Acer Intros New Tablet, Pen-Based Notebook

[exfileme]

Acer also introduced a new tablet and hybrid notebook with a cool stylus.

Acer Intros New Tablet, Pen-Based Notebook : Read more

 

[back_by_demand]

Full HD is a minimum these days, more evidence that Acer shovel cheap junk and blame bad sales on W8

 

[stevejnb]

Full HD is a minimum these days, more evidence that Acer shovel cheap junk and blame bad sales on W8

Demand, it's really not. I do agree, the ability to output to higher resolution - which almost everything can do with a micro-hdmi cable - is a bare minimum these days, but on a small screen? Maybe for some people, but for lots, not even close.

In fact, a lot of people prefer lower resolution on small screens. Simply put, a big flaw in Windows it that text scaling is inconsistent in many areas and lacking in others. I was recently helping my mother buy a new laptop and she almost exclusively favoured machines which had a lower resolution. Why? Because she could easily read everything on the screen. I couldn't really fault her for it either. I like HD resolution as a base, but even I find myself having to wheel up on various things when I open them to properly read text, and getting the Windows desktop fully readable for those of us without perfect eyesight can be very difficult at higher resolutions.

A lot of people say "Well unless it's the newest and the bestest and most advanced, it's garbage." A company like Acer though probably does sample groups and is finding that a lot of more casual computer users actually prefer lower res screens because they can actually read on them. I mean, the Iconia W700, a recent release by them, came out with an HD screen on a small'ish tablet. It's not like they don't know they exist or are incapable of putting them into devices.

Lastly, some Acer stuff - see, the Iconia W700 - is pretty slick now and still selling like garbage. Windows 8 not setting the world on fire is at least in part to blame on MS and the program itself. However much I like it, you can't tell millions of people they're wrong in not liking it. The idea behind it is great for certain types of hardware, but it's not for everyone in every situation. If screen size/hardware quality were what was keeping devices from selling, the Iconia W700 would be a huge seller. It really isn't.

 

[back_by_demand]

Elsewhere on this same news page Asus have a 13" screen 2560x1440, so 1080p is hardly the latest & greatest

 

[stevejnb]

True, and 2560x1440 isn't the latest and greatest any more either. Heck, I was playing PC games in so called HD about 10 years ago on my PC. Does any of that in any way discount what I said?

 

[back_by_demand]

Yes, the much touted "first 8" W8 tablet" that was waved around has had awful reviews for quality, and the tackiness of construction & materials is how Acer have operated for years. They don't deserve the status they seem to hold in the tech press when they are basically bottom feeders and no better than the hoards of cheap knockoff companies. The PC decline has been going on much longer than Windows 8 so the Latin "ergo propter hoc" does not apply, and having actually used W8 ir really doesn't deserve some of the hatred that is clearly bandwagoning, if W8 was the cause of such woes then how come Lenovo aren't affected and actually thriving? I'm not advocating we all go out and exclusively buy Razer or Alienware as there are plenty of firms that have good quality & prices, but Acer really are the bottom end, you may as well give a forum to those nasty Z brand Chinese knockoff companies.

 

[stevejnb]

Demand,

You say this about Acer's build quality as if it were something new. Frankly, I was shocked by the Iconia W700 because it wasn't built like garbage. But yes, Acer has classically had shoddy built quality. The thing is, they had shoddy build quality in the past, being the clear-cut budget machine on the shelf, and they did just fine. Now all of the sudden, same bad build quality and even a few well made items and... They're doing badly all of the sudden?

Simple question with a simple answer - what's changed? Now, I'm not shoveling all the blame on Windows 8, but some of it has to lie there. The computing world is changing and mobile devices are filling roles that used to be filled by PCs so people don't need to buy PCs to do PC things. What's more, the PC upgrade cycle is slower. No question, both of these things contribute but the answer to "what's changed" is, at least in part, Windows.

Any way you cut it, Windows 8 was made at least in part with mobile in mind. For people using straight up non-mobile PCs, this has turned a lot of people off the OS. I've met casual users who look at it and say "What the heck is this and why do I want it?" and we both know the vitriol it inspires here at Tom's. If you want to pretend like this isn't at least part of why PC sales are slowing, that's your business, but... While an OS isn't solely to blame for slowing PC sales, an OS that people really want to buy certainly could help them out - and I don't think Windows 8 is that. May change when people start using mobile touch screen devices with it more but for now? I doubt Windows 8 is helping PC sales much at all.

 

[voltagetoe]

That 15.6 inch laptop looks very promising. It's good to see a stylus with that size of screen. Should interest many artists/designers if the calibration is accurate.