Whos buying a a W8 Tablet?

Which W8 Tablet?

  • Windows RT

    Votes: 37 14.5%

  • Windows 8

    Votes: 28 10.9%

  • Windows 8 Pro

    Votes: 114 44.5%

  • None

    Votes: 105 41.0%
  • Total voters
    256
Archer75 said:
What is available as far as Atom based Win8 tablets go? So far i've only found a Acer W510. Performance numbers put the Atom far ahead of tegra 3 tablets and I feel more comfortable sticking with x86. And want to keep the cost lower than the i5 models.
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the asus vivotab smart:
http://liliputing.com/2012/10/asus-introduces-vivotab-vivotab-smart-windows-8-tablets-for-499-and-up.html

I can't find much info on it other than that website, and the article is confusing. they say its cheaper than the vivo tab rt, yet they have the same starting prices. if its really $499, and has a 64gb ssd, it might be the best atom tablet for the money. the original asus android transformer had boat loads of QC issues, asus isn't going to get my money easy. I'm still leaning toward the W510.

lenovo ideatab lynx is $599, has a larger screen than the W510, but same res.
 
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Seggybop said:
I think you're the only person I've seen to post anywhere saying they saw a final production 700T in real life. Can you say anything about the build quality? Is it metal or fake-metal plastic?
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Its a mix of both but feels more plastic to me than anything. Also it tends to tip over if at s certain angle with the keyboard dock doesnt do it often but you will probably see it often enough in daily use, probably because the keyboard dock has pretty much no weight to it. The other thing is I couldnt really find any screws or a way to replace ram, batery or ssd in either. Thats why I had no choice but to buy the Duo with the i7 since it comes with the 256GB ssd. Overall I think if Samsung added some weight to the dock it would have been very good. Also as of note the one frys had was the i5 version that everyone has been seeing not the i7 variant that samsung says is available to order.
 
Just so you all know. The Atom windows 8 tablets do not use a sata SSD. They use a eMMC like is found in ARM based tablets/phones.

AS SSD keeps crashing but the Read was 70mb/sec and 30mb/sec write.

I would imagine that would make a core i5 tablet faster just from the SSD alone.
 
Shadohh said:
Just so you all know. The Atom windows 8 tablets do not use a sata SSD. They use a eMMC like is found in ARM based tablets/phones.

AS SSD keeps crashing but the Read was 70mb/sec and 30mb/sec write.

I would imagine that would make a core i5 tablet faster just from the SSD alone.
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Thanks for the info. I gathered that when you posted your Windows Experience Scores earlier. The Samsung Series 7 Slate scores a 7.4 on the drive speed, so it's pretty zippy. That's kind of why I want the 700T. The performance of these Core devices is just fantastic, even though they are heavier and have half the battery life.

I love Amazon overall but I hate this about them. When an item is in low supply they never seem to be able to tell you what's going on. "Sure, it's ship!" But then doesn't and it takes a few days to hear anything correct.
 
You will get it soon I am sure. Bestbuy manager suggested they should have all windows 8 tablets in stock on Monday.

I still feel I am making the right move. Save some money, better battery life, All the PRO features with some diminished performance. Let the Windows 8 app store mature then grab a sexy thin haswell core i5 next year in maybe higher then 1080p
 
Shadohh said:
You will get it soon I am sure. Bestbuy manager suggested they should have all windows 8 tablets in stock on Monday.

I still feel I am making the right move. Save some money, better battery life, All the PRO features with some diminished performance. Let the Windows 8 app store mature then grab a sexy thin haswell core i5 next year in maybe higher then 1080p
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I asked you earlier, sorry to repeat myself, are you using the Office 2013 RTM build on your 500T? And so far you're happy with everything expect PC gaming?
 


This is what I have for the Windows Experience score on my Duo. 8.1 is the score for the SSD. The 4000HD in here really holds it back but its more than enough for 99% of my uses other than heavy gaming. I might buy another next year if they improve battery life even more and fix some of the odd design choices.
 
heatlesssun said:
I asked you earlier, sorry to repeat myself, are you using the Office 2013 RTM build on your 500T? And so far you're happy with everything expect PC gaming?
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I dont have access to 2013 RTM.

Visual Studio 2010 and Office 2008 work great.

wes500t.JPG
 
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I dont actually know if thats good for an Atom processor and intel GMA. Does it feel fast? Im curious as to what you need CPU wise to keep W8 happy. I think a i7 is overkill if my old laptop had an i5 and that was enough.
 
///AMG said:
I dont actually know if thats good for an Atom processor and intel GMA. Does it feel fast? Im curious as to what you need CPU wise to keep W8 happy. I think a i7 is overkill if my old laptop had an i5 and that was enough.
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I think its adequate. The storage holds it back the most. I think a core i3 would be best with a real sata drive. AMD hondo would be great I think if it supports sata.

It really comes down to what you want to do with it.

My last laptop was a MBA 11inch. I am happy with the purchase.

Speakers on the front is a great idea.

It has alot of hardware in the gpu, so like netflix can handle HD, dvd power player which comes with the device can handle 1080p hi10.

I imagine VLC will be updated to handle the GPU eventually. Games need to be built/updated with that GPU in mind.
 
Shadohh said:
I think its adequate. The storage holds it back the most. I think a core i3 would be best with a real sata drive. AMD hondo would be great I think if it supports sata.

It really comes down to what you want to do with it.

My last laptop was a MBA 11inch. I am happy with the purchase.

Speakers on the front is a great idea.

It has alot of hardware in the gpu, so like netflix can handle HD, dvd power player which comes with the device can handle 1080p hi10.

I imagine VLC will be updated to handle the GPU eventually. Games need to be built/updated with that GPU in mind.
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Thats great! Might get my family member one for christmas.
 
Shadohh said:
office 2013 is installed. Runs Great! wrote THis Using Ink :p
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Is this the Preview version? Glad to hear it, sounds like this device will run desktop apps fine. Have you tried to hook it up to an external monitor? Thanks again!
 
Shadohh said:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/en

Its not really integrated. Onenote has a metro companion.

It seems ready boost is not is windows 8 :(

I am going to try to use inking all day today.
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Touch overall in the core Office 2013 apps is decent where the effort was made. There are even tweaks in the RTM that improve touch over the Preview version. The problem is that there are areas in the UI that weren’t touched (pardon the pun) at all to make them touch capable. Most notable are the old sub dialog boxes for things like font and paragraph styles, those dialogs are straight out of the 1990s. I have no idea way that stuff is still in there, the Office team must have simply not had enough time to address those changes because it’s obvious that those dialogs are totally inappropriate for use with touch. Because they are small dialog modal boxes there would be little problem in simply making them bigger and making the controls larger.

There are inconsistencies in other spots that are problematic with touch and then there are Windows dialogs for saving that are a bit cumbersome. However, the core common functionality I think is more than useable with touch and with a tablet the size of the Series 5, typing on the onscreen keyboard is not bad at all, one can be reasonably productive. It’s certainly not a pure touch optimized environment but with a little patience and practice this Office 2013 on x86 is just so much more capable than anything on mobile OS tablets that I think it’s probably the best bet for those that want real office automation productivity on a tablet. I wrote this post in Word with the onscreen keyboard using my Samsung Series 7 in normal and even with my moderately large hands it’s easy to get productive typing speed and accuracy. If Microsoft can continue to fix the elements that aren’t touch friendly I think they’ll have one of the killer series of apps for tablets.
 
Well Shadohh made me envious so I called around all the Staples stores in my area and found one that had the Series 5 Slate and picked one up. Played around with one in the store and I was pretty happy with it overall. No speed demon and the screen seems to be just average for a tablet but overall I think this will suit me fine. Still might get the 700 or Surface Pro but I really wanted something with great battery life.

Very reminiscent of the Galaxy Tab Note construction, definitely plastic but very thin and light but it is slightly wider than my Samsung Series 7 Slate.
 
heatlesssun said:
Well Shadohh made me envious so I called around all the Staples stores in my area and found one that had the Series 5 Slate and picked one up. Played around with one in the store and I was pretty happy with it overall. No speed demon and the screen seems to be just average for a tablet but overall I think this will suit me fine. Still might get the 700 or Surface Pro but I really wanted something with great battery life.

Very reminiscent of the Galaxy Tab Note construction, definitely plastic but very thin and light but it is slightly wider than my Samsung Series 7 Slate.
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Yeah that is really the only problems was the Screen/eMMC. I am glad you are happy with it and that I am not just starry eyed. :)

I amazed how well inking works in windows 8 compared VISTA.

The tool is good enough that I am willing to wait to see how the Surface Pro look and to wait for haswell ultimately.

I believe Surface Pro uses pixel perfect tech for digitizing. I want to see how well it works compared to the s-pen (wacom). I feel they work with in the same quality. I was able to replicate the writing demonstration in the keynote with a PDF in reader. The guy in the keynote mentioned sampling at a high dpi for better anti alias. This seems to be a feature on the reader not the inking tech, or they both share high sampling.

I would love to hear your opinions/faults/surprised. The battery life seems to be epic currently. I also think this device may be best right now because of ability to keep data connectivity up during deep sleep like we have on our ARM devices. Haswell will have this tech for the core i5.

I did find one problem. Sometimes waking from sleep the digitizer is no longer seen by windows. reboot fixes it. I am sure this can be correct in a firmware/driver solution.
 
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So I've had the opportunity to use the ASUS VivoTab RT (only Windows tablet at the local store), and I've got some quick impressions, coming at it as primarily an iPad/Mac person but with a lot of experience in Android and Windows:

-- Microsoft has created a real problem for inexperienced users. Just at the store, I had to explain to an older man that Windows RT couldn't run his older apps, while Windows 8 would. This'll get easier down the line, but there are bad expectations being set here.

-- It's fast much of the time, and I'd be happy with the speed if you told me I wasn't allowed to have anything else. That said, it does bog down very occasionally and could really have used the 1.7GHz Tegra 3 from the One X+ instead of the 1.3GHz chip. Office does bog down, although a quick test showed that it was at least usable. I'd really want to delve into a big document to know for sure.

-- The UI is much, much better on tablets than desktops, although it's not as intuitive as the iPad or Jelly Bean-based Android tablets. Multitasking is obviously an edge -- it's the way you do it (swipe in, then back out) that isn't natural. I also wish I could quit apps directly from the app viewing list. Maybe I can, but it's not clear how.

-- Needs. Apps. There's no question about it. What's there is alright, but I'd argue that the iPad can actually do more right now just because there's a very wide app selection. It definitely trumps most Android tablets for the subjective browsing experience through sheer responsiveness.

-- If you want to get a Windows RT tablet that won't be used with a keyboard, go for the VivoTab RT -- you can tell it's lighter and easier to hold. Go with the Surface RT if you thrive on keyboards, though... I'm hearing better things about the Touch Cover versus ASUS' tiny keyboard.

-- The VivoTab has a nice enough display, but it's just not as nice as on an iPad 3/4 or a Transformer Pad Infinity. Extra-sharp displays just spoil you for anything else, and it may be hard to convince people paying $499-plus that a 1,366 x 768 resolution is acceptable.
 
Aurelius said:
So I've had the opportunity to use the ASUS VivoTab RT (only Windows tablet at the local store), and I've got some quick impressions, coming at it as primarily an iPad/Mac person but with a lot of experience in Android and Windows:

-- Microsoft has created a real problem for inexperienced users. Just at the store, I had to explain to an older man that Windows RT couldn't run his older apps, while Windows 8 would. This'll get easier down the line, but there are bad expectations being set here.

-- It's fast much of the time, and I'd be happy with the speed if you told me I wasn't allowed to have anything else. That said, it does bog down very occasionally and could really have used the 1.7GHz Tegra 3 from the One X+ instead of the 1.3GHz chip. Office does bog down, although a quick test showed that it was at least usable. I'd really want to delve into a big document to know for sure.

-- The UI is much, much better on tablets than desktops, although it's not as intuitive as the iPad or Jelly Bean-based Android tablets. Multitasking is obviously an edge -- it's the way you do it (swipe in, then back out) that isn't natural. I also wish I could quit apps directly from the app viewing list. Maybe I can, but it's not clear how.

-- Needs. Apps. There's no question about it. What's there is alright, but I'd argue that the iPad can actually do more right now just because there's a very wide app selection. It definitely trumps most Android tablets for the subjective browsing experience through sheer responsiveness.

-- If you want to get a Windows RT tablet that won't be used with a keyboard, go for the VivoTab RT -- you can tell it's lighter and easier to hold. Go with the Surface RT if you thrive on keyboards, though... I'm hearing better things about the Touch Cover versus ASUS' tiny keyboard.

-- The VivoTab has a nice enough display, but it's just not as nice as on an iPad 3/4 or a Transformer Pad Infinity. Extra-sharp displays just spoil you for anything else, and it may be hard to convince people paying $499-plus that a 1,366 x 768 resolution is acceptable.
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Yeah pretty much sounds right.

The bogging may be an issue with the ram and not the ARM speed. I think the ARM tablets use 1gb? I could be wrong.

Remember only last year people paid $499 for 1024x768.

Someone in a post on hardforum said a good idea. Windows 8 RT should be called Windows Mobile.

Windows Phone (Phones) / Windows Mobile (tablets ARM) / Windows 8 (x86 tablets) / Windows 8 Pro (desktops)
 
Shadohh said:
Yeah pretty much sounds right.

The bogging may be an issue with the ram and not the ARM speed. I think the ARM tablets use 1gb? I could be wrong.

Remember only last year people paid $499 for 1024x768.

Someone in a post on hardforum said a good idea. Windows 8 RT should be called Windows Mobile.

Windows Phone (Phones) / Windows Mobile (tablets ARM) / Windows 8 (x86 tablets) / Windows 8 Pro (desktops)
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I'd pin the slowdowns on the CPU, although it's a bit hard to tell. Windows is going to use more RAM than Android and certainly iOS, both because of its sheer size and its multitasking.

As for resolution... simply put, it's 2012. It's likely just that the Tegra 3 is being asked to do a lot without throwing high-res graphics into the equation, but if you're looking for something to browse the web and watch HD video, a 768p display isn't the best choice.
 
After playing with this Series 5 Tablet PC for a while, I'm impressed. Clover Trail looks like it's a huge leap. While Windows RT is facing a big uphill battle with iOS and Android, it is also competing against Windows 8 Clover Trail devices. Clover Trail devices are roughly the same price as RT devices for same screen and storage sizes, get similar battery life but add x86 compatibility.

And yeah, inking on this thing is great, this is great note taking device, especially with the dock which I'll pick up sometime. Battery looks to be amazing Charged it up and its been running constantly for the last two hours in and out of all sorts of stuff and the battery is still at 81%. Amazing for an x86 device that weighs only 1.65 lbs.
 
Aurelius said:
I'd pin the slowdowns on the CPU, although it's a bit hard to tell. Windows is going to use more RAM than Android and certainly iOS, both because of its sheer size and its multitasking.
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Looking at the memory use on this 32-bit Windows 8 machine, I've got OneNote, Word, five tabs in IE desktop, Metro Reader, Metro IE, Slapdash and memory use is at 1.3 GB. That seems pelts good to me.
 
heatlesssun said:
Looking at the memory use on this 32-bit Windows 8 machine, I've got OneNote, Word, five tabs in IE desktop, Metro Reader, Metro IE, Slapdash and memory use is at 1.3 GB. That seems pelts good to me.
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glad you are liking it :)
 
Katalysis said:
Does the Series 5 (or whatever the lower end Samsung tablet is) have an S-Pen?
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Yes it does. But I hate that pen and am using the Wacom pen that came with my Series 7 Slate. The s-pen doesn't have an eraser and it's too small for my comfort.
 
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Yeah, like I said earlier the Series 7 pen works perfectly with the Series 5, just about any Wacom pen will.
 
Man really the only big gripes I have with W8 is that google hasn't really done any work on Chrome and hasnt gotten a Google Maps App yet. Chrome is just a PITA to use right now. I have everything sync'd and set up nicely with chrome for all my devices and I don't want to leave it but it doesnt have much touch support... Also I cant tell how to close apps using the sidebar if you can even do that lol. I hate having to go to every program to close it manually.
 
I got a Surface on Friday and I have been super impressed. I am actually surprised more people aren't blown away with what Microsoft has accomplished with the Tegra chip. I have been nothing but impressed with the multitasking.

It is fast and power efficient. I love the display and build quality. Windows RT is just amazing IMO. It is so nice to use as a tablet. I love all of the gestures. I have run into a hiccup or two on occasion but overall I am just super impressed with the quality of the OS and how powerful it is.
 
Haha I have practically replaced my Laptop and ipud with my new W 8 Hybrid and I am doing move than I ever could with it than those two combined. Also Writing using ink is very slick. I amusing it now to Write this post.
 
///AMG said:
Haha I have practically replaced my Laptop and ipud with my new W 8 Hybrid and I am doing move than I ever could with it than those two combined. Also Writing using ink is very slick. I amusing it now to Write this post.
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What did you get?
Some stores here have no W8 Tablets, I wanted to look at the Sony and Samsung ones even though the one I want (S20) wont be out till November anyway...
 
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