We had a bit of a discussion about Android Tablets and iPads a while ago but yesterday I found the Linx 8, and the other models 7 and 10 where the number is the screen size, as you'd probably guess. Rather than running Android or IOS this runs a full version of Windows 8.1 known as Windows Bing, so called because you have to use the Microsoft search engine Bing in Internet explorer.
The spec is decent - a quad core Intel Atom with 32GB of storage and 1GB of RAM and so far it's run everything I've thrown at it which includes Chrome, iTunes and OpenOffice without any signs of a stutter or slowdown. Personally I'd have preferred 2GB of RAM but so far I've not seen any problems in that area, although it seems the 32GB of storage is a current offer and the default is 16GB which they will drop back to some time. Oh and a one year subscription for Office365 is included in the price.
It also has a micro HDMI port for TV or monitor out and micro SD card slot for additional storage and supports USB on the go so you can connect external storage like USB sticks or SD/CF Card adaptors or perhaps even cameras...
So this evening/weekend I plan to install DPP on it and see if I can do some mobile picture viewing and light processing. It may be an interesting mobile editing solution, although Lightroom's hardware specs are too high and the screen way to small for the real estate Lightroom needs to be usable. The 10inch version may be a different question.
And the price? I picked up mine from Sainsbury's for £89.99. If you buy it from Amazon you can get the same price but also a £30 cash back if you send in another used tablet. So if you include the Office365 deal and the cash back, the total price is around a tenner. Bargain. The 10inch version is £159 and has 2GB of RAM so more capable but less portable.
Clearly this is Microsoft and Intel trying to buy market share as Android/ARM and IOS/ARM are eating their market share in the tablet area and they're worried it will translate into lost desktop sales but I'm not knocking it because it truly is a very capable little device.
The spec is decent - a quad core Intel Atom with 32GB of storage and 1GB of RAM and so far it's run everything I've thrown at it which includes Chrome, iTunes and OpenOffice without any signs of a stutter or slowdown. Personally I'd have preferred 2GB of RAM but so far I've not seen any problems in that area, although it seems the 32GB of storage is a current offer and the default is 16GB which they will drop back to some time. Oh and a one year subscription for Office365 is included in the price.
It also has a micro HDMI port for TV or monitor out and micro SD card slot for additional storage and supports USB on the go so you can connect external storage like USB sticks or SD/CF Card adaptors or perhaps even cameras...
So this evening/weekend I plan to install DPP on it and see if I can do some mobile picture viewing and light processing. It may be an interesting mobile editing solution, although Lightroom's hardware specs are too high and the screen way to small for the real estate Lightroom needs to be usable. The 10inch version may be a different question.
And the price? I picked up mine from Sainsbury's for £89.99. If you buy it from Amazon you can get the same price but also a £30 cash back if you send in another used tablet. So if you include the Office365 deal and the cash back, the total price is around a tenner. Bargain. The 10inch version is £159 and has 2GB of RAM so more capable but less portable.
Clearly this is Microsoft and Intel trying to buy market share as Android/ARM and IOS/ARM are eating their market share in the tablet area and they're worried it will translate into lost desktop sales but I'm not knocking it because it truly is a very capable little device.
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