What to buy?!

Detral

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Hey guys,

So my friend got a surface (rt), and it made me start wanting to get into the whole win8 tablet craze!
I am pleased that the VivoTab Smart has a comparable price with the surface rt, but with win8(pro?), and other bonuses.

My dilemma is that I'd like a tablet that has win8(non rt), for around $500-$600.
- I love the fact that the vivotab smart comes with win8
- But I also love the build quality of the surface

Thoughts, concerns and advice are all welcomed!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    WIN7
I've heard goood things about this tablet it has the most recent intel atom processor. The tablet i wan't is the Samsung Ativ smart pc 500t $599 on amazon.com 11.6 inch windows 8 has a stylus and has gps and same thing as vivotab smart but just a higher price.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
For around 600, it seems the Samsung Ativ is the best. There is the Acer Iconia tablet with Windows 8 that is around 600 dollars as well.

Very glad to hear the Windows tablet craze is spreading! :D Also, you might end up installing Windows 8 on your current PC and even buy a Windows Phone 8. That's usually a symptom of the craze. :cool:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
    Motherboard
    Crosshair V Formula-Z
    Memory
    16 gig DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS R9 270
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
    PSU
    OCZ 500 watt
    Case
    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
    Cooling
    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Touch Mouse
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014
Microsoft® Surface® Pro
Surface Windows 8 Pro is powerful
Cost= $899

Specs:-
CPU- Intel Core i5 3rd Generation
RAM- 4GB DDR3 1600 MHz
GPU- Intel HD 4000
Storage- 128GB

[h=3][/h][h=3][/h][h=3][/h]
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows® 8.1 Pro 64-Bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell® XPS® 15-9530
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i7 4702HQ @3.20GHz
    Motherboard
    Intel® HM86 Express Chipset
    Memory
    Dell® 16GB DDR3 1600MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 750M 2GB GDDR5
    Sound Card
    Intel® High-Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell® LED™ 15.6-Inch QHD+
    Screen Resolution
    3200 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    Samsung® SSD™ 840 Pro 512GB
    PSU
    Dell® 91 WHR 6-Cell Battery
    Case
    Dell® Machined Aluminium Chassis
    Cooling
    Dell® Cooling
    Keyboard
    Dell® Integrated Keyboard
    Mouse
    Dell® TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    Download Speed- 50.0 MBPS Upload Speed- 20.0 MBPS
    Browser
    Mozilla® Firefox® 29.0
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky® PURE® 3.0 Total Security
    Other Info
    Network Adapter- Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 + Bluetooth 4.0
The Lenovo Yoga is a pretty nifty combo of a tablet and laptop. Starts around 1,000 however.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
    Motherboard
    Crosshair V Formula-Z
    Memory
    16 gig DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS R9 270
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
    PSU
    OCZ 500 watt
    Case
    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
    Cooling
    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Touch Mouse
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014
Microsoft® Surface® Pro
Surface Windows 8 Pro is powerful
Cost= $899

Specs:-
CPU- Intel Core i5 3rd Generation
RAM- 4GB DDR3 1600 MHz
GPU- Intel HD 4000
Storage- 128GB

Tho as you can see poweer can range up from the 700 and up price range. Like the Acer w700 intel icore 5 processor 11.6 inch screen no pen input but hd and dock comes with it along with wireless bluetooth keyboard.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
It seems there are a lot of choices this first gen and probably many more to come within the year as we see refreshes spurred on by new low powered Intel i5 processors and AMDs power sipping "Hondo". Both promise to up the anti as far as battery life, thinness and brute force are concerned.

Looking at tablets now there are basically two Windows 8 camps (well 3 if you count RT but nobody does) - the Intel Atom and the Intel i-series.

Almost every PC manufacturer in the game offers a Windows 8 Atom based tablet. IBM, Dell, Acer, HP, Samsung, Asus - you name it. They come in all sorts of flavors with all sorts of accessories (clamshell, docs, keyboard cases) and many offer digitizer options (pen). The Atom based tablets have a couple of major benefits and a few drawbacks as well so it really depends on what you want out of your tablet.

+superior size / weight due to low-power, fanless CPU
+superior battery life (many get near 10hrs)
+runs full Win8 o/s (not RT) so compatible with legacy apps just like the Surface
+lower price point (run between $499-$699)
-not as powerful as i5 processer found in Surface (struggles with more process/graphic intense apps but fine for day to day stuff)
-eMMC storage (its solid state but more like a big memory card so reading/writing to drive can be slow)
-screen resolution seems to be limited to 720P (not sure if its cost or limitation of Atom)
-USB 2.0 and 2GB RAM (which is a limitation of Atom)

Fewer companies offer i3/i5/i7 based tablets, such as the surface but there are still plenty of flavors and plenty of accessories. These tablets are closer in spec and price to top end ultrabooks so you are really getting a convergence device the blurs the line. A single device that can do it all.

+power of a high end ultabook
+power to run cpu intensive apps smoother than Atom but still probably not going to play Crysis3 on it.
+1080p screen resolutions
+true sata3 ssd drive for ultrafast read/write speeds
+4GB of RAM typically
-larger/heavier form factor due to extra heat from cpu and fans for cooling
-poor battery life (about half of what you can expect from Atom based tablet)
-high prices (I think cheapest is Acer W700 w/ i3 CPU @ $799)

So, there really is no true winner at this point. It comes down to what you value most and will be using the tablet for the most.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
Some clarification (in red).

+superior size / weight due to low-power, fanless CPU - They do use a fan and traditional heat sink
+superior battery life (many get near 10hrs) - It varies and battery life is usually between 4-5 hours
+runs full Win8 o/s (not RT) so compatible with legacy apps just like the Surface
+lower price point (run between $499-$699)
-not as powerful as i5 processer found in Surface (struggles with more process/graphic intense apps but fine for day to day stuff)
-eMMC storage (its solid state but more like a big memory card so reading/writing to drive can be slow) - They also use SSD and mSATA
-screen resolution seems to be limited to 720P (not sure if its cost or limitation of Atom) - They can go higher, but traditionally it's been lower to keep costs down
-USB 2.0 and 2GB RAM (which is a limitation of Atom) - They have USB 3.0 and can go at least up to 4GB RAM
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows Phone 6, Windows CE 5, Windows Vista x32, Windows 7 x32/x64, Windows 8 x64
Well, it looks like a pretty solid choice - especially if you don't care about a digitizer. Hard to beat Asus' price. I noticed Engadget called the Thinkpad Tablet 2 'best in class' near the end. I would be curious to know if they have had the HP Elite or Dell Lat 10 in house for comparison yet.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
Some clarification (in red).

+superior size / weight due to low-power, fanless CPU - They do use a fan and traditional heat sink
+superior battery life (many get near 10hrs) - It varies and battery life is usually between 4-5 hours
+runs full Win8 o/s (not RT) so compatible with legacy apps just like the Surface
+lower price point (run between $499-$699)
-not as powerful as i5 processer found in Surface (struggles with more process/graphic intense apps but fine for day to day stuff)
-eMMC storage (its solid state but more like a big memory card so reading/writing to drive can be slow) - They also use SSD and mSATA
-screen resolution seems to be limited to 720P (not sure if its cost or limitation of Atom) - They can go higher, but traditionally it's been lower to keep costs down
-USB 2.0 and 2GB RAM (which is a limitation of Atom) - They have USB 3.0 and can go at least up to 4GB RAM
Correction. I was reading some reviews on Andendtech when I came across this in the Acer W510 review

"I mentioned this in our initial Clover Trail analysis piece, but the SoC [Atom] doesn't support SATA - only eMMC. Only USB 2.0 is supported as well."
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
Some clarification (in red).

+superior size / weight due to low-power, fanless CPU - They do use a fan and traditional heat sink
+superior battery life (many get near 10hrs) - It varies and battery life is usually between 4-5 hours
+runs full Win8 o/s (not RT) so compatible with legacy apps just like the Surface
+lower price point (run between $499-$699)
-not as powerful as i5 processer found in Surface (struggles with more process/graphic intense apps but fine for day to day stuff)
-eMMC storage (its solid state but more like a big memory card so reading/writing to drive can be slow) - They also use SSD and mSATA
-screen resolution seems to be limited to 720P (not sure if its cost or limitation of Atom) - They can go higher, but traditionally it's been lower to keep costs down
-USB 2.0 and 2GB RAM (which is a limitation of Atom) - They have USB 3.0 and can go at least up to 4GB RAM
Correction. I was reading some reviews on Andendtech when I came across this:

"I mentioned this in our initial Clover Trail analysis piece, but the SoC [Atom] doesn't support SATA - only eMMC. Only USB 2.0 is supported as well."

But not all Atom processors are Clover Trail.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows Phone 6, Windows CE 5, Windows Vista x32, Windows 7 x32/x64, Windows 8 x64

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
I would start with a list of what I want to do. I think most of those high end tablets have a lot more function than most people will ever need.

A tablet - in my book - is for on the go. And unless you need it for some specific professional application, the on the go requirements are usually pretty modest. I don't think you will make a PowerPoint presentation on the go nor will you do a video encoding.

On the other hand you may want to do trip planning, navigation, email, free phone calls and maybe listen to some music that you loaded on the tablet.

I have a tablet for $230 that can do all that - and some more. I would never spend close to $1000 for a tablet because it can never rival with my high powered desktop (which cost less money) for real work.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
In my opinion hers my logic. A core i5 processor on a tablet is epic and speedy fast but the battery life wouldn't last you on the go. An intel atom basically Is more powerful than any windows rt tablet. Windows rt tablets can do much of what your talking about efficiently. So if your going for a windows 8 intel atom processor then It would perform the metro ui. Like a snapp. Tho It may not have superior sped in desktop it still infact can perform better than any windows rt tablet overall. The bater has a good amount and you can do more than about any old netbook would. So on my scale I would prefer atom because of portability, fanless, and the cost. My only great thing about the core i5's is the every app compatibility. But other whise they consume battery like a monster.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
like others have stated, it all depends on your needs. that's why we have all form factors, processors, and designs. there's no need to design one package for everyone. there's no reason to have the "best" when there is a "best" for each individual person.

for me, I want a small form factor that's powerful. I want as close to desktop class power in a tight package. battery life is irrelevant for me. I'm used to having a 17" monster gaming laptop that you could throw everything at. this beast only last a little over an hour on a battery. so everything over that is gravy for me. I'm never far away from an outlet, whether I'm at school or at a Starbucks or at the library or at home or at the office. So it's not critical for me to get 8 hours on a battery.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
Right - form factor and battery life are the first points on which to decide.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
True the power hungry tablets are good for me but on the go i'll need a mobile battery supply with usb pots. So i would neeed a charger that has 2 pieces the wall charger with usb end and the actual wall adapter. But formy money is not very high for these core tablets. Atom is the choice. Though the store is lacking games which is why the core is good because It has good gaming perormance.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
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