How good is windows 8 for tablets ?

[hhhd1]

How good does windows 8 perform when being ran on tablets?

I know it sucks on desktops.

But does it feel good on tablets? , are the apps collection good?
Anything else to consider?

 

[IamDavid]

It runs great. It still takes some getting used to but the OS is very fluid once you learn it.
Metro screen is cluttered still but 8.1 looks to be cleaning this up.
Apps section is OK. Still growing but missing a few known apps I guess. Apps don't matter much to me because Win8 is a full OS so everything is available one way or another. (Not talking RT)

 

[hhhd1]

From the number of replies in this thread, it seems to be not very popular ...

 

[sm625]

It just doesnt make any sense given the sheer number of tablets that cost $150. I dont get who would want to actually pay money for a dozen gigabytes of winSXS garbage. lol. It's not like you can play league of legends on a tablet. What are you supposed to do with the thing to justify the level of hardware and cost involved in an actual windows 8 tablet vs an android?

 

[Mem]

Speaking as an Android tablet user myself and Win8 desktop PC user,main issue I see with Win8 tablets is pricing,Android tablets are so much cheaper and just very good value for money compared to Win8 tablets,plus Android tablets do virtually everything a Win8 tablet can do and at a far cheaper price ,they are also more established then the new kid on the block ie Win8 "tablet wise".

 

[Mushkins]

It just doesnt make any sense given the sheer number of tablets that cost $150. I dont get who would want to actually pay money for a dozen gigabytes of winSXS garbage. lol. It's not like you can play league of legends on a tablet. What are you supposed to do with the thing to justify the level of hardware and cost involved in an actual windows 8 tablet vs an android?

Full-blown Win8 tablets are a very particular use-case. You're not buying it to play LoL on the go, you're buying it to have a tablet you can run your windows-only business software on in the field and on the go. Any business-oriented artist worth his salt these days does a considerable amount of work right on a tablet to actually draw, then moves to the desktop to finish the job. Or you need the full MS Office suite on the go. Or your core business applications were written for windows, using embedded Adobe Acrobat whatever.

Nobody is spending millions to port their in-house business applications to android or iOS, an affordable (in the business world) solution to the "I want a tablet that I can run our applications on" problem has major market moving potential.

Take the big commercials for Win8 tablets they were showing right before they were released. Who did the commercials focus on? A conference room with a round table full of business people. Those are the people spending this kind of money on that specific functionality. If you're just looking to check your facebook, read email, and play games on the couch, you're not the target market for a Surface Pro.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

We have a surface pro and it works very well. I was impressed with it actually. There is a learning curve though, and I still can't believe they didn't include some kind of tutorial/video to help people get used to everything new. I know at least one person who ditched their win8 laptop, returned it and went for an ipad instead.

Hopefully they learn from their mistakes and make an even better model for their next gen. They definitely need to iron out all the resolution/scaling/DPI issues.

 

[Minerva]

I have a surface pro and still prefer to run classic shell on it.

I despise the media player, picture viewer, etc.

Come to think of it the only time I'm touching the screen is the picture logon feature which is nice.

Touch screens just aren't precise enough for me. Leave them on phones LOL.

p.s. If Samsung keeps making note devices bigger pretty soon they will be ipad mini sized! D:

 

[Mary_Carson]

Functionality draws a lot of varied opinions. It’s like comparing the iPad and the Galaxy Tab. Ads featuring the iPad show people in their couch enjoying the comfort of their homes while ads on Galaxy Tab portray people on the run. Surface Pro will have to find its particular niche and elbow its way among those that have already eaten a sizable part of the market. From the looks of it, though, I think Surface Pro has to do a rather steep climp to get to the top. Judging from its adverts, Surface Pro appeals to the professionals (perhaps why it’s called a Pro) and it may soon establish itself but how many professionals are there in a crowd? Already, this side of the market is being lionized by iOS and the Android crowd.

 

[Mushkins]

Surface Pro appeals to the professionals (perhaps why it’s called a Pro) and it may soon establish itself but how many professionals are there in a crowd? Already, this side of the market is being lionized by iOS and the Android crowd.

There's a *lot* of professionals in that crowd. And you know what professionals have? Money that the home user isn't willing to spend.

iOS and Android are being shoehorned into the business world much to the dismay of IT departments because those professionals in fancy suits keep demanding its the next big thing and they want it. They want their iPads on the corporate network, and they sign the checks, so lets buy them all iPads. It doesn't matter that as soon as they realize they cant do anything other than check their email and browse the web on them they end up sitting in the proverbial briefcase doing nothing.

Bring in a tablet that runs on x86, where all our core business apps run, and IT can centrally manage with a combination of MDM and traditional agents/VPNs like *any other laptop*? If Windows 8 wasn't such a nightmare for business users to begin with, these things would be flying off the shelves faster than they can make them.

 

[WildW]

I'm typing this on my Windows 8 tablet, an Asus ME400. It's a full Windows 8 device with the latest Intel Atom dual-core 4-thread processor. It cost the same as the cheapest full iPad. Until recently I was using an iPad 2 but I gave that to my good lady.

The experience is a real mixed bag. This is the first time I've tried to type anything significant on it, and I am really missing the autocorrect. On the other hand I'm running full desktop Firefox just the way I'm used to it, and everything works fine with touch. It does feel much more like a real computer. Anything I want to do is a case of installing software I already have, which is lucky because there seems to be basically nothing interesting on the app store.

Using it as purely a touch device is somewhat unfulfilling. Web browsing and reading email are alright, and some of the bundled games are neat, but that's about it. On the other hand, if I reach into my bag and pull out my bluetooth mouse I have a PC. I can install any game that doesnt require the keyboard. Master of Orion 2, Starcraft, Heroes of Might and Magic 5. Heck, if I find the USB adaptor I need to plug devices into this thing I can use a 360 controller, or mouse and full 102 key keyboard 😛

But yes, it is basically a netbook built entirely into the lid of a netbook, costing twice the price of a netbook. The whole experience is nothing like as polished as the iPad, but its a proper PC. Touch is a lot nicer than a laptop trackpad.