New Dell Convertibles, Tablets (Android and Windows), Ultrabooks

[bearxor]

I ran steam and all the games off the mSD card. I could tell it was slower loading, but once loaded I never noticed a hiccup in either Burnout Paradise or CivV.

 

[vi edit]

The only thing really turning me off from the Venue 8 is the lack of a more integrated keyboard. That Asus Transformer Windows 8 T100 looks like a great compromise device and it also has a full size USB 3.0 port on it for hooking up a mouse.

 

[Ravynmagi]

The only thing really turning me off from the Venue 8 is the lack of a more integrated keyboard. That Asus Transformer Windows 8 T100 looks like a great compromise device and it also has a full size USB 3.0 port on it for hooking up a mouse.

I went to BestBuy and played with the ASUS T100 on display. Unfortunately it just feels so cheap, plasticky, and cheap. The trackpad is horrible and the keyboard didn't feel good.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I went to BestBuy and played with the ASUS T100 on display. Unfortunately it just feels so cheap, plasticky, and cheap. The trackpad is horrible and the keyboard didn't feel good.

It has a lot of promise. Just too many cut corners, and hardware not QUITE there.

The T300 in a few years with a 1080p screen, 4GBs of RAM, and a then i3-level Atom processor will be my next tablet.

 

[Joe1987]

Here's a review of the Venue Pro 8 on The Verge

http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/20/5121634/dell-venue-8-pro-review

 

[dougp]

My biggest issue with the V8P is the lack of charge-through micro-USB when using an OTG or DisplayLink adapter. Hopefully Lenovo gets it right with the Miix 8, or I'll be looking at 10" tablets.

 

[bearxor]

I thought I read through a VP8 owners forums somewhere that they had gotten an adapter to charged and provide connectivity.

 

[dougp]

I thought I read through a VP8 owners forums somewhere that they had gotten an adapter to charged and provide connectivity.

If you can find a link, that'd be great but on NBR, a guy tested both a Y micro-USB splitter and a powered USB OTG adapter and neither would charge the tablet while it was accessing whatever was on the host device.

I know my phone can do it, so I'm not sure why a device like this would be limited.

 

[vi edit]

Some more reviews are starting to trickle out and I'm sold. Costco has it listed on their website for $329 for the 64 gig version. I stopped in at my local one today and it's not in store yet.

 

[bearxor]

If you can find a link, that'd be great but on NBR, a guy tested both a Y micro-USB splitter and a powered USB OTG adapter and neither would charge the tablet while it was accessing whatever was on the host device.

I know my phone can do it, so I'm not sure why a device like this would be limited.

Well, it looks like it is possible through some trickery.
This thread has all the details:
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/dell/59328-venue-8-usb-power-same-time.html

 

[Bryf50]

I've been eyeing the Venue Pro 8 but the Lenovo Miix 8 is looking like the better choice. The design looks very sleek and it uses the dual-channel z3740 instead of the z3740D. Haven't seen any reviews of it yet though.

 

[vi edit]

Kindle Fire HDX went back today and my order is in for the 64 gig version of the Venue 8 in it's exchange. $329 shipped to my door. Depending on the overall ability of this, it might end up being a daily carry and then I'm going to downsize my phone from a Note 2 to something smaller.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I've been eyeing the Venue Pro 8 but the Lenovo Miix 8 is looking like the better choice. The design looks very sleek and it uses the dual-channel z3740 instead of the z3740D. Haven't seen any reviews of it yet though.

I was looking at the Miix 8 also before I got the Dell V8P. Best Buy is suppose to carry the Lenovo very soon (they didn't have it last Friday yet, but said any day). I was hoping to see how it feels.

The Miix 8 is lighter and thinner. But from the pictures it looks like a plastic back. I really love the rubberized back on the Dell so much. A couple reviewers that had both also said the Lenovo display was a little more washed out, though it sounded like it was still a nice display on the Miix 8.

The Dell also has an active digitizer, that influenced my decision a bit too. However I'm now reading that the digiziter and pens are just complete crap and not worth the $30 to buy the pen.

I dunno. I'm starting to get close to the point of just giving up on the smaller or low cost tablets and get suck it up and buy a Surface Pro 2 already. Or just stick with my iPad Mini 2.

 

[Joe1987]

Kindle Fire HDX went back today and my order is in for the 64 gig version of the Venue 8 in it's exchange. $329 shipped to my door. Depending on the overall ability of this, it might end up being a daily carry and then I'm going to downsize my phone from a Note 2 to something smaller.

What are you considering for a phone? I'm thinking smaller as well, needs to be fast, Android and rootable.

 

[lopri]

I know this could sound like a trolling, but have to ask: Are there any information as to how these tablets fare when an anti-virus is running? Performance-wise and battery-wise. I would like to get one of these for my parents (they play one of those internet games requiring Active X plugins) but not without Kaspersky.

 

[bearxor]

I used trend on the 8 I had for a week. I didn't really notice any slowdown.

 

[lopri]

That's promising. Thank you, bearxor.

 

[Synomenon]

Any thoughts / feedback on the active digitizer and stylus on the Venue 8 Pro.?

 

[Ravynmagi]

Any thoughts / feedback on the active digitizer and stylus on the Venue 8 Pro.?

I don't have the pen and from what I'm reading, I may not get it.
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/dell/59296-dell-venue-8-11-pro-stylus-problems-possible-fixes.html

There are a few problems mentioned in the thread above.

When writing, lifting the pen up after finishing a letter and going to the next letter, the pen apparently will continue drawing a line between the letters.

When hovering with the pen it'll unintentionally register a click action.

Sometimes the pen touch isn't recognized by the digitizer.

There is rapid battery drain in the pen requiring replacement after only a few days.

There are complaints of poor build quality of the pen and needing to exchange it.

There was a firmware update earlier this week (I got it on mine) that some people say improved the pen and other say made it worse. And apparently that firmware update was pulled yesterday, so I'm guessing people that said it made things worse may not have been imagining things.

Sounds like a mix of driver/firmware and hardware issue right now.

 

[bearxor]

Yeah, the pen is kind of a mess right now. I wouldn't buy the Venue right now if the pen is a must have feature for you. Hopefully it will get better.

 

[vi edit]

Typing this from my Venue 8 Pro right now with a Bluetooth keyboard from my iPad. It's an interesting device. There's some things I love about it. Some things I don't. My "don'ts" are mostly a Windows 8 thing. This is actually my first experience with the OS. The snap back and forth between a desktop and the metro interface is annoying. And it's an environment that is suffering from an identity crisis. Microsoft needs to make a hardcut line in the sand and offer two *DISTINCT* OS versions. One entirely for touch based and one for traditional desktops. This half ass hybrid doesn't work on small format touchscreens. When apps shift over to the desktop to install trying to navigate folders on such a small screen is tough. Plus stuff is sort of half built into Metro and half in the old folder systems they had in Win XP/Vista/7. It's all over the place where your clicks take you.

I'm finding that apps have a real tough time figuring out if they want to go landscape or portrait. Or full screen or part screen. I'm trying to tweak Blue Stack to install Android games and having troubles with that.

Plus the camera wants to stay sideways and display a tiny little picture no matter what I do to tweak it.

They also advertise a kid mode that you can lock down kids accounts and that is a pain the ass to get setup, especially on a small touch screen, if not impossible.

On the plus side, I love the some of the apps. The sports tile has some of best "at a glance" sports info I've seen. So easy to navigate and read. Have not found a better reading experience on any other device/OS for that. The built in weather app is awesome too.

I've already got my works VPN setup and was RDP'ing into servers in the first 20 minutes of owning this. Also pulling back media player shares from my desktop in 10 minutes out of the box. Ability to snap two apps open at the same time is great too. There's just things an iPad or Android tablet just can't do as easily and natively as a tried and true windows platform.

It's very snappy for web stuff and some light gaming seems decent. For $329 it seems like an incredible value. About 40 gig of useable space out of the box and room for another 64 gig with expandable SD card. Plus full office and ability to run legacy apps? Not bad at all.

I'll keep tweaking, reading up on the user forums and seeing how others are putting them to use. I think it's a keeper.

 

[bearxor]

Surface Pro was a bust for me. Has me eliminating the Venue 11 Pro as well, just because of the size.

Now to decide between a 16GB iPad Mini or a 64GB Venue 8 Pro...

 

[vi edit]

FYI - Amazon has the 32 gig version on sale for $229 today.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00..._A7zo3_s6Q_0_0

Crazy value there. Grab a 64 gig SD card for $45 later this week and that's some potent pocket power.

Makes me somewhat regret the 64 gig version I just bought for $100 more on Friday :/

 

[ControlD]

How does this tablet handle running Windows programs that are not written with touch screens in mind? I'm trying to imagine running Minecraft for example. It is possible to use just the touch screen or do you need to connect a mouse and keyboard to actually use legacy applications?

 

[bearxor]

How does this tablet handle running Windows programs that are not written with touch screens in mind? I'm trying to imagine running Minecraft for example. It is possible to use just the touch screen or do you need to connect a mouse and keyboard to actually use legacy applications?

I'd imagine for Minecraft you'd need to connect a keyboard and mouse or a gamepad.

The touches respond pretty well in most legacy apps for clicking, but the gameplay itself wouldn't be optimized for that kind of interface.