Another "recommend a tablet" thread

[Adidas4275]

Windows 8 is SOOOOOO bad though. I played with a bunch of Windows 8 tablets at Best Buy. Horrible. Within minutes I wanted to throw them across the store. Almost as bad as the desktop iteration. Why does it have to be so busy and hard to navigate compared to Android and IOS?

i have not had that experience. my wife and I use iphones and have for a long time (since the 3G) and we the ipad 1...

I have own a thinkpad tablet 2 running w8 and 8.1 and i find it really usable. I even find that I end up using the desktop less and less and want metro apps more and more.

I still have w7 on my desktop but with better and better apps in the windows store I am being compelled to install w8 even on my desktop

to each his own, and it is great we have iOS, Android and W8 as choices.

 

[Drawmonster]

Just curious, what did you find bad about Win8 on a tablet? Outside of the bad press of Win8, I find it extremely intuitive on my SP2.

I "get it" now and think it's very, very slick. Been using iPads for a while and outside of getting over some old navigation habits with the iPad, I find Win8 to make a lot of sense and is simple to use - I much prefer it over iOS.

Just seemed too "busy" and hard to do the things I was trying to do. I'm not closed to the idea of having a Windows 8 tablet, it just didn't hook me with my first experience. Let me ask you, or anybody else that likes the Windows 8 tablets.

If I went to Best Buy right now and bought one, which one should I get? Why?

 

[jimh425]

Just seemed too "busy" and hard to do the things I was trying to do. ... If I went to Best Buy right now and bought one, which one should I get? Why?

What were you trying to do? Let me guess. You were trying to do standard Windows operations that are impossible on any other operating system. If that is the case, I agree, Windows 8 on a table is pretty bad. Also, 8.1 is slightly different than 8. Similar to Windows vs MAC, you have to think differently about what you are doing to optimize for Windows 8/8.1.

At this time, I'd probsbly avoid the 8 inch tablets. All of the onscreen keyboards I've seen take up too much of the screen.. Also, I'd avoid very high resolution unless you will never use standard Windows apps. The old Windows UI doesn't scale properly at high resolution.

I'd look at a tablet by Asus or Samsung.

 

[Adidas4275]

The dell venue 11 pro would be my standard full 10-11" tablet recommendation.

It has a real SSD rather than the eMMC which is really slow
It can have a new baytrail Atom, which gives the best "tablet" experience or a i3/i5 CPU if you need more power but less battery life.

the tablet has a good keyboard dock, SD card slot, USB 3.0

Only downside is the active stylus with no silo, but most won't want/need a stylus.

And I recommend staying out of the desktop as much as you can, treat it like the old "classic" OS9 feature rather than what you need In an OS.

Use the desktop when you connect the keyboard ands use it as a laptop, this is how w8.1 shines IMO

 

[Adidas4275]

Here is a decent review http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2425163,00.asp

 

[Snowdog]

My Generic recommendation depends on size:

7":
Get a new Nexus 7. Price/screen quality can't be beat.

8-10":
1st: Get an iPad Mini/Air. Really they are the kings of tablets. Excellent HW, better screen aspect for tablet use. Most robust application software choices.
2nd: Get an Android tablet, mainly if you hate iOS (I hate iOS 7), or are very price sensitive. I like the LG G pad 8.3(still not in shops around here), But there are no slam dunk winners here. I am hoping for some nice android tablets at CES.

12"+:
Get a Windows convertible. IMO 12" is about where you can actually get some decent usability out of windows desktop applications and once you can do that, Windows shines. Also 12" screen size means the matching keyboard can have proper key space. Nothing drives me up a wall like cramped keyboards.

 

[mopex]

Here is a decent review http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2425163,00.asp

That wasn't a review. They just went over the features.

 

[heatlesssun]

Just seemed too "busy" and hard to do the things I was trying to do. I'm not closed to the idea of having a Windows 8 tablet, it just didn't hook me with my first experience. Let me ask you, or anybody else that likes the Windows 8 tablets.

If I went to Best Buy right now and bought one, which one should I get? Why?

I really have no idea where you're coming from on this. I've had a number of kids pick up my Windows 8 tablets and use them with no issue almost instantly doing the normal tablet stuff kids do like play Angry Birds, puzzle games etc. The big difference in Windows 8 tablets compared to iOS and Android is side by side app snapping.

Of course the main reason I like Windows 8 on tablets is the ability to use desktop apps, some of which work very well like OneNote which is awesome on a pen enabled tablet. I have a Dell Venue 8 Pro and it actually works pretty well as a pen note taking device for me. The pen tech isn't the greatest, some have bad experiences with it. It does look like Asus is about to launch a Wacom based 8" Windows 8 tablet and that could be a very sweet device for note takers and artists.

 

[Aurelius]

Here is a decent review http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2425163,00.asp

It's not a review. It's a hands-on!

One day, folks will understand that there's a difference between spending 10 minutes with a device at a press event and spending days in real testing.

 

[HisSvt76]

I'm typing this from a Lenovo Miix2 8 tablet its just like the dell.

I went to this from a nexus 7 2013 very unreliable compared to the previous model especially the touch screen.

I Also had a iPad mini

This is by far the best small tablet I've ever used its fast and does everything your desktop can do without any tricks

Network printing no problem
Real office no problem comes with 2013 home and student free
I could go on forever but you get it.

I even play some of my steam library on here.

Its fast and trouble free so far by far a nice change from what other tablets android/apple offer

I was hardcore from both apple and android - still wear by my iPhone.

This just integrates with my lifestyle and usage perfectly controlling consoles media center recorded shows and everything else that required some bs workaround or half backed app on the other offerings.

Battery life is really good lasts all day doing normal stuff.

This and the dell 8 are really worth a look they just work!

 

[thegrinch]

Just seemed too "busy" and hard to do the things I was trying to do. I'm not closed to the idea of having a Windows 8 tablet, it just didn't hook me with my first experience. Let me ask you, or anybody else that likes the Windows 8 tablets.

If I went to Best Buy right now and bought one, which one should I get? Why?

I'm bias but I would recommend the SP2. Its so fast to do anything and I really love the ability to jump in and out of the metro ui and desktop, easily. Very simple to multitask and the swiping gestures "feel" great. The ability to do everything is extremely gratifying....

I could see some initial confusion as far as the start screen being busy, but again, the whole device feels alive with live tiles and is completely customizable so you can make it more/less busy as you'd like. I actually find ios to be busy/hard to find items due to everything being the same size icons and no great way to organize things other than basic grouping (my own opinion).

I get the feeling a lot of folks don't want to spend the time to learn how to do things differently in win8 (vs ios) devices so they get the impression that its unintuitive which really isn't the case imo.

 

[heatlesssun]

I'm typing this from a Lenovo Miix2 8 tablet its just like the dell.

Played with a Miix 2 at a Best Buy a couple of weeks ago and I think the screen is better than on the Venue 8 Pro which I own and got one for my wife for Christmas. I wanted a pen so that's I went with the Venue.

For what these things cost and for what they can do, they're just damned impressive. Windows 8 really needed hero hardware for it to make sense and I think these little Bay Trail devices are this.