Hybrid Laptop/Tablet

So first, I don't know if this is the correct board for posting this. If its not, then forgive me and please move this topic where it should be.

Now, as a student, I bought 2-3 months ago a quite nice computer for its price - and good enough for my daily requirements. However, since its a 15 inch one - it proved quite difficult to move around with it. And one of the downsides was also the battery life, which is quite poor actually. The batter issue is not a problem at home, since I can keep it plugged in. Its much more difficult when you are outside however. :)

Now I've been seeking for a new, smaller and lighter laptop/ hybrid tablet. And I did find one, for 150$, a promotional offer till the 1st of January. Its a hybird tablet, with an attachable keyboard (via magnets), a nice metallic build, promised 7-8 hours of battery. The full specs are here:

Screen [in] – 10,1
Screen type – IPS/PLS
Resolution – 1280×800
Processor – Intel Atom Z3735F
RAM memory [MB] – 2048
Capacity [GB] – 32
Additional storage capacity – SD card [GB] – 64
Connection – 3G/ Bluetooth 4.0802.11 b/g/n
Batery [mAh] – 8000
1 year of Office 365 included.


Now it looks like a nice deal for 150$. However specification wise, I don't know what to expect. I don't mined the screen resolution, nor the small capacity since I mainly use OneDrive but.. will the RAM and processor cope with my day to day student life? It would run fairly simple programs like LibreOffice/Microsoft Office, taking notes on OneNote, surfing the internet during my longer breaks, Spotify/Youtube/Netflix, CodeBlocks etc.. Plus it offers a sim-card slot and 3G, could very well use my 20GB monthly data on it - since the faculty WiFi is slow anyways. Since I could detach the keyboard I could also use it to for reading my books since all of them are online etc. I'll still be doing bunch of other stuff on my main when I get home. But however I'd like to hear the feedback of those who are more experienced with computer hardware.

Thanks in advance.

Wynona said:

The first thing we need to know is the brand of the tablet. Although Windows tablets generally work well with an SD card, some do not. (I had an RCA that was the pits with an SD card.) My experience with 32GB Windows devices isn't the best; when you start to install apps and programs on the device, your space is eaten up rather quickly. Even a 64GB SD card doesn't add that much space.

I would also make sure there is a regular size USB port, as well as a mini USB port. I'm not sure an external drive would work, but if it would, that would be a plus.

One word of warning . . . I bought an HP 14" laptop with a 32 GB hard drive and when it came time to update to the next version of Windows 10, it wouldn't take it. Not even when I had everything installed on an external hard drive! The thing froze up and would no longer work. I took it back and got another one, only to have the same thing happen once again. I bought a Lenovo Flex 4 1470 with a 500GB hard drive and am happy with that . . . it even has a touch screen.

The brand of the laptop is not very well known, its a Croatian manufacturer known as Vivax. However I do own 2 other products form them, mainly an Android TV and another Android tablet and they have shown to be reliable and good for their price tag.

Also it does have a full size USB port, alongside a Micro one (However its 2.0). But I do use OneDrive to sync my files and documents on all my devices, so there's that. And for the issue with updating you mentioned, the tablet has Windows 8.1 on it. And I heard that if you wanted to upgrade to Windows 10, you would have to do it with WimBoot or something since these tablets use compressed Windows installations. Could anyone explain this part a bit better?

Hi BlueBaron.

Like Wynona and Chuck said before..
- 2GB RAM is not enough for Windows tablet. Even today's Android tablets like 4GB
- Intel Atom Z3735F is very old processor. Look for x5
- 32 GB isn't enough for Windows. Windows could be installed on it, but updates and upgrades will soon become pain in the ...

If you can catch some other promotions (but you're a week or so late) Lenovo Miix or ASUS transformers could be found (new) or you could buy second hand. Another tempting possibility is buying Chinese tablet like Huawei (well known brand) or unknown brand for few $ less.

Where are you buying stuff? Show some options...

AndreTen said:

Hi BlueBaron.

Like Wynona and Chuck said before..
- 2GB RAM is not enough for Windows tablet. Even today's Android tablets like 4GB
- Intel Atom Z3735F is very old processor. Look for x5
- 32 GB isn't enough for Windows. Windows could be installed on it, but updates and upgrades will soon become pain in the ...

If you can catch some other promotions (but you're a week or so late) Lenovo Miix or ASUS transformers could be found (new) or you could buy second hand. Another tempting possibility is buying Chinese tablet like Huawei (well known brand) or unknown brand for few $ less.

Where are you buying stuff? Show some options...

Rest assured that most promotions will continue till the 6-7th of January or more might pop up, since Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on that date. Considering that I already have a laptop, that I bought for 500 euros, I would not want to splash too much money on the hybrid. My budget is around 200 euros. Buying from the internet shops is not an option, as first things first, they don't even ship here.

Anyways, I know that its outdated a bit, but rest assured that I looked everywhere for tablets/hybrids with Windows on them. Most of them cost under 200 euros, but are actually slower than the one I mentioned. And there's no other option between 200-500euros here. You can find Lenovo's, good ones for 500+ but that's way out of my budget.

Wynona said:

Whoops! I didn't realize you're in Macedonia! I don't think it matters all that much, though, except for brand names. :)

So, the Android tablet can also be used for your studies; that is, unless it's an 8" one.

The Android one is actually used by my little brother constantly, its less powerful and its a 7'' one. As for software, as a student I can get most of Microsoft's software for free through DreamSpark including Windows versions and Office so that doesn't really attract me. :)

Caledon Ken said:

I assume it is Tablet.

https://www.vivax.com/en/vivax-tpc-1...-keyboard.aspx

The one thing I would also look at is the support on any vendor's web site. I was working on Chuwi tablet and while the support layout was questionable they did have the necessary files and a forum you could join to get help.

I noticed in description it was expandable to 64GB but then in specs it said you could add a 64 GB card. Likely a translation error.

I saw that Wynona had mentioned that you can get the Office components at the play store and you already use Onedrive. Not sure if OneNote is there but I might check this out.

I believe Vivax has a specialized care center in my town, and a service shop (software and hardware). Their internet support is... I don't know really, I never felt the need to use it, neither for my TV nor my brothers tablet. I expect it to be terrible, as most unknown brands (with exceptions). The only thing I'm worried about is as you guys said, the low storage and RAM. Windows updates could eat up that storage right up, unless they push compressed updates for WimBoot versions of Windows.


Another store has the Surface 2, http://www.anhoch.com/product/16496/...ibt-40winrt-81 ... Its out of stock, god knows when they'll have it in stock though.

EDIT: Also this http://www.anhoch.com/product/42059/...edbtwhitewin10 , not a hybrid but portable. However, same specifications (almost). Comparable CPU's according to CPU benchmarks.

EDIT 2: Embedder's notes: WIMBoot vs Windows Embedded Industry 8.1 + performance tests on Intel NUC DC3217IYE

BlueBaron said:

Rest assured that most promotions will continue till the 6-7th of January or more might pop up, since Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on that date. Considering that I already have a laptop, that I bought for 500 euros, I would not want to splash too much money on the hybrid. My budget is around 200 euros. Buying from the internet shops is not an option, as first things first, they don't even ship here.

Anyways, I know that its outdated a bit, but rest assured that I looked everywhere for tablets/hybrids with Windows on them. Most of them cost under 200 euros, but are actually slower than the one I mentioned. And there's no other option between 200-500euros here. You can find Lenovo's, good ones for 500+ but that's way out of my budget.



The Android one is actually used by my little brother constantly, its less powerful and its a 7'' one. As for software, as a student I can get most of Microsoft's software for free through DreamSpark including Windows versions and Office so that doesn't really attract me. :)

Oh, forgot about calendar shift. you still have a week.

One thing you should be aware with 10 inch tablet.. It's good enough for reading, interacting, not sure about work, especially compared to 15.6 laptop.