A twofer, hybrid style
Acer’s Iconia W510 also aims to give users
a notebook and tablet in one, but it’s what’s called a hybrid device, as
opposed to a convertible. This means there’s a discrete tablet that contains
all the brains of the operation, which can slot into a sturdy keyboard base as
needed.
The Iconia W510 differs from the two
convertible reviewed here in another significant way. It’s running an Atom
processor, specifically Intel’s Z2760 system on chip (code-named Clover Trail).
That combined with its smaller size 10.1 inchesalso makes the W510 a Lot Less
expensive. It can be purchased as a stand-alone tablet for $500 or complete
with its keyboard and auxiliary battery base, like the model featured here, for
$750.
The
Iconia W510 differs from the two convertible reviewed here in another
significant way.
Of course, what you’re no doubt wondering
is whether Atom sucks. Intel’s ultra-Low power Atom chips got a reputation of
being subpar during the rise of netbooks, which, while (ow-priced, were known
for weak performance. The Z2760 is a 1.8GHz dual-core chip with Hyper Threading
and non-Intel PowerVR graphics. While the base clock speed is a little bit
higher than previous Atom chips, the biggest change is reported to be in power
consumption. It also has the benefit of running Windows 8, which was developed
with mobile applications in mind, unlike the decidedly desktop-centric Windows
7.
Unfortunately, the unit Acer sent us is
pre-production, so we can’t test Atom’s performance with benchmarks yet. What
we can tell you is that the W510 booted to the Modern UI in about 16 seconds.
Once there, horizontal scrolling through the interface was surprisingly smooth,
but vertical scrolling, as on web pages, was inconsistent, with periodic lags.
Still, we have to say we were surprised that the sucktastic qualities of old
Atom were not apparent. We did experience a few quirks that we’re attributing
to its pre-production state, so we’re going to give Acer the benefit of the
doubt and assume these issues will be fixed in the final product. It’s an intriguing
concept, so we’d like to see it polished.
The
Z2760 is a 1.8GHz dual-core chip with Hyper-Threading and non-Intel PowerVR
graphics.
As a tablet, the Iconia W510 is far more
convincing than either the Yoga 13 or the XPS 12. Freed from its keyboard, the
W510 weighs just one pound, four ounces. The 10.1-inch screen is easy to hold
in one or both hands, and while its 1366x768 resolution isn’t going to win any
contests, it’s got the nice image quality of an IPS panel, under a protective
layer of Gorilla Glass.
As a notebook, the experience is more
compromised. For starters, the device is top-heavy, what with all the computing
components stuffed into the screen, so it has a tendency to topple backward
when its sitting in your lap. Then there’s the somewhat cramped keyboard, which
isn’t great for long bouts of typing. And its 64GB of storage is all too
tablet-like for our tastes (a media reader and USB port make expansion
possible. Also, its touchpad isn’t great. Not only does it not support Win8
gestures, but it was noticeably less responsive than either Lenovo’s or Dell’s.
Still, we think this device has potential
if the quirks we experienced are worked out in the final product. It’s a
believable tablet with far more productivity chops than other tablets offer at least
until Surface Pro arrives at down to earth pricing.
Acer T232HL
Doesn’t come with a bottle of Windex
What makes a monitor good for Windows 8?
First, you need a touch panel with a flush bezel that Lets you summon the
various Windows 8 command ghosts. That pretty much eliminates optical-based
monitors, which have the camera Lenses hidden in the corners. Microsoft also
recommends no Less than five-finger muttitouch for the OS, but 10 finger is
advisable.
First,
you need a touch panel with a flush bezel that Lets you summon the various
Windows 8 command ghosts.
That’s all good news for Acer’s new 23-inch
T232HL touch Panet. This 10-point-touch projected-capacitive panel Lets you do
all the Windows 8 swiping and flicking your heart desires. As you can imagine,
projected capacitive carries a price premium and the Acer streets at $500 compared
to, say, the $280 that a 23-inch optical touch panel might cost you. That’s a
big price increase, but certainly not as pricey as the InnovaTouch.
This
10-point-touch projected-capacitive panel Lets you do all the Windows 8 swiping
and flicking your heart desires
Running the panel through the Lagom LCD
monitor obstacle course (www.Lagom.nLI, the Acer was good in most of the tests
but we did see banding in the gradient tests. That issue wasn’t in just
synthetic tests, either using a real-world product shot of a system, we could
see the banding in one particular fade in the background. lUs not terrible, and
some might accuse us of pixel-peeping but the issue was noticeable compared
with the InnovaTouch monitor. A series of digital images also looked less
impressive on the Acer than the InnovaTouch not to a great degree, but again,
worth noting. The InnovaTouch also wins in responsiveness over the Acer,
exhibiting less lag in response to touch commands.
Where the Acer excels is in ports you get
DVI, VGA, HDMI, and three USB 3.0 ports vs. the VGA and DVI on the InnovaTouch.
The Acer is also far sexier, though w&re not totally sold on the design.
Neither panel is height-adjustable.
Despite all this, we think the Acer is a
pretty decent panel for the price. lUs IPS and, more importantly, ifs a
flush-bezel multitouch, which will make even the Win8 Modern UI haters
reconsider their position.
Innovatouch IW2235P-U
Look aren’t everything
When we began our hunt for flush -bezel
touch panels to review, one of the few we could find was InnovaTouchs
IW2235P-U. This IPS, 10-point projective-capacitive panel isn’t the typical
consumer- grade monitor in fact, it’s marketed for commercial applications; its
price of $754 reflects that. That the panel is slightly smaller than the Acer
at just under 22-inches viewable, might immediately make you recoil and
question the difference between this panel and consumer panels that cost about
two-thirds the price.
When
we began our hunt for flush bezel touch panels to review, one of the few we
could find was InnovaTouchs IW2235P-U.
After using the InnovaTouch side by side
with the Acer, we can say there’s a difference. Using Lagom’s LCD test images
on the pair of lO8Op panels, we found the InnovaTouch slightly better than the
Acer in image quality, particularly in areas of gradation. The Acer isn’t
horrible, but the InnovaTouch was far smoother. Grading the panel for digital
photo work, we found the InnovaTouch slightly warmer and with a bit more
contrast, too. Off axis, however, the InnovaTouch had a ghastly yellowish tinge
to it.
One key advantage to the panel is in touch
response. We used a painting app and drew our finger across the screen. When
drawing at anything other than slow speeds, the Acers digitizer lagged far
behind the InnovaTouch’s.
So what’s not to like? The stand, which is
designed to stabilize the panel when tilted flat, is insanely overbuilt as well
as downright ugly. There’s also a pretty limited input selection no media
reader, camera, or USB ports; just DVI and VGA. So we suppose your choice
really depends on what you value. The edge in image quality and touch
performance goes to the InnovaTouch, but the Acer aces in price, ports, and
style.
