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Any new Win8 tablets being released before XMas?

I

IamDavid

Diamond Member
I'm planning on buying new tablets for around 10 people this Christmas and up till yesterday was planning on the Surface Pro2 for the adults, Surface 2 for the kids. I then seen the HP commercial for their new hybrid and had 2nd thoughts. Now I'm looing at the new Dell's. I'd get the Nokia's for the kids but I have to be able to play with one before I commit and so far no news on a release date.
 
This advice applies if everyone just needs kind of the most basic functionality.

Surface RT for the kids, Venue 11 Pro for the adults.

Unless they need something specific that's offered in a different tablet. Surface RT's are still pretty capable for all the basic stuff WinRT does and they're dipping in to the $200 price range on Black Friday. The Bay Trail Venue 11 gives the adults full windows, a USB and HDMI port and provides some capability for a docking station of they want to expand in the future. The 1.5ghz quad-core atom and 2GB of RAM actually handle Windows 8.1 really well. I was really impressed with the Venue 8 I had.
 
The Surface is probably sufficient but I lie supporting new devices so I'd go with the 2 for the kiddos.
The Venue looks pretty sweet for the price but for the same cost or a bit more I could get the HP's with up to a 13.1" screen. I'm thinking about one of these for myself actually. I love the larger screen tablets like my Ativ 11.6" screen. I was hoping Lenova was set to release a new one or maybe Samsung. Helix was cool but I lost interest after a month of owning and sold it off, reverted back to my Ativ.
 
if you don't mind being the technical support (and the somewhat poor build quality), Asus T100 gives them full windows for the price of Surface RT
 
BladeVenom said:
Do they actually want RT?
Click to expand...

Not really sure they'd know the difference. I had the first Surface for a little while and they played on it all the time. Office for school, internet explorer gives access to YouTube, FB and any other social network so I can't imagine it mattering to them.
 
I think Samsung may be updating their ATIV line with Bay Trail. I have an ATIV 500T with Clover Trail and a Wacom digitizer, and it's a really great device for note-taking.

The downfall of the Dell Venue Pro line for me is the lack of a Wacom digitizer. Same with the Asus T100.
 
Wacom digitizers are a must on the adults version. Kids version would be cool but not essential. I'd definitely go with all Ativs if they released a new version in time for Christmas.
 
IamDavid said:
The Surface is probably sufficient but I lie supporting new devices so I'd go with the 2 for the kiddos.
The Venue looks pretty sweet for the price but for the same cost or a bit more I could get the HP's with up to a 13.1" screen. I'm thinking about one of these for myself actually. I love the larger screen tablets like my Ativ 11.6" screen. I was hoping Lenova was set to release a new one or maybe Samsung. Helix was cool but I lost interest after a month of owning and sold it off, reverted back to my Ativ.
Click to expand...

Why did you sell your Helix? Is it because you thought it was from Lenova but the company is actually called Lenovo? 😉

Anyway, I'm serious. In this thread HERE you seem to really like it. I'm wondering what changed your mind. I have one incoming because I convinced our IT department at work that it would make for a good work tablet/laptop and I get to pilot it (we've already had a few Surface Pros we've used, so now we're seeing if the Helix form factor is better). If there's a longer term issue I should know about it'd be nice to hear.
 
I'm buying 5 tablets, all for adults, and I'm between the SP2 and the Dell Venue Pro. I've had a surface pro since launch and its been plagued with random resets since the windows 8.1 firmware update. Kind of turning me off the brand. It doesn't seem like a type cover is available for the dell yet though.
 
Just bought the Nokia 2520 for my wife for Christmas. $399 at Verizon where we have our phones. Got a number for this one so she can text. Free keyboard ($149) if purchased by December 2. Microsoft office preloaded on it. Been messing with a little bit LOL, damnit wish Santa had bought me one.
 
I might have gotten the Nokia 2520 had I known about that free keyboard offer. That is what kills the deal for the RT tablets, the keyboards cost $130 or $150. I'd spend that much for a nice keyboard on a $1000 Surface Pro 2, but not on a $450 or $500 Windows RT tablet.
 
As an owner of a windows tablet I must ask, why would you want to give one of these to a kid? A lump of coal is much cheaper.
 
OBLAMA2009 said:
why exackly are windows tablets bad. are they just super slow? even the new bay trail ones?
Click to expand...

There is still a big lack of apps and they have a more business use feel. They aren't as bad as a lump of coal. I'd be pretty stocked to get any nice tablet for Christmas.

Put for kids, I'd think the pecking order is iOS, Andriod, and then Windows. If it's Windows I would imagine at least a 1080p tablet so the apps look nice, because they probably want to use Modern style apps more than desktop apps.
 
If it's for the kids then I would suggest an Android tablet. This is simply because, when you give the kid the Win8 tablet you will get, "But all my friends have ...." instead of a thankyou.

In other words, try to find out what the kids find cool before paying out the dosh.
 
Last edited:
mkmitch said:
Just bought the Nokia 2520 for my wife for Christmas. $399 at Verizon where we have our phones. Got a number for this one so she can text. Free keyboard ($149) if purchased by December 2. Microsoft office preloaded on it. Been messing with a little bit LOL, damnit wish Santa had bought me one.
Click to expand...

They actually let you use the SIM's number for SMS on a tablet?! 😱
 
lopri said:
They actually let you use the SIM's number for SMS on a tablet?! 😱
Click to expand...

I never thought there was an issue with that. You just need a client to be able to get the messages. Same with an airfare. Usually the software will have a way for you to read the SMS's that come in and let you send them.

And I'd agree about kids and W8 tablets in general. They're far better off with one of the cheap android tablets depending on age and technical skill level. But I know that when I was 6 I would have loved a V8P.
 
Nec_V20 said:
If it's for the kids then I would suggest an Android tablet. This is simply because, when you give the kid the Win8 tablet you will get, "But all my friends have ...." instead of a thankyou.

In other words, try to find out what the kids find cool before paying out the dosh.
Click to expand...

Kids these days have too much say in everything, if you ask me 🙂

That being said, I can see how iOS is more kid friendly.
 
Not sure if the kids you're dealing with aren't smart enough to use anything beyond toys but all the kids on my list love windows based tablets and phones.
Out of my 3 kids, their friends and my nieces and nephews only 2 have iPhones. Apples days are over. In fact, the kids with the new iPhone C's are now looked at like the ghetto kids in school. Kinda funny how quickly and harshly things change these days.


Anyways, here's what I settled on:
3 Nokia 2520 for the 3 youngest.
2 Surface 2's for 2 more
2 Surface Pro's for high schoolers
HP Split x2 ultrabook for the wife.
Surface Pro 1 for a couple other family members. Great price on clearance!
 
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