Windows 8 Review
So, I finally bought my Win8 tablet. It wasn't the one I originally thought I would go for, but after reviewing how I use my laptop, I decided that most of the things I would want more power for, I don't typically use except when I'm at a desk already. In fact, despite having a Core I-3 processor, and a strong enough video card to play the games I tend to play... when I had the laptop on my lap... I really only surfed the web.
Also, reviews of the early Core I-Series based tablets complained about heat and battery life. Those aren't big enough points on their own to drive me away. But who wouldn't want a device that runs cooler and lasts longer? Ultimately, I decided that I probably could live with ARM (post purchase I no longer agree, but more on that later) but I would probably often find the lack of x86 support annoying enough that I might replace the tablet in a few months. Also, the price difference between some of the ARM based tablets and some of the Clovertrail based tablets was negligible. So I went with the W510.
This will basically be both a review of the OS and the tablet itself as this is the first Windows 8 device I've owned which is touch centric and lends itself more to the next gen UI and apps. I've used Windows 8 extensively already, but up until now, only on non-touch, Windows 7 era hardware. And I was actually quite surprised to find out how different the experience is even though I'm on an x86 tablet.
All-in-all, a few days in I can say I'm more or less happy with the device purchase, neither the device nor the OS are perfect. But for what I wanted it is easily a better fit than an Android or iOS tablet and for most applications it is more practical than my laptop. On the hardware side of things, I got the version which included the dock. I really only did this because they didn't have any without the dock in stock. But ultimately I'm happy with the dock. The extra battery life is fantastic, and I've even used it simply as a stand which consequently recharges my battery. The keyboard and touchpad functionality on the other hard suck. The keyboard keys don't always register my key presses and I'm quite the "enthusiastic" typist. But more than that, it is VERY finicky. Not sure if it is just my unit, but while the charging always seems to work while in the dock, the keyboard and mouse functionality basically require that the tablet be resting backwards into the dock. If it is leaning forward even a bit they will either register nothing at all, or the mouse will freak when used. I think I would give the dock a 6 or a 7 out of 10 over all. While it may fail as a keyboard, the extra battery life, the ability to use it as a stand, and use of it as a keyboard while on a desk still make a compelling argument. Also, folding it all the way down it also serves to protect the screen. The other reason I like the dock is that the tablet alone doesn't get anywhere near the 8-9 hours battery life advertised. It is closer to 6 hours in my testing. But coupled with the dock I get 12-14 hours which is incredible. Battery situation might get better over time... who knows.
Tablet performance is a mixed bag. Easily beat my expectations though. I've had experience with netbook processors. And this is not only a netbook class processor but a fan less one and it handily beats my wife's Atom netbook processor. It even handles tasks I had written it off as being unable to handle. There is a bottleneck somewhere however, and download speeds seem slower than they have any right to be and I don't think Windows Updates ever installed so slowly. In fact, all of the cases where the tablet has been slow make no sense at all. This is a modern device running on an SSD, downloads and patches should be among the things it does quickest. Perhaps a driver issue that will improve in time.
And now, Windows 8 on touch. Firstly, I like the OS. I've raved about it in the past. My opinion of the operating system is still fundamentally good. But what follows will be the fundamentally bad aspects of the OS I've encountered since buying the device.
First... apps. I never expected the Windows Store to have more apps than Android or iOS. In fact, I'm not really a fan of the numbers at all. I often try to dispel myths surrounding the state of the Windows Phone Store. Numbers simply don't tell the whole story. In fact, by the time Windows Phone had the number of apps the Windows Store currently does, I was able to find all of the sorts of apps I could want with only the very rarest of omissions (and typically then, only when I was looking for a specific feature that was only in a "brand" name app from another platform).
And this is why I'm glad I didn't go with an ARM tablet because there are gaps in app availability that will blow your mind. It isn't simply the lack of big name apps, as long as there are alternatives that has always been a weak argument to me. What is troubling is that in many cases there aren't even cheap knock offs. I don't know how Microsoft failed to get developer interest on this scale. Even the Windows Phone situation is better. If Microsoft doesn't make Windows 8 capable of playing Windows Phone games/apps I think the new UI is dead in the water. The OS has been out for over a month, and the SDK for ages. This is simply tragic. Even the games section where they have the highest number is missing things like tower defence games, all sorts of arcade games, RPG's, those silly Mafia Wars like games. Honestly... I don't get it. I mean, I can understand if the big name development companies feel their efforts are better spent developing for other platforms, but where are the knock-offs? This is PRIME time for knock off apps to actually make money. Once the big name versions of the apps come in, they will steal the limelight. But in the meantime indie developers could actually be making money simply ripping off bigger name titles from other platforms. It is perhaps the most ethical and definitely not the most innovative way to develop. But there is a gap that needs filling, and people could stand to make some serious money. If you're stuck on the ARM version, your only lifeline for apps is the Windows Store. Trust me when I say that there is money to be made here.
Next complaint is the way this OS treats storage. I went out and bought a 32 gig MicroSD card. Tried to add a folder to Music library on the card... and it rejects it. Can't use drives with removable storage for your libraries. WTF?!?! I bought a tablet with a 64GB drive, of which less than 30 was actually free once everything was up and running. For a touch first OS, you would think they would be more considerate of drive constraints and the need to expand via external memory devices. Especially for large things like media. For F***'s sake, Xbox music will gladly pull music from the cloud which is arguably less physically attached to my tablet than the SD card I would need a point object just to eject it from the holder. I know I don't 'need' to make it part of my Music library, except that those libraries can be made available by default to metro style apps, whereas other folders can't. Again, I happen to be on x86 and can load up other apps to play and manage my music... but the tablet spends more time out of the dock than in it, so touch friendly metro apps are what I want my experience optimized for.
And final major nit is the desktop. I'm surprised at how little Microsoft did in that layer. Even core MS apps for instance don't automatically pull up the on screen keyboard when you enter a text field. I live in Metro IE these days as a result and only jump into desktop IE when I absolutely need too.
Before I end this, I will praise the hardware some more. I said I tried a few things I hadn't expected this laptop to even handle. The first was, I installed steam, looked for the game I felt had some of the lowest requiments, in this case Mount and Blade... fired it up. And it actually ran, and smoothly. All settings were on low... but I simply hadn't expected it to be able to handle ANY sort of x86 gaming, especially not a 3D one. I may try out some others... but reality quickly set in that these games aren't touch optimized. And another MS fault is that there is no way to even trigger the on screen keyboard from these full screen games (though it would be liable to cover something important anyway), which in the end means you would be at a desk with the dock if you were playing x86 games, at which point you might as well just have a proper desktop for the gaming.
Also, it runs Visual Studio 2012 Express... and fairly smoothly. I was actually surprised by the fact that while it was installing I was able to play jetpack joyride in the background with almost no visible impact to performance. Once it was all setup I was able to pull down my project from Team Foundation Service and run it on this machine.
So, in summation on W510. Great as a tablet. Just make sure that if you are a power user that you don't intend this as a primary computing device. If you need to do intensive tasks on the go a proper laptop is still better, despite how much better than past Atom processors... it is still an Atom processor. I think most mainstream users would be perfectly happy with a device like this. I think most other users could use this as their primary portable device and then have a desktop for the rest.
Well, maybe I'll find myself interested in game development for Windows 8 given that Windows Phone 8 doesn't seem to want me.
Also, reviews of the early Core I-Series based tablets complained about heat and battery life. Those aren't big enough points on their own to drive me away. But who wouldn't want a device that runs cooler and lasts longer? Ultimately, I decided that I probably could live with ARM (post purchase I no longer agree, but more on that later) but I would probably often find the lack of x86 support annoying enough that I might replace the tablet in a few months. Also, the price difference between some of the ARM based tablets and some of the Clovertrail based tablets was negligible. So I went with the W510.
This will basically be both a review of the OS and the tablet itself as this is the first Windows 8 device I've owned which is touch centric and lends itself more to the next gen UI and apps. I've used Windows 8 extensively already, but up until now, only on non-touch, Windows 7 era hardware. And I was actually quite surprised to find out how different the experience is even though I'm on an x86 tablet.
All-in-all, a few days in I can say I'm more or less happy with the device purchase, neither the device nor the OS are perfect. But for what I wanted it is easily a better fit than an Android or iOS tablet and for most applications it is more practical than my laptop. On the hardware side of things, I got the version which included the dock. I really only did this because they didn't have any without the dock in stock. But ultimately I'm happy with the dock. The extra battery life is fantastic, and I've even used it simply as a stand which consequently recharges my battery. The keyboard and touchpad functionality on the other hard suck. The keyboard keys don't always register my key presses and I'm quite the "enthusiastic" typist. But more than that, it is VERY finicky. Not sure if it is just my unit, but while the charging always seems to work while in the dock, the keyboard and mouse functionality basically require that the tablet be resting backwards into the dock. If it is leaning forward even a bit they will either register nothing at all, or the mouse will freak when used. I think I would give the dock a 6 or a 7 out of 10 over all. While it may fail as a keyboard, the extra battery life, the ability to use it as a stand, and use of it as a keyboard while on a desk still make a compelling argument. Also, folding it all the way down it also serves to protect the screen. The other reason I like the dock is that the tablet alone doesn't get anywhere near the 8-9 hours battery life advertised. It is closer to 6 hours in my testing. But coupled with the dock I get 12-14 hours which is incredible. Battery situation might get better over time... who knows.
Tablet performance is a mixed bag. Easily beat my expectations though. I've had experience with netbook processors. And this is not only a netbook class processor but a fan less one and it handily beats my wife's Atom netbook processor. It even handles tasks I had written it off as being unable to handle. There is a bottleneck somewhere however, and download speeds seem slower than they have any right to be and I don't think Windows Updates ever installed so slowly. In fact, all of the cases where the tablet has been slow make no sense at all. This is a modern device running on an SSD, downloads and patches should be among the things it does quickest. Perhaps a driver issue that will improve in time.
And now, Windows 8 on touch. Firstly, I like the OS. I've raved about it in the past. My opinion of the operating system is still fundamentally good. But what follows will be the fundamentally bad aspects of the OS I've encountered since buying the device.
First... apps. I never expected the Windows Store to have more apps than Android or iOS. In fact, I'm not really a fan of the numbers at all. I often try to dispel myths surrounding the state of the Windows Phone Store. Numbers simply don't tell the whole story. In fact, by the time Windows Phone had the number of apps the Windows Store currently does, I was able to find all of the sorts of apps I could want with only the very rarest of omissions (and typically then, only when I was looking for a specific feature that was only in a "brand" name app from another platform).
And this is why I'm glad I didn't go with an ARM tablet because there are gaps in app availability that will blow your mind. It isn't simply the lack of big name apps, as long as there are alternatives that has always been a weak argument to me. What is troubling is that in many cases there aren't even cheap knock offs. I don't know how Microsoft failed to get developer interest on this scale. Even the Windows Phone situation is better. If Microsoft doesn't make Windows 8 capable of playing Windows Phone games/apps I think the new UI is dead in the water. The OS has been out for over a month, and the SDK for ages. This is simply tragic. Even the games section where they have the highest number is missing things like tower defence games, all sorts of arcade games, RPG's, those silly Mafia Wars like games. Honestly... I don't get it. I mean, I can understand if the big name development companies feel their efforts are better spent developing for other platforms, but where are the knock-offs? This is PRIME time for knock off apps to actually make money. Once the big name versions of the apps come in, they will steal the limelight. But in the meantime indie developers could actually be making money simply ripping off bigger name titles from other platforms. It is perhaps the most ethical and definitely not the most innovative way to develop. But there is a gap that needs filling, and people could stand to make some serious money. If you're stuck on the ARM version, your only lifeline for apps is the Windows Store. Trust me when I say that there is money to be made here.
Next complaint is the way this OS treats storage. I went out and bought a 32 gig MicroSD card. Tried to add a folder to Music library on the card... and it rejects it. Can't use drives with removable storage for your libraries. WTF?!?! I bought a tablet with a 64GB drive, of which less than 30 was actually free once everything was up and running. For a touch first OS, you would think they would be more considerate of drive constraints and the need to expand via external memory devices. Especially for large things like media. For F***'s sake, Xbox music will gladly pull music from the cloud which is arguably less physically attached to my tablet than the SD card I would need a point object just to eject it from the holder. I know I don't 'need' to make it part of my Music library, except that those libraries can be made available by default to metro style apps, whereas other folders can't. Again, I happen to be on x86 and can load up other apps to play and manage my music... but the tablet spends more time out of the dock than in it, so touch friendly metro apps are what I want my experience optimized for.
And final major nit is the desktop. I'm surprised at how little Microsoft did in that layer. Even core MS apps for instance don't automatically pull up the on screen keyboard when you enter a text field. I live in Metro IE these days as a result and only jump into desktop IE when I absolutely need too.
Before I end this, I will praise the hardware some more. I said I tried a few things I hadn't expected this laptop to even handle. The first was, I installed steam, looked for the game I felt had some of the lowest requiments, in this case Mount and Blade... fired it up. And it actually ran, and smoothly. All settings were on low... but I simply hadn't expected it to be able to handle ANY sort of x86 gaming, especially not a 3D one. I may try out some others... but reality quickly set in that these games aren't touch optimized. And another MS fault is that there is no way to even trigger the on screen keyboard from these full screen games (though it would be liable to cover something important anyway), which in the end means you would be at a desk with the dock if you were playing x86 games, at which point you might as well just have a proper desktop for the gaming.
Also, it runs Visual Studio 2012 Express... and fairly smoothly. I was actually surprised by the fact that while it was installing I was able to play jetpack joyride in the background with almost no visible impact to performance. Once it was all setup I was able to pull down my project from Team Foundation Service and run it on this machine.
So, in summation on W510. Great as a tablet. Just make sure that if you are a power user that you don't intend this as a primary computing device. If you need to do intensive tasks on the go a proper laptop is still better, despite how much better than past Atom processors... it is still an Atom processor. I think most mainstream users would be perfectly happy with a device like this. I think most other users could use this as their primary portable device and then have a desktop for the rest.
Well, maybe I'll find myself interested in game development for Windows 8 given that Windows Phone 8 doesn't seem to want me.
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