Windows 8 Multitouch Tablet w/128GB SSD from eBay for $350

[yhelothar]

I just set one up with a Dell Latitude XT2 with 4 points touch, 5GB DDR3, Pressure sensitive stylus(Great for drawing or taking notes), 128GB Crucial C300 SSD 1.8", new 6-cell battery for $350 off of ebay.

It was a bit of a pain in the ass to get all the drivers set up since XT2 doesn't officially support windows 8. This included installing windows 7 on an external esata drive just to get the digitizer firmware installed so multitouch would work. But after a lot of frustration, it finally came together and I have an awesome full featured multitouch tablet for less than your average netbook powered 10.6".

Mine runs matlab, plays source games at med settings, and just about anything else you can run on the desktop.

CONS
The battery life isn't stellar on this, at about 3.5hrs, but I was able to squeeze out an extra 30minutes by undervolting the CPU. Also it comes with a TN screen, which sucks on a tablet. But on the plus side, the brightness is much superior to the X41T and X61T thinkpad tablets I've used.

Additionally, the pointing stick on the Dell is atrocious. The max sensitivity isn't very sensitive at all, and the buttons are small and recessed. There's no middle scroll button like there is on the thinkpad. And the rubber nub cap selection is horrible as well.
It also doesn't help that the trackpad is tiny and doesn't support multitouch.

Overall, I'm very satisfied with this as a note taking machine. When I need the supreme quad core power, I can remote desktop back home.

Parts list:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/300845195420?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
http://www.ebay.com/itm/110782377450?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281034089409?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
http://www.ebay.com/itm/261135049866?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271141405405?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
http://www.ebay.com/itm/270710706148?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

In retrospect, I should've just bought a complete set with the 128GB SSD on ebay. It ended costing the same buying the parts separately.

 

[cnjmorris]

Am I missing the link to how much you paid for Windows 8? Most of the ones I saw on Ebay do not come with it installed.

 

[TheStu]

Am I missing the link to how much you paid for Windows 8? Most of the ones I saw on Ebay do not come with it installed.

He probably picked it up for $40 when they were running the sale. But that's over now.

 

[yhelothar]

I paid a mandatory $75 computing access fee for my university. That gave me a Microsoft Dreamspark account that gives me access to a wide variety of their software.