Which Tablet Computer/

DipperToo said:
I was going to buy an Android tablet, but the new Asus T100 looks an interesting Windows convertible. £329 and it comes with the full version of Windows 8.1, detachable keyboard and has USB on the tablet portion as well as full size USB on the detachable keyboard. The price also includes Office 2013 (Home version). Only downside is that it does not have GPS built-in but then I have heard that many tablets with GPS on-board are not brilliant 'below decks' anyway. As this is NOT Windows RT, no reason why USB GPS receivers will not work with a USB to micro USB adapter.

Reason for considering this route is that I have a licence for PC Plotter and the ASUS looks an interesting proposition (this one also has the newest Atom 3740 processor whereas most still have the older and slower 27xx series.) 11 hours claimed battery life....

Anyone actually used one of these yet?
Click to expand...

Took the plunge and found an Asus T100 at John Lewis in their sale at £299 - not bad as it really does include Win 8.1, Full Home Office 2013 and the keyboard. Yes, there are some 'plastic' elements but at this price.......

I have PC Plotter running now and to solve the GPS issue I bought a GlobalSat BU-353-S4 USB GPS Receiver (£30 from Amazon) with an Allreli Micro USB Host Mode On The Go OTG Cable (£1.99 instead of £6.99) which although stated for for Nexus 7 / 10, Xoom, Galaxy S4 runs OK as an adapter to go from MicroUSB to full sized USB. I also got hold of a Plugable USB 3.0 to 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN Network Adapter (£15.50) which connects to the main USB connector on the keyboard part (need this for a hard connection to change on-board wifi settings). All the above installed automatically in Windows 8 and apart from resetting the USB Com Port emulation down to 4800 BAUD for the GPS, no problems as of yet.

All you need to be careful of with this tablet is that after installing all the bundled Apps there is just 11GB left for any additional apps and data. There is however an SD card slot so I will probably use that as the download target for the Navionics charts that PCPlotter uses. For programs that need a 'dongle' key to start, it is worth creating a 'hibernate' button on the Metro interface (Hibernate not a standard shut down option unless you revert to the desktop and install something like 'Classic Start 8) so you can shut down and restart with the GPS connected (or other devices) and the tablet will not ask again for the dongle to be inserted. (Classic Start 8 also lets you use the system with a tradition Win7 interface)
 
DipperToo said:
Took the plunge and found an Asus T100 at John Lewis in their sale at £299 - not bad as it really does include Win 8.1, Full Home Office 2013 and the keyboard. Yes, there are some 'plastic' elements but at this price.......

I have PC Plotter running now and to solve the GPS issue I bought a GlobalSat BU-353-S4 USB GPS Receiver (£30 from Amazon) with an Allreli Micro USB Host Mode On The Go OTG Cable (£1.99 instead of £6.99) which although stated for for Nexus 7 / 10, Xoom, Galaxy S4 runs OK as an adapter to go from MicroUSB to full sized USB. I also got hold of a Plugable USB 3.0 to 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN Network Adapter (£15.50) which connects to the main USB connector on the keyboard part (need this for a hard connection to change on-board wifi settings). All the above installed automatically in Windows 8 and apart from resetting the USB Com Port emulation down to 4800 BAUD for the GPS, no problems as of yet.

All you need to be careful of with this tablet is that after installing all the bundled Apps there is just 11GB left for any additional apps and data. There is however an SD card slot so I will probably use that as the download target for the Navionics charts that PCPlotter uses. For programs that need a 'dongle' key to start, it is worth creating a 'hibernate' button on the Metro interface (Hibernate not a standard shut down option unless you revert to the desktop and install something like 'Classic Start 8) so you can shut down and restart with the GPS connected (or other devices) and the tablet will not ask again for the dongle to be inserted. (Classic Start 8 also lets you use the system with a tradition Win7 interface)
Click to expand...

The only bit in the above which I can understand is the word "Asus" !!

Now I know why I am still in the dark ages , with a Dell desktop/Windows XP and a Nokia "candy bar" phone.

I acquired an Asus T300T, because I was told it would run a borescope App - which it doesn't.

Anyone fancy a smart little tablet, detachable keyboard and case for around £170?.
 
DipperToo said:
Took the plunge and found an Asus T100 at John Lewis in their sale at £299 - not bad as it really does include Win 8.1, Full Home Office 2013 and the keyboard. Yes, there are some 'plastic' elements but at this price.......

I have PC Plotter running now and to solve the GPS issue I bought a GlobalSat BU-353-S4 USB GPS Receiver (£30 from Amazon) with an Allreli Micro USB Host Mode On The Go OTG Cable (£1.99 instead of £6.99) which although stated for for Nexus 7 / 10, Xoom, Galaxy S4 runs OK as an adapter to go from MicroUSB to full sized USB. I also got hold of a Plugable USB 3.0 to 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN Network Adapter (£15.50) which connects to the main USB connector on the keyboard part (need this for a hard connection to change on-board wifi settings). All the above installed automatically in Windows 8 and apart from resetting the USB Com Port emulation down to 4800 BAUD for the GPS, no problems as of yet.

All you need to be careful of with this tablet is that after installing all the bundled Apps there is just 11GB left for any additional apps and data. There is however an SD card slot so I will probably use that as the download target for the Navionics charts that PCPlotter uses. For programs that need a 'dongle' key to start, it is worth creating a 'hibernate' button on the Metro interface (Hibernate not a standard shut down option unless you revert to the desktop and install something like 'Classic Start 8) so you can shut down and restart with the GPS connected (or other devices) and the tablet will not ask again for the dongle to be inserted. (Classic Start 8 also lets you use the system with a tradition Win7 interface)
Click to expand...

Isn't there a power button on the case? Microsoft have trained us over the years not to use these but in Windows 8.1 the external power button really does work.
As for hibernate, it's no longer necessary. Sleep now hibernates after a while but recovers much faster than before and so is the option you should always use as well as leaving as the default for the external power button.
 
DipperToo said:
Took the plunge and found an Asus T100 at John Lewis in their sale at £299 - not bad as it really does include Win 8.1, Full Home Office 2013 and the keyboard. Yes, there are some 'plastic' elements but at this price.......

I have PC Plotter running now and to solve the GPS issue I bought a GlobalSat BU-353-S4 USB GPS Receiver (£30 from Amazon) with an Allreli Micro USB Host Mode On The Go OTG Cable (£1.99 instead of £6.99) which although stated for for Nexus 7 / 10, Xoom, Galaxy S4 runs OK as an adapter to go from MicroUSB to full sized USB. I also got hold of a Plugable USB 3.0 to 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN Network Adapter (£15.50) which connects to the main USB connector on the keyboard part (need this for a hard connection to change on-board wifi settings). All the above installed automatically in Windows 8 and apart from resetting the USB Com Port emulation down to 4800 BAUD for the GPS, no problems as of yet.

All you need to be careful of with this tablet is that after installing all the bundled Apps there is just 11GB left for any additional apps and data. There is however an SD card slot so I will probably use that as the download target for the Navionics charts that PCPlotter uses. For programs that need a 'dongle' key to start, it is worth creating a 'hibernate' button on the Metro interface (Hibernate not a standard shut down option unless you revert to the desktop and install something like 'Classic Start 8) so you can shut down and restart with the GPS connected (or other devices) and the tablet will not ask again for the dongle to be inserted. (Classic Start 8 also lets you use the system with a tradition Win7 interface)
Click to expand...

I'm sorely tempted by one of these to replace a too big laptop on the boat. However, it's main use will be for watching Virgin TV Anywhere on the TV via an HDMI cable.

Does it have an HDMI connection? Couldn't see one on the John Lewis one I had a quick look at today.
 
Richard10002 said:
Pretty sure I'm going to get one, and a 64GB SD card!
Click to expand...

Although useful (even essential) the SD card does protrude slightly due to the curvature of the lid. This means that it might get accidentally 'dislodged'. Some of the Asus transformer forums suggest never installing programs or system data on the SD card - and to always insert the card in a 'standard' mode where it appears as a secondary drive letter. I think Windows 8.1 also allows SD cards to be 'mounted' as part of the C drive filesystem under a directory and there is more chance of it being used as a system resource in this way. That aside, I found that even an SD card designated as HD Video is slower than the built-in SSD (eMMC I believe) drive.

The touch screen is a bit slow redrawing charts when zooming in or out, and it takes a little getting used to running 'old' legacy apps on a windows desktop in tablet mode and bringing up the keyboard for data input which appears to not be automatic. Generally pretty happy though.
 
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