Well, here they are: Windows 8 Tablets

[TSE]

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/03/acer-iconia-w700-w510-windows-8/

What do you all think? Better than the existing competition to the iPad? Better than the iPad? Might consider it?

 

[Ubuntu]

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/03/acer-iconia-w700-w510-windows-8/

What do you all think? Better than the existing competition to the iPad? Better than the iPad? Might consider it?

Looks fairly good, and I'd say Acer will do far better this time compared to their previous tablet but that's not difficult...

A few things, though. They seem to have gone OTT with connectivity. It's better to go OTT rather than uh... not have much connectivity at all, but even then it seems a bit much and obviously the size of both the tablet and the dock (the dock is huge D: ) are affected by it.

Overall though, I think they might have a chance, although they're just so late to the game. Microsoft really need to be behind this and offer a solution that counters Apple's own solution, rather than just throw products out and hope consumers like them. They, and the manufacturers, also need to keep it simple. It's great that people won't need to have a camera connector or an array of other adapters for common tasks, but at the same time they must be careful not to overwhelm consumers.

Looks decent, though.

 

[Italianblend]

Having the USB and connectivity is huge and it's what the critics can say about iPad. It will set them apart at least in that regard. My next tablet might be a windows 8!

 

[Rodster]

Yeah i'll probably pickup a Windows 8 Tablet as well. I'm waiting for the ASUS Windows 8/Android dual OS tablet.

 

[spinedoc77]

Looks nice, 8 hours battery. The only way I would ditch my ipad though is if it was the FULL windows 8 OS, that's what I'm waiting for but I don't think they will be able to make the full win8 with good battery life ever.

 

[Rodster]

Looks nice, 8 hours battery. The only way I would ditch my ipad though is if it was the FULL windows 8 OS, that's what I'm waiting for but I don't think they will be able to make the full win8 with good battery life ever.

Even if I pickup a Windows 8 Tablet i'm still keeping my iPad 3.

 

[spinedoc77]

Looks nice, 8 hours battery. The only way I would ditch my ipad though is if it was the FULL windows 8 OS, that's what I'm waiting for but I don't think they will be able to make the full win8 with good battery life ever.

Hmm, I am reading some of the comments and some are saying this is an x86 tablet with the FULL windows 8 OS? If that's true I will most definitely be grabbing one of these!!

 

[barkomatic]

Ironic that a Windows tablet manages to get a Thunderbolt port before an iPad.

 

[Night Spring]

Ironic that a Windows tablet manages to get a Thunderbolt port before an iPad.

iPads are never going to have more than one port -- the charging/syncing port. It could be that the current USB syncing port might someday be replaced by thunderbolt. But I still don't anticipate Apple going crazy with allowing peripherals to connect through the iPad port. They are pushing for wireless solutions whenever possible, and I think that is the way to go. Once you've gotten used to streaming videos from the iPad to the TV wirelessly through AppleTV, connecting a cable to the USB port to the TV feels clunky and constricting. Same with file transfers -- I use an app called FileBrowser to transfer files between my iPad and my computers over the wireless network, and it's just so much easier than having to walk over to a computer each time I want to transfer fles. Need to send a friend some files? Use Dropbox. We are not quite at wireless only yet, but it's coming sooner than you think, and all these posts crying for more ports are going to look like pining after yesterday's technology.

 

[interinfo]

An iPad 2 has a 24 Whr battery and is rated for 10 hours max, that's 2.4 watt

Is there a windows 8 tablet that consumes around 2.5 watt ?

 

[Piggie]

Hmm, I am reading some of the comments and some are saying this is an x86 tablet with the FULL windows 8 OS? If that's true I will most definitely be grabbing one of these!!

I think you are correct yes.
As far as I understand at the moment, as standard you would use these new tablets with the specially designed multi-touch Metro front end, running Metro apps, and naturally windows software devs will be wanting to make Metro versions of their current software as time goes on.
But you will also be able to flip into a normal windows type desktop to run current programs as well if you should so want, or to run more unusual software that does not suit a metro type interface.

----------

Need to send a friend some files? Use Dropbox.

Great idea for small stuff, but for large items we're a long way from that.

Hi mate, I've quickly put the video files onto this 16GB Thumbdrive I bought for $13, plug it into your device and copy the files off.

Uploading 16GB to Dropbox is just not practical yet due to price and speed.

One day perhaps, but not yet and we don't live in "one day" we're living in Today.

 

[JasonHB]

Interesting products but only time will tell how successful they will be.

Also, "only four months before Microsoft finalise the OS"?

Talk about late to the table, they are already 3 years too late and even 4 months is a lifetime in the electronics industry.

I would also have concerns that in trying to be a product that has and offers everything, they might put off some less tech savvy customers, which lets face it, is the overwhelming majority of tablet purchasers.

Jason

 

[Piggie]

There is one point to remember here.
Customer choice. People love choice.

You go to buy a car, a washer/dryer, a house, a watch, a HiFi, heck, even a iMac or Macbook. You have "Choice"

You can decide what model you want that fits your price point and your own personal needs.
Do you want a micro device that lasts 2 days on a battery, or do you want something that lasts 6 hours but blasts like a rocket thru the latest game?

Do you want something fragile made from glass or something rugged made from Carbon Fibre with rubber edges?

Do you want something high end with a large screen or something cheap with a small screen?

People like to have a choice.

We could well see Windows 8 tablets, of all different screen sizes, construction materials and price points from all the major brand names:

Asus, Philips, Panasonic, Dell, Samsung, Sony, Acer, Toshiba, Hewlett packard, Sharp, Lenovo and many more, all lined up in stores like Best Buy, all compatible and all running the same interface as people "Will" be getting used to as they already have it on their new Home PC's with Windows 8.

How this all pans out I don't know.
But for sure, there is a MASSIVE market and a MASS of windows devs who are going to want to have their well known products up and running on Metro tablets. And they are not all going to be cut down iOS type low power apps.

Perhaps Apple can just sit back, go nothing and think they are safe.
Then again, perhaps they need to consider offering consumers something more. Perhaps an iPad that CAN run OSX as well as just iOS ?

It's going to be interesting to see where we are, say 2 or 3 years from now.

I can't believe Apple will have nothing more that just a further tweaked iPad by then. Let's be honest, The iPad has hardly changed in any real way since it was 1st launched. Perhaps the next 3 years, with competition from Microsoft and Windows devs will make Apple have to consider doing more?

 

[barkomatic]

iPads are never going to have more than one port -- the charging/syncing port. It could be that the current USB syncing port might someday be replaced by thunderbolt. But I still don't anticipate Apple going crazy with allowing peripherals to connect through the iPad port. They are pushing for wireless solutions whenever possible, and I think that is the way to go. Once you've gotten used to streaming videos from the iPad to the TV wirelessly through AppleTV, connecting a cable to the USB port to the TV feels clunky and constricting. Same with file transfers -- I use an app called FileBrowser to transfer files between my iPad and my computers over the wireless network, and it's just so much easier than having to walk over to a computer each time I want to transfer fles. Need to send a friend some files? Use Dropbox. We are not quite at wireless only yet, but it's coming sooner than you think, and all these posts crying for more ports are going to look like pining after yesterday's technology.

Thunderbolt was only released last year, so I don't consider it "yesterdays technology". While wireless transfers work fine and are more convenient for smaller files, larger volumes of material still require a wired connection of some sort if you don't have all day.

As long as carriers maintain their expensive capped data plans, then we will not have the streaming, wireless, cloud world we all want to live in. At least not outside the home or wifi.

Anyway, its not a huge deal that this tablet has thunderbolt and I wouldn't buy it over the iPad for that reason alone--but it is a stand out feature in my opinion.

 

[Night Spring]

Great idea for small stuff, but for large items we're a long way from that.

Hi mate, I've quickly put the video files onto this 16GB Thumbdrive I bought for $13, plug it into your device and copy the files off.

Uploading 16GB to Dropbox is just not practical yet due to price and speed.

One day perhaps, but not yet and we don't live in "one day" we're living in Today.

True enough, but on the other hand, I've often found myself wanting to give someone a file, and there wasn't any thumbdrives lying around, and it was late so the stores were closed, or was otherwise too inconvenient to run to a store to get one. I'm just saying there are pros and cons to both methods.

And while transfering 16GB at once through Dropbox isn't feasible yet, it's good enough for plenty of things. If I'm giving someone 16 GB of files, I'd probably just copy them from my computer to a thumbdrive or DVD, and not involve my iPad at all. For quickly moving a file from my iPad to give someone, there are plenty of ways to do that that works today.

Perhaps Apple can just sit back, go nothing and think they are safe.
Then again, perhaps they need to consider offering consumers something more. Perhaps an iPad that CAN run OSX as well as just iOS ?

I don't expect Apple to sit back and do nothing, but I doubt they are going to make iPads run OS X. Actually, to be technical, iPads do run OS X, as iOS is just a modified version of OS X optimized to run on iPads/iPhones. But anyway, I know you are talking about getting full desktop programs to run on tablets, rather than technical details about what constitutes OS X.

And the fact is, Microsoft spend a decade trying to sell tablet computers that ran on desktop versions of Windows with slight modifications for tablet UI, and it never caught on. Because they were so hard to use. I think despite what Microsoft claims about Windows 8 tablets being able to run full Windows, Metro apps are going to end up being to desktop Windows apps what iOS apps are to Mac apps. That is, they will be so different from their desktop versions, they might as well be separate apps that use a common file format to read/write their data.

Yes, you could, in a pinch, run desktop programs on some (not all -- from what I understand, ARM tablets will be Metro only) Windows tablets, but the user experience for those programs would be horrible on a tablet.

In the meanwhile, Apple will keep improving on the features and user experience on their iOS pure tablet / phone operating system, and adding more and more compatibility and syncronization features with their desktop OS. OS X and iOS will be separate, but work together more and more seamlessly. Personally, I think Apple's way is going to work out better in the end, but of course, there's always the chance that Microsoft might surprise me. We'll see.

 

[Arelunde]

The question for me is "How many tablets am I going to have?" - and note, it doesn't say "need".

Currently, I have an iPad2, MBP, iPhone4, Droid Bionic and a desktop PC. One person. From my experience, I tend to use the MBP most and it pretty much replaced the iPad except for e-books. The iPad downgraded the iPhone in utility because of its larger screen. It just seems overkill - even though I LOVE this kind of tech toys.

Many folks (especially older ones) consider the purchase of a tech device as a once-in-a-lifetime outlay. I know a person who JUST bought a refurb iPhone 3G and is thrilled they now own an iPhone! I was dismayed to find another friend somewhat concerned that their 5-year-old desktop PC running Window ME took up to 3 minutes to open or close a window!

 

[MozMan68]

I think the key thing Microsoft will be focusing on here is bridging the gap between desktop and tablet...something the iPad really doesn't quite do without the added connections most of us need at "work."

 

[Doombringer]

I think a real strength of these Windows 8 tablets will be the 'transformer' aspect, where an intel-based tablet can be free-roaming and easy to use with Metro... or docked in a notebook-like configuration with more ports/power in the Desktop environment.

Imagine bringing your tablet to work and plunking it down on your desk. There's your wireless keyboard and mouse, plus a larger display, and you slip into the Windows desktop environment and work with your applications like you would on any PC. Then you take the tablet with you and use Metro apps on the go, opening the same files in a more touch-friendly interface as needed. (Apple has already made this part of their ecosystem with things like Pages on OSX and Pages on iOS, but they remain two very separate OSes on two different pieces of hardware.)

It's true that there is a separation between Metro and the classic Desktop, but I think it can be a powerful differentiation not much different than OSX versus iOS. The bonus here is the possibility of using a single device for both.

 

[Drag'nGT]

I think the key thing Microsoft will be focusing on here is bridging the gap between desktop and tablet...something the iPad really doesn't quite do without the added connections most of us need at "work."

I agree that iOS 6 and the hardware need to improve/encourage using the iPad as a productivity device rather than a consumption device. As well as iOS needs to let the consumer feel that it's new, customizable and yet still familiar. If the iPad is "post PC", we need a way to share docs and files in a non wireless way. I honestly feel that a USB port is the only thing missing from the iPad. We can't and I don't want/expect to support every display connection. Some are moving to HDMI while many many others still use VGA... Who would have thought VGA would still be so heavily used this many years and upgrades later?!?!


That said, the iPad has too much traction to loose much more. I'd say Android has more to fear since they seem to share the same demographic.

 

[noisycats]

Thank god Apple at least came out with the iPad "first" so Asus had someone to emulate. That dock is an abomination and personally, it is indicative of what these other makers are capable of when they don't have someone to copy.

GD, that designer should be kicked in the junk!!

 

[Piggie]

I think a real strength of these Windows 8 tablets will be the 'transformer' aspect, where an intel-based tablet can be free-roaming and easy to use with Metro... or docked in a notebook-like configuration with more ports/power in the Desktop environment.

Agree 100% and something I have felt Apple should have done for ages and may well do.
And despite what anyone says, Apple fans would jump up and down with joy if Apple did it.

What am I talking about?

Imagine something like a MacBook Air that runs full/proper OSX to do your business tasks and 'proper' computing.
Then you can simply pull away the screen and the screen flips into iOS mode and becomes an iPad.

The very best of both devices in one. No need to carry a MacBook and and an iPad.

----------

Thank god Apple at least came out with the iPad "first" so Asus had someone to emulate. That dock is an abomination and personally, it is indicative of what these other makers are capable of when they don't have someone to copy.

GD, that designer should be kicked in the junk!!

They key here is you may have 20 other brands, all with their own designs that you, as an individual can select from.

I want a larger screen iPad and stereo speakers, but as only Apple make the iPad and they won't offer me that, I'm stuck.

If Apple licensed iOS and allowed others to make iPad's with different screen sizes, speakers, materials, doc's etc etc then there would be a choice.

Will Apple make the same mistake this time as they did decades ago with the Mac, thinking they and only they know best and watch everyone else come from behind and zoom past them?

 

[noisycats]

Will Apple make the same mistake this time as they did decades ago with the Mac, thinking they and only they know best and watch everyone else come from behind and zoom past them?

Only to stumble and fall?

If the past 'mistake' works out like the present, then I'm Ok with them repeating the process. I've been satisfied with all my macs since 1991...even if the 'market' didn't agree.

 

[dejo]

There is one point to remember here.
Customer choice. People love choice.

True. But studies have shown that too many choices can actually be a hinderance to consumers. See Barry Schwartz's "The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less".

 

[Dr McKay]

That's only one, heres a WindowsRT Tablet, running a Tegra 3 Quad-Core processor.

Neowin

 

[Carouser]

One day perhaps, but not yet and we don't live in "one day" we're living in Today.

And one day there might be competing tablets, but we don't live in 'one day', we're living in today.

Do you want a micro device that lasts 2 days on a battery, or do you want something that lasts 6 hours but blasts like a rocket thru the latest game?

Do you want something fragile made from glass or something rugged made from Carbon Fibre with rubber edges?

These stupid fictional choices don't exist in the real world; the iPad clearly outperforms anything else on virtually every count.

But for sure, there is a MASSIVE market and a MASS of windows devs who are going to want to have their well known products up and running on Metro tablets. And they are not all going to be cut down iOS type low power apps.

lol developers hate developing for Android because of the massive fragmentation, this is a total load

Let's be honest, The iPad has hardly changed in any real way since it was 1st launched.

holy moly I can't breathe I'm laughing so hard

"hardly changed in any real way"

yes, I guess they didn't arbitrarily mess with the UI so some twit won't get bored staring at their wallpaper

it only has the most advanced mass-produced screen tech and the hardware/software integration is light-years beyond competitors

competitors have been flailing around since the iPad introduction and still can't put anything decent together

And despite what anyone says, Apple fans would jump up and down with joy if Apple did it.

Piggie posts this constantly, but never actually quotes any specific poster who does such a thing, and it's just a smear, it adds nothing to conversation whatsoever