Windows tablets

So I received my Helix today. Got the i5 1.8Ghz model WiFi only for $1700. This thing is built very well, it just screams quality all over. They do not include a DP converter btw. In fact the only things included with the unit itself is the charger and pen. And have no fear with either tipping or disconnect problems. The base unit at the rear is weighted by the battery. I literally have to push quite far back for it to topple. I assume this is also why the battery in the keyboard isn't large, to keep size and weight down somewhat.

Removing the tablet itself from the base is simple by a push of a release on the side. The mechanism itself the tablet locks into is very solid and has a lot of resistance so it won't flop ever. This is needed to put it in presentation mode.

I've yet to really put it through its paces with anything significant as I just got it this morning. During some of the setup and updates it was getting warm at the back, the fan barely audible. If I had my hand near that fan area the back became uncomfortable to touch. I didn't really expect anything else though. Youtube 1080p worked fine of course but I'm going to stream some HDTV in WMC and high bitrate Bluray rips in XBMC to see how it performs and how it copes on the battery.

Impressed so far but I would hope to be for the price of these things....
 
Sounds good so far. Is there a place for the pen to be stored on the tablet itself?

Also greatly interested in how much battery life you get out of it. Pretty tempting but I'm still thinking that I'll probably try to hold out until Silvermont and Haswell based tablets show up.

Having used a Clovertrail based tablet that I got for my g/f for Christmas, I'm kind of liking the fact that it has no fans, even if it isn't as quick as I'd like. I have a feeling that if Silvermont (that's the replacement for Clovertrail right? I'm getting the models confused in my old age. :p) supports mSATA SSDs and improves the graphics performance significantly that it might be "good enough" for my mobile tablet needs. Although for work related stuff I may regret it a bit. Guess I'll have to wait and see. :)

Regards,
SB
 
Yes thankfully (as opposed to the Kupa) the pen holder is built into the tablet on the top left. Fits very snugly. I used it at one of our offices at a training day all day mostly with the keyboard for about 8 hours then another hour at night and it said I had another hour left on the battery. Not solid constant usage but it never went to full sleep. I'm sure Haswell version would be amazing for performance/battery but I'm not willing on waiting another year. Silvermont is for the new version of Atom right? So that's more of a lower end tablet.

It's amazing how instant these Windows 8 tablet/hybrid units wake up. It's always instant, there is never any resuming windows or anything.
 
Malo said:
Yes thankfully (as opposed to the Kupa) the pen holder is built into the tablet on the top left. Fits very snugly. I used it at one of our offices at a training day all day mostly with the keyboard for about 8 hours then another hour at night and it said I had another hour left on the battery. Not solid constant usage but it never went to full sleep. I'm sure Haswell version would be amazing for performance/battery but I'm not willing on waiting another year. Silvermont is for the new version of Atom right? So that's more of a lower end tablet.

It's amazing how instant these Windows 8 tablet/hybrid units wake up. It's always instant, there is never any resuming windows or anything.
Click to expand...

Yup going from Windows XP Tablet -> Vista on a tablet -> Win7 on a tablet -> And now Win8 on a tablet. It's absolutely amazing the progress they made between Win7 and Win8. Have used all of those and wasn't really expecting Win8 to be as polished on a tablet as it is while still retaining full desktop capabilities when needed.

Regards,
SB
 
We had a couple of those Toshiba XP tablets at work, the ones that would swivel like the Lenovo Twist, even included a pen. Pity the whole ecosystem, despite the added Toshiba crap (so much of it!) was really not very useful in tablet form. I think I still have one of them in my graveyard at work.
 
eastmen said:
as more apps come more people will buy and then more phones will be sold. I'm hoping for a 5 to 5.5 inch nokia phone on sprint soon so I can jump from android.
Click to expand...
Do we really need more companies trying to sell hardware at inflated prices justified by lock-in? Just get an iPhone already ...
 
but manufacturer like ASUS, Samsung, etc can sell those with No OS.

If the price is under 200 dollar for an x86 tablet that can be installed with windows, it will fly on poor countries.

*poor countries get pirated windows pre-installed by the laptop seller.
 
orangpelupa said:
but manufacturer like ASUS, Samsung, etc can sell those with No OS.

If the price is under 200 dollar for an x86 tablet that can be installed with windows, it will fly on poor countries.

*poor countries get pirated windows pre-installed by the laptop seller.
Click to expand...
How does that help? They can't even access MSFT appstore nor are willing to spend a dime.
 
MfA said:
Intel didn't mention Windows 8 ...
Click to expand...

The Baytrail slide comparing T/M/D models lists Win8 CS for T and multiple OSes including Win8 for M/D.

Now the 150 USD price point may only be applicable to Android or Linux or something. Or may not. I suppose that will depend on whether Microsoft wants to drive adoption by reducing major OEM's price on Win8. Then again with Baytrail-T only running Win8 CS, perhaps that 150 really does include Windows.

Still 200-250 for a Win8 tablet would be fabulous if that isn't the case.

Regards,
SB
 
Well there's an Acer tablet that just came out, first 8-inch W8 tablet.

Got horrible review on Ars. Cheap screen and it's priced the same as iPad Mini.
 
liolio
it will help market penetration.
thats how poor country got monopolized by windows.They use pirated version.

on laptop, PC seller will offer pirated windows 7. But for that cheap intel tablet, im sure the PC seller will offer pirated windows 8.
it make windows 8 more popular.
 
orangpelupa said:
liolio
it will help market penetration.
thats how poor country got monopolized by windows.They use pirated version.

on laptop, PC seller will offer pirated windows 7. But for that cheap intel tablet, im sure the PC seller will offer pirated windows 8.
it make windows 8 more popular.
Click to expand...
That is OT but "pirates" have never done anything for MSFT or software publishers, was it in the XP era or nowadays. I used to have pirated version of Windows (so did plenty of people I knew back in time /before "we" got better incomes /teen-students) and the matching behaviors is not to spend a dime either on other software.
User base is made of costumers, those people are not costumers no matter how I look at it.

Not too mention the point of Windows 8 is for MSFT to touch money on most the software sold on the platform, you need an account, an illegal copy of WIndows 8 won't allow for that. ANyway even if MSFT were complacent those people don't buy software.
 
I dunno the many many years Microsoft had online updates without checking the keys kinda sorta makes me think they encouraged it just a little.
 
liolio said:
That is OT but "pirates" have never done anything for MSFT or software publishers, was it in the XP era or nowadays. I used to have pirated version of Windows (so did plenty of people I knew back in time /before "we" got better incomes /teen-students) and the matching behaviors is not to spend a dime either on other software.
User base is made of costumers, those people are not costumers no matter how I look at it.
Click to expand...

MS reasoning was probably something like, "If they do not use windows they will use something else." And having people not know something else is quite valuable for MS.
 
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