ASUS Vivo Tab Smart ME400

[Ravynmagi]

I had a Samsung Ativ Smart PC 500T for a few weeks, but ended up returning it. The problems were mostly I wasn't happy with the 11.6 inch size, the slippery glossy plastic back, and issues with the keyboard dock keeping the tablet awake.

I still wanted a Windows 8 tablet, I enjoyed that much of it. But wanted to go with something smaller and more comfortable to use as a tablet. The 10.1 inch 580 gram ASUS ME400 looked like a good choice.

Pros.

* Light and comfortable. It's pretty slim and light and the soft touch plastic back feels nice.
* Good looking display.
* Only $500 for 64GB model.
* Looks good in all black.

Cons.

* Seam on edge of tablet is rough. There is a small plastic beze that wraps around the front glass and it meets the soft touch plastic back on the edge of the tablet. And the seam. is a bit rough. The small plastic bezel also flexes a little bit. Kinda feels a little cheap because of this.
* Speaker sucks. It's okay for listening to music, but playing movies or podcasts where you need to listen to dialog is worthless because of the lack of volume. Headphones required.
* Capacitive Windows button not easy to use. I usually have to press the Windows button on the tablet multiple times. I'm starting to find it's just easier to bring up the charms bar and use the onscreen Windows button instead. A physical button would have been nice.
* Sloooooow to charge. This charges from the micro USB port and it's very slow to charge (my Samsung 500T with a dedicated charge port was very fast).
* Can't use USB while charging. Since the micro USB port is used for charging, you can't use a USB keyboard or mouse for example while charging.
* Bluetooth laggy. My bluetooth mouse is jittery when moving across the display, the keyboard lags badly while typing. I used the same keyboard and mouse with the Samsung 500T and didn't have these problems. Hopefully it's just a driver issue.

I've only had it a little over a day so far. I think I like it. Don't love it. I think it feels a bit cheap, but I only spent $500, so it's getting what you pay for. Most of the Windows 8 tablets are 11.6 inches and I really didn't want something that big after my experience with the Samsung 500T. And the Acer W510 just looks too chunky and ugly and weird things seem to go on with Acer tablets too. I think this ASUS will hold me over okay though while I wait for the next gen Atom and Windows 8 drivers to mature.

 

[ixelion]

looks like the W510 is the only other option for light weight Windows 8. Much like you I am oncerned about build quality which is why I am consiering Surface RT, evethough I was looking for Win8, but I think RT will suffice.

Maybe next verion of surface pro will be much lighter as that would be ideal for me.

 

[needspractice]

@Ravynmagi

Thanks for the helpful review. What about the Dell Latitude 10? Do you think you would have been completely happy with that?

@ixelion

Another option would be the Dell Latitude 10. It's the exact same thing but with an awesome swappable battery feature.

Best,
Needspractice

 

[Ravynmagi]

@Ravynmagi

Thanks for the helpful review. What about the Dell Latitude 10? Do you think you would have been completely happy with that?

@ixelion

Another option would be the Dell Latitude 10. It's the exact same thing but with an awesome swappable battery feature.

Best,
Needspractice

The Dell Latitude 10 looks nice, I considered it. The price and the features I wanted were the main reason I picked the ME400 over it.

When I say features I wanted, it was more about features I didn't really need or want to pay extra for. The ME400 does not have a digitizer or active pen. It also didn't have a removable battery. They are nice features, but they really were not on my list of things I needed and so I didn't want to spend an extra $150 on those particular features. I also liked that the ME400 was lighter weight, 580 grams instead of the 670 grams.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Following up on my initial impressions of the ASUS ME400 now that I've had it for two weeks. These will also be my final impressions since it's going in a box and going back to Amazon on Monday.

* First the bluetooth issue I mentioned in my initial impressions. It's bugging the hell out of me as I'd like to use a bluetooth mouse with this in desktop mode. The mouse and keyboard seem to work okay with only a little stuttering after a fresh reboot (on my laptop the same mouse and keyboard have no stuttering at all, so even this much isn't normal). But it seems to get really bad after the tablet has gone to sleep and been woken back up, it's really stuttering and pretty much unusable.

* ASUS Live Update is used to update the drivers and BIOS. This worked for me the first day. However has not worked ever since. Now it just says "Cannot connect to server". If I go to the ASUS support site, I can't download any drivers, I can't even re-download this Live Update tool to reinstall it. I contacted ASUS customer support twice and they could offer no help at all (first guy even hung up on me after leaving me on hold for 15 minutes). I've tried a factory recovery three times, and but still get the same error. I've tried running Live Update many times hoping maybe it's intermittent, but it never connects anymore. I've tried running it in XP compatibility mode, as an administrator. Some people said to check my timezone and it was fine. One person suggested running the battery until it died and recharging it, then trying again, but that didn't help either. I've tried every weird suggestion I found on the Internet. Nothing worked. I see others are having this problem and it seems like none of them have found a solution either, but others don't have the problem. I'm wondering if perhaps something went wrong with the BIOS update, since that's the only thing now different from the time I took it out of a box when I tried those recoveries.

I'm really disappointed with ASUS for not making the drivers, BIOS, or update tool available on their website. And I have no idea if this is an issue that can be fixed later if ASUS ever releases an updated tool on their website or is the BIOS messed up and this can only be fixed by me sending it to ASUS (which means being without the tablet a month).

* Lastly, the capacitive button was a horrible idea. I don't even use it much anymore since I have to tap it so many times. It's just easier to swipe up the charms bar and using it there. Yet I still have to be careful of accidental touches when holding the tablet in portrait mode. So this button is more of a hassle than benefit.


Not everything got worse the more I used the tablet though.

* That rough seam that I mentioned. After a few days that did seem to smooth out after handling the tablet.


I'm really disappointed with ASUS though. The hardware overall is pretty nice. Windows 8 runs well on this Atom processor for what I'm running on it. It's frustrating that this issue with the drivers and update tool is something that should not be as much of an issue. Samsung did a much better job updating the drivers and it's tool worked well. And at least Samsung put their update tool on their website to download if something did go wrong. Lenovo even puts all their individual drivers available for download on the support site.

I hated the Samsung because of the hardware. And now I'm hating my ASUS because of the ASUS software.

 

[dagamer34]

Was there a restocking fee when returning the tablet, Ravynmagi?

 

[igorrj]

Following up on my initial impressions of the ASUS ME400 now that I've had it for two weeks. These will also be my final impressions since it's going in a box and going back to Amazon on Monday.

* First the bluetooth issue I mentioned in my initial impressions. It's bugging the hell out of me as I'd like to use a bluetooth mouse with this in desktop mode. The mouse and keyboard seem to work okay with only a little stuttering after a fresh reboot (on my laptop the same mouse and keyboard have no stuttering at all, so even this much isn't normal). But it seems to get really bad after the tablet has gone to sleep and been woken back up, it's really stuttering and pretty much unusable.

* ASUS Live Update is used to update the drivers and BIOS. This worked for me the first day. However has not worked ever since. Now it just says "Cannot connect to server". If I go to the ASUS support site, I can't download any drivers, I can't even re-download this Live Update tool to reinstall it. I contacted ASUS customer support twice and they could offer no help at all (first guy even hung up on me after leaving me on hold for 15 minutes). I've tried a factory recovery three times, and but still get the same error. I've tried running Live Update many times hoping maybe it's intermittent, but it never connects anymore. I've tried running it in XP compatibility mode, as an administrator. Some people said to check my timezone and it was fine. One person suggested running the battery until it died and recharging it, then trying again, but that didn't help either. I've tried every weird suggestion I found on the Internet. Nothing worked. I see others are having this problem and it seems like none of them have found a solution either, but others don't have the problem. I'm wondering if perhaps something went wrong with the BIOS update, since that's the only thing now different from the time I took it out of a box when I tried those recoveries.

I'm really disappointed with ASUS for not making the drivers, BIOS, or update tool available on their website. And I have no idea if this is an issue that can be fixed later if ASUS ever releases an updated tool on their website or is the BIOS messed up and this can only be fixed by me sending it to ASUS (which means being without the tablet a month).

* Lastly, the capacitive button was a horrible idea. I don't even use it much anymore since I have to tap it so many times. It's just easier to swipe up the charms bar and using it there. Yet I still have to be careful of accidental touches when holding the tablet in portrait mode. So this button is more of a hassle than benefit.


Not everything got worse the more I used the tablet though.

* That rough seam that I mentioned. After a few days that did seem to smooth out after handling the tablet.


I'm really disappointed with ASUS though. The hardware overall is pretty nice. Windows 8 runs well on this Atom processor for what I'm running on it. It's frustrating that this issue with the drivers and update tool is something that should not be as much of an issue. Samsung did a much better job updating the drivers and it's tool worked well. And at least Samsung put their update tool on their website to download if something did go wrong. Lenovo even puts all their individual drivers available for download on the support site.

I hated the Samsung because of the hardware. And now I'm hating my ASUS because of the ASUS software.

I felt like you, completely disappointed with Asus. I'm trying to get the drivers and bios with them, but the support only say: you have to wait to get the files on support website. Argh...

Can you share the files that you made the upgrade?

 

[Ravynmagi]

I was able to update drivers the first day I had it. But after the Live Update tool broke, I did a recovery. This restored the tablet to the original factory state, I lost all the updates, and the Live Update tool has not worked since. So I no longer have any of the newer drivers.

I can't download drivers, I can't reinstall the update tool, ASUS support isn't supporting.


Regarding the other question about a restocking fee. I don't beileve I'll be charged one. I told Amazon about the issue, the update tool hasn't worked since the BIOS update and ASUS support hasn't been able to resolve the issue, so I consider the product to be defective. I shouldn't be charged a restocking fee in this case, but of course I won't know for sure until Amazon gets the tablet and issues the refund.


I'm going to try my best to resist temptation and not buy anymore Windows 8 tablets for a while. I kinda like what I'm hearing about the Lenovo Tablet 2. Lenovo actually puts drivers on their website (what a strange concept). But I'm even hearing problems about that tablet too (the USB port isn't powered for some reason, what the heck).

I'll wait and see how Haswell tablets look. I'm not too crazy about a tablet that gets less than 8 hours of battery life and weights more than 1.5 pounds, so I'll probably pass on that. The next thing on the horizon then is Bay Trail at the end of the year. At least by then these manufactures could have the hardware and driver issues figured out.

 

[podspi]

There is Bay Trail and the AMD tablets coming out at some point this year. I believe the only downside to Temash is no connected standby.

I'll probably be checking both out, flip the 500t before it loses TOO much value...

 

[stevewille]

First, I have brand new ASUS vivo Tab Smart ME400 and I am happy with it. For the price it is an incredible machine. I also own a ASUS slate that is much more powerful so the fact that this is a low end machine that still runs the real windows 8.1 is fine with me. I have two questions and perhaps someone knows the answer. The instructions make a big deal about using the supplied power for recharging. It is 5 volt, 2A. Will any charter that meets this specification work? Second, I bought the bluetooth keyboard with a touch pad. I can figure out the click, and the right click, but I cannot figure out how to hold and drag or highlight text. Does anyone know?

 

[Crono]

First, I have brand new ASUS vivo Tab Smart ME400 and I am happy with it. For the price it is an incredible machine. I also own a ASUS slate that is much more powerful so the fact that this is a low end machine that still runs the real windows 8.1 is fine with me. I have two questions and perhaps someone knows the answer. The instructions make a big deal about using the supplied power for recharging. It is 5 volt, 2A. Will any charter that meets this specification work? Second, I bought the bluetooth keyboard with a touch pad. I can figure out the click, and the right click, but I cannot figure out how to hold and drag or highlight text. Does anyone know?

1. Yes
2. Select a word by hovering over a word, and then pressing and holding. Then drag the dots, one to the left (and/or up) and one to the right (and/or down) to select additional text.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Hope it's not too late to exchange that for a Dell Venue Pro.

I'm not sure about your question regarding that bluetooth keyboard with trackpad.
But related to that, I had a Samsung T500 with a Wacom digitizer and pen and while I didn't think the pen was needed at first, I did find it really great for highlighting text and move stuff around, which was more difficult with just touch input.