are cheap windows tablets any good?

RumRat

prowla wrote: »

Microsoft are promoting the tablet as a desktop alternative, and the model mentioned in the OP includes "A 1-year subscription to Office 365 Personal means you have access to Microsoft’s flagship office suite, including Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel from the word go.".

I'm not sure that they are promoting an 8" tablet as a complete replacement. Although that said, if you connect it up to a monitor, at a stretch, you probably could.

The Lumia I had was last year, and Windows 8 hasn't fundamentally changed. When I swapped the SIM into an iPhone, the iPhone connected to the company's Exchange server much more seamlessly; incidentally that was an old iPhone 4 I had, so supposedly less up to date than the Lumia.

It's updated to Cyan and is now updating to Denim (8.1)

My point about the cloud was it is clunky if you are depending upon it and you don't have good reception, in contrast with a self-contained laptop. The above Office 365 requires a good connection.

Agreed you need a good connection.......Hard not to agree..;)

In fairness, the cloud being clunky is not particular to the particular tablet here; however, it is more of a question regarding the positioning of the product.

We will probably be looking at this in a few years time and saying MS were right........Maybe...:)

The fact that people say that it is awful suggests that Surface Pro 3 is not universally accepted as outstanding.

The fact that 'people' say it's excellent which suggests that it is......Not quite up to an iPad or macbook air agreed, but, getting there.

I use Windows 8 (8.1), and I say it's not as good as Windows 7 as a desktop OS. I've used Windows phone and didn't like it at all (I would never choose it over IOS or Android). I've tried Windows tablets and they're not for me.

I'll not agree that 7 is better than 8.1 as an OS....You may prefer the interface (Which can be changed), but that doesn't make 7 a better OS.

That's my considered opinion in response to the question; saying no and giving the reasons is not just slagging off.

I take it as your opinion as my thoughts are generally my own also and I enjoy the discussion. Thank you.

almillar

Er, my Toshiba tablet, and every tablet we've been discussing in here, has been running Windows 8.1 - as in full Windows, not Windows RT. I even referred to the desktop (not really available in RT) being a bit tricky to use on such small (7, 8 inch) tablets.
And I re-iterate - the bad rep that 8 got was from people on normal computers - desktops and laptops - that thought the OS had swayed too much towards tablet users. Guess what, it's great on tablets!
If you're the kind of person that uses Classic Shell, you probably think that tablets are unnecessary gimmicks anyway.

poppasmurf_bewdley

almillar wrote: »

If you're the kind of person that uses Classic Shell, you probably think that tablets are unnecessary gimmicks anyway.

Not at all. I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 which I use everyday. It's what what I use when I go away on holiday instead of taking the laptop, and in the bedroom. I also use my iPhone 5 every day.

But no way will a tablet ever replace a laptop for me. They're just not versatile enough. I've lost count of the number of times I've tried to download an app, only to be told it's not compatible with my tablet.

Jivesinger

prowla wrote: »

The above Office 365 requires a good connection.

Does it?

From what I've seen of it, you need a connection to download the software in the first place (which is true of any local software application, and even then I believe Microsoft will sell you a DVD if you need one) but once you've installed everything, you can the full Word, Excel etc. completely offline, and save your files locally if you want to.

Jivesinger

Does anyone know if you can transfer Office 365 Personal to another computer once you've activated it on a tablet?

If so, then with a year's subscription to Office 365 Personal retailing at £59.99 from Microsoft (I accept you may be able to get it cheaper elsewhere), if there was someone who wanted a year's subscription to Office 365 Personal anyway, the Tesco tablet at £59 is basically free.

kwikbreaks

almillar wrote: »

Er, my Toshiba tablet, and every tablet we've been discussing in here, has been running Windows 8.1 - as in full Windows, not Windows RT.

Except that the one you linked to from Argos is listed by them as running Windows RT which is why I made the comment that Windows RT is hardly a "proper" desktop experience. Maybe they got it wrong but the rest of the specs on that tablet make it uncompetitive at £160 anyway......

almillar wrote: »

I'd be sticking with one of the older ones like mine, that have 2GB of RAM. Dell, Acer, Asus off the top of my head all made one.
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1063534.htm
That's £100 extra for a slightly bigger screen and more RAM, so not a very fair comparison I suppose.

Terry98

Jivesinger wrote: »

Does anyone know if you can transfer Office 365 Personal to another computer once you've activated it on a tablet?

This should help http://www.linx-tablets.com

'Office 365 Personal enables you to install the latest full desktop version of Office applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook, on 1 PC or Mac, in addition to 1 Windows tablet or iPad — so you can use all the features offline as well as online.

Office 365 and OneDrive keep your files synced across devices, and with just a click you can share files.

1TB OneDrive storage for 12 months included'

fiendishlyclever

Terry98 wrote: »

This should help http://www.linx-tablets.com

'Office 365 Personal enables you to install the latest full desktop version of Office applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook, on 1 PC or Mac, in addition to 1 Windows tablet or iPad — so you can use all the features offline as well as online.

Office 365 and OneDrive keep your files synced across devices, and with just a click you can share files.

1TB OneDrive storage for 12 months included'

My OneDrive currently has been allocated 10Tb while they make the transition to unlimited storage (that's on Office 365 Uni)

I bought a Linx tablet. It's decent build quality and there are many features of Windows I like, but the problem is that unless there is a dedicated Windows 8 app that is touch optimised, then you end up back in the desktop. Poking around the Windows desktop on a 7" screen with my Walls fingers is not a pleasant experience

bod1467

Terry98 wrote: »

This should help http://www.linx-tablets.com

'Office 365 Personal enables you to install the latest full desktop version of Office applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook, on 1 PC or Mac, in addition to 1 Windows tablet or iPad — so you can use all the features offline as well as online.

Office 365 and OneDrive keep your files synced across devices, and with just a click you can share files.

1TB OneDrive storage for 12 months included'

That doesn't answer the question asked - it just reiterates that Office 365 can be used on the tablet. (I don't know the answer BTW).

I_have_spoken

The Bush MyTablet 8 Inch Tablet - 32GB for £99 at Argos is supposedly good value for money; Windows 8.1 running on Intel Quad-core CPU and 1 year subscription to Office 365.

NB Flipping between Windows 7/8.1 and iOS is no big deal, I use them all and 8.1 on the touchscreen HP X2 with detachable keyboard is fine. Since that pic was taken the HP laptop has had Windows 10 preview installed with is fantastic even in rough-cut form.

Does anyone know if you can transfer Office 365 Personal to another computer once you've activated it on a tablet?

Yes, AFIAK so long as you are using the same Windows account on each machine; you would login to account management and deactivate Office 365 from the unit it's installed on. Once deactivated from a device, Office 2013 programs will run in read-only mode.