Budget Windows tablet 7-8"

Ranjo

I'm looking to replace my son's 7 inch android tablet. I want Windows and looking at the options. He had an Acer Iconia 7 inch tablet, it was going fine until he sat on it & broke the screen. I may replace it, but wanted to move to Windows anyway, so this is the perfect time.

I went through 3 cheap Chinese Android tablets, which each broke or were almost unusable, and finally settled on the Acer, which has been fine.

I don't want to go through the hassle again, so want to check anyone's experience of budget no-name Windows tablets.

It's usage will mostly be Minecraft, games, videos, youtube, email.

Looking at this one on Amazon. 99 sterling, 8 inch.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Linx-Tablet-Z3735G-storage-Windows/dp/B00O636WGI/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1414330970&sr=8-13&keywords=windows+tablet

Fysh

I wouldn't necessarily go for that, TBH. Windows hasn't played nice on 1GB of RAM since before Vista. It'll run but anything memory intensive like video playback or games will run poorly. On a related note - storage is important with Windows. On a 32GB SSD, for example, you'll not have more than ~19GB free when Windows is installed.

There are a number of 8" Windows 8 tablets - I've got a Venue 8 Pro which I'm very happy with. I notice that 7dayshop have a few Venue 8 Pros with a 64GB SSD on sale on amazon for under £200 so that's worth a look. There's also the Lenovo Miix2 and the Toshiba Encore WT8-A-102.

The cheapest one I can see that I'd even consider going for is this one, assuming that the reviews were good. It's 32GB rather than 64GB which is unideal, but it has expandable storage with SDHC support and has HDMI out, which is always nice.

It's also worth noting that most of these are wifi-only as far as I know - I don't think it's possible to get a 3G-enabled Windows tablet for under £200 (I tell a lie, the Lenovo one has integrated 3G apparently). Of course, the nice thing about it being a full Windows tablet is that, if you get yourself a USB On The Go cable to adapt from USB-MicroB to normal USB-B sockets, you could get the young fella a 3G dongle if you wanted at a later point.

0lddog

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057316702 ?

Fysh

0lddog wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057316702 ?

I wouldn't reckon 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage would lead to a particularly good Win8.1 experience, tbh. Shame, as the OneNote Storage and Office365 1-year sub are a nice differentiator.

theothernt

Fysh wrote: »

I wouldn't reckon 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage would lead to a particularly good Win8.1 experience, tbh. Shame, as the OneNote Storage and Office365 1-year sub are a nice differentiator.

1GB of RAM is fine for Windows 8.1 as long as don't expect to have 20 desktop apps open, or Photoshop.

Also, you can forget Minecraft being enjoyable on such a low spec. system.

Ranjo

The one in Argos is tempting, but I guess for a few euros more I could go for this one.