Can any of current budget Windows tablets (mid November 2017) be a daily driver

[Mahesh Abnave]

Now I have long waited (may be a couple of years) for a good budget Windows tablet to get introduced in the market, and now I have reached the position that I am badly needed a tablet. Knowing that we will possibly see some Snapdragon based Windows tablets in coming weeks, I want to know if any of current / existing tablets be a daily driver? My definition of daily driver includes following mainly a satisfiable battery life (and in fact thats what all I want to ask, you may change the post title to "Are Windows tablets battery life as good as Android tablets") New Android tablets gives battery life of at least more than one day. Is that the case with current Windows tablet? My use case will be mostly reading, browsing and creating/editing some docs. But we get basic Microsoft office suite, Chrome browser and PDF readers even on Android. So at least a day long battery life is worth. Most Windows tablets specs say x hours of battery (not days of battery). Also I feel they dont consider always on mode like those of Android tablets in which we dont really sht down the tablet. Is it so?

In short
======================================================================
daily driver = good performance + good battery life + presence of required apps

good performance = no lag on multi tasking say two apps open side by side at max or multiple chrome tabs (mostly satisfying processor and 4GB ram)

presence of required apps = (for me main usage is reading which requires) MS Office + Chrome browser + PDF reader

good battery life = at least day long battery life with moderate usage and always on standby mode (which is my main concern behind this post)

An added requirement is budget friendly (<=25000 INR) and reliable build quality.

Only disadvantages I can see is of Android tablet are
1. I cannot run multiple instances of MS Word on Android
2. I cannot run extensions on Android Chrome browser
But above two does not seem to be deal the breaker against possibly lesser battery life of Windows tablets.

So the questions:
1. does Windows tablets provide at least a day long battery life on moderate usage in always on / standby use?
2. Or should I stick to Android tablet?
3. Or should I wait for coming weeks for new snapdragon based Windows tablets? 4. Again I live in India and I need to buy a tablet in at max within a month. So will those new snapdragon tablets be available in India within a month? (Of course I need a budget tablet.)

 

[xandros9]

1. This varies widely. Like Android tablets, it depends on the hardware and age. Some tablets get long battery life, some shorter. But you can get battery life comparable to Android depending.

2. For your usage, Windows works fine.

3. I don't have an opinion on this, it's an idea but I don't really know what's coming out to really say.

4. Unless we have specific models being announced already and with a hard ship date I doubt it.

 

[t8ntlikly]

I've wasted monies on 2 CHEAP Windows 10 tablets, and they were worthless. For my daily use I use either my laptop when I really need to do anything heavy or my W10M when not. Lifesaving device is my Kindle Fire that I have MSFT apps on.

 

[Martin Plamondon]

I've got a 10" Chuwi Hi10 Pro dual booting Windows 10/Android 5.1 and I find that good. Performance is not great running on Atom x5 but it is getting better with each new Windows update.

For regular web browsing, email and Office work it is fine. Also alright with casual games like card games and such.

The good thing with tablets of 10" and less is that MS Office found in the store is free in edit mode.

But Windows is still much better with a keyboard. If the tablet doesn't come with a keyboard or like my Chewi bought as an extra, please get a keyboard. Windows onscreen keyboard just doesn't work well with anything not store based (appears over and don't move the text box over the keyboard).

 

[garak0410]

I've TRIED and I mean TRIED Windows tablets and just never worked for me. The Dell Venue 8 Pro did fine until I had 2 of them die on me. I've tried NuVision and they were just too slow. I tried their 10" version they had cheap once and had to return it 3 times because they were more or less DOA.

I'd recommend a good Samsung or File HD tablet.

 

[fschmeck]

I had a Dell Venue Pro 8 and while it was decent with the keyboard case and stylus, the reality is that you can run Office on Android, and Windows is in spite of all the "tablet" support, it is still imo very much geared towards larger screens and using a KB and mouse.

As a media consumption device I don't think Windows tabs are really offering anything you cannot get on another platform. As a laptop replacement, a true laptop or flip book are likely better options.

 

[Podster16]

1. This varies widely. Like Android tablets, it depends on the hardware and age. Some tablets get long battery life, some shorter. But you can get battery life comparable to Android depending.

2. For your usage, Windows works fine.

3. I don't have an opinion on this, it's an idea but I don't really know what's coming out to really say.

4. Unless we have specific models being announced already and with a hard ship date I doubt it.

no point no apps , go andoid

 

[HeyCori]

Using a budget device as a daily driver is kind of an oxymoron, right?

 

[Hophead1994]

I bought a Nuvision 10 and it was DOA. Microsoft replaced it and this one lost Bluetooth and the microphone after 3 months.

There really isn't any good budget tablets available for Windows right now.

 

[Richard Toft]

Going against the trend here, I've got a Linq "10" which I got free with a office 365 subscription.
I've had this for around 3+ years and it is a very budget build(32 gb hard drive and 1gb of ram) originally came as windows 8 os now windows 10 creators fall update, and its one of my favourite devices. Ive used it out and about for media, hooked it up to larger screens for TV and films, word and even done some coding on the thing.
If your expecting superfast game performance then its not going to work but for you, but small games "Rayman" etc, media and office tasks its great.
Its getting a little tired now and I fully expect it to pass on in the next 12 months but I'll defiantly buy another.

 

[inzenity]

Impossible. Most have 1/2gb mem, 32 gb storage, and then you are stuck in the middle ages again when a big update arrives. Connecting an usb stick with a connector, and if you are lucky your fresh update will install in the next 12-24 hours. It takes that long.

Daily use is almost bearable, but you are always busy managing your memory.

Bottom line, wait for a m3 surface with a nice discount, then you have a pleasant low spec experience.

 

[KwisatzHaderach]

I ordered a Cube Mix Plus for 230€ a couple of days ago from Gearbest. It sports 4gb, a 128 SSD, an intel m3 kaby lake CPU and best of all, Wacom stylus support (it uses the Surface Pro 2's display). Build quality is supposed to be good. I'm looking forward to ttying it out.

 

[ODwyerPW]

My wife and I purchased two Asus Transformer Minis late Spring.
Found with both of them that they would:
1. disconnect from wifi frequently
2. constantly mess up landscape/portrait orientation
3. do a terrible job of switching between desktop/tablet mode
4. on screen keyboard doesn't always show, leaving you searching for the magnetically attachable keyboard
5. have found almost zero use for the stylus
6. Windows 10 is an awkward tablet experience.

These are the good points.

The bad points are that we've had them get corrupted several times, requiring FULL wipes and reinstall of everything. We use Office 365, Bing Maps and Translator, JW Library, and Instagram. That's about it for apps.

We own two of them, so I thinks it's fair to say that it's not a case of me having a bad example.

Dropped one just the other day and shattered the screen.. so Now down to one. Once that one goes.... We will get other tablets.

 

[qqquiop23]

I had the Transformer Mini last year and returned it. This year I got the Surface Pro m3 bundle, and although I really like this (except the size, I really want a 10" tablet) I'm concerned about the Intel SA 00086 vulnerabilities. I don't want to pay the Apple tax, but I might return this and get an iPad Pro if MS doesn't address this problem very soon.

 

[garak0410]

I bought a Nuvision 10 and it was DOA. Microsoft replaced it and this one lost Bluetooth and the microphone after 3 months.

There really isn't any good budget tablets available for Windows right now.

I had the same exact experience with the Nuvision 10's. Went through 3 of them...all pretty much DOA. Shame because their 8 inch tablet wasn't half bad.

 

[ochhanz]

I had a Chuwi vi8 plus (8 inch) and it was okay but the brightness and accu were lacking (it was extremely cheap though). Now I have a refurbished dell venue 11 pro 7140 (~10.6 inch) for some time and its great. Its only downside its that its still a little heavy (0.7 kg I think) but it has a solid battery, a great keyboard dock with extra battery (the other one is crap I think), the m proc in it is great, screen is great, has also usb a port which is handy. Iirc it has 4 gb mem and 64 ssd (I put a fast microsd in it for extra storage). Since windows 10 itself its not yet fully perfect for tablet usage, I use a open source program called GestureSign to add some extra handy touch gestures. I am not sure its still available but perhaps something similar.

For me a big advantage of windows 10 on a tablet is that I can play some Steam games on it and I have more control over privacy and security.

 

[Drael646464]

Depends on which tablets you are talking about. If we are talking Chinese tablets, yeah I bet there's something that fits your bill. There tends to be a compromise somewhere, but you can get tablets under 400 bucks with 6gb's of ram, and a Celeron N3450, which performance wise is good. There are some core M's too.

Myself I use a cherry trail, with 4gb of ram, and I also find that fine for performance levels. It's got 64gb storage, which is plenty for updates etc, and with microsd, plenty for software as well. It cost me, probably about 200 USD awhile ago (its a teclast x98 plus something or other). The audio quality is a bit naff, but I don't use it for video, so I don't care. The battery isn't all day either, but I can get some work done on it. Never really want to use it more that 4-5 hours anyway.

The trouble is with that Chinese market is that sweet spot of performance versus budget, its an area where compromises can ruin the experience. So you need to read reviews, be familiar with the manufacturers and so on, to find something that stands above the rest for your application. And it depends on your application. If its a work beast for example, low volume speakers isn't a deal breaker. On the other hand, a keyboard attachment that's useable might be. If its for entertainment, screen, sound quality might be more important, than long battery life. If you know what your looking for, windows tablets do make great entertainment tablets.

Western tablets? Well they tend to be pretty unimpressive next to eastern at the very budget end, and overpriced at the mid market end. You may get some noteable gains in build quality in some cases, but generally its not where I'd look for a high quality to price ratio. It tends to be better for premium gear. If you compare something like chuwi or teclast or whatever with nuvision - the specs on the western stuff comes up pretty low.

Here's the things to watch for:
Poor wifi range/strength
Poor keyboards or trackpads or stylus's for hybrids
If its a concern for you, lamination on the screen (some have, some don't), but in general brightness - a lot of cheap tablets don't cope well outdoors
Speaker volume and quality
Also sometimes the port bandswidth is capped for microsd, or the internal EMMC is slow. Depending on whether that's an issue, but this is less common.

You do get cheaper tablets with 4-6gb. It really makes a difference. You get them with laminated screens. In any given cheap tablet, you may get a few of those issues, but the really good ones, maybe just one, that's liveable.

Now battery life, there you might find hiccups. Generally speaking, the high performance intel chips windows runs on, are not designed for as good a thermal draw as ARM. Even high end tablets often don't have amazing battery life, and cheaper ones tend to sit in the 4-6 hours mark (active use - active use is the figure you are interested in, and its the figure you'll get in reviews). All day battery life on a cheap tablet won't happen, and indeed, it will be hard to find that on a high end tablet.

And battery is where budget makers almost always cut costs. Occasionally something will be maxed out for battery life, specific models - so you might find it, but for that all day, heavy use, battery life you WILL be making performance sacrifices. They are not going to max out the battery AND put a great deal of effort into thermal design at the bottom end. Typically in the odd, rare device that focuses in the budget end on battery life, they help achieve this by throttling CPU a little, along with bigger battery sizes.


Even where you find it, you are making a compromise on size. You can't get a thin light intel tablet, with a great battery life. The surface for example, isn't exactly a handbag tablet. You can't flop it in your running bag.
You don't sling one around with one hand. Some people rarely use then as tablets even, just as light laptops.

If you hibernate a windows tablet, it'll pretty much retain battery for a long time. Like weeks. So if you're not literally using it all work day (like 8-12 hours), this may not be a problem. Things like 3d/games, wifi draws a lot more, so if you are working offline, or can switch off Bluetooth, it helps. Lower brightness too. I personally don't ever really use a tablet for longer than 6 hours at a time. If I did, worse case scenario, i could use a battery bank.

I sleep my tablet when I am not using. Takes a few seconds to power on back to where I was. But saves a lot of battery.

That battery scenario won't really change until windows on ARM hits.

So yeah, performance, for sure, can be done. Battery? That's a bigger ask. You might get something that satisfies your requirements, but it'll take some look around, some research. Probably going slightly over 400, or being more around that 400 mark would help a lot - some of teclasts higher end hybrids, and chuwis, and alldocubes, might fit your description like a glove if they have the MAH to match, but the higher end budget ones, come in more at a midrange price.

But for me, all day battery, or long battery life is more an issue of convenience than one of need. It would be handy to charge it less often, but I'd rather have the performance capabilities of windows, than use android with its inferior software capabilities and design.

Although I am interested in windows on arm - lighter and smaller longer lasting devices with always connected capability - that's attractive. Still be awhile before the price point comes down, but the possibilities are raw. I expect we will see some new form factors.

 

[Drael646464]

I like to play higher end games on my tablet like trine 2, civilisation etc. I could probably find some satisfaction there in android, but all the good games are ports, so for me, that feels like a poor choice. Especially when apple's ipad has more ports from PC.

For me, I have no interest in android tablets. I sell tablets, and I've used a lot of android tablets. They just don't have the depth/quality of software, broadly speaking I want. Whether its a video player, office documents editor, or something more high end, like video editing, or music composing - android is full of, sorry to say it, largely trash software, driven by ads, in app purchases, and written on shoe string budget (and sometimes incompatible with the hardware too, as there's quite a lot of different android configurations). There are some exceptions, but the windows desktop OS has been driving some proper commercial level profits into software for decades and it shows.

The operating system itself, is not designed for workflow, for android. It's designed for consumption. There's less access to the background stuff. It's a great OS, for someone with a consumption mindset, who's budget is tighter, in terms of tablets. There are great games (mostly ports), there is some decent consumption software, and its very easy to use. If you wanted something for a few hours of Netflix in the evening, or a bit of sofa browsing, I'd happily recommend android.

But if your interested in android for productivity, I'm not sure I can recommend it. The lighter office type software's are nowhere near as good as proper MS office for one small example. If you wanted a gaming device, I think an older ipad would be a better choice, than android - it has more ports of PC games. If your getting something with a keyboard - PC is a pretty clear choice, because you'll get a lot more benefit from it in windows 10, for games, for productivity, shortcuts etc. Using a mouse in android also kind of feels like a waste of time.

I think if your budget is tight your going to need to decide whats really important to you. How much will you actually use the device. Would you be happy to sleep mode it sometimes. Do you use office on the regular? Do you want full browsing capabilities, or just basic capabilities? Is your priority power or ease of use?

You learn A LOT by using a device. Using as many as I have, I've learned quite a bit. You can sort of tell, you don't exactly know what your looking for, because on one hand you ask if a cheap windows tablet has good performance and multi-tasking capabilities - and on the other your comparing it to android, which isn't a real-time multi-tasking environment, and isn't UI optimized for task switching either.....

If your alternative is android, and your happy to forgo those multi-tasking abilities, then they were never important in the first place. And if they are important, you won't want android in the first place. If its the former, yes, there are long life cheap tablets with basic atom processors, that handle a window/tab or two fine, so long as you don't go into more than half a dozen programs or tabs at a time. That's not hard. There are even ones with higher performance, if you are prepared to approach that 300-500 mark more readily.
If it's the later, then you don't have a choice, you have to get a windows tablet, and you'll simply have to find one that matches your needs with careful research. But if you don't really care about software power/depth, or multi-tasking at all - and barely open a word document once a month to write a shopping list - android might be your boy, given the ease of use.

 

[Drael646464]

I've got a 10" Chuwi Hi10 Pro dual booting Windows 10/Android 5.1 and I find that good. Performance is not great running on Atom x5 but it is getting better with each new Windows update.

For regular web browsing, email and Office work it is fine. Also alright with casual games like card games and such.

The good thing with tablets of 10" and less is that MS Office found in the store is free in edit mode.

But Windows is still much better with a keyboard. If the tablet doesn't come with a keyboard or like my Chewi bought as an extra, please get a keyboard. Windows onscreen keyboard just doesn't work well with anything not store based (appears over and don't move the text box over the keyboard).

That's a nice productivity tablet on a very small budget. Camera/microphone are a bit ****ty, but the keyboard attachment is pretty nice. Looks good too. I've been able to play more than just card games on an atom chipset (All of these play fine http://tap-that.co.nz/blog/2017/03/22/25-best-touch-games-for-windows-tablets/)

My personal fav is trine 2. It kinda blows anything on android out of the water IMO. Does get hot fast though. Don't really feel like playing it for more than a 30-40 min stretch...

 

[Drael646464]

I had a Dell Venue Pro 8 and while it was decent with the keyboard case and stylus, the reality is that you can run Office on Android, and Windows is in spite of all the "tablet" support, it is still imo very much geared towards larger screens and using a KB and mouse.

As a media consumption device I don't think Windows tabs are really offering anything you cannot get on another platform. As a laptop replacement, a true laptop or flip book are likely better options.

8 inch does not suit windows 10 well. You can make it work with an active stylus, but windows suits bigger sizes atm. Reckon 8.9 is the minimum. If your only experience of windows on a tablet, is an eight inch, you'll probably think its an aweful idea, and not see why people are into it. Because its like driving a car with a pair of tweezers. Worth keeping in mind, barely anyone even uses 8 inch anymore, even for android, since phablets came about. Maybe if its got 4g, and you're a chick with a handbag, it might make a nice train browser, but the most popular android tablets are all 9.7 inches.