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$300 8" tablets: Thin+light, fast web browsing w/Flash, 8-10 hours...and Steam

B

brotkasten

Member
I finally found a good review of the Asus VivoTab Note 8.

http://www.umpcportal.com/2014/02/asus-vivotab-note-8-review/2/

The pen works well, as expected from a Wacom pen
Performance looks good
Battery is really average
No NFC (this one is really a bummer)
Lack of ports (like a small W8 tablets)
Kinda slow SSD (Asus being super cheap here again)

I'm probably going to wait for a second generation, but somehow I doubt we'll see one, considering the usually bad sales number for Windows tablets.

e: The lack of any mobile connectivity is also a huge blow, imo. None of these small tablets come with 3G or 4G.
 
R

Raxious

Member
Hmmm, I'm probably gonna pick up a Surface in 2 weeks. No idea yet which one though, I have one question.

Anyone here tried Banished on a tablet? We've got the video's of SimCity, Diablo 3 and some other games running on it, so I'm pretty sure that Banished shouldn't be a problem. But I'm still curious if someone here has tried it.
 
TheLaughingStock

TheLaughingStock

Member
brotkasten said:
I'm probably going to wait for a second generation, but somehow I doubt we'll see one, considering the usually bad sales number for Windows tablets.

e: The lack of any mobile connectivity is also a huge blow, imo. None of these small tablets come with 3G or 4G.
Click to expand...

Asus could stretch a product line the length of a football field. Bad sales generally don't deter them. Remember VivoTab Smart and RT? Lol they'll throw anything out there because someone could consider it.
 
B

brotkasten

Member
TheLaughingStock said:
Asus could stretch a product line the length of a football field. Bad sales generally don't deter them. Remember VivoTab Smart and RT? Lol they'll throw anything out there because someone could consider it.
Click to expand...

While that's the reason we got the Note 8 from Asus, where's the second generation of the RT tablet? See what I mean?
 
S

spwolf

Member
brotkasten said:
While that's the reason we got the Note 8 from Asus, where's the second generation of the RT tablet? See what I mean?
Click to expand...

RT tablets make no sense at all. Full 8.1 tablets do... they seem to be selling well in Europe, when I was getting mine month ago, T100 was sold out in most of countries, I saw plenty of commercials on the TV (and still do), and all the PC-centric stores had them prominently displayed.

I would guess that newest info about Win 8.1 Update 1 and its ability to work with 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of disk is geared for these tablets, as it will become possible to get even cheaper versions on the shelves.
 
M

maeh2k

Member
spwolf said:
RT tablets make no sense at all. Full 8.1 tablets do... they seem to be selling well in Europe, when I was getting mine month ago, T100 was sold out in most of countries, I saw plenty of commercials on the TV (and still do), and all the PC-centric stores had them prominently displayed.

I would guess that newest info about Win 8.1 Update 1 and its ability to work with 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of disk is geared for these tablets, as it will become possible to get even cheaper versions on the shelves.
Click to expand...

RT tablets make as much sense as full Windows tablets, if not more. On a small tablet device most users just don't need x86 applications. And there are some benefits to RT tablets, like more security and OEMs not being able to bundle some stupid anti-virus software and other crap.
 
M

MCD

Junior Member
maeh2k said:
RT tablets make as much sense as full Windows tablets, if not more. On a small tablet device most users just don't need x86 applications. And there are some benefits to RT tablets, like more security and OEMs not being able to bundle some stupid anti-virus software and other crap.
Click to expand...

But MS bundle their own antivirus in RT lol.
 
S

spwolf

Member
maeh2k said:
RT tablets make as much sense as full Windows tablets, if not more. On a small tablet device most users just don't need x86 applications. And there are some benefits to RT tablets, like more security and OEMs not being able to bundle some stupid anti-virus software and other crap.
Click to expand...

I dont really get it, because with full Windows tablets, you get everything that ever was on Windows. You can use them in any way possible with software that has been around for 15 years.

With WinRT you miss a lot of great applications and i doubt it will get better.

Full Win 8.1 gives tablets big advantage over Android and iOS, that WinRT lacks.

On my encore, I downloaded 10 different media players and none of them are better than stock Videos, and even then stock Videos cant hold candle to at least 10 different 8.1 programs such as WMP that comes with K-lite.

If i was stuck on RT, i literally would not know wtf would I do with it...

With the announcement how 8.1 Update 1 will make full Windows work on 1GB RAM and 16 GB HDD for Tablets, it seems that WinRT-only tablets will die off - nobody is buying them and nobody is designing new ones.

To me it seems like they are pushing to unify RT and Windows Phone, which is a great choice, as well as full desktop experience on laptops as well as options for Tablets.

Desktop programs work great on 8" Tablets, i have been showing it around and everyone who has ever used Windows, loves it. Got a coworker or two to get them as well.
 
E

Eel O'Brian

Member
Man, I would not recommend buying a 16GB Windows tablet with only 1GB RAM, no matter how much they streamline it. That is gonna be one miserably cramped experience, haha.

On another note, is there some sort of catchall topic for PC gaming on Windows Tablets? I've been testing out some stuff on my Asus T100, and I'd like to post the results there. I did a search but came up kinda blank. Maybe I wasn't using the right search terms.
 
S

spwolf

Member
Eel O'Brian said:
Man, I would not recommend buying a 16GB Windows tablet with only 1GB RAM, no matter how much they streamline it. That is gonna be one miserably cramped experience, haha.

On another note, is there some sort of catchall topic for PC gaming on Windows Tablets? I've been testing out some stuff on my Asus T100, and I'd like to post the results there. I did a search but came up kinda blank. Maybe I wasn't using the right search terms.
Click to expand...

this is catch-all topic for anything related to Win8.1 tablets.
 
J

joshschw

Member
spwolf said:
I dont really get it, because with full Windows tablets, you get everything that ever was on Windows. You can use them in any way possible with software that has been around for 15 years.

With WinRT you miss a lot of great applications and i doubt it will get better.

Full Win 8.1 gives tablets big advantage over Android and iOS, that WinRT lacks.

On my encore, I downloaded 10 different media players and none of them are better than stock Videos, and even then stock Videos cant hold candle to at least 10 different 8.1 programs such as WMP that comes with K-lite.

If i was stuck on RT, i literally would not know wtf would I do with it...

With the announcement how 8.1 Update 1 will make full Windows work on 1GB RAM and 16 GB HDD for Tablets, it seems that WinRT-only tablets will die off - nobody is buying them and nobody is designing new ones.

To me it seems like they are pushing to unify RT and Windows Phone, which is a great choice, as well as full desktop experience on laptops as well as options for Tablets.

Desktop programs work great on 8" Tablets, i have been showing it around and everyone who has ever used Windows, loves it. Got a coworker or two to get them as well.
Click to expand...

Have owned a Dell V8pro for a few months now, and the only x86 thing I have done on it was install an image converter program... I'll take RT's smoothness, stability, better drivers, better battery life over that.
 
K

Karish

Member
joshschw said:
Have owned a Dell V8pro for a few months now, and the only x86 thing I have done on it was install an image converter program... I'll take RT's smoothness, stability, better drivers, better battery life over that.
Click to expand...

Ditto. I hope rumored Surface Mini is basically a Windows 8.1 iPad Mini with retina display
 
B

border

Member
spwolf said:
I dont really get it, because with full Windows tablets, you get everything that ever was on Windows. You can use them in any way possible with software that has been around for 15 years.

With WinRT you miss a lot of great applications and i doubt it will get better.

Full Win 8.1 gives tablets big advantage over Android and iOS, that WinRT lacks.
Click to expand...
The problem is that it's just a huge ass irritating hassle to use desktop x86 apps on a tablet anyway. They are there if you need them, but 99% of the time you want Metro apps instead. The advantage of Win8.1 over WinRT disappears pretty quickly if all you want to do is browse the web, check email, and listen to music. The hook of this thread is that you can use Steam, but even in Big Picture mode steam is annoyIng on a Win8 tablet. Then you soon realize that 99% of games aren't tablet-friendly anyway.
 
S

spwolf

Member
border said:
The problem is that it's just a huge ass irritating hassle to use desktop x86 apps on a tablet anyway. They are there if you need them, but 99% of the time you want Metro apps instead. The advantage of Win8.1 over WinRT disappears pretty quickly if all you want to do is browse the web, check email, and listen to music. The hook of this thread is that you can use Steam, but even in Big Picture mode steam is annoyIng on a Win8 tablet. Then you soon realize that 99% of games aren't tablet-friendly anyway.
Click to expand...

If you want basics, then RT is just enough... for anything extra, x86 is much better... I have Encore for 50 days now and have no problems using any desktop app I tried, they all work well with finger touch. I would even say they all work great.

Right now I use Chrome for web and mail, is Chrome with Metro mode even available for RT? I also use simple ebook reader, and kids do games but for everything else, especially movies, x86 is essential. There is no great RT movie app at all, they all suck, some more, some less.

I can play any movie i want via WMP from k-lite codec pack and it works superb, doesnt use almost any cpu at all.

Right now it seems RT tablets are going to go away for good, while x86 ones are multifunctional and dont limit you in any way... and everyone is keeping releasing them so sales must be much better than RT.
 
A

antiquegamer

Member
So I have been playing around with the T100 and it's not a bad device especially for the price however it like the DVP8 suffer from some quirks that are driving me nut.

I love the OS but the 10" form factor is really not comfortable to hold vs the 8" while I appreciate more screen real estate, portrait mode is just terrible to use. It also have the same wifi issue as the DVP, so at this point I am going to assume it's the OS. I guess it's power saving mode where it would disconnect from wifi not sure why as it doesn't seem to help battery life anyway. Which bring me to the last quirk, the standby battery life on this thing is very finicky, sometimes it just completely drain the battery in less than a day on standby as if it's constantly come back on (another quirk?) It does this twice .. and if you let the battery die, prepare to wait about 6-8 hours of charge time before it come back to life.

I am not sure I am keeping this ..it's cheap but I would rather have a reliable device. My old iPad was left on standby for a week and came right back on with 97% battery and wifi stay connected. And that thing is 4 years old. (yes it's ipad 1).

I love the OS and I love able to play my Steam games and Hearthstone but not sure I can deal with the power and wifi.
 
C

commish

Jason Kidd murdered my dog in cold blood!
joshschw said:
Have owned a Dell V8pro for a few months now, and the only x86 thing I have done on it was install an image converter program... I'll take RT's smoothness, stability, better drivers, better battery life over that.
Click to expand...

As someone with both a Dell and the RT, I have to say that the RT is just a lot better made overall. Everything, from surfing to typing to the construction of the device itself is just superior on the RT. I prefer the Dell because it allows me to do more with it, but if I wasn't going to install windows apps, then I'd take an RT all day. Having full win 8 is nice though. Win RT is trash.
 
A

antiquegamer

Member
commish said:
As someone with both a Dell and the RT, I have to say that the RT is just a lot better made overall. Everything, from surfing to typing to the construction of the device itself is just superior on the RT. I prefer the Dell because it allows me to do more with it, but if I wasn't going to install windows apps, then I'd take an RT all day. Having full win 8 is nice though. Win RT is trash.
Click to expand...

I think that's more of the fact that it's dell and I assume by RT you meant Surface. I know these are cheap tablet but Dell touch driver on the DVP8 is just so crappy it really ruin the experience (I end up with iPad for my wife because the constant magnifying just drive her and me crazy).

Every time I consider RT, I jus think about how limited it is to use. I am still waiting for my local Best Buy to may be get in that Lenovo Thinkpad 8 ... I am willing to pay $100 premium over DVP if it give me better experience.
 
W

wanders

Member
antiquegamer said:
I think that's more of the fact that it's dell and I assume by RT you meant Surface. I know these are cheap tablet but Dell touch driver on the DVP8 is just so crappy it really ruin the experience (I end up with iPad for my wife because the constant magnifying just drive her and me crazy).

Every time I consider RT, I jus think about how limited it is to use. I am still waiting for my local Best Buy to may be get in that Lenovo Thinkpad 8 ... I am willing to pay $100 premium over DVP if it give me better experience.
Click to expand...

Have you installed any Asus updates? That fixed a lot of problems with mine, though the standby battery life is still horrible.
 
A

antiquegamer

Member
wanders said:
Have you installed any Asus updates? That fixed a lot of problems with mine, though the standby battery life is still horrible.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's pretty up to date. Standby battery is a toss up ... I just hate the fact that it die and take 6-8 hours just to charge back up.
 
C

commish

Jason Kidd murdered my dog in cold blood!
antiquegamer said:
I think that's more of the fact that it's dell and I assume by RT you meant Surface. I know these are cheap tablet but Dell touch driver on the DVP8 is just so crappy it really ruin the experience (I end up with iPad for my wife because the constant magnifying just drive her and me crazy).
Click to expand...

Oh I know all about this and definitely agree. I've complained about this in this very thread before, on more than one occasion.
 
S

spwolf

Member
antiquegamer said:
I think that's more of the fact that it's dell and I assume by RT you meant Surface. I know these are cheap tablet but Dell touch driver on the DVP8 is just so crappy it really ruin the experience (I end up with iPad for my wife because the constant magnifying just drive her and me crazy).

Every time I consider RT, I jus think about how limited it is to use. I am still waiting for my local Best Buy to may be get in that Lenovo Thinkpad 8 ... I am willing to pay $100 premium over DVP if it give me better experience.
Click to expand...

My Encore is pretty perfect when it comes to touch detection... DVP8 also had some recent new drivers as well.

It also charges fast as frak and I didnt notice any standby issues... which is interesting as Toshiba didnt really update any of the drivers.. lol.
 
A

acheron_xl

Member
spwolf said:
My Encore is pretty perfect when it comes to touch detection... DVP8 also had some recent new drivers as well.

It also charges fast as frak and I didnt notice any standby issues... which is interesting as Toshiba didnt really update any of the drivers.. lol.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Dell put out an updated touch driver for at least the V8P, and I personally noticed an improvement in the touch accuracy. I haven't tried the smart stylus at all, and I think that got a bunch of updates too.
 
B

Barmaley

Neo Member
So, after much hesitation and research (too many similar 8" win8 tablets on the market, makes it hard to choose) I finally bit the bullet and bought a Lenovo Miix 2 8. But it looks like I might have to spit it back out.
It's a great piece of hardware, a whole desktop windows experience in such a small device - not even a few years ago people would've called you a mad scifi author for suggesting that as a possibility.
The problem with it isn't in any way the device's fault, but the impending future and the new crop of tablet technology it will bring. Namely, a decent 8" wacom win8 tablet with a a full hd screen and a 64gb+ memory. Something like thinkpad 8 but with wacom.
Now the question is, should I return it and wait for my personal holy grail of tablets? I can afford only one tablet for the next 12 months....
 
S

spwolf

Member
Barmaley said:
So, after much hesitation and research (too many similar 8" win8 tablets on the market, makes it hard to choose) I finally bit the bullet and bought a Lenovo Miix 2 8. But it looks like I might have to spit it back out.
It's a great piece of hardware, a whole desktop windows experience in such a small device - not even a few years ago people would've called you a mad scifi author for suggesting that as a possibility.
The problem with it isn't in any way the device's fault, but the impending future and the new crop of tablet technology it will bring. Namely, a decent 8" wacom win8 tablet with a a full hd screen and a 64gb+ memory. Something like thinkpad 8 but with wacom.
Now the question is, should I return it and wait for my personal holy grail of tablets? I can afford only one tablet for the next 12 months....
Click to expand...

is anyone going with Wacom? I have not heard anything like that coming out... And plus, it is going to be significantly more expensive than Miix 2.

My cuz got Dell Venue Pro 8 for $199 at Microcenter, it is a deal that can not be beat... not sure if they still have the same deal.
 
B

brotkasten

Member
spwolf said:
is anyone going with Wacom? I have not heard anything like that coming out... And plus, it is going to be significantly more expensive than Miix 2.

My cuz got Dell Venue Pro 8 for $199 at Microcenter, it is a deal that can not be beat... not sure if they still have the same deal.
Click to expand...

Asus has one.

0ys9eeJ.jpg


$299 or $329. But it's 1280x800.
 
B

brotkasten

Member
Tangeroo said:
I just ordered a Lenovo Miix 2 8" from Best Buy for $199.99

I already have a Surface Pro 2 but this will make for a fun pocket tablet. Looks like it's faster and has a better battery life than the Venue Pro which also factored into the decision.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2101380/lenovo-miix-2-8-review-a-fast-tablet-thats-short-on-features.html
Click to expand...

Speaking of the Miix 2, it dropped to €254 on Amazon.de. Fuuuuck, it was 254 last night and this morning, but it's back to 280 now. :(

I wanted to get a Dell as birthday present for my GF, but the Miix 2 costs basically the same now. But hiding it for another month and a half is going to be hard.
 
T

tino

Banned
I just got a 64GB Venue 8 Pro. I can not turn this fucker on. I left home in a hurry and did not take the charger either.

Is it normal to have charge the tablet first before you can turn it on? I think I got a dub.
 
B

brotkasten

Member
April 17 is sneaking up and I'm still not sure which one I should buy. Right now I'm deciding between the Toshiba and the Lenovo Miix 2. I like the micro HDMI port on the Toshiba, so if it doesn't have any serious issues, I'd probably get that.
 
B

Barmaley

Neo Member
spwolf said:
is anyone going with Wacom? I have not heard anything like that coming out... And plus, it is going to be significantly more expensive than Miix 2.

My cuz got Dell Venue Pro 8 for $199 at Microcenter, it is a deal that can not be beat... not sure if they still have the same deal.
Click to expand...

Well the asus does, but apparently they forgot to put a fat rejecting layer on the display which turns it into a horrible fingerprint magnet. I had the chance to test it at a local shop and it sucked more fat than a massive liposuction - it was ridiculous.

Anyways, after two weeks with the lenovo miix 2, I returned it. The lack of a hdmi connector and the 32gb harddrive made it too gimmicky for my taste. In its last days I was using it mostly for internet browsing only, which I find more convenient on other OSes.

So, I guess for me it's going to be a long wait for Surface mini, or for another surface pro pricedrop.
 
S

spwolf

Member
brotkasten said:
April 17 is sneaking up and I'm still not sure which one I should buy. Right now I'm deciding between the Toshiba and the Lenovo Miix 2. I like the micro HDMI port on the Toshiba, so if it doesn't have any serious issues, I'd probably get that.
Click to expand...

Lenovo might be better built? But i dont have any issues with Encore, build is typical plastic Toshiba though, however I cant fault it at price.
 
D

dLMN8R

Member
The Miix 2 is definitely not built better than the Venue 8 Pro. It had absolutely terrible speakers and a horrendous backlight that couldn't get dim enough and also bled all over the place - having a micro HDMI port could never outweigh those negatives.
 
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