Some Win 8 Tablet Advice fed up with iPad


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I've had an iPad since they came out and upgraded each time apart from the last but I am fed up with the lack of productivity on the iPad compared to the computer. 

 

I am seriously considering a Windows 8 tablet, I am not a fan of Windows 8 on the PC at all I think on desktop it is a big mistake just like everyone I've known new PC apart from fanboys on here, but I can tolerate it with installing a few tweaks. (Don't make this flaming war we seen all arguments 10x already just saying my thoughts so you can advise properly).

 

I suspect it will be a different story on a tablet?

 

I have around ?500 to spend, which tablet would you recommend?

 

Also, when looking around the App Store on Windows 8 desktop there seems to be a distinct lacking in decent applications, Spotify etc do I just use desktop version? Is it just me?

 

Anyone had issues with amount space?

 

Thanks all.

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If you can wait for Temash tablets to show up you'll have better options (I don't know what costs what over there....nor what they'll cost here since they aren't available yet.)

 

Atom isn't really a good option for performance.  I'm sure the battery life is alright on it, but meh.

 

They were just demoed at the beginning of last month so I'm sure they'll be around soon.

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I have a Surface RT with a 64GB SD card in it.  No issues with space.  WIndows 8 is a bit crap on a non-touchscreen PC, I agree.  But it's excellent on a tablet.  Office is very functional and responsive.  I will like it when Outlook comes out with 8.1

 

If you don't need x86 apps, the RT is great.  Battery lasts a long time and it's lighter.  I got the RT because i wanted a tablet, not a laptop replacement.

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I have a Surface RT with a 64GB SD card in it.  No issues with space.  WIndows 8 is a bit crap on a non-touchscreen PC, I agree.  But it's excellent on a tablet.  Office is very functional and responsive.  I will like it when Outlook comes out with 8.1

 

If you don't need x86 apps, the RT is great.  Battery lasts a long time and it's lighter.  I got the RT because i wanted a tablet, not a laptop replacement.

 

Yep I would agree, I've got the RT and really like it.  I've found a couple of times I felt restricted but then you have to accept it's not a desktop replacement.  Microsoft are currently offering a free keyboard with them too so that's a saving of ?100 as well.  Would certainly recommend them, feel really well built and nice and quick.  Also with RT you get a free copy of Office RT which is pretty similar to the full version just missing a few things like macros.

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Dont settle for anything other than a Haswell (Core) or Bay Trail (Atom) powered device. Current Core powered Ivy Bridge tablets have average to poor battery life and Atom Clover Trail lacks performance, especially with graphics. Both issues should be resolved with Haswell and Bay Trail. AFAIK current AMD solutions dont support connected standby so will give less battery life compared to the Intel solutions. I also wouldnt get an RT device as an x86 tablet can do everything it can do and more.

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just like everyone I've known new PC apart from fanboys on here, but I can tolerate it with installing a few tweaks. (Don't make this flaming war we seen all arguments 10x already just saying my thoughts so you can advise properly).

You call out those who like it as 'Fanboys' then say 'No flamewars'. Twisted logic. You've lost any help from me.

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I've had an iPad since they came out and upgraded each time apart from the last but I am fed up with the lack of productivity on the iPad compared to the computer. 
 
I am seriously considering a Windows 8 tablet, I am not a fan of Windows 8 on the PC at all I think on desktop it is a big mistake just like everyone I've known new PC apart from fanboys on here, but I can tolerate it with installing a few tweaks. (Don't make this flaming war we seen all arguments 10x already just saying my thoughts so you can advise properly).
 
I suspect it will be a different story on a tablet?
 
I have around ?500 to spend, which tablet would you recommend?
 
Also, when looking around the App Store on Windows 8 desktop there seems to be a distinct lacking in decent applications, Spotify etc do I just use desktop version? Is it just me?
 
Anyone had issues with amount space?
 
Thanks all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

before   getting something else why not wait for  iOS 7 to come out as  they have resigned allot of the system and  productivity   for it from what we have already seen .

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OP regardless of which OS tablet you go with you need to start by asking yourself, what do you want to achieve with your tablet? 

 

You talk about wanting better productivity but then lament the lack of a spotify app on windows 8...somewhat of a contradiction and that ignores that spotify can be run from the desktop of win8 rather than an app anyway but my point being you haven't given us anything to go on.  You answer the above and I can provide a good answer for you as I'm sure other members can too.

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I use my surface rt to open office docs, listen to music, and browse the web. It works we'll for those tasks. As of today it has a torrent app too

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You talk about wanting better productivity but then lament the lack of a spotify app on windows 8...somewhat of a contradiction

Que?

 

How is wanting to listen to music on your tablet contradictory to wanting to work on it? 

 

OP: I use my Surface as a mobile workstation, with a Bluetooth mouse and the type keyboard, it replaces a laptop and the experience is fantastic.

 

I'd highly recommend one.  Also, having full Outlook on a tablet is a revelation, I don't know why MS didn't include it to begin with.....

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Forget about Windows RT

 

Trust me, I have done the whole windows RT / windows 8 tablet thing to death and am now on my FIFTH!  different win8 tablet

 

RT uses arm (snapdragon) processor so is unable to run any x86 application.  You might not be THAT bothered, but until you really use it in anger you can tell the small subtle differences between RT and full blown 8.

 

If price is an issue (guessing not since you had an ipad) look at the atoms.  Initially I was very sceptical about atoms since I always thought they were too slow and useless.  Turns out the atoms are faster in everything over arm and tegra.

 

The ASUS ME400C is my personal favourite as it represents fantastic value for money.  THIN (were talking ipad 2 thin), LIGHT (again, as light as an ipad 2), Fantastic Battery life, CHEAP!  ?300 cheap!  That's amazing for what you are getting.

 

I was almost about to put down a lot of money for the intel I series tablet like a Surface pro, till I actually had hold of one.  They are too thick and battery not as good IMHO

 

However.....whatever you buy will be a HUGE leap over the ipad.  It took me a good couple of weeks to adjust.  Remember, windows RT / 8 tablets are NOT tablets.  They are laptops in a tablet case.  If you're ok with that you're gonna LOVE IT!

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Figure out what you want to do.

 

Now if the only thing that you are missing on RT is spotify try out the web player version and see if that is adequate or do you need the x86 version of spotify.

 

 

https://play.spotify.com/ for webplayer.

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before   getting something else why not wait for  iOS 7 to come out as  they have resigned allot of the system and  productivity   for it from what we have already seen .

 

Don't think it will be good for office work coding etc

 

OP regardless of which OS tablet you go with you need to start by asking yourself, what do you want to achieve with your tablet? 

 

You talk about wanting better productivity but then lament the lack of a spotify app on windows 8...somewhat of a contradiction and that ignores that spotify can be run from the desktop of win8 rather than an app anyway but my point being you haven't given us anything to go on.  You answer the above and I can provide a good answer for you as I'm sure other members can too.

 

General web coding, bit design and working in office.

 

Forget about Windows RT

 

Trust me, I have done the whole windows RT / windows 8 tablet thing to death and am now on my FIFTH!  different win8 tablet

 

RT uses arm (snapdragon) processor so is unable to run any x86 application.  You might not be THAT bothered, but until you really use it in anger you can tell the small subtle differences between RT and full blown 8.

 

If price is an issue (guessing not since you had an ipad) look at the atoms.  Initially I was very sceptical about atoms since I always thought they were too slow and useless.  Turns out the atoms are faster in everything over arm and tegra.

 

The ASUS ME400C is my personal favourite as it represents fantastic value for money.  THIN (were talking ipad 2 thin), LIGHT (again, as light as an ipad 2), Fantastic Battery life, CHEAP!  ?300 cheap!  That's amazing for what you are getting.

 

I was almost about to put down a lot of money for the intel I series tablet like a Surface pro, till I actually had hold of one.  They are too thick and battery not as good IMHO

 

However.....whatever you buy will be a HUGE leap over the ipad.  It took me a good couple of weeks to adjust.  Remember, windows RT / 8 tablets are NOT tablets.  They are laptops in a tablet case.  If you're ok with that you're gonna LOVE IT!

 

Great advice thank you.

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Forget about Windows RT

 

Trust me, I have done the whole windows RT / windows 8 tablet thing to death and am now on my FIFTH!  different win8 tablet

 

RT uses arm (snapdragon) processor so is unable to run any x86 application.  You might not be THAT bothered, but until you really use it in anger you can tell the small subtle differences between RT and full blown 8.

 

If price is an issue (guessing not since you had an ipad) look at the atoms.  Initially I was very sceptical about atoms since I always thought they were too slow and useless.  Turns out the atoms are faster in everything over arm and tegra.

 

The ASUS ME400C is my personal favourite as it represents fantastic value for money.  THIN (were talking ipad 2 thin), LIGHT (again, as light as an ipad 2), Fantastic Battery life, CHEAP!  ?300 cheap!  That's amazing for what you are getting.

 

I was almost about to put down a lot of money for the intel I series tablet like a Surface pro, till I actually had hold of one.  They are too thick and battery not as good IMHO

 

However.....whatever you buy will be a HUGE leap over the ipad.  It took me a good couple of weeks to adjust.  Remember, windows RT / 8 tablets are NOT tablets.  They are laptops in a tablet case.  If you're ok with that you're gonna LOVE IT!

 

there's your problem. You're pretending like WinRT is a full blown OS. It's not. It's more like a "tablet OS plus" - a tablet OS but has bonus features like MSO. But still, it was never meant to be a desktop replacement.

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You call out those who like it as 'Fanboys' then say 'No flamewars'. Twisted logic. You've lost any help from me.

 

Point taken.

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I've got a Surface RT and I love the thing. People who complain that Windows RT's lack of desktop app support really are missing the point. It's a tablet OS, not a desktop OS, it's not supposed to be able to run desktop apps because it's not a desktop. It's a tablet.

 

That said, it can do more than the other tablet OS' (such as full MS Office for free), and from a purely subjective standpoint, I prefer the UI to iOS and Android too.  There are some apps for coding and rudimentary graphics design on the RT store, though if you want to do anything more advanced, perhaps you need something other than a tablet.

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General web coding, bit design and working in office.

 

Presumably you've tried iPad apps like Diet Coda, Textastic and the ones from Adobe. There's no Microsoft Office on the iPad (yet) but the iWork apps aren't bad.

 

If you're still thinking about moving on, it sounds like you'd be better off with something like the Surface Pro rather than the RT, which will probably present you with similar limitations.

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Based on what you said you want to do then the decision may well be made for you, if it was just web coding and general office use then yes the Asus M400 would be ideal, as would the Aconia 510w, and Lenovos upcoming Lynx.  These are all thin, light, windows 8 tablets with no active digitiser making them so cheap and all will get you through a general work day (more so the Aconia which has the keyboard+battery dock). Given the cheap price of these and that baytrail devices likely won't be out until very late in the year or most likely next year its not worth waiting. 

 

You mentiion you want to do a bit of design work and that could mean a few different things but from my experiences thats the point where you need to be looking at the Surface Pro, Samsung Ativ 700t, sony slider duo.  As has been pointed out to you though the limitations of these devices are the battery life, although the samsung will edge out the others as it gets around 6 hours and is thinner and lighter than  the other two. At this point though I would be inclined to wait for the Haswell tabllets to come out, which not be till Q4 based off past experience but next gen device and the better battery will be well worth it.  The other benefit of these devices is the active digitiser which depending on what your design work entails can be fantastic.

 

Assuming you dropped design off the list of requrements you could look at Windows RT and theres a high chance it could do what you want but as another poster pointed out it doesnt do it out of the box and not with a little effort and work arounds etc.  The Surface (RT) is a gorgous device but in my opinion just a consumption device and given the freedom and all the things you can do with the ASIUS etc out of the box..its a no brainer.

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might as well wait for haswell and bay trail if going x86, and if you want RT, the new snapdragon will be great too. I hear bay trail  should be powerful enough to run some of the latest games at 720p over 30fps no problem,while these tablets will have > 8hrs+ battery life,in very slim and light form factors like the surface rt,and way cheaper than the haswell variants.

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