Why Windows RT tablets are failing

[Fritzo]

Best Buy actually has several Asus Windows RT tablets on display. I thought- Cool! I'll finally try one out!

Go up to first one: "Please enter your password"
Go up to second one: "Please enter your password"
Go up to third one: No power

Go up to iPad Mini: Works great. Bought one for my daughter.

Microsoft- you suck. Best Buy- you also suck. Together, you're like a black hole of suck.

 

[Geekbabe]

Best Buy actually has several Asus Windows RT tablets on display. I thought- Cool! I'll finally try one out!

Go up to first one: "Please enter your password"
Go up to second one: "Please enter your password"
Go up to third one: No power

Go up to iPad Mini: Works great. Bought one for my daughter.

Microsoft- you suck. Best Buy- you also suck. Together, you're like a black hole of suck.

I had the same experience at our local Best Buy.

 

[BrightCandle]

My local computer shop doesn't even have any. It has Windows 8 Pro upgrades on sale but not a single RT to play with.

 

[bonkers325]

Best Buy actually has several Asus Windows RT tablets on display. I thought- Cool! I'll finally try one out!

Go up to first one: "Please enter your password"
Go up to second one: "Please enter your password"
Go up to third one: No power

Go up to iPad Mini: Works great. Bought one for my daughter.

Microsoft- you suck. Best Buy- you also suck. Together, you're like a black hole of suck.

did you ask a BB employee to unlock it? often times customers (punks) will lock laptops and tablets for the hell of it.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I played with a Asus Vivotab RT at Sams Club while I was waiting in line to get my GS3 activated on black Friday and I was pleasantly surprised, I didn't expect Tegra 3 to do an acceptable job running Windows but everything including Office performed well.

That said I think the current crop of Windows RT tablets are pretty pointless compared to x86 Windows 8 tablets, they aren't much cheaper and most of the interesting designs are x86 models. Microsoft really needs to push OEMs to put out some 8.x" RT models, at that size x86 will have a harder time competing and there are a lot of us who have no interest in a bulky 10" tablet but could put a smaller, more portable Windows tablet to use.

 

[Fritzo]

did you ask a BB employee to unlock it? often times customers (punks) will lock laptops and tablets for the hell of it.

They were all busy helping old ladies understand what a touch screen on a printer does.

 

[kubani1]

did you ask a BB employee to unlock it? often times customers (punks) will lock laptops and tablets for the hell of it.

can't you require a password to make changes to an account but not require a password to log in?

also, punks could create a pin code on an ipad just as easily as creating a password for windows RT, so i doubt thats the reason.

I have experienced this with Microsoft computers everywhere i go, but never on a Mac. It is frustrating for someone who would like to try out the different hardware and software, and my experience of shop assistants is pretty piss poor, they are never around when you want them, always there when you don't and i generally know more than they do (that includes the usually over confident and annoying Mac Geniuses).

I don't want to ask a shop assistant for help, I want to try out the hardware with as little fuss as possible. my happiest shopping experience is when the shop assistants stay out of my way, but stay somewhere visible so that if i have a question, i can find them easily.

password locked computers usually mean I will just walk away, especially if a shop assistant is joking around with their colleagues or nowhere to be found.

 

[bonkers325]

can't you require a password to make changes to an account but not require a password to log in?

also, punks could create a pin code on an ipad just as easily as creating a password for windows RT, so i doubt thats the reason.

I have experienced this with Microsoft computers everywhere i go, but never on a Mac. It is frustrating for someone who would like to try out the different hardware and software, and my experience of shop assistants is pretty piss poor, they are never around when you want them, always there when you don't and i generally know more than they do (that includes the usually over confident and annoying Mac Geniuses).

I don't want to ask a shop assistant for help, I want to try out the hardware with as little fuss as possible. my happiest shopping experience is when the shop assistants stay out of my way, but stay somewhere visible so that if i have a question, i can find them easily.

password locked computers usually mean I will just walk away, especially if a shop assistant is joking around with their colleagues or nowhere to be found.

people lock iPads too. BB usually puts a password on their laptops/tablets now to prevent people from altering stuff, but when people shut off the screen the password prompt comes back up. hence, ask the BB employee to unlock it...

but i do agree, it's seriously annoying when a BB employee is just dicking around when 90% of the laptops are password locked.

 

[darkewaffle]

I don't want to ask a shop assistant for help, I want to try out the hardware with as little fuss as possible. my happiest shopping experience is when the shop assistants stay out of my way, but stay somewhere visible so that if i have a question, i can find them easily.

I guess "Can you unlock this please?" doesn't count as a question then

 

[gorcorps]

Same issue at mine, as well as other laptops though. Sometimes they all work though. You just have to get the right crew out there who will make sure all the demos are working.

 

[preslove]

Actually getting a bb employee's attention can be difficult, especially in the tablet/laptop area.

 

[bigrash]

Microsoft- you suck. Best Buy- you also suck. Together, you're like a black hole of suck.

Ain't that the truth.

 

[Belegost]

"Best Buy"

I should have stopped reading there. That place is a vacuous pit with no value at all, the employees are generally less helpful than stabbing myself in the face, the prices are higher than Lindsay Lohan, and the general atmosphere is like walking through a fetid jungle with a thousand insects buzzing around you, just perfect for pissing you off. It seems like the company goes to great lengths to make their stores as wretched as they can.

That this festering spawning ground of failure managed to push out the competition in B&M electronics sales in the US only goes to show how bad the competition was, and how too many people shop without doing any research on the products they are trying to buy.

 

[Fritzo]

can't you require a password to make changes to an account but not require a password to log in?

also, punks could create a pin code on an ipad just as easily as creating a password for windows RT, so i doubt thats the reason.

I have experienced this with Microsoft computers everywhere i go, but never on a Mac. It is frustrating for someone who would like to try out the different hardware and software, and my experience of shop assistants is pretty piss poor, they are never around when you want them, always there when you don't and i generally know more than they do (that includes the usually over confident and annoying Mac Geniuses).

I don't want to ask a shop assistant for help, I want to try out the hardware with as little fuss as possible. my happiest shopping experience is when the shop assistants stay out of my way, but stay somewhere visible so that if i have a question, i can find them easily.

password locked computers usually mean I will just walk away, especially if a shop assistant is joking around with their colleagues or nowhere to be found.

It wasn't kids- the store has a Best Buy account set up on the tablets, and you can only unlock it if an associate helps you.

 

[Bateluer]

Best Buy actually has several Asus Windows RT tablets on display. I thought- Cool! I'll finally try one out!

Go up to first one: "Please enter your password"
Go up to second one: "Please enter your password"
Go up to third one: No power

Go up to iPad Mini: Works great. Bought one for my daughter.

Microsoft- you suck. Best Buy- you also suck. Together, you're like a black hole of suck.

I brought this up several months back myself. The displays for Apple's products are always clean, brightly lit, the devices are charged, the table has no clutter, etc. Everything else is pretty much in a heap on a different table. Presentation is a powerful thing.

 

[Zink]

I think they're only selling the Vivo Tab RT with keyboard now for $600, no cheaper option. There are so few people who will pay that when they have the option of either a $400 laptop that is way faster or an iPad at $330-$400.
I agree the in store experience is very poor. One of my biggest complaints at my local Future Shop is nothing is connected to WiFi. 90% of what I want to try out on a laptop or tablet needs an internet connection and if I'm just trying out the latest gadgets there is no way I'm going to have a salesman waiting on me putting in WiFi passwords. When I tried out the Asus RT tablet, of the maybe 5 things I tried, only Office worked without giving a "no connectivity" error. Compared to a smart retailer where everything is set up for demoing with max brightness, WiFi, Facbook and games it is no wonder that other stores somehow "magically" rake in the cash.

 

[gus6464]

So basically Windows RT is failing because Best Buy sucks. Awesome logic there.

 

[Zink]

So basically Windows RT is failing because Best Buy sucks. Awesome logic there.

If people use it and like it they will buy it.
Using Win RT at BB is not likable.
They will not buy it.

If no one buys it it will fail.
They will not buy it.
Win RT will fail.

There aren't too many other places that allow you to hands on demo new products. People order laptops all the time without seeing them in person because they know what their getting. Windows RT is a wild card that people need to understand before they throw $600 at Asus and hope they like it.

 

[Rvenger]

Actually everyone mixed the MS tablets in between the android tablets and the cheap ereaders and the IPad gets it's own display in a different section. I played with an Asus Windows RT tablet yesterday and I really like it.. I just had a hard time locating a windows tablet in 20 other generic tablets around it.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

i noticed the same thing at best buy. they were either locked, frozen or not connected to the web (and no one knew how to connect it). i would really like to see how web surfing on win8 ft compares to android/ipad but even a month later, its still not possible. 9 and 10 inch android tablets are now about $300 (i noticed office dept selling asus quad cores for that), so at $500, windows tablets arent going to sell

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Actually everyone mixed the MS tablets in between the android tablets and the cheap ereaders and the IPad gets it's own display in a different section. I played with an Asus Windows RT tablet yesterday and I really like it.. I just had a hard time locating a windows tablet in 20 other generic tablets around it.

the best way to tell a windows tablet is the $599 price tag

 

[KentState]

I know I will probably get slammed for saying this, but the MS Store experience is so much better and it's a shame that it doesn't roll down to the big box retailers. The problem is that Apple controls all products and their distribution so it's easy to keep the appearance up at a Best Buy. On the other hand, MS is working mainly with OEMs and are once or twice removed.

 

[Genx87]

I'd think the price tag is why they arent selling.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Yeah, the Asus Tablets that I tried at BB weren't terribly impressive...and that's if they weren't already locked with the picture lock that everyone wants to play with.

The lenovo convertible was slick though. Kinda big at 13", and weird with the keyboard folding back behind the screen (keys and touchpad disabled in that position). But the screen was beautiful, and everything was super responsive and fluid. Gives me hope for the Surface Pro.

 

[podspi]

Almost want to pick up the Asus VivoTab... but I'm afraid the keyboard is too cramped...

Otherwise it is a cheap netbook w/ 16 hour battery life. Very useful in traveling situations.