Acer Iconia W3: The first 8-inch Windows 8 Pro tablet Microsoft has been hinting at smaller tablets running full Windows 8 for months, and with the arrival of the Iconia W3, an 8.1-inch Windows 8 fondleslab from Acer, we finally have a taste of what those look like. Unfortunately, the result is a mixed bag. Acer Iconia W3 tablet running Windows 8 The tiny Acer Iconia W3, shown …
* Crap display. Not only is it 1280x800 (the same resolution as the phone I got nearly 2 years ago), but it's not even a nice 1280x800 panel (if El Reg disses it like that, it's gotta suck, considering what they let acer get away with on laptops).
* No micro USB charging connector. Seriously? This is a tablet, with finite battery life. If you use a non-standard charger, I have to carry that with me everywhere I go. With microusb, I can count on there being a compatible charger most places, and even if I need to bring my own, it would handle all my devices. IMO, to be fair when comparing tablets, you need to add the weight and size of any custom chargers to the quoted weight and size specs.
* Micro SD capped at 32gb. God, I hope that's just an oversight in the specs; they're available in 64GB already, and I'd expect another 2:1 increase within the replacement cycle for a new Windows device.
* The OS takes up 30gb of storage on a device with as little as 32.
* Full version of Windows 8 crammed into 2gb of ram, so you can't really do anything with it.
The core problem here is that they want windows 8 pro running on an 8 inch tablet - which is a really tall order with current technology. But they're acer, so they aren't using current technology. As usual, they cheaped out and cut corners until they produced a product nobody will want to use. Chuck it in the bin with the rest of Acer's sub-par product line.
Quite a few Android tablets do not have a USB charger either. Neither Note10.1 nor A500 had. The default 500mA a "standard charger" delivers is likely not enough anyway so you have to carry the right charger. Same for the Note2, that has USB but only the Samsung charger gives a good loading speed
Win8 and 2GB works for what you will do with an Atom class CPU. Same as a netbook and from experience with a Lenovo S10-3 that is enough for MS-Office.
The 32GB SSD is a joke sure. But the 30GB include a recovery partition that you can drop so the 64GB unit has useable amounts of storage.
Washed-out grainy screen, unimpressive battery life, tragically underpowered processor, laughable amount of free space*, unusable touch interface in desktop mode, overpriced compared to the Nexus 7, flimsy case construction and keyboard, nonstandard charger, comes with bloatware preinstalled... yeah. I think I'll pass.
"Overall, the Acer Iconia W3 is a respectable little machine"
No it isn't. It's a bad tablet, and Acer should feel bad. :V
* 30 gig used up on a 'recovery' partition and OS? Seriously Microsoft? What the fuck are you smoking?
One bloke on cnet.com wanted to argue with me on the popularity of Windows 8 Touchscreen Ultrabooks, claiming that they aren't selling well because manufacturers can't keep up with demand. Whatever he was drinking must' have been better than what the management at Microsoft is drinking because he's deluding himself. I've yet to encounter anyone who has an RT or Surface Tablet. Most that I know have iPads, iPad mini's or an Android Tablet. But this low end cheap feeling thing? Likely to be returned once disappointment sets in.
It was only recently they decided to let OEMs produce a few small-screen variants. Funny thing is that Windows CE worked on smaller displays than Windows 8 … yet they can't get the Windows 8 UI to work on a smaller screen? How long before we see a Windows Phablet?
The more I read about Windows 8, the more I see Microsoft management singing If you leave me, can I come too?.
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