportunities for companies to differentiate themselves: It's design, display quality and maybe camera performance. Fortunately, Cube didn't skimp on the screen -- the 1,280 x 800 IPS panel here is just lovely. Although it lacks the exceptional clarity you’d expect on small tablets like the Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HDX 7 or the iPad Mini, colors are punchy, without being too saturated, and the screen is easy to view from various angles. Even at only 30% brightness level, the IPS panel can be bright enough for indoor use, so it is quite possible to enjoy the vibrant screen while still getting long battery life.
The speakers are also great, loud and clear enough for watching movies in a quiet room, but you would want to plug in a headphone to get more refined sound for music.
System & software​
In retrospect, it's not surprising that Microsoft decided to showcase Windows 8.1 on 8-inch tablets: Many of the improvements to the OS make it especially easy to use on smaller-screened devices. For example, new keyboard shortcuts allow you to swipe the space bar to cycle through spelling suggestions, and to swipe various letters to expose the punctuation symbols that would otherwise be hidden. Also, you get more options for Live Tile sizes, including an extra small one that seems especially well-suited to smaller displays like this.
Additionally, all of the other headline features in Windows 8.1 can be found here, including an always-visible Start button in the lower-left corner of the desktop, expanded split-screen options and the ability to take photos from the lock screen (an especially handy feature on a smaller device like this). Also, as you've no doubt heard by now, Windows 8.1 ushers in a slew of new first-party apps, including Reading List (an alternative to Pocket), Bing Food & Drink, Bing Health & Fitness, a calculator, an alarms app and a sound recorder. Meanwhile, other built-in programs have received meaningful updates, with Xbox Radio and a new set of photo-editing tools, to name just two examples.
And what of third-party apps? I am happy to report the selection is steadily growing, even if there are still some holes. Flipboard and Whatsapp arrived on the Windows Store recently, so did TED, which launched as I was writing this review. Even before that, we had apps like Facebook, Twitter, Weibo, QQ, Line, Foursquare, Pandora, Rhapsody, Slacker Radio, Amazon Kindle, Nook, Zinio, Angry Birds, Bejeweled, Fitbit, Mint.com, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Hulu Plus, Netflix, ESPN, ABC Family, ABC News, NBC News, CBS, CBS Sports, CNN, MTV and the AP.
At this point, the "Windows doesn't have enough apps" argument simply doesn't carry as much weight: The Windows Store catalog is growing, and it's growing fast. That said, if you buy the Cube iWork 8 (or any other Windows tablet), you still won't find every program you're searching for, at least not on the day you buy it. Some notable omissions? Instagram, Tumblr, HBO Go, Pocket and a first-party NPR player, to name just a few. Some major bank and airline apps would be nice, too. Again, though, given how many heavy-hitters eventually made their way onto the platform, we have faith that most of these holdouts will join the fold at some point or another.
However, the strength of the Win8 system is its accessibility to all desktop Windows applications, which means unlimited productivity. I admit it is not always easy to do everything on an 8-inch screen, but the HDMI port makes sure you are always able to connect to a bigger display.
Running office 365 on the iWork 8 is simply just amazing, never ever had I expected that I can do everything to my PPTs and excel sheets on such a small device. During my 2-day business trip to Guangzhou, I brought both my 15-inch HP laptop and my iWork 8, and I am pleasantly surprised that very seldom did I need to really use my heavy and chunky laptop, the iWork 8 does everything from sending out meeting invitations in Outlook to revising some PPT slides quite well. But if your work does require a lot of text input in Word documents or running some very complicated calculations in Excel, I would suggest you pair the iWork 8 with Bluetooth keyboard.
Performance​
As I already discovered when I reviewed the Cube iWork 10, Intel's new Bay Trail processors are powerful enough to handle not just Windows Store apps, but also lightweight desktop programs like Photoshop, Icon Creator and SAP. That's true here as well: The iWork 8 is fit to run all the above programs, along with Microsoft Office 365 and even some games, as we'll describe in a moment. On the Metro Modern UI side, the iWork 8 flies through animations and transitions, and opens apps quickly. It's worth noting that the iWork 8 has only 1GB of RAM, whenever the tasks pile up, the performance could be crippled.
It takes 25 seconds to boot up -- about twice the time it takes Acer Iconia W700 to fully load. That said, it is still much faster than most of the PC which uses traditional SATA disk.
The iWork 8’s biggest talent might actually be web browsing: Pages load quickly and jumping between tabs is a breeze, even with many tabs open, it still remains quite responsive, definitely a much smoother experience than given by the iPad or Android tablets.
If benchmarks mean anything to you, it notched a score of 498ms in the SunSpider JavaScript test. Remember, too, that lower numbers are better, so this actually surpasses the Nexus 7 2013 edition (1141.9ms), Surface RT (968.2ms) as well as the Cube Talk 97 (972.8ms), closely behind the iPad Air (384.0) and the Cube iWork 10 (420.2ms).
The more graphically intense Peacekeeper test returned a score of 624, which again put it way ahead of the Surface RT (329) and the Google Nexus 7 2013 (589), but still falls behind the iPad Air (1132) and the iWork 10 (420.2ms)
As for gaming, the iWork 8’s Bay Trail processor is able to run most of the games you can find in the Windows store. Even so, don't expect it to replace your gaming rig as traditional 3D PC games would struggle due to the insufficient RAM.
I have experienced no struggle in video playback, as the Xunlei Kankan Player I installed on the iWork 8 easily breezed through all the videos I threw at it.
Cameras​
The Cube iWork 8 has dual cameras. The 2MP front-facing camera works well with Skype video calls in abundant lighting environment, but I would never use it for selfies given the low quality.
The rear-facing camera is also 2MP, and has auto-focus support, but the photos it takes don’t even have enough quality for Facebook or Instagram updates.
Battery Life​
The iWork 8 packs a 5,000mAh Li-Po battery, which Cube specifically claims that it could give the iWork 8 eight hours of battery life. Perhaps with light usage, you can get the tablet to last that long, but in my video-looping test, the iWork managed a more modest seven hours and 11 minutes. With more applications running at the same time, the battery life could even be even shorter, so 6-7 hours of average battery life is what you should expect from the iWork 8.
The annoying issue actually comes with the charging. It takes unnecessarily long time (4-5 hours) to finish a full charge, pretty strange given the tablet only has a 5,000mAh battery.
Wrap-up​
Priced at RMB799 (USD129), The Cube iWork 8 certainly makes a much better sense than Ramos’ attempt at an 8-inch Windows 8 tablet – the RMB1499 (USD241) Ramos i8 Pro. While I personally prefer the look of the Acer Iconia W4, the iWork 8’s a still a well-built tablet with a slightly slimmer and lighter body. The screen might not be class-leading, but it is on par with its higher-priced rivals, it has the capacity to keep you working throughout the day.
While it is running on a full version of Windows 8.1, it doesn’t mean it’s capable of the same performance as a conventional desktop or laptop. The power on board is sufficient for typical tablet tasks, but if you attempt anything more intensive, the chinks in the armour begin to show. The 1GB RAM makes sense for tablet tasks, but is certainly insufficient for many of the heavy-weight desktop applications.
To get the best out of Office, you’d need to invest in a Bluetooth-enabled keyboard and mouse, although the HDMI support does mean you can hook it up to a larger display to make working with it more manageable.
If we had to pick a Windows tablet to use as a tablet, The Cube iWork 8 might be a decent choice, but if you need more desktop functionalities, then you’d better go for the bigger iWork 10.
Probably wil cost 180usd for the rest buying outside china. At that price better go with dell venue 8 which can be had for 199 usd during sale
yusoffb01 said:
Probably wil cost 180usd for the rest buying outside china. At that price better go with dell venue 8 which can be had for 199 usd during sale
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where can i buy dell venue 8 for 199 dollars?
amazon during holidays. If it doesnt deliver to you country, then use forwarder like hopshopgo, probably for 20usd more
Wow, that was a really impressive review. Nicely done. Shame about awful cameras though; even the downscaled images here on XDA show really awful chromatic aberration and poor dynamic range.
I'd also make a counterpoint to one thing you said, though: video-looping is actually moderately hard on the battery. Truly typical tablet uses like web browsing and ebook reading, with some video but not non-stop for 7+ hours, could easily reach the 8 hours mentioned. Some of that will depend on how much the WiFi radio is being used, though. It would have been interesting to see what the battery life is if you just disable sleep mode and have it sit there with a web page that auto-refreshes (over WiFi) every thirty seconds, for example.
Also, it would have been nice if you'd mentioned location sensors like GPS (or more likely, lack thereof) up at the top.
>video-looping is actually moderately hard on the battery.
It depends on the SoC; some are optimized for video decoding, and battery will actually last longer on vid-loop test than a more representative test. Engadget's batt test is vid-loop.
>Shame about awful cameras though; even the downscaled images here on XDA show really awful chromatic aberration and poor dynamic range.
It's an entry model; cams are considered a perk on this. I'd be thankful if it has a decent IPS screen and reasonable battery life.
Ignoring the so-called review for the nonce (since IMO it smells like a "sponsored post"), this is the tail-end of the 8" Win tab crop with 1GB RAM & 16GB flash that we'll see this year. Median price should be around $150. One step up would be same setup w/ 2GB and 32GB flash, for probably $200. I'm glad to see that even for the bottom rung, this has both HDMI-out and dedicated charging port. That was a big headache for last year's crop.
Speaking of improvements, I'm also glad to see both MS and Google following Apple's footstep in moving to "squarer" aspect ratios. SP3 is 3:2, and the aborted Surface Mini is rumored to be 4:3. As well, rumored Nexus 9 is said to be 4:3. Wide-screen sucks for portrait use, and sucks for most uses other than watching videos. Most of this year's crop will be wide-screen, but am hoping more will follow the platform vendors' lead for next year.
Add: On the downside, freebie Office is now rental-ware. While it was never a compelling selling point for small Win devices, it's a decent perk. Now, I would consider it a net negative, for the space it takes up on these limited-storage devices. You can't free up the space, since it's undoubtedly baked into the WIMBoot blob.
One solution is a clean install. With basic optimization, a 32-bit 8.1u1 install takes up 7GB incl swap (in binary, 16GB = roughly 15GB binary, so 8GB remaining). That would also speed up disk I/O, since WIMBoot is no longer in play.
e.mote said:
>video-looping is actually moderately hard on the battery.
It depends on the SoC; some are optimized for video decoding, and battery will actually last longer on vid-loop test than a more representative test. Engadget's batt test is vid-loop.
>Shame about awful cameras though; even the downscaled images here on XDA show really awful chromatic aberration and poor dynamic range.
It's an entry model; cams are considered a perk on this. I'd be thankful if it has a decent IPS screen and reasonable battery life.
Ignoring the so-called review for the nonce (since IMO it smells like a "sponsored post"), this is the tail-end of the 8" Win tab crop with 1GB RAM & 16GB flash that we'll see this year. Median price should be around $150. One step up would be same setup w/ 2GB and 32GB flash, for probably $200. I'm glad to see that even for the bottom rung, this has both HDMI-out and dedicated charging port. That was a big headache for last year's crop.
Speaking of improvements, I'm also glad to see both MS and Google following Apple's footstep in moving to "squarer" aspect ratios. SP3 is 3:2, and the aborted Surface Mini is rumored to be 4:3. As well, rumored Nexus 9 is said to be 4:3. Wide-screen sucks for portrait use, and sucks for most uses other than watching videos. Most of this year's crop will be wide-screen, but am hoping more will follow the platform vendors' lead for next year.
Add: On the downside, freebie Office is now rental-ware. While it was never a compelling selling point for small Win devices, it's a decent perk. Now, I would consider it a net negative, for the space it takes up on these limited-storage devices. You can't free up the space, since it's undoubtedly baked into the WIMBoot blob.
One solution is a clean install. With basic optimization, a 32-bit 8.1u1 install takes up 7GB incl swap (in binary, 16GB = roughly 15GB binary, so 8GB remaining). That would also speed up disk I/O, since WIMBoot is no longer in play.
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they sent me free models to test, but it is not sponsored. everything i wrote down was true.
Non-widescreen ratios were normal for years until the more recent trend for 16:9, nothing that Apple are "leading" on. The nice thing about Android and Windows is choice. It's good that there are some non-widescreen devices appearing for those who prefer it, but I'd hate for most of them to switch to that.
Personally I prefer widescreen on a tablet: good for video (one of the most useful things about a tablet, there's a reason they were called "media players" for most of the 2000s); it's better for e-reading (portrait mode is more like a book); and it fits easier in a pocket or a bag. For other purposes, like software, games, I don't think either works out better overall.
It's on desktop monitors I disliked the trend towards widescreen, as it's not like one gains anything by reducing the vertical height.
>Non-widescreen ratios were normal for years until the more recent trend for 16:9, nothing that Apple are "leading" on.
Sorry, Apple iPad leads the way on 4:3 tablets. Yep, 4:3 CRTs existed way back when (I had plenty of them), but wide-screen now dominates computing displays, including tablets. There were a few 4:3 Android tabs, but they're most Shenzhen, and mostly iPad clones.
>The nice thing about Android and Windows is choice
Not for screen ratio. Most Android tabs are 16:10. Win tabs are mostly 16:9 at 10+" sizes, and 16:10 at 8". There is no practical choice unless you want to get a China tab, or some outdated model (Lenovo had some 4:3 ones). But as said, SP3 is 3:2, as is the aborted Surface Mini, and at least some coming Nexus toys are rumored to have a squarer aspect. So perhaps there will be more choice, but not as of yet.
>Personally I prefer widescreen on a tablet: good for video
Yes, video is the primary use-case for CONSUMPTION, which widescreen is good for. It's bad for most everything else. If MS wants to harp on the PRODUCTIVITY angle, then widescreen is a poor choice.
>it's better for e-reading (portrait mode is more like a book)
No, portrait use is awkward with widescreen tablets (unless for a small size like a phone, where one-handed use trumps other consideration). It's a recurring complaint with 16:9 Windows tablets, frequently cited in reviews.
>and it fits easier in a pocket or a bag
Pocketability doesn't apply to tablets. Not too many peeps stick 7" into their back pockets, and Win tabs don't go that small anyway.
>It's on desktop monitors I disliked the trend towards widescreen, as it's not like one gains anything by reducing the vertical height.
The same problem--limited vertical space--applies to widescreen tablets in landscape mode.
I actually rather like widescreen desktop displays - in landscape mode they allow more windows or documents side-by-side (for doing code reviews with reference materials close at hand, this is huge) and in portrait mode they provide an excellent format for a long-but-not-too-wide text column (think about the aspect ratio of the readable portion of each side of a typical paperback book's page); I usually use that orientation for things like email and chat logs, but it can be used for lots of other things.
None of that has much to do with Windows tablets, though. I have good enough vision I can set the DPI scaling to 100% on Surface 2 / Pro / Pro 2 and still have readable text, which lets me snap windows side-by-side the way I do on my work machine, but apparently that's weird?
>in landscape mode [widescreens] allow more windows or documents side-by-side...and in portrait mode they provide an excellent format for a long-but-not-too-wide text column
Side-by-side doc viewing is applicable for desktop-sized (20+") displays, not tablets. Tab displays are already sized-constrained for even single-doc view; SxS-view isn't practical.
Portrait mode for widescreen is likewise constrained. It works for docs with reflowable text, but not for PDFs with mixed graphics/text (ie non-reflowable text) or comics; display width would be lacking for full page views.
I agree that the majority prefer widescreen, mostly because video-watching is by far the prevalent use on mobile devices. I don't agree that widescreen lends itself to productivity in portrait, for the simple fact that Windows hybrids (and Windows 8.1 itself) aren't designed for portrait use. For one, portrait mode means forfeitting use of the keyboard dock for all 2n1s, include Surfaces.
>I have good enough vision I can set the DPI scaling to 100% on Surface 2 / Pro / Pro 2 and still have readable text, which lets me snap windows side-by-side the way I do on my work machine, but apparently that's weird?
Not weird, but an outlier. People normally can't discern text at such dense resolution (assuming default font size), particularly older people. Regardless, for those who prefer it, SxS view work just as well if not better on a squarer display. Split SP3's 3:2 screen in half and you have two 4:3 displays.
Is office included?
Does it include a preinstalled Office 2013 version (Word & Excel) like the Dell Venue 8 Pro or do I have to purchase an Office 365 subscription?
amospfef said:
Does it include a preinstalled Office 2013 version (Word & Excel) like the Dell Venue 8 Pro or do I have to purchase an Office 365 subscription?
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no, it doesn't, u need to purchase the office 365, but there is a one month free trail use.
Any idea if this can boot other operating systems - i'm thinking Xubuntu?
I have an HP Omni 10 and am very disappointed by the fact that it's tied into the pre-installed Windows 8.1 with no way to boot or install any other operating system.
Thanks.
Martin.
does it have gps?
Does the Cube iWork8 (2/32GB) have GPS? thanks
I dun think cube work8 is the cheapest one.
The PIPO W2 is same price but with the latest Baytrail Quad-core, 2gb RAM and 32gb memory. Got one from ebay.co.uk at £139.98. Much cheaper than other brand with same spec.
---------- Post added at 04:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:06 AM ----------
amospfef said:
Does it include a preinstalled Office 2013 version (Word & Excel) like the Dell Venue 8 Pro or do I have to purchase an Office 365 subscription?
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The PIPO w2 preinstallled win8.1 and full version Office365:good:
For reading pdf files and 'some' books I also prefer 4:3 format, for anything else wide screen seems the better solution.
Unless when the screen is big with high dpi, then more space in all directions prevails. But those are relatively expensive.
But for computing on the same dpi I would take an wide screen over 4:3 anytime. Though I do rotate my screen from time.
For tablet 7" or 8" wide is just more convenient in the hand and to put away in a pocket. You just can't do that with an 4:3.
@SuperSuperFrank: isn't the office version a one year for free subscription?
Buggster said:
For reading pdf files and 'some' books I also prefer 4:3 format, for anything else wide screen seems the better solution.
Unless when the screen is big with high dpi, then more space in all directions prevails. But those are relatively expensive.
But for computing on the same dpi I would take an wide screen over 4:3 anytime. Though I do rotate my screen from time.
For tablet 7" or 8" wide is just more convenient in the hand and to put away in a pocket. You just can't do that with an 4:3.
@SuperSuperFrank: isn't the office version a one year for free subscription?
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Yes, sorry for the misleading. It's 1 year subscription office365
iWork 8 with 2GB/32GB now is on sale at jd.com with RMB699.
Sent from Tapatalk with my Tab 4 (SM-T235Y)
---------- Post added at 08:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:35 PM ----------
beholder21 said:
Does the Cube iWork8 (2/32GB) have GPS? thanks
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No GPS
Sent from Tapatalk with my Tab 4 (SM-T235Y)
im looking at voyo a1 8" 114€
and saw the cube iwrok 8" for 110€
both same specs, and look the same also. i mean the butons/ports are on the same place. so i guess they are the same. for the same factory just a different name
any one know any difference?
http://www.dx.com/p/cube-iwork8-8-i...rom-wi-fi-bluetooth-black-338475#.VIX63jGG-UI
http://www.gearbest.com/tablet-pcs/pp_75299.html

What is The Best Windows 8 Tablet

What is The Best Windows 8 Tablet Out there ?
Meaningless and pointless question. What do you prioritize in a tablet? What defines "best" to you?
Display resolution? You can get anything from 1024x600 netbook screens to nearly 4k screens.
Battery life? All over the place, anything from ~4 hours to well over 10.
Weight? Also a huge range, mostly but not completely tied to size and keyboard options.
Display size? Anything from 8" to 17" is available, all suited to different use cases.
Durability? The Surface line is amazingly tough, but there are some other good ones.
Software? Most will come with Office, some have Pro versions of Win8 though (and of course there's still RT as well).
Performance? Anything from a POS Atom to a beefy i7 (with the occasional AMD chip in there, and of course some ARM ones for RT).
Memory? 2GB to 8, maybe even 16, is available; some really cheap ones might only have 1GB.
Storage? You can get 32GB, or you can get 512GB, or lots of other options. Then there's SD slots...
Peripherals? Most have at least one USB port, but it may not be full-size. Some have multiple USB and/or video ports too.
Keyboard? Some have it built-in (but folds away), some it's detachable (and often optional), some don't have one at all.
Connectivity? WiFi and Bluetooth are givens, but some have better radios than others. Cellular is another kettle of fish.
Sensors? Some have GPS, some have compass, some have other stuff, some don't...
Camera? Most will have a front-facing, a few have rear, and quality varies widely.
Price? Anywhere from $100 to $2000, and probably a bit outside that on either end if you look hard enough.
Now, if your question was "What's the best Win8 tablet I can get for $800, it's gotta have features X, Y, and Z?" or "What's the cheapest 14" Windows tablet with at least 1920x1080 resolution?" or "Which Win8 tablet has the best battery life, among those which have a better-than-Atom CPU?" or something like that, somebody may be able to help you...
thanks for reply>>>>actually I want high performance small tablet with good battery life "That easy to work with in things like programming,3d designing " outside home >>>>>>>>>
Windows is not good system for tablet or phone.
May be now Windows is not in trend for Phones, as a system.
But it has great perspectives!
The best mix of size, battery life, and performance that I know of in a Windows tablet is probably a Surface Pro 3, though if you don't mind / want the smaller screen (and keyboard) the SP2 is still reasonable (and a bit cheaper). If you want something good for coding and 3D work of any kind, you'll want a fair bit of RAM, so you probably want one of the top two or three models in SP3 line. Note that they don't have dedicated graphics chips though, which will impact rendering performance if you do that kind of 3D work (CAD is fine, CGI will be slow). You're unlikely to find a small Win8 tablet with dedicated graphics, though depending on your definition of "small" (and your budget) you may find something.
The Lenovo Yoga line is pretty darn good, but the keyboard folds away instead of detaching and the battery life (at least on my Yoga 2 Pro) is only around 5-6 hours. That's not awful but nothing to write home about by tablet standards.

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