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[LukasTaves]

I had the Galaxy Note 10.1 and never needed to use the pen, the pen idea sounded great before I bought the device...turned out to be fairly useless feature for me.

I'm hoping that it works amazingly with one note, because i always have a small notebook with me, that other than the extra bulk to carry, is not optimal for finding previously sketches and notes...

I never used onenote with a pen, but if it works as close as possible to a real notebook + pencil/pen (as in: It feels great to write, and your hands never, ever, by any chance, gets into the way of the usual flow) i can see myself ditching it...

How does the pen on galaxy note feels when writing? I take it's quite close to using a plastic pen on a resistive screen, right?

 

[Ghost]

I'd like a Lenovo Tablet 2, I think that sounds perfect from the form factor and features point of you, but I don't think Atom will be enough for me as I want to develop on the thing. Think I'm going to have to go for the ATIV and put up with the weight and heat

 

[cbrotherson]

So I emailed Samsung to see if I could get to the bottom of the question regarding the Smart PC and Smart PC Pro storage confusion.

And, predictably, they were no help at all.

This was the reply:

“Regarding your query please be advised that there currently is no official release date for this product within the UK.”

Was tempted to send them the Amazon link, but that would be pointless – they’re undoubtedly aware of it and the guy who sent me this is just towing the company line.

In any case, the lack of an Atom 128GB version as initially reported has forced me to turn my attentions to the Dell Latitude 10:

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc...-and-netbooks/dell-latitude-10-1098759/review

10.1” screen, 1366 x 768, Gorilla Glass
Atom
Full fat Windows 8
2GB RAM
128GB
Mini HDMI, SDXC, USB 2.0
Replaceable battery (anything up to/around 18 hours)
Supposedly compatible with the XPS 10 keyboard/battery dock

No price yet, but the Surface’s now revealed price will make things interesting. Dell probably wouldn’t price it higher than the Samsung models, even with the better storage (due to the processor being Clover Trail and having integrated graphics). Both Samsung and MS's pricing suggesting that the Dell dock will retail around £150, with the battery. So I’d guess that Latitude 10 will probably go for £450 - £500.

Despite the fact they’re positioning it as a ‘business/professional’ item, they’ve not bundled in a keyboard dock for some reason, so the total package would probably hit around £600 to £650. Expensive, but that replaceable battery/life and storage puts it ahead for me.

Has anyone else had a look at it? What’s Dell’s build quality typically like?

 

[tino]

WTF!? Latitude 10 come out of fucking nowhere? Full SD? Full USB port? replaceable battery!? optional pen?! optional 3G?

But...there is no keyboard?! This is madness!!!

WHA

Chart updated

 

[cbrotherson]

WTF!? Latitude 10 come out of fucking nowhere? Full SD? Full USB port? replaceable battery!? optional pen?! optional 3G?

But...there is no keyboard?! This is madness!!!

WHA

Ha, nice one, man, great to have it in the (very handy) chart. I thought you were just ignoring the Latitude 10 or something, didnt realise you missed it. If Dells gets the price right, it could be a contender.

But the lack of keyboard is baffling.

 

[Windu]

So I emailed Samsung to see if I could get to the bottom of the question regarding the Smart PC and Smart PC Pro storage confusion.

And, predictably, they were no help at all.

This was the reply:

“Regarding your query please be advised that there currently is no official release date for this product within the UK.”

Was tempted to send them the Amazon link, but that would be pointless – they’re undoubtedly aware of it and the guy who sent me this is just towing the company line.

In any case, the lack of an Atom 128GB version as initially reported has forced me to turn my attentions to the Dell Latitude 10:

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc...-and-netbooks/dell-latitude-10-1098759/review

10.1” screen, 1366 x 768, Gorilla Glass
Atom
Full fat Windows 8
2GB RAM
128GB
Mini HDMI, SDXC, USB 2.0
Replaceable battery (anything up to/around 18 hours)
Supposedly compatible with the XPS 10 keyboard/battery dock

No price yet, but the Surface’s now revealed price will make things interesting. Dell probably wouldn’t price it higher than the Samsung models, even with the better storage (due to the processor being Clover Trail and having integrated graphics). Both Samsung and MS's pricing suggesting that the Dell dock will retail around £150, with the battery. So I’d guess that Latitude 10 will probably go for £450 - £500.

Despite the fact they’re positioning it as a ‘business/professional’ item, they’ve not bundled in a keyboard dock for some reason, so the total package would probably hit around £600 to £650. Expensive, but that replaceable battery/life and storage puts it ahead for me.

Has anyone else had a look at it? What’s Dell’s build quality typically like?

I dont think the new atom SoCs support anything more than 64gb. They all seem to come with sd card slots though.

 

[popeutlal]

But that Dell is an ugly device though, yikes...

 

[jagowar]

WTF!? Latitude 10 come out of fucking nowhere? Full SD? Full USB port? replaceable battery!? optional pen?! optional 3G?

But...there is no keyboard?! This is madness!!!

WHA

Chart updated

The memory capacities have been updated for surface and surface pro.... 2gig for surface and 4 gig for surface pro. http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-US/surface-with-windows-8-pro/specifications

Also probably best to wait until they launch but it would be nice to have all the battery life comparisons in the same format so you can actually compare those values. Really interested to see how RT will compare to the various intel chips.

 

[SteveWD40]

I think I am sold on the Lenovo Lynx as a portable / tablet / laptop. Then get something nice for the desk.

 

[Windu]

I think I am sold on the Lenovo Lynx as a portable / tablet / laptop. Then get something nice for the desk.

Yep i am thinking i will get that one too. I dont think it will be there at launch though.

 

[brotkasten]

Have you guys really no concerns about the 2 GB RAM? it's not like you can upgrade it later.

 

[Ghost]

Have you guys really no concerns about the 2 GB RAM? it's not like you can upgrade it later.

Will be interesting to see the hands on tests for sure, I think it will come down to legacy performance being as bad as you'd expect but 2gig is probably adequate for Metro stuff given the changes to multitasking.

iPad 3 only has 1 gig of ram and it has that huge display to render to.

 

[popeutlal]

Have you guys really no concerns about the 2 GB RAM? it's not like you can upgrade it later.

At work our desktops run Winxp with 2gb ram, and IT has installed incredible amounts security and monitoring software, and windows runs pretty well. And winxp is crap at memory management so don't expect much issues with 2gb ram.

 

[cbrotherson]

I dont think the new atom SoCs support anything more than 64gb. They all seem to come with sd card slots though.

Seems to be the case, although I’d have thought the Latitude would have been the same, until recently.

But that Dell is an ugly device though, yikes...

Yeah, not the prettiest, is it? But still, while I like pretty, I’m not fussed about aesthetics (I own an Open Pandora, so that goes without saying – I love the thing to bits, despite its retro-clunk-chunk ;-) Surface is like a veritable Ms World by comparison, but that price is a punch to the crotch. I’d hate to think how much the Pro is going to be. Out of my price range for sure, which is a shame because it otherwise ticks all the boxes.

Have you guys really no concerns about the 2 GB RAM? it's not like you can upgrade it later.

Personally, I’m cool with it. The portable work machine I’m replacing is a Samsung NC10, which I’ve had for about 3 years, so something like this (light, portable, suits my needs) is actually a step up for me. I’m on the move a lot, so battery life and the above factors are more important that grunt, even with something as low as 2GB.

 

[brotkasten]

Will be interesting to see the hands on tests for sure, I think it will come down to legacy performance being as bad as you'd expect but 2gig is probably adequate for Metro stuff given the changes to multitasking.

iPad 3 only has 1 gig of ram and it has that huge display to render to.

Yeah, the desktop performance is what concerns me. Seeing all these tablets with a pen is great and tempting, but I just can't see it working well enough on the desktop. The lack of good content creation apps on the Windows Store doesn't help either.

I'd love something like Paper on the Windows Store.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXz9NBYVJhg

I know I always hate on the 16:9 form factor, but something like paper could work really well with an open book layout.

 

[Tacitus_]

Have you guys really no concerns about the 2 GB RAM? it's not like you can upgrade it later.

It's the only thing I'm concerned about, really. Office should run pretty well, but I'm sorta worried about IDEs since we're switching to Visual Studio from Dev-C++ in my school next year. Running Visual Studio and youtube at 720p are pretty much my only performance concerns.

 

[Ghost]

Yeah, the desktop performance is what concerns me. Seeing all these tablets with a pen is great and tempting, but I just can see it working well enough on the desktop. The lack of good content creation apps on the Windows Store doesn't help either.

I'd love something like Paper on the Windows Store.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzlZiajRttY

I know I always hate on the 16:9 form factor, but something like paper would work really well with an open book type of layout.

They are doing the project Austin thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8WCBSs8h9II

 

[brotkasten]

They are doing the project Austin thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8WCBSs8h9II

Looks like a more stylized OneNote competitor.

From Microsoft.

And why isn't it using a double page layout? Only one page is huge waste of space (and shows how bad 16:9 is <3).

 

[Windu]

I have used a old netbook with 2gb before. It was fine for basic tasks. With the upgraded cpu and a ssd it should be good for all of the basic stuff. Its not like i am expecting to run photoshop on it.

 

[tino]

Looks like a more stylized OneNote competitor.

From Microsoft.

And why isn't it using a double page layout? Only one page is huge waste of space (and shows how bad 16:9 is <3).

Exactly. Galaxy Note 1 > Galaxy Note 2

 

[TheFightingFish]

It's the only thing I'm concerned about, really. Office should run pretty well, but I'm sorta worried about IDEs since we're switching to Visual Studio from Dev-C++ in my school next year. Running Visual Studio and youtube at 720p are pretty much my only performance concerns.

I have an Acer 721 netbook that is a couple of years old. It has just 2GB and I use Visual Studio with it and it's solid enough. And that's running Windows 7, since Windows 8 is actually a bit better at memory management and desktop responsiveness I'm thinking that you should be fine.

 

[brotkasten]

tino, it's ime to update that chart again.

Full specs of the HP Envy x2.

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/ad/envy-x2/specs.html

New: beats audio, 1080p FFC, USB 2.0 (not 3.0), full SD card slot (not mSD), optional stylus and NFC. Still no info on the battery.

Date: December 2012.

I love how they describe on-board RAM as a good thing.
"Starts at 2 GB 533MHz LPDDr2 SDRAM. On-board to unleash your creativity."

Time to unleash that creativity, guys.

 

[LukasTaves]

Looks like a more stylized OneNote competitor.

From Microsoft.

And why isn't it using a double page layout? Only one page is huge waste of space (and shows how bad 16:9 is <3).

I think their idea in the metro environment is to use this tool to capture stuff, and one note to catalog it. There's some overlaping features here and there but from the preview version at least, onenote seems more focused in being a light text editor tool then the capture it all that desktop onenote is.

 

[Tacitus_]

I have an Acer 721 netbook that is a couple of years old. It has just 2GB and I use Visual Studio with it and it's solid enough. And that's running Windows 7, since Windows 8 is actually a bit better at memory management and desktop responsiveness I'm thinking that you should be fine.

Lovely, thanks!

 

[tino]

tino, it's ime to update that chart again.

Full specs of the HP Envy x2.


New: beats audio, 1080p FFC, USB 2.0 (not 3.0), full SD card slot (not mSD), optional stylus and NFC. Still no info on the battery.

Date: December 2012.

I love how they describe on-board RAM as a good thing.
"Starts at 2 GB 533MHz LPDDr2 SDRAM. On-board to unleash your creativity."

Time to unleash that creativity, guys.

Fucking useless spec page. It only tells you the ports on the keyboard but not whats on the tablet.

And still no battery and price info

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ai8ZiATihYWQdDhTYnBMNzNNU2pIWTI4blh4cW5QS3c

 

[Divvy]

I want to see how well it actually runs photoshop

 

[popeutlal]

So do these tablets actually have a release date? The official web page of Samsung and Lenovo provide no info at all of when they'll be released. Damn Acer doesn't even have a product web page.

My current 'might buy' list
Acer W510
Samsung 500T
Lenovo Lynx and Thinkpad 2

But when will they be released?

 

[Everdred]

So do these tablets actually have a release date? The official web page of Samsung and Lenovo provide no info at all of when they'll be released. Damn Acer doesn't even have a product web page.

My current 'might buy' list
Acer W510
Samsung 500T
Lenovo Lynx and Thinkpad 2

But when will they be released?

I haven't seen any official announcements either. I pre-ordered the Samsung 500T on Amazon.com because it has Oct 26th release date. They don't even have the Acer. Meanwhile, NewEgg has both of them releasing the first week of November.

 

[LukasTaves]

I found this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1LZMIEBGdU

And this are the specs of the tablet:

http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/tablets/2011/Acer/ICONIATab/ICONIATabW500/ICONIATabW500sp2.shtml

Now it's a matter of finding how those new atoms compare with this:

AMD C-Series dual-core processor C-50 (1 MB L2 cache, 1 GHz, DDR3 1066 MHz, 9 W),

competes with the new atom.

Considering the W510, which is the successor of the tablet in the video, i'm assuming that these new atoms are at least as fast with better battery life...

Seems enough performance for photoshop, and if VS studio also runs like this then it will be fine too

Edit:

Ah ha!

http://www.zdnet.com/acer-iconia-tab-w500-3040092376/

From this article here's the Windows Experience Index for this tablet:

The Iconia Tab W500's processor/RAM combination is unlikely to satisfy business users who require sprightly performance. During testing the W500 felt a little sluggish, and the tablet's Windows Experience Index (WEI) score bears this out: the overall score of 2.7 (out of 7.9) is, in fact, the lowest we've seen in a Windows 7 device. The WEI corresponds to the lowest-performing component score, which in this case is for Processor (calculations per second).

The remaining scores are more respectable: 4.1 for Graphics (desktop performance for Windows Aero); 4.9 for RAM (Memory operations per second); 5.5 for Gaming Graphics (3D business and gaming graphics performance) and 5.9 for Primary hard disk (Disk data transfer rate).


Now, there was a video that showed those same indexes for the new W510 tablet (IIRC it was 3.5 for the processor and 3.2 for graphics, so the atom would have more processing power, but quite lower graphics performance)... I just need to find the video to confirm.

 

[popeutlal]

Is there a comparison 10.1 and 11.6 inch screen side by side? Wonder if it's worth it to go for a larger screen.

 

[Subitai]

Is there a comparison 10.1 and 11.6 inch screen side by side? Wonder if it's worth it to go for a larger screen.

Yeah, I'd like to see them beside an iPad.

 

[tino]

Yeah, I'd like to see them beside an iPad.

Just go to Best Buy.

 

[Jayayess1190]

Is there a comparison 10.1 and 11.6 inch screen side by side? Wonder if it's worth it to go for a larger screen.

Sizeasy Input the dimensions. Or:

Link

Link

 

[Emily Chu]

Sizeasy Input the dimensions. Or:

heh looks like a wash

 

[Dreams-Visions]

I want to see how well it actually runs photoshop

an i5/i7 + HD4000 graphics will run Photoshop very well. especially with an SSD drive.

unless you're looking at an Atom-based system, there's no reason to worry about Photoshop performance.

 

[brotkasten]

an i5/i7 + HD4000 graphics will run Photoshop very well. especially with an SSD drive.

unless you're looking at an Atom-based system, there's no reason to worry about Photoshop performance.

But the HP is an Atom tablet.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

But the HP is an Atom tablet.

shit. I wasn't sure what machine he was referring to, so I thought I'd just offer the general point.

fail.

I...I'd want to see some benchmarks of the new Atoms running Photoshop before I'd drop cash on one...but I really wouldn't presume it to be all that good.

If you're using PS only occasionally, I'm sure an Atom will be fine. For every day work....I probably wouldn't.

 

[tino]

heh looks like a wash

Believe it or not, it makes a big difference in Netbooks. You can one-hand a 10" Netbook but 11" is too heavy.

Donno about tablets never hold a 11" tablet before.

 

[Anony]

i dont see anywhere in the dell tablet where it says there's an optional pen

i need the cheapest win8 tablet with a pen
COME ON

things are not looking good right now

 

[tino]

i dont see anywhere in the dell tablet where it says there's an optional pen

i need the cheapest win8 tablet with a pen
COME ON

things are not looking good right now

This one

http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/19/3355404/dell-latitude-10-windows-8-tablet-hands-on

 

[storafötter]

If the battery life of Slate 7 is indeed 8 hours and has blazing reviews I might make it an exception and buy it. The only downside with pouring so much money into such a device is that I wont be able to use the warranty unless I travel to the US again before a year passes. No way in hell id pay 1200 dollars in local value (probably be like 1800 - 2000 dollars). If only release date could happen sooner. I know it is only 2 weeks left.

 

[Tacitus_]

Could you get a 3rd party pen to work? Given that it's the full Win8 OS so driver support should be there.

 

[tci]

I'm really tempted to go for the Acer Iconia W700 with the i3.

Will check out reviews first, but it looks really great so far.

 

[Damon Bennet]

I'm really tempted to go for the Acer Iconia W700 with the i3.

Will check out reviews first, but it looks really great so far.

Reviews will be like this:

+ Great unibody case
+ Clear and crisp image
+ Fast and responsive
+ Great Price
- Bad battery life
- No Stylus
- Heavy
- Ugly, plasticky dock

Will probably buy.

 

[Dead Prince]

which one has a wacom digitizer?

 

[Subitai]

Reviews will be like this:

+ Great unibody case
+ Clear and crisp image
+ Fast and responsive
+ Great Price
- Bad battery life
- No Stylus
- Heavy
- Ugly, plasticky dock

Will probably buy.

I can easily see this.

Is anyone shelling out for one of the Samsungs?

 

[Ghost]

I can easily see this.

Is anyone shelling out for one of the Samsungs?

Me I think depending on what the release date turns out to be.

 

[tino]

I got to say, this year's "Netbook"/tablet markets are amazingly competitive.

Even in regular Netbook year, I usually only need to decide between 2-3 products. I mean when did Dell become this competitive. Their tablets are usually completely garbage with retardedly low resolution. I just need to take a look at the press release and ignore them.

Right now I am still going back and fore between all four 10" Atoms tablets. I may consider a couple 11" ones if they have full size SD card slot. This is much harder than I thought. The accessories make it all the more difficult!

 

[strata8]

Reviews will be like this:

+ Great unibody case
+ Clear and crisp image
+ Fast and responsive
+ Great Price
- Bad battery life
- No Stylus
- Heavy
- Ugly, plasticky dock

Will probably buy.

Maybe not. The Amazon listing says the Iconia W700 has a TFT LCD - not IPS - screen. Granted, it's only $750, but still.

 

[Divvy]

shit. I wasn't sure what machine he was referring to, so I thought I'd just offer the general point.

fail.

I...I'd want to see some benchmarks of the new Atoms running Photoshop before I'd drop cash on one...but I really wouldn't presume it to be all that good.

If you're using PS only occasionally, I'm sure an Atom will be fine. For every day work....I probably wouldn't.

Yeah that's the thing. At this point, it still seems like Clover Trail performance is relatively untested. The old atoms were shit, so I would certainly like to know how well they have improved it. Is it going to take until the actual release of these tablets to get performance tests?