Windows tablets
- Thread starter eastmen
- Start date
If the choice is basically a Linux distro vs no computer the fact that some features are lacking would not matter much I think.
Mintmaster
Veteran
Anyone see Anand's new article on Haswell's power consumption compared to various tablets?
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7117/haswell-ult-investigation
That's pretty amazing. Even with 5x higher peak performance, Haswell is roughly matching modern ARM SoCs in energy use per task without even trying: The ULX and ULY variants are the versions meant for tablets, and are only going to be better.
Intel is in really good architectural shape going forward, and I can't wait to see these chips in Windows tablets. I hope MS executes well with the next Surface.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7117/haswell-ult-investigation
That's pretty amazing. Even with 5x higher peak performance, Haswell is roughly matching modern ARM SoCs in energy use per task without even trying: The ULX and ULY variants are the versions meant for tablets, and are only going to be better.
Intel is in really good architectural shape going forward, and I can't wait to see these chips in Windows tablets. I hope MS executes well with the next Surface.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Yup I saw that as well, for browsing and stuff (the majority of what people use tablets for) it's already better even when normalized for battery capacity and screen resolution compared to the iPad 4 [edit: oops not 5].
For Video it still needs some work though.
But that is still amazing that it has better than Arm power profile when doing light duties (web browsing, e-mail, etc.) and enough power to run full PC applications and games (graphics tuned down obviously) if you wanted.
Regards,
SB
For Video it still needs some work though.
But that is still amazing that it has better than Arm power profile when doing light duties (web browsing, e-mail, etc.) and enough power to run full PC applications and games (graphics tuned down obviously) if you wanted.
Regards,
SB
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Whoops I meant iPad 4...fixing it. 
And they've estimated an additional 10% battery consumption of retina versus what the air has due to comparison between iPad with retina versus iPad without. Which would bring the normalized battery advantage in those tests to only +8% in favor of Haswell versus +18%.
Regards,
SB
And they've estimated an additional 10% battery consumption of retina versus what the air has due to comparison between iPad with retina versus iPad without. Which would bring the normalized battery advantage in those tests to only +8% in favor of Haswell versus +18%.
Regards,
SB
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Most of the Clovertrail tablets get 8+ hours of battery life with moderate useage. I think the Lenovo Thinkpad 2 claims 10+ hours, but the optional keyboard dock doesn't extend battery life as much as some competitors . The digitizer pen is optional on it, but I think you can use any supported Wacom Pen (can't remember which Wacom Pen it was) that has an eraser. The official optional pen has an eraser, IIRC.
If you don't need it immediately upcoming Baytrail based tablets should be even better with battery life as well as being cheaper. But I'm guessing you probably need one before the end of the year.
Regards,
SB
Mintmaster
Veteran
If you're looking for a Windows 8 product, I think you really should wait until the end of the year, because you'll either get a much better Silvermont CPU with better battery life or a great sale on a Clovertrail tablet when they're cleared out.
If you need one soon, then the Lenovo Tablet 2 is probably your best bet. There were some nice deals on the Samsung Ativ 500T a while back, but not anymore.
Have you seen the lenovo tablet in action? Your thoughts?
You are right about that. Waiting for a while should get better deals.
Yeah, I missed out on the Samsung deals.
It looks like Windows tablet market share has been down in Q2. According to Strategy Analytics, Windows tablets (they count both Windows 8 and RT) represented 7.5% of the shipments in Q1, and only 4.5% in Q2. I wonder what's going on. Intel claimed they'd double each quarter. Could the fall be due to the crash of RT which represented the majority of Q1 sales and mostly disappeared in Q2?
Refs
http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=pressreleaseviewer&a0=5351
http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=pressreleaseviewer&a0=5403
Refs
http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=pressreleaseviewer&a0=5351
http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=pressreleaseviewer&a0=5403
Mintmaster
Veteran
Those are some pretty wild fluctuations. Apple goes from 48% down to 28% in one quarter? Windows goes from 7.4% to 4.5%?
If you look at the shipments, though, the Apple and Windows numbers can be explained by seasonal variance, whereas Android tablets just exploded from 17.6M to 34.6M. In 2012, there was also a similar explosion for Android from Q1 to Q2: 6.4M to 18.5M.
I think I found the reason, though. From the first report:
If you look at the shipments, though, the Apple and Windows numbers can be explained by seasonal variance, whereas Android tablets just exploded from 17.6M to 34.6M. In 2012, there was also a similar explosion for Android from Q1 to Q2: 6.4M to 18.5M.
I think I found the reason, though. From the first report:
Looks like the table in the Q1 press release doesn't include white-box, while the Q2 table does.
I don't think white box would affect the number of shipped Windows tablets, 3M in Q1 down to 2.3M in Q2. Everyone was claiming the Windows tablet market share in Q2 would increase due to more models and wider availability of Surface Pro, no matter the seasonality. It seems that didn't happen.
Also note that even if you add white boxes in Q1 that leaves Windows with ~7% market share.
Also note that even if you add white boxes in Q1 that leaves Windows with ~7% market share.
That's probably it. I don't think there are many Windows tablets sold by other companies than Microsoft. And if it's true that MS charges for the OS, I don't expect that to change; or rather I expect Microsoft to become the only company selling Windows tablets.
Incidentally, it's interesting to note that when white box sales are included, growth in the tablet market seems to be decreasing very rapidly. I expect that within 3~5 years, it will be at the same level as ordinary laptops, and the two markets will be seen as complementary instead of the current "OMG THE PC IS DOOMED!" attitude.
RPG,
I've had the Lenovo Tablet 2 for the last four months as part of our in-house Win8 tablet testing. I also have tested the Samsung ATIV 700, and the Surface Pro and Surface RT. We gave the Samsung back after our 60 day eval; it had serious hardware issues with the keyboard docking connector. I gave the Surface Pro 128GB to another employee; he likes it. We gave back the RT as it needed Outlook (fixed with Win 8.1) and also really needed a stylus for how our business would use it.
I kept the Tablet 2 as my own personal device, and I (mostly) love it. We got the fully equipped model; 64GB storage, stylus, 3G/4G/LTE modem thru AT&T, with the dock and the bluetooth keyboard accessory.
Pro's:
The Con's:
For the price tag that we paid (I think we got it for $630 thanks to our 501c3 non-profit status and our purchasing agreement with our vendor), it's a friggin steal. I love using it, and it goes with me everywhere. I REALLY want one of these with the newest Silvermont processor, the extra CPU and GPU performance and (hopefully) 4GB of ram should make it a righteous beast.
I've had the Lenovo Tablet 2 for the last four months as part of our in-house Win8 tablet testing. I also have tested the Samsung ATIV 700, and the Surface Pro and Surface RT. We gave the Samsung back after our 60 day eval; it had serious hardware issues with the keyboard docking connector. I gave the Surface Pro 128GB to another employee; he likes it. We gave back the RT as it needed Outlook (fixed with Win 8.1) and also really needed a stylus for how our business would use it.
I kept the Tablet 2 as my own personal device, and I (mostly) love it. We got the fully equipped model; 64GB storage, stylus, 3G/4G/LTE modem thru AT&T, with the dock and the bluetooth keyboard accessory.
Pro's:
- The battery really will last all day and then some, even when you abuse it.
- The performance is very good for all manner of managerial-level tasks in Office 2013 -- Outlook, One Note, Excel, PowerPoint and Word. It also runs my Cisco IP communicator (soft phone), my Microsoft SCCM and SCSM consoles, drives a second monitor (when docked), plays my music (Pandora or random MP3's / WMA's on my 64Gb UHS-1 MicroSD card)
- The stylus works very well, I use it extensively in One Note and Word "ink mode". It also fits IN the body, versus being magnetically tacked-on like the Surface Pro
- The wireless radio seems to work very well
- It's VERY light and VERY thin, even slightly moreso than the Windows RT device
- That Lenovo slightly rubbery matte texture is a pleasure to hold, so too are the rounded edges
- It charges with a defacto-standard MicroUSB connector. How can you not love that?
- The optional dock is exactly what you would expect -- you sit it in there, it charges, it runs a secondary display, it connects to gig ethernet, it hooks up to whatever USB stuff you've got attached, Why didn't Microsoft get this right, of all things?
- The optional BT keyboard has an excellent typing feel and the battery (it's BT, so it has it's own battery) seems to last forever between charges
The Con's:
- It's an ATOM processor, so it's not uber-warp-speed for tasks that need lots of CPU power
- The storage isn't a defacto MLC flash, it's something slower. Super-disk-intensive actions may bog a bit too
- 2GB of ram can be cramped for similarly "large" tasks
- Basically, if you want this thing to run heavy-duty tasks, then you're using the wrong device
- Every once in a blue moon, it will simply NOT want to wake up. I never have figured out why, it will just sit at a black screen until you hard-power it. It's very rare, but it does happen.
- I wish the keyboard "docked" to the unit rather than being its own separate device.
For the price tag that we paid (I think we got it for $630 thanks to our 501c3 non-profit status and our purchasing agreement with our vendor), it's a friggin steal. I love using it, and it goes with me everywhere. I REALLY want one of these with the newest Silvermont processor, the extra CPU and GPU performance and (hopefully) 4GB of ram should make it a righteous beast.
