Linx 10.1 inch Windows 8 Tablet - Any good?

[Jupiter]

So I have found myself needing a budget windows 8 tablet, and when I say budget, I mean budget.

I quickly stumbled across the 'Linx' tablet range, Linx being a company based in the UK. They are offering 7",8" and 10" W8 tablets, and the 10" one seems to be the only available with a keyboard addition. The cost seems to range from £80 to £160 for the 7" to the 10".

I'm posting here to see if anyone has one, or if anyone can provide any information about how good they actually are.

As far as I can see:
Pros: Low price (mainly), IPS display, SD card slot, reviews on rainforest are generally very good

Cons: Res of 1280x800 for all sizes (Since I would need the 10" one this is a big con), also - unsure of Linx's warranty and customer service etc.


What do you think?

 

[Super Tigers]

I have ordered a Linx 7 for £59 from a black Friday sale, they look incredible bang for buck. My wife has a Acer Iconia W4-820, that cost over £200 and the spec of the Linx is very similar for a quarter the price.
If you expect Apple build quality then you maybe disappointed, but they look excellent for a low cost tablet.

 

[Gazb]

I just got myself a Linx 8" tablet a couple of days ago to see how good it is when traveling about a bit and I find my nexus 7 isn't letting me do something I need to do, but I don't have a laptop for (my laptop is a 17" Razer Blade so isn't the most portable of things and it's currently got a broken lcd ribbon cable so it's not that useful atm other than as a desktop pc).

Anyhow, so far the tablet is pretty good. The resolution is actually find for windows as windows doesn't scale that well, but it's easily readable. I do think that microsoft needs to refine a lot of the touch features though but that's an OS thing rather than a tablet hardware thing.

My only issue I'm having with the tablet hardware itself is the 1GB of RAM. I'm finding I'm over 90% memory usesage almost all the time I'm using the tablet, and I'm not trying to do anything strenuous.

 

[Jupiter]

My only issue I'm having with the tablet hardware itself is the 1GB of RAM. I'm finding I'm over 90% memory usesage almost all the time I'm using the tablet, and I'm not trying to do anything strenuous.

That's interesting, does the RAM usage actually affect the performance when its at >90% or is it still relatively OK?

 

[Gazb]

That's interesting, does the RAM usage actually affect the performance when its at >90% or is it still relatively OK?

It's still relatively ok surprisingly, YouTube videos can drop some frames though but not all the time.
Metro IE actually performs well when it comes to video playback. Chrome and Firefox are good too though I see Chrome still seems to eat ram which is an issue when you have limited ram like here.

I reckon there is some memory to be freed up if I tweak things in windows, I've just been spoilt with computers that have had at least 4-8GB of ram for so long I haven't had to tweak windows for minimal memory usage in a long time.

 

[Rroff]

Bare in mind that for Windows usage 1280x800 is kind of necessary on the <10" models for realistic touchscreen use (Windows UI scaling is generally too poor to make use of a higher res to make text look nicer, etc. like Android and IOS does). Bit poor on 10" where you could get away with higher res but still pretty usable.

The core hardware itself (SoC/mainboard) AFAIK is pretty much identical to the equivalent Toshiba tablets and seems about the same quality, 1GB RAM is a bit of a let down on the 7/8" models though, Windows 8 just about copes with it but you will have to be a bit careful with your OS environment if you want things to keep running smoothly.

The screens themselves while being "IPS" are merely functional, very very average with slightly under saturated colours - better than you'd expect for the price but aren't going to win any awards.

The chassis itself is a cheaper version of that on the equivalent Dells, Toshibas, etc. but then you aren't going to get that level of quality for the price, however they aren't "cheap cheap", but they are very much run of the mill molded plastic and slightly loose and rattly around things like buttons, etc. which pretty much comes as standard with that type of construction but it doesn't look or feel especially cheap to hold.

The battery life is also a bit overstated - Dell/Toshiba 8" models get ~9 hours of mixed use whereas the Linx managed 6-7 hours and the 7" 4-5 hours and also run down about 4-5x faster when supposedly in standby (not sure if there is a bug there or just the quality of the cells).

Having full windows to hand (literally) with a fairly powerful SoC is really useful though and as long as you don't expect to much they are still a lot better than you'd expect to get for the price.


EDIT: One thing to watch out for - I've heard anecdotally that new stock under the same SKUs are basically a cheaper substitute of current stock and not worth the money but not seen evidence of that for myself.

EDIT2: One thing I'd say is if you can get the Toshiba Encore i.e. WT8-A, etc. with the Z3740 and 2GB of RAM (Avoid the new "2" model as its a lower spec than the original with less RAM... nice one Toshiba ) or the Dell equivalent you get a whole lot more for your money and they can be found relatively cheap now - the Toshiba can still sometimes be found sub £170 with a full version of Office included.

 

[nightmare99]

The 10" model has 2GB Ram I believe, very similar performance wise to ASUS T100.

 

[Rroff]

Did some quick testing with the models I have access to - most of the Windows tablets draw ~60mA average when in sleep mode (over the time I was testing - it might be lower average over a longer period) the Linx ones for some reason average 200mA under the same conditions - not sure why. I notice a few of the more advanced power options are missing so might be lack of feature support to fully put the hardware to sleep or default settings for wifi power management are bad or something.

 

[Gazb]

I reckon this Linx 8 will probably do me ok until we see the next batch of Windows tablets come in the new year which will probably have a broadwell core m in it rather than an atom chip.

Don't care about or want a 1080p screen at this size either.
Actually if Microsoft would make an 8" surface with a broadwell chip I'd probably go for that.

 

[Super Tigers]

I am pleasantly surprised about the Linx 7, I though it was going to be a poorly built,clunky tablet but the build and design of the Linx 7 has impressed me. Maybe not upto Apple standards but it is 1/4 of the price. The screen isn't too bad, there is light bleed along the bottom edge but I can live with that.

Setup was straightforward, Windows updates went on fine, Office 365 activated with the minimum of fuss, synchronised with my NAS and now I can stream HD at 720P very smoothly over my wifi network.

I just need a cheap case for it now, for £59 inc postage it represents impressive value for money, and those little Atom quad cores cpus are pretty decent but I wish it did have 2 gigs of ram though.

 

[Rroff]

I think thats IPS glow rather than backlight bleed.

 

[Guru]

I've purchased my son the 8" version for Christmas after a lot of colleagues at work bought the 7" version for themselves.

I couldn't understand why you wouldn't pay the extra £20 to get the 8 over the 7.

I have noticed that all the Linx 7's seems to have been shipped with a micro USB adaptor whereas my 8 didn't.

Did anyone else with a Linx 8 get the USB adaptor with it?

Thanks,

G

 

[Skynet5]

I've just got the 10" with keyboard. Fantastic machine. Hopefully this is a really turning point in the pricing of these devices. Apple is exorbitant in its pricing, and this sort of thing will drive those prices down in the coming years.

Its like a proper pc, and word, excel and browser run like a breeze.

My only grip is the keyboard presses against the screen, and when a button is pressed the tablet wakes up! Tried disabling in Power Management the wake from sleep, but no good.

Also, I stupidly removed the included and already applied screen protector...not sure why I did, but I did. It wasn't applied brilliantly, but now I'm on to Linx to see if they can supply me with a replacement.

This thing rocks.

I'm gonna trade in my apple ipad 1 for £50 back too, and sell my Samsung note 10.1 on the bay to get the 8" for my kid too

 

[Rroff]

I've purchased my son the 8" version for Christmas after a lot of colleagues at work bought the 7" version for themselves.

I couldn't understand why you wouldn't pay the extra £20 to get the 8 over the 7.

I have noticed that all the Linx 7's seems to have been shipped with a micro USB adaptor whereas my 8 didn't.

Did anyone else with a Linx 8 get the USB adaptor with it?

Thanks,

G

The extra screen estate of the 8" makes a massive difference would definitely recommend that size for general use - sometimes though if you want something ultra portable for specific use the 7" is a good option.

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

I've just got the 10" with keyboard. Fantastic machine.

Sounds like it is quite a decent device. What do you think of that screen resolution on the 10" ?
I'm considering the same model, as looking for 2gb memory, but just waiting to see some more real world thoughts!

Any pics of it with keyboard?

 

[Skynet5]

Screen resolution to me seems fine. It isn't the best screen in the world, but perfectly acceptable. I've opened a complex excel document and its a breeze to navigate around and all is plenty crisp. But of course it is no retina display.

I've heard nothing bad about the 1GB ones...apparently windows 8.1 is heavily optimised these days, and so is the office suite. But if you want chrome as well as office at the same time, Id favour the 2gb.

This thing is the nuts.

I'll take photos now..hold on.

 

[Skynet5]

Linx 10 by laurence.noton, on Flickr

Linx 10 by laurence.noton, on Flickr

Linx 10 by laurence.noton, on Flickr

Linx 10 by laurence.noton, on Flickr

Linx 10 by laurence.noton, on Flickr

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

That keyboard looks alright actually.
Very tempted, as it's a great spec for the price!

 

[RTR1879]

I bought the 10.1" Linx a couple of weeks ago in a bundle that included the keyboard. Insight had it for £169 which I thought was good (Only £10 more than ****** had just the tablet at) but in the end I got it from Argos as they had it at £179 but you got a free £20 voucher and I needed some other stuff.

Here are my initial impressions....

1) the tablet is very good. I particularly like the soft feel/rubberised back of the unit. The screen resolution is fine for the size of the panel for the generally light tasks this tablet will be expected to handle. Its a nice touch that it comes with a screen protector already applied (and no bubbles either!). The packaging is very well designed and actually feels a lot more premium than the low price would suggest. Unboxing for the first time was a bit of an exciting event! lol. This is my 4th tablet, but my first Windows one (although I do have a Motion F5v at work running Win7 Pro). All the others have been Android (Advent Vega 10.1", Lenovo 7", Asus 7"). Having a full 8.1 installation definitely appeals after hitting problems with various browsers' compatibility on certain websites when using Android tablets. The 2GB in the 10.1" model certainly helps it speed along and I've had it running a few games via Steam. All good so far. Interestingly, the Windows installation seems to run from an image of sorts as it only takes up a tiny bit of the 32GB storage. I may have to investigate that further.... I've added a Samsung EVO 64GB card which appears as another drive as you would expect.

2) The keyboard case is a bit of a let down, although I didnt really expect too much. The design is OK, and the magnets that secure the two parts together are strong, but the caplet keys feel dead to type on and are a bit cramped. The trackpad works well, but has no buttons at all, so "right click" has to involve poking at the screen. I have a Logitech Bluetooth iPad keyboard I use with my Asus android 7" and Galaxy Note 3 and I think I shall stick with that if I need to do any serious typing.

3) The £50 cashback at tablettradeup. I had "inherited" an old 7" tablet some time ago, which still works but has Eclair running on it! I bashed the details for this into Linx's promotion site and the next day got approval for £50 cashback for it! WINNER!!!!! If you have an old 7"+ tablet knocking about then its a no-brainer going for this deal.

Overall, I'm delighted with my purchase. For what is actually not a lot of money I have a very capable device that is equally adept at delivering me web pages, light gaming, emails and social media as it is at getting dragged into meeting rooms and letting me type notes into Word.

 

[pepp77]

I grabbed one of the 7" ones for £60 on Black Friday (ebay seller is still doing them for this price) over the 8" which I couldn't find for less than £100, and am pleasantly surprised with it. The 1GB ram was a worry for me originally but I have found that no matter what I throw at it it will not go above 92% usage and this includes me giving FM15 a try out