Windows 8 Tablets/Laptops/Laplets Cross Shopping Thread of Most Confusing Launch |OT|

MobileTechReview posted their very detailed ~25 minutes video review of the Sony Vaio Pro 13. The reviewer was very positive. It's the total opposite of the the verge review. She was familiar with the material of the notebook and its inherent flex, barely had problems with the trackpad, seemed to like the keyboard and the speakers, and she didn't even consider the resolution too high.

Seems a hell of a lot better than this year's Macbook Airs. Withe the additional $150 slice battery, it would probably annihilate the MBA's battery life, too.



Personally, I still wouldn't buy it. A bit too pricey and not upgradeable.
 
maeh2k said:
MobileTechReview posted their very detailed ~25 minutes video review of the Sony Vaio Pro 13. The reviewer was very positive. It's the total opposite of the the verge review. She was familiar with the material of the notebook and its inherent flex, barely had problems with the trackpad, seemed to like the keyboard and the speakers, and she didn't even consider the resolution too high.

Seems a hell of a lot better than this year's Macbook Airs. Withe the additional $150 slice battery, it would probably annihilate the MBA's battery life, too.



Personally, I still wouldn't buy it. A bit too pricey and not upgradeable.
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Nice try Sony, but that thing is clearly no Macbook Air that's virtually unchanged from last year's model and got a 9.2 with its 1440x900 resolution and actual performance dip compared to last year's model.


Edit: wow, it's their highest score ever, too:
@joshuatopolsky: Our highest laptop score ever! MacBook Air review http://theverge.com/2013/6/17/4436332/macbook-air-review-13-inch-2013
Click to expand...

The Macbook with its 1.3 Ghz Core i5 even got a higher performance score than the Vaio with a 1.8GHz Core i7-4500U. Of course since their reviews aren't standardized, who knows what that means. They don't really seem to run the same benchmarks. And their battery test is -- as always -- possibly using a different brightness. Different browsers aren't ideal, either. Engadget got significantly more battery life on the Vaio (something like 2 hours more). And there's also the optional slice battery.
 
Can someone explain to me how the new 13 inch macbook air has a longer battery life than my surface RT? This revew puts it with a benchmark test at 11 hours??!! That's like 4 hours more than sony's haswell ultrabook... How what why? What kind of black magic is apple using here?

I don't really like apple laptops, primarily because of OSX, but if the windows OEM's don't step up I will be seriously considering getting this.
 
cookieaddict said:
Can someone explain to me how the new 13 inch macbook air has a longer battery life than my surface RT? This revew puts it with a benchmark test at 11 hours??!! That's like 4 hours more than sony's haswell ultrabook... How what why? What kind of black magic is apple using here?

I don't really like apple laptops, primarily because of OSX, but if the windows OEM's don't step up I will be seriously considering getting this.
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That Macbook Air has a shitty 1400x900 TNT display. Most ultrabooks come with 1920 x 1080 IPS displays.
 
cookieaddict said:
Can someone explain to me how the new 13 inch macbook air has a longer battery life than my surface RT? This revew puts it with a benchmark test at 11 hours??!! That's like 4 hours more than sony's haswell ultrabook... How what why? What kind of black magic is apple using here?

I don't really like apple laptops, primarily because of OSX, but if the windows OEM's don't step up I will be seriously considering getting this.
Click to expand...

As for the comparison with the Surface RT, for one the Macbook Air has a slightly larger battery (38Wh vs 31Wh, I think). I believe the two machines aren't that far apart when it comes to not doing much. Under load the Intel CPUs will probably use quite a bit more power. The Surface should have a slightly brighter display, too.

As for the Sony, it comes with a faster CPU and a better screen. But it's still doing pretty well in terms of battery life. Engadget had it at close to 10 hours, I believe.


I don't think Windows OEMs have to do anything. Apart from the bump in battery life, the new MBA isn't really that exciting. The Asus Zenbook Prime and the Samsung 9 series were already good alternatives last year. This year is looking pretty great for Macbook Air competitors. To me, the Vaio Pro 13, the new Zenbook, the new Acer S7, and probably more all look more desirable than the Macbook Air. If you add the slice battery to the Vaio, it probably lasts longer, too.
 
cookieaddict said:
Can someone explain to me how the new 13 inch macbook air has a longer battery life than my surface RT? This revew puts it with a benchmark test at 11 hours??!! That's like 4 hours more than sony's haswell ultrabook... How what why? What kind of black magic is apple using here?

I don't really like apple laptops, primarily because of OSX, but if the windows OEM's don't step up I will be seriously considering getting this.
Click to expand...

Worse screen, throttled performance, bigger battery and no touchscreen. Plus OSX is more battery-friendly than Windows. Macbooks on Windows always get lower battery life than in OSX.
 
For comparison to other notebooks, here's mobiletechreviews review of the Macbook Air: http://www.mobiletechreview.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=44852

Looks like the Macbooks battery life advantage stems mostly from the battery: "Part of that battery life improvement is thanks to Apple increasing the battery size a bit; the 13" MacBook Air has a whopping 7150 mAh battery that's larger than most Ultrabook batteries (the Vaio Pro 13 who's goal in life is to be super-thin and 3/4 lb. lighter than the MacBook Air has 4740 mAh)."
 
cookieaddict said:
This revew puts it with a benchmark test at 11 hours??!! That's like 4 hours more than sony's haswell ultrabook... How what why? What kind of black magic is apple using here?

I don't really like apple laptops, primarily because of OSX, but if the windows OEM's don't step up I will be seriously considering getting this.
Click to expand...

Here's mobiletechreview's comparison between the Macbook Air and the Vaio Pro 13: http://www.mobiletechreview.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=44865

The Vaio Pro has the better display (both resolution and color gamut). With the optional $150 slice battery it weighs about as much as the Macbook (without it's 25% lighter) and gets the same battery life.

You might also like Samsung's new Ativ Book 9 Plus: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=598016
 
So I'm thinking of upgrading my tablet. At the moment I have an iPad 1st generation. It's obviously getting long in the tooth, but I've held onto it because, quite frankly, all I use it for is web browsing. When I want to play games or work on my book, etc I use my laptop.

Now, I'm looking at a new iPad, 32GB, Wifi - $600.

But I've started to wonder whether to switch to either an Android or a Win 8 tablet. I have a Samsung S3 smartphone and absolutely love it. Given that a Win 8 tablet would allow me to run Steam (right?), I could play the new Halo and I'm assuming I could also work directly with my book via Word... well, I've begun to wonder whether a Windows 8 tablet wouldn't be a better choice than an iPad.

However, there's about a zillion choices and at least on Amazon they are all 3 and 3 1/2 stars. Not terribly compelling.

So what are the top performing 10" Windows 8 tablets in the $600 range? I'm assuming that's Windows RT, which limits my game-playing ability via Steam. For instance, I won't be playing Witcher 2 on there, but potentially some older games (Supreme Commander?), indie games (Beat Hazard? Mark of the Ninja?)... I'm also assuming that with a USB port I can plug in a mouse or even a gamepad. Are all of these assumptions correct? Does any Win 8 tablet hit all these checkmarks?
 
AngmarsKing701 said:
So I'm thinking of upgrading my tablet. At the moment I have an iPad 1st generation. It's obviously getting long in the tooth, but I've held onto it because, quite frankly, all I use it for is web browsing. When I want to play games or work on my book, etc I use my laptop.

Now, I'm looking at a new iPad, 32GB, Wifi - $600.

But I've started to wonder whether to switch to either an Android or a Win 8 tablet. I have a Samsung S3 smartphone and absolutely love it. Given that a Win 8 tablet would allow me to run Steam (right?), I could play the new Halo and I'm assuming I could also work directly with my book via Word... well, I've begun to wonder whether a Windows 8 tablet wouldn't be a better choice than an iPad.

However, there's about a zillion choices and at least on Amazon they are all 3 and 3 1/2 stars. Not terribly compelling.

So what are the top performing 10" Windows 8 tablets in the $600 range? I'm assuming that's Windows RT, which limits my game-playing ability via Steam. For instance, I won't be playing Witcher 2 on there, but potentially some older games (Supreme Commander?), indie games (Beat Hazard? Mark of the Ninja?)... I'm also assuming that with a USB port I can plug in a mouse or even a gamepad. Are all of these assumptions correct? Does any Win 8 tablet hit all these checkmarks?
Click to expand...
windows rt does not run win32 apps. You need windows 8. Tjr low powered atom tablets are in that price point. They are about to upgrade the chips though so I would wait. I have an atom powered tablet , can run 10 yr old games decently. Play a lot of unreal tournament on it. Newer chips should be better. Think they are called bay trail. (current chip is called clover trail). If you want to play newer games, you need the better chips. Ivy Bridge, Hazwell.
 
just read that Helix review of engadget.
wow, I was thinking of waiting for this because I thought it will have Haswell, but nope.

I'm happy I jumped on Surface Pro. Maybe helix 2
 
tino said:
So far only 1 8" tablet announced, and its over 1 pound. I am pretty disappointed.
Click to expand...

I hope we'll see a lot more when 8.1 hits and new chipsets become available. The rumored 8" Surface will probably be pretty great.

That said, I don't expect OEMs to give Windows on tablets any more attention than they do now. By now I expect Android to dominate on tablets in the future.
 
Is a capacitive stylus sufficient for someone who's giving a lecture and wants to write on the slides?

Someone I know is looking at the Lenovo Yoga 13 for that use case. I'm looking into alternatives to the Yoga with an active digitizer, but maybe I'm wrong and a capacitive stylus would actually be sufficient? Annotating slides doesn't need Photoshop precision, after all.
 
maeh2k said:
Is a capacitive stylus sufficient for someone who's giving a lecture and wants to write on the slides?

Someone I know is looking at the Lenovo Yoga 13 for that use case. I'm looking into alternatives to the Yoga with an active digitizer, but maybe I'm wrong and a capacitive stylus would actually be sufficient? Annotating slides doesn't need Photoshop precision, after all.
Click to expand...
I have never had good experiences trying to write with those. Digitizers are much better, if all you need to do is hand writing an atom tablet with a digitizer might be powerful enough. Although it might have problems outputting to a large screen.
 
Windu said:
I have never had good experiences trying to write with those. Digitizers are much better, if all you need to do is hand writing an atom tablet with a digitizer might be powerful enough. Although it might have problems outputting to a large screen.
Click to expand...

Thanks. That's what I thought.

So far I don't have a clear recommendation over the Yoga. Unless I'm forgetting any pen-enabled devices, the Asus Taichi may be the closest fit, in that it's mostly a regular 13" Ultrabook that also has a tablet mode with pen. Maybe some of those swivel screen devices like the Lenovo X230 or the Fujitsu Q902t, but I those aren't really Ultrabooks. Wonder when Lenovo will announce the X240.
 
I know this is technically the wrong thread but I couldn't find a better place to put it. I just hooked up a small television to an old computer that I have that a few friends and I use for recording music. I'm going to use the TV as the monitor. When I fire it up I can see the desktop, but its like it has a blue filter over it. I can faintly make out the desktop. I believe its running XP. Anyone know how to fix this or what the problem is?
 
ToyMachine228 said:
I know this is technically the wrong thread but I couldn't find a better place to put it. I just hooked up a small television to an old computer that I have that a few friends and I use for recording music. I'm going to use the TV as the monitor. When I fire it up I can see the desktop, but its like it has a blue filter over it. I can faintly make out the desktop. I believe its running XP. Anyone know how to fix this or what the problem is?
Click to expand...

Go ask there: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=377301&page=107
Better chance people will see it and help.

Personally, I'm not sure. May be an issue with how you connect the TV to the PC.
 
So as someone who is looking for a multi-tasking capable tablet that is at least 10 inches with a positive keyboard-writing experience, good build quality, and is as light as can be, what is stopping me from getting an RT tablet? I really only need what the office suite/ onenote offer me for school, so I'm not worried on expanding it with other apps (seeing as that would distract me as is). What is it that should dismay me, if anything?

Also, I'm looking at the Vivotab RT and the full Vivotab Smart. I don't like how the Smart has a keyboard that never attaches to the tablet, but if you guys did find a smart that was 50 bucks cheaper than the RT Vivo, would u go for it?
 
Why not get Surface if you just want RT? The other RT tablets have questionable future support at this time. The one thing that may dismay you is the performance. It's not terrible, but if you go full on multi-tasking, it might disappoint you.
 
Osteoperogies said:
So as someone who is looking for a multi-tasking capable tablet that is at least 10 inches with a positive keyboard-writing experience, good build quality, and is as light as can be, what is stopping me from getting an RT tablet? I really only need what the office suite/ onenote offer me for school, so I'm not worried on expanding it with other apps (seeing as that would distract me as is). What is it that should dismay me, if anything?

Also, I'm looking at the Vivotab RT and the full Vivotab Smart. I don't like how the Smart has a keyboard that never attaches to the tablet, but if you guys did find a smart that was 50 bucks cheaper than the RT Vivo, would u go for it?
Click to expand...

RT seems like a great fit for that use case. The one thing that maybe could/should stop you from buying one right now, is that new, faster machines may come out soon. Maybe when Windows 8.1 launches mid-October.
 
Totakeke said:
Why not get Surface if you just want RT? The other RT tablets have questionable future support at this time. The one thing that may dismay you is the performance. It's not terrible, but if you go full on multi-tasking, it might disappoint you.
Click to expand...
Just saw a rumor that Nokia's tablet is still RT 1080p with snapdragon 800 and keyboard that has a battery in it.
 
maeh2k said:
RT seems like a great fit for that use case. The one thing that maybe could/should stop you from buying one right now, is that new, faster machines may come out soon. Maybe when Windows 8.1 launches mid-October.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the input guys. Can you link me to a site that mentions these rumors please?
 
Osteoperogies said:
Thanks for the input guys. Can you link me to a site that mentions these rumors please?
Click to expand...

Here's the recent Nokia rumor: http://microsoft-news.com/nokia-windows-rt-8-1-tablet-to-come-with-10-1-inch-1080p-display-snapdragon-800-and-detachable-keyboardstand/

I'm hoping we'll see a lot more new devices when 8.1 comes out and when the new processors arrive. The current Snapdragons as well as this year's new Intel Atoms should be a lot faster than last year's devices.

However, I'm not sure how the new devices will be priced. A Surface RT could still be a good choice if you get a really good price.
 
hwalker84 said:
Just saw a rumor that Nokia's tablet is still RT 1080p with snapdragon 800 and keyboard that has a battery in it.
Click to expand...

Leave it up to Nokia to run into the burning house of RT as everyone else abandons it. Guess that $900 million Surface write down that Microsoft took didn't scare them or Microsoft is really going to buy them because it makes no sense for them to enter the RT business.
 
Razdek said:
Leave it up to Nokia to run into the burning house of RT as everyone else abandons it. Guess that $900 million Surface write down that Microsoft took didn't scare them or Microsoft is really going to buy them because it makes no sense for them to enter the RT business.
Click to expand...

Nokia have a great deal of experience relating to burning platform. I believe in them.
lol elop
 
opticalmace said:
Are there any Windows laptops that can match the MBA for battery life?

Was tempted to make this a new thread but we'll see..
Click to expand...

In OS X, not really. So far Haswell machines have had around 7-9 hours of battery life, I believe, but not 12 or whatever the MBA gets in OS X.

The Sony Vaio Pro 13 has a pretty good battery life and for $150 there's an additional slice battery. With the slice battery it can match the MBA's battery life. WIthout the slice battery the battery life is still really good and it's lighter than the MBA.
 
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