Sep 16, 2014
You know I am a fan of Windows tablets, so this caught my eye: an up-to-date Windows 8.1 tablet, new, for a standard price of $119. This is getting into inexpensive Android tablet price territory.
http://www.winbeta.org/news/deal-toshiba-encore-mini-windows-81-tablet-available-119-microsoft-store
It’s light on RAM (1-gig) and storage, (16-gig) but it has an SD slot so storage can be increased. No pen, and resolution is low, but it does use an up-to-date Atom Bay Trail processor, so performance should be pretty good.
Productivity Tablet?
I am, however, a bit dubious on the idea of a Windows dual use tablet that is less than 10-inches. That’s because I think the primary value of a Windows tablet (compared to an iPad or Android tablet) is it’s ability to also run Windows desktop software when needed for short bursts of work, and I just think 7 inches is going to be too small for that, especially without a stylus. I discussed that a bit here. But readers with 8-inch Windows tablets replied it was doable, so I just ordered the tablet to decide for myself, and I’ll let you know what I think.
Update Sep 18, 2014: got the unit, read are my first hands-on thoughts.
All that said, the Windows Store apps should run great on a 7-inch tablet, and if that’s all you need and the apps you need are there, you’re all set. In fact, I like the Windows 8 tablet gesture navigation features much better than Android or iPad navigation tools, so this is an inexpensive way to get into a Windows tablet platform.
More Coming?
I assume this is the first of more and more inexpensive Windows tablets, something Intel promised some time ago would be coming. However, if you look at the date on that linked article, you’ll see this tablet is arriving about a year later than Intel predicted, so no way to tell what else is coming and when, so this might be the very low-cost Windows tablet to get for now.
Buy this tablet at the Microsoft Store: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Toshiba-Encore-Mini-WT7-C16MS-Signature-Edition-Tablet/productID.307250100
Michael
No pen? No good.
I have a Galaxy Note 8 and as OneNote for Android now supports handwriting, it syncs with OneNote on my Lenovo via OneDrive. Last night I cooked according to some handwritten notes I took.
My Note 8 is my notepad for meetings as well, no more scraps of paper to lose, plus I have my Note 2 with OneNote was well.
I prefer using handwritten notes for tasks, it suits me better than electronic ticking in Outlook, there’s something satisfying in drawing a line through a completed task (straight for completed, wavy for cancelled or deferred).
I cannot understand why Windows Phone devices do not yet have a stylues/pen, I used one on my Windows Mobile HP in 2004 in East Africa.
Roger, I totally agree. Given the power of script in OneNote, it’s bizarre that Microsoft/Nokia has not released a handwrting-capable phone. Michael
I have been playing with an ASUS Vivitab Note 8 tablet. This has an 8″ screen, Atom Z3740 quad-core processor (1.8Ghz), 2 Gb RAM and 64Gb SSD plus a SD slot. This runs the full Windows 8.1 and comes with a Wacom stylus. I have MS Office 365 including OneNote and Outlook plus MS Project, MS Visio and Mindjet MindManager on this and it works fine. Still playing but this seems like a really useful device to support my MS Surface Pro 2 (also using a Wacom stylus), for meetings and site visits.
Given that I have been working with Wacom stylus’s since the early Toshiba tablets, like you have, the ASUS and MS Surface are a real step in the right direction at last.
Regards
Ray
Atom SOCs have heating problems