[icwhatudidthere]

Just a quick post to say hi and I love this thing so far. Everything seems to be just right compared to other units. The price is perfect, resolution is just a bit tighter compared to the 11.6" units. And it's not too high res like on the Surface Pro so desktop apps are still very usable.

I had to get an Intel unit because my work has some custom software to remote in. That stuff installed fine and I can now remote in on a super-portable tablet. Something my iPad can't do. I'm also loving the fact that I can manage my songs in my Amazon cloud acct including uploading songs.

This thing really makes me question why RT even exists.

[Brendan Dooley]

Good to hear, mine's coming Thursday. Did you have any difficulties installing all the updates when you received it? How long did it take?

[BIGPADDY]

Welcome to the community it sounds like it a great all in one device I was considering buying a tablet with Windows 8 but I can't choose there are too many

But it will have to be at the right price but one of the tablets I was thinking about buying is the surface pro, asus, sony one of these I would pick.

[icwhatudidthere]

Ugh that was the worst part. I still haven't gotten the drivers to update from Asus. It just hangs at 100%. The bios update seemed to kill WiFi but that came back after the next restart. Windows updates hung after 25 or so and that killed any Store downloads too. At least the Microsoft troubleshooter in control panel fixed that. I'd say all that took 3 harrowing hours.

My system is pretty stable now though so I'm not gonna mess around with it.

[icwhatudidthere]

Welcome to the community it sounds like it a great all in one device I was considering buying a tablet with Windows 8 but I can't choose there are too many

But it will have to be at the right price but one of the tablets I was thinking about buying is the surface pro, asus, sony one of these I would pick.

Thanks. I was thinking of the Surface Pro also but thought the HD resolution on a 10" screen would be too high in desktop mode. I think the 1366 is great on a 10" if you're gonna use the desktop a lot. Also I decided the 9 hour battery life and fanless operation was too important compared to the extra power. So far for my needs, I've been right. The atom isn't slow at all for me so I'm very happy. Plus it's $500!

[BIGPADDY]

Thanks. I was thinking of the Surface Pro also but thought the HD resolution on a 10" screen would be too high in desktop mode. I think the 1366 is great on a 10" if you're gonna use the desktop a lot. Also I decided the 9 hour battery life and fanless operation was too important compared to the extra power. So far for my needs, I've been right. The atom isn't slow at all for me so I'm very happy. Plus it's $500!

Same what I was thinking as well I would like it to last a while and all what you have said, I think I may buy the ASUS still deciding but I do like playing PC games which I would install onto it.

I may need something little more powerful properly i3 or pentium I have pentium on my laptop which I upgraded to Windows 8 Pro and it so much faster

Windows 8 is awesome

[icwhatudidthere]

just FYI I was wrong about the resolution on the surface pro. played with one today and it scales nicely in desktop mode so it's pretty usable.

overall the screen is beautiful, the stylus works great and from the little time I used it, it's fast.

also in reply above, I finally got the driver update to install. I was being impatient because the asus app doesn't give any feedback. just let it sit for about 15 min and it'll go through.

i used the asus ll day today from around 11:30 am to 10:30 pm minus about 2 hours. I had 12% left so its probably right around 9 hours. and after the driver update it charges from my portable USB battery pack. really pretty amazed that I now have a full blown windows device that lasts as long as an ipad and charges from your basic ubiquitous USB charger.

[Jeffrey Seymore]

Ugh that was the worst part. I still haven't gotten the drivers to update from Asus. It just hangs at 100%. The bios update seemed to kill WiFi but that came back after the next restart. Windows updates hung after 25 or so and that killed any Store downloads too. At least the Microsoft troubleshooter in control panel fixed that. I'd say all that took 3 harrowing hours.
.

My update went fine with the ASUS stuff... The MS stuff however took several reboots and attempts before (After 4 days) it was all up to date. It would just keep saying downloading and stay at 0%. Then after a reboot it would jump up to 75% or so and try to finish. Had to cancel and restart multiple times. And then bam! it was done :D

I LOVE mine so far!!! I had the Surface RT for about a month and decided nope, not for me and returned it for this bad boy!
My system is pretty stable now though so I'm not gonna mess around with it

[Jeffrey Seymore]

Thanks. I was thinking of the Surface Pro also but thought the HD resolution on a 10" screen would be too high in desktop mode. I think the 1366 is great on a 10" if you're gonna use the desktop a lot. Also I decided the 9 hour battery life and fanless operation was too important compared to the extra power. So far for my needs, I've been right. The atom isn't slow at all for me so I'm very happy. Plus it's $500!

Yeah this thing is not slow by any means. I spent a day playing with it and handing it around at work to my co-workers (Windows IT guys and networking guys like myself) and even after them playing with it and opening multiple programs and not closing any of them it never skipped a beat!.

[Kiwi Dave]

My update went fine with the ASUS stuff... The MS stuff however took several reboots and attempts before (After 4 days) it was all up to date. It would just keep saying downloading and stay at 0%. Then after a reboot it would jump up to 75% or so and try to finish. Had to cancel and restart multiple times. And then bam! it was done :D

I LOVE mine so far!!! I had the Surface RT for about a month and decided nope, not for me and returned it for this bad boy!
My system is pretty stable now though so I'm not gonna mess around with it

I managed to get all the updates (ASUS and MS) working fine. I think installed Office 2010 which again went fine. Upgrading to Office 2013 was a nightmare. Took around 2 days of fiddling to get it all installed - but now that I have it up and running, this little tablet is great for me. Good battery life, fine for everyday email, word, onenote use. Struggles a bit when I play with large excel files - other than that I'm using it for work....

[BIGPADDY]

I managed to get all the updates (ASUS and MS) working fine. I think installed Office 2010 which again went fine. Upgrading to Office 2013 was a nightmare. Took around 2 days of fiddling to get it all installed - but now that I have it up and running, this little tablet is great for me. Good battery life, fine for everyday email, word, onenote use. Struggles a bit when I play with large excel files - other than that I'm using it for work....

Do you get price reduction if you upgrade from office 2010 to 2013?

[ZombieBacchus]

I am seriously considering selling my Surface RT for this Asus. Has anyone had experience with both? If so, how does the Asus perform compared to the Surface RT? Can the Asus play Windows Store games like Hydro Thunder well?

[Jeffrey Seymore]

I am seriously considering selling my Surface RT for this Asus. Has anyone had experience with both? If so, how does the Asus perform compared to the Surface RT? Can the Asus play Windows Store games like Hydro Thunder well?

The Asus blows the Rt out of the water. I had the RT for almost a month before returning it for the Asus Smart. It seems snappier and hasn't crashed once, but the Surface did multiple times. Also it runs casual x86 legacy games wonderfully, and I use it for torrents and media streaming without any issues. And yes, it plays games like Hydro Thunder fine. I also ran it through a few browser tests and it BLOWS the Surface RT out of the water!!!

[Buren06]

Mine arrived today and I've been enjoying it since. My only issue so far is the capacitive windows button, which could stand to be much more sensitive. After I installed all the updates, everything is great-and after the internet explorer tracking protection tweak the browser is even better.

A note about updates-install the windows updates before the Asus patches or app updates. You may need to go through the desktop windows update mechanic rather than the metro settings one.

[Jeffrey Seymore]

Mine arrived today and I've been enjoying it since. My only issue so far is the capacitive windows button, which could stand to be much more sensitive. After I installed all the updates, everything is great-and after the internet explorer tracking protection tweak the browser is even better.

A note about updates-install the windows updates before the Asus patches or app updates. You may need to go through the desktop windows update mechanic rather than the metro settings one.

What tweak are you talking about?

[Buren06]

IE 10 Slow page load times

Add the necessary plugins and it speeds things up quite a bit.

[Kiwi Dave]

Do you get price reduction if you upgrade from office 2010 to 2013?

Yup - didn't pay anything. There is a deal on over here (in NZ - not sure if it's World Wide or not) where if you purchase and install a new copy of 2010 you can upgrade to 2013 for free.

Here's the link I used: Buy Office today, get the next version free - Office.com

Again, it's NZ specific, so you'll need to check in your local country!

[robinleck]

Hi guys, I am from Singapore :)
I'm planning to buy the Vivotab Smart this weekend but want to know whether is the MS Office suite pre-installed in the tablet or do I have to separately installed it myself ???
Kindly advise, Thanks ;)

[speedtouch]

Hi guys, I am from Singapore :)
I'm planning to buy the Vivotab Smart this weekend but want to know whether is the MS Office suite pre-installed in the tablet or do I have to separately installed it myself ???
Kindly advise, Thanks ;)

Office is not installed by default on the Windows 8 tablets. It is installed on Windows RT tablets, though.

[robinleck]

Office is not installed by default on the Windows 8 tablets. It is installed on Windows RT tablets, though.

Ok noted with thanks :)
Will still get the Smart as it's the most affordable full version Windows 8 tablet to date.
Thinking of RT initially but because of the premium branding, I'd expect the pricing to be beyond my budget.
Thanks again !!!

[Mr. Brown]

Are any of you having problems where the home button sometimes doesn't work and also the battery doesn't charge while plugged in (plugged in, not charging)?

[rich4A1]

Are any of you having problems where the home button sometimes doesn't work and also the battery doesn't charge while plugged in (plugged in, not charging)?

I never had problem with charging. However I have to say that the home button at the bottom of the screen is far from the most sensitive. It happens every once a while that I need to tap it again or a little longer to register it. But I would not catagorize it as "not working" though, just a personal opinion.

[rich4A1]

Ok noted with thanks :)
Thinking of RT initially but because of the premium branding, I'd expect the pricing to be beyond my budget.

Clover Trail is so much faster than the ARM thing in Surface RT. If you're a student or work with a University, Office 365 University is quite cost efficient.I personally love it since I not only can install Office 2013 on two computers (one being my VivoTab Smart), I can also stream it on Windows PC without an installation. That's pretty cool.

[robinleck]

Clover Trail is so much faster than the ARM thing in Surface RT. If you're a student or work with a University, Office 365 University is quite cost efficient.I personally love it since I not only can install Office 2013 on two computers (one being my VivoTab Smart), I can also stream it on Windows PC without an installation. That's pretty cool.

Cool !!!
I may try out the Office 365. I read somewhere that it's actually a web-based office suite with a yearly subscription fee. I will check it out on the MS website once I got the Smart tablet, thanks ;)
Btw, I am a self-employed person.

[xirsteon]

I'm considering selling my Surface RT. I guess I should start by posting it on CL to see how much I can get out of it. I've the type KB too. If I could get $450 + 80$ for the type KB, that'll be great. I'll miss the kickstand and the easy snap in of the KB the most. Those are the 2 physical attributes I use the most conveniently.

I read the review of this on engadget a while ago and I was fairly impressed. And I think Amazon has i for $480 or so now sans the surface-type KB.