x86 Windows 8 Tablets: Acer Iconia W3 Launched

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Aesthetically ugly tablet. However...while I don't think it's a great chip, I was impressed with the Atom Z2760 when I was playing with a Windows 7 tablet. If the battery life could be improved, I would have less hesitation to pick one up.
 
Failure to include a SD card slot is repeating the same mistake of Apple. Even Android is going to have USB3.0 soon so this tablet is too low spec and too high priced to have any staying power. Acer has bet wrong once again. If they stop making junk products maybe their profits will improve.
 

It has a microSD slot capable of accommodating up to 32GB cards. Brief review of the tablet here shows the card slot: http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/acer-iconia-w3/4505-3126_7-35781405.html
 
Getting into the right ball park, but, break the $400 barrier and a full Windows 8 tablet would be a pretty good bargain. Simply put though, for a pure media consumption device, a sub $200 Android is still the way to go, but a sub $400 Windows tablet is definitely better over all.



Really? Curious, have you ever used one, or is this just a herd-mentality "DURRR WINDOWS 8 IS TERRUBL!" routine? I'm typing from one right now, plugged into my HDTV via the micro hdmi cable on it. Just finished playing Neverwinter online on it too. Earlier today my girlfriend was working on a resume on it using full MS office and browsing in a full desktop browser. Later on, I may well unhook it and bring it with me, setting it up to use it at a coffee shop, picking whether I want to use it as a tablet or as a laptop with a mouse and keyboard hooked in.

A full Windows 8 tablet is more functional than an Android or Apple tablet. Perdiod. Their pricing is stupid at this point in time and as a pure tablet it doesn't have as many apps as Android/Apple, but, that isn't such a big deal when you can, you know, just switch to desktop mode and use anything that works on a desktop PC.

My advice to everyone who hears Windows 8 and jumps on the "I hate Microsoft" bandwagon.. Give it a try. These tablets are far more complete than what their competitors offer.
 
It's not really fair to compare the price straight across to apple or android. With these you are actually getting some useful software which you are paying for. If you took off the windows office software you could probably save $100 or so.
 
I'm a Windows hater. However, after having a quick play around with the bigger W510 in my local PCWorld store, I decided to buy the W3. I was extremely impressed with the smoothness of the browser, in both the "Modern UI" and Desktop modes. Scrolling was perfect, even on pages with embedded video. Pinch to zoom was super snappy and responsive.

I've owned a Nexus 7 since the day the were available here in the UK, and I can only describe the experience as "lacklustre", at best. Things I like about the Nexus 7: the form factor, ability to play back just about any video I throw at it (I use ES Strongs File Explorer to stream from my NAS drive - it excels at this), easily programmable (free tools, easy to set up). Things I don't like about the Nexus 7: the browsing experience - it's awful - jerky, laggy, stuttery most of the time (just try using a Nexus 7 to browse Google's own news aggregate).

Of course the first thing I'm going to try and do is install Ubuntu :). But even running Windows 8, and from what I experienced with the W510, the W3 should be a pretty cool productivity device (email, browsing, office etc). While I have years of experience developing Win32 apps, I've never written a "Modern UI" (a.k.k "Metro") app before, but I'll definitely look into this.

I see a lot of potential with this device. Naturally, the first thing I'm going to do is try to install Ubuntu 13.04 on it :)
 
I really disagree with Microsoft trying to bundle MS Office with W8 tablets and ends up increasing the price for those people do not need it. I already have Office running on my desktop and notebook there is no need for me to run this on a device that does not have a physical keyboard. Until Microsoft has finally managed to release a user friendly touch-based MS Office, this should ALWAYS be an option so that those who do not need it can get a cheaper tablet. Microsoft is defeating themselves with their unnecessary Windows and Office tax on mobile devices. I also think RT should be cheaper or even free if Microsoft really wants to have an ARM based tablet competing with Android. People are buying cheap Android devices for media consumption and entertainment, while Microsoft keep insisting everyone to buy their more expensive tablets so that they can run MS Office.
 


I'm curious, why a Samsung device in particular? I've tried two iterations of the Galaxy tab, and actually have a close friend who owns one, while I myself own a Le Pan I and a Le Pan II. Generally, I find that the stock android on the Le Pan II runs much more smoothly than the bloatware loaded Galaxy tabs - and at a significantly lower cost for equivalent hardware. If you're looking for an Android tablet, I'd highly recommend it.

Actually, I used my Le Pan II for a primary note taking, and often word processing (Office Suite Pro - really not so bad office replacement, and got it on a 10 cent sale through Play store) device for over a full year prior to getting my Windows tablet. Simply put, this is where I came to the conclusions I stated above... Android tablets are absolutely excellent for the price range, but a decent Windows 8 tablet is simply far more full featured. Heck, with Bluestacks, you can even emulate almost everything an Android tablet does.

For a certain price range and certain interest level, Android tablets cannot be beat - and I'd give a big nod to Le Pan's line of tablets for cheap tablets that work like more expensive ones. That being said, if you're willing to spend more, Windows 8 tablets are simply better machines.
 
Re "We await with baited breath." Are you baiting your breath with a Haswell i7? I'm waiting with bated breath to find out.
 
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