School me on 8" full windows tablets

[preslove]

So, I've been noticing all these deals for ~$170 for refurbed full windows 8 8" tablets and am thinking of picking one up.

So, who here has experience with them? I'm looking at the Venue 8 and the Miix 2. What about the other ones?

 

[dougp]

I have a Venue 8 64GB - I'm only partially sold on it. The stylus input sucks (yes, even with the new one) and not being able to charge + use a USB device REALLY blows (yes, you can make your own adapter but it's like 3-4 cable piece meal). I'm not sure on the Miix 2, I haven't heard great things about it either.

Basically, you get what you pay for.

 

[desura]

I have a Venue 8 Pro 32gb and I like it a lot.

Good battery life, good screen, pretty fast. IIRC the bay trail atom is about as fast if not faster than the Apple A7. You also get full windows desktop so if you want to run custom software or run flash video.

The stylus I find is pretty good. I have the new one that sells for $30 from MS. It is pretty accurate.

Only downsides that they don't tell you...

8 inch screen means text is a little small generally.

In IE Metro especially there are numerous misread touches. This means that you'll be reading something on the web and it will zoom when you do not want it to. I have upgraded to the most recent drivers and stuff, still a problem. Chrome fares much better for some reason, but text is too small also.

Dell does not have an integrated driver update system. So to update drivers you have to go to the Dell website and download them one by one.

32gb really isn't enough space. I installed maybe 10 programs, nothing serious, and I"m already running low on space, as in I get warnings from the OS that I have less than 1gb left. I installed stuff like openoffice, VLC, and chrome, no big games or anything. It can't have been more than 4-5gb.

 

[preslove]

I was thinking about getting a 32 gb one and then just adding a microsd card. What about firefox?

Is there a cheap/small windows RT MS office app?

Anyone have a non-dell 8" inch baytrail tablet?

 

[desura]

yes, SD card is an option, but IIRC even the fastest class 10 SD cards aren't as fast as native memory. Something like 10mb/sec vs 30mb/sec, though correct me if I'm wrong.

MS Office 2013 isn't really anything special, and is expensive.

I'm still waiting for a metro-native version of it to come out which should be within a year.

I like Ableword for windows 8. It has good touchscreen support for scrolling and is free. Openoffice wasn't anything special and it took up a lot of space which was a problem.

Dell had a killer price which is why I picked it up. Otherwise I'm not a big fan of Dell computers.

 

[Super56K]

IMO it's the worst of both worlds with a difficult to use desktop side (with minimal utility on an 8" screen) and a lackluster touch-first consumption side.

 

[North01]

The ASUS VivoTab Note 8 (M80T) might be a good option. Unlike the Dell, the M80T includes a Wacom active digitizer. The stylus can be tucked away inside of the tablet when not in use.

I find that a proper stylus is essential to best utilize an 8" tablet's features, particularly desktop applications. For that reason, if I was to purchase an 8" tablet, this would be my first choice.

 

[IntelUser2000]

Is there a cheap/small windows RT MS office app?

What do you mean? The under 10 inch Windows Tablets(whether Full or RT) all come with MS Office by default...

 

[preslove]

The ASUS VivoTab Note 8 (M80T) might be a good option. Unlike the Dell, the M80T includes a Wacom active digitizer. The stylus can be tucked away inside of the tablet when not in use.

I find that a proper stylus is essential to best utilize an 8" tablet's features, particularly desktop applications. For that reason, if I was to purchase an 8" tablet, this would be my first choice.

Haven't seen any deals on these

What do you mean? The under 10 inch Windows Tablets(whether Full or RT) all come with MS Office by default...

Really? Sweet!

 

[desura]

What do you mean? The under 10 inch Windows Tablets(whether Full or RT) all come with MS Office by default...

Mine didn't.

RT includes full office by default.

But others do not. They only include a 1 month trial. And then they expect you to pay like $100/yr to have access to Microsoft Office.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Dell Venue 8 Pro is a really nice tablet. One of the winning points for me is how nice it feels to hold this tablet. It's got a great rubberized feeling texture on the back, no logos on the front. It's not too bulky or heavy for an 8 inch Atom tablet.

I'd take a pass on the optional pen. I bought one, writing with it is horrible and I really don't need it for anything else (8 inch 1366x768 desktop is easily usable with touch input).

My Dell Venue 8 Pro did come with a version of Office 2013, I think Student/Home edition, it did not include Outlook (which is what I need the most really).

Might be seeing a lot of used 8 inch tablets on eBay soon depending on what Microsoft announces tomorrow.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

For about two months I kept reading all the reviews for the 8-inch tablets currently on the market (the Dell Venue 8 Pro, the Lenovo Miix, the Asus VivoTab, the Toshiba and the Acer W3/W4).

I ended up getting the W4, because it has HDMI, and I found a great deal on a 64 GB model PLUS a 64 GB microSD card. For CAD300 after taxes, I love it!

 

[ControlD]

Mine didn't.

RT includes full office by default.

But others do not. They only include a 1 month trial. And then they expect you to pay like $100/yr to have access to Microsoft Office.

Did you get a refurbished or second-hand unit? My VP8 came with a license for Office in the box.

I have been using my VP8 for a couple of months now and I like it way better than either our iPad or Note 10.1 tablets. Using Touchmousepointer makes the classic desktop dead easy to use, and the Metro side works fine from the start. App selection isn't overwhelming for the platform, but the big ones are there (Kindle, Netflix, etc.) so I haven't felt anything is really lacking.

Having a full desktop OS is great though. I don't need to buy mobile versions of programs I already own. I can run Steam on it (works fine for basic games). I can run the full version of VLC and play movies from USB connected storage. The list goes on.

 

[destrekor]

Did you get a refurbished or second-hand unit? My VP8 came with a license for Office in the box.

I have been using my VP8 for a couple of months now and I like it way better than either our iPad or Note 10.1 tablets. Using Touchmousepointer makes the classic desktop dead easy to use, and the Metro side works fine from the start. App selection isn't overwhelming for the platform, but the big ones are there (Kindle, Netflix, etc.) so I haven't felt anything is really lacking.

Having a full desktop OS is great though. I don't need to buy mobile versions of programs I already own. I can run Steam on it (works fine for basic games). I can run the full version of VLC and play movies from USB connected storage. The list goes on.

I think that depends on the OEM - it's not guaranteed for the full Windows devices. It is bundled with the RT devices, however. Technically, it's also a special Office 2013 RT or whatever, and not a true full Office license.

The Surface Pro line does not include Office, and I suspect many other Windows/Windows Pro devices do not automatically include the license.

 

[ControlD]

I think that depends on the OEM - it's not guaranteed for the full Windows devices. It is bundled with the RT devices, however. Technically, it's also a special Office 2013 RT or whatever, and not a true full Office license.

The Surface Pro line does not include Office, and I suspect many other Windows/Windows Pro devices do not automatically include the license.

Yep, I agree with that.

I was just curious why desura didn't get a copy with his VP8 when it was part of the package all along. I believe I heard some people getting refurbs that didn't include the Office license however.

 

[preslove]

Yep, I agree with that.

I was just curious why desura didn't get a copy with his VP8 when it was part of the package all along. I believe I heard some people getting refurbs that didn't include the Office license however.

I don't think he ever said he got the VP8.

I think I'll get one next month, after my payday. I'll wait for it to hit ~$150.

You got the full license, and not just a temp demo?

 

[ControlD]

I don't think he ever said he got the VP8.

I think I'll get one next month, after my payday. I'll wait for it to hit ~$150.

You got the full license, and not just a temp demo?

He said it up in post #3.

I got a full licence which is part is what got me to bite in the first place. I thought that most, if not all, of the 8" Windows 8.1 tablets came with the Office license. I imagine MS gave some good pricing to the OEMs to try and get the 8" market going. On the other hand, it seems like most of the 10"+ tablets did not come with the license.

I was only asking because I almost bought a refurb unit when I was shopping around but it clearly stated that the Office license was not included. I think I paid something like $220 from the MS store for mine though. If I saw one for $150 it would be a no brainer.

 

[preslove]

$150 is for the refurb :/

 

[ControlD]

$150 is for the refurb :/

Yep, but for that price I think I could live with Libre Office if I needed such a suite

 

[IntelUser2000]

The Surface Pro line does not include Office, and I suspect many other Windows/Windows Pro devices do not automatically include the license.

I think for RT that is true regardless of size, but for full Windows Tablets it has to be under 10-inches and the Surface Pro does not meet that requirement.

The cost of OS+Office is said to be $30, which is going to be changed to OS+Office 365 1 year, but at $0.

 

[ElFenix]

i got a returned DVP8 from microcenter and it had the office license. put that on my desktop.

the DV8P has unused USB pads active inside the tablet. if you're good with a soldering iron you can solder in a USB drive. hopefully it'd be a bit more reliable than the uSD card (mine sometimes loses the uSD card). they also tend to benchmark faster (though not faster than the eMMC).

the main issue with it is that it doesn't both charge and do USB OTG at the same time unless you hack together a USB hub with a switch.

use with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse has been ok.

 

[Roland00Address]

They are sold out now, but they for a moment had refurbished Lenovo Miix 2 8, the z3740 quad core 32gb storage, 2gb ram for $137.44+Tax. At the time they had over 500 units in stock.

 

[desura]

on my old rt i only really used word anyways.

wordpad on windows 8 is actually quite good, more than enough.