Any such thing as a cheap x86/x64 tablet?

Gimpymoo · 28 Jun 2013 at 14:19

I personally dislike current gen tablets, mainly because of the Operating systems they come with.

I remember using tablets in the late 90s, early 2000s which were x86 and enjoyed using them. Not saying they were flawless but they sure were a very good proof of concept for years to come.

I understand that the reason why the current Android tablets are so cheap are the minimal system resources and thermal properties but surely we should be seeing cheaper x86/x64 alternatives to what we have now.

In the 2000's, we had the "Netbook", which was a step in the right direction to fulfilling a specific need, we then ended up with the current gen tablets which in my opinion are a side step, not actual progression but nobody seems to be interested in ultra portable x86/x64 anymore?

Glaucus · 28 Jun 2013 at 14:33

Yes we should, baytrail atom ones are meant to be at $300 price point when they are released, obviously running windows8, intel missed there price point they were hoping to hit $200.
When we'll see them I have no idea and that'll pre pre tax and pre uk price. Just a bit of a waiting game till the next gen atoms and haswell tablets come to market.

Plenty are interested, but I think more of us are interested at the $1000 price point, with core i5 solutions, rather than the budget atom solutions.

The current atom solutions are ~£470 and actually pretty nice, very responsive. The baytrail versions should be very nice. Baytrail is said to be twice as fast as current clover trail atoms and will feature hd4000 GPU which is very respectable.

Intel showed of a reference tablet a few weeks ago.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7038/intel-demonstrates-bay-trailt-running-windows-8-and-android-422

Oh and intel said expect tablets to ship Holliday 2013

According to Intel, Bay Trail’s capabilities include 2X the CPU and 3X the GPU performance compared to Clover Trail and very improved battery life. And of course they have also promised cheap tablets most of which should fall between $200 to $300 price range.

Rilot · 28 Jun 2013 at 15:06

The cheapest x86 tab around at the minute is the Acer ME400C (AKA Vivotab Smart) which can be had for around the £350 to £400 mark.
It's a decent little tab too. 64GB SSD, microSD, decent screen.

Martini1991 · 28 Jun 2013 at 15:15

Acer W500 if you can find one, but it's really last generation stuff. TN screen, not a great resolution, big and bulky.

Rusty! · 28 Jun 2013 at 16:32

Eh?

The W500 has the same screen res as most other 10" tablets and definitely does not use a TN panel.

Glaucus · 28 Jun 2013 at 16:43

I wouldn't touch a w500, screen res isn't even officially supported as well as being slow. They are cheap though.

You would only get frustrated and consider it a waste of money as you would upgrade. It all depends how long you can't wait. Wait till christmas and there will be far better devices at cheaper prices. If you can't wait as Rilot said that's your best choice ATM. Acer do one as well, the wifi model is good, but the 3G model has issues.

Martini1991 · 28 Jun 2013 at 18:22

Rusty! said:
Eh?

The W500 has the same screen res as most other 10" tablets and definitely does not use a TN panel.

You're obviously thinking about a different tablet.
It most certainly is TN.

Glaucus said:
I wouldn't touch a w500, screen res isn't even officially supported as well as being slow. They are cheap though.

You would only get frustrated and consider it a waste of money as you would upgrade. It all depends how long you can't wait. Wait till christmas and there will be far better devices at cheaper prices. If you can't wait as Rilot said that's your best choice ATM. Acer do one as well, the wifi model is good, but the 3G model has issues.

And that sounds like you've never used a W500 with Windows 8.
Acer W500 bar the screen is leaps and bounds better than the surface in usability and performance, it's a far sight from being slow. The C-50's were kicking the living daylights out of any Intel Atom chip until Clovertrail.

Rilot · 28 Jun 2013 at 18:39

Martini1991 said:
Acer W500 bar the screen.....

Which is probably the most important part of the tablet.
Saying that though, a used W500 for £100 (if you can find one as they seem to go for closer to £200 at the moment) is a pretty good shout for a cheap Win8 tab.

And graphics performance of the little AMD C-50 is still far in excess of the CloverTrail Atoms. They can even play some modern games on low detail. Atoms can't.

Martini1991 · 28 Jun 2013 at 18:42

I agree, in a tablet you want a good screen, but given the money we're talking? It's the cheapest X86 tablet going, and the OP's talking about liking the type of tablets back in their conception, and the W500's screen isn't that poor, it's just one of the only real parts that's inferior to that of my RT.

I remember being able to play games on my AMD C-50 (Such as Fable 1), clovertrail wouldn't stand a chance.
The UI acceleration from the HD6250 in the C-50 made the UI quite smooth, metro's certainly smoother than my Surface.