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I've waited and done extensive research on slate tablets for months since win8 release. What I looked at were surface rt, surface pro 128gb, Lenovo yoga 128gb, sony, and other rt tablets. After using the surface rt for 3 weeks, it was obvious that it's not going to cut it for work. Hence I went with the win8 tablet hybrid instead. OF the win 8 business tablets, I narrowed it down to the lenovo win 8 series and the acer w700 128gb. In the end i considered the acer based on its unique out of the box style that is practical; and of course, because the pricing is a steal when comparing to the lenovo at the same spec.
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One complain I have with the acer naming convention for its w700 model is that it is utterly dumb. I know it's for marketing / price discriminiation (geography wise) purposes, but it sure confuses heck out of me. In this day and age, thankfully, the internet came through and aided me in the comparison.
For the W700 128gb, you'll have the 3 models to choose from: W700-6465, W700P-6821, W700-6680
You can visit mfr url to take a look at the comparison; noticed anything? THEY ALL HAVE THE SAME SPEC yet are different in prices.The W700P-6821 is the most expensive, yet offer the same build. HMMMM... So, I ended up choosing the W700-6680 and did not regret.
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One thing I considered was the space availability. As mentioned before, 64 gb won't be enough because after office and the OS, you'll barely have room left for software like Adobes, nevermind pictures.
Ideally, I wanted the surface 128gb, but its pricing and avialbility is ridiculous. Also the screen size is not great for work. So my next candidate ended with this acer w700 128gb.
Screen size, it's almost 12" so it's adequate. Other specs comparing to the other manufacture is a bargain since I was able to buy it for under $900 shipped. As a whole, it's worth the wait, kind of.
Acer did a good job with the hardware, but one big engineering flaw is their Bluetooth keyboard that came with it. It needed to be able to sense when you fold it behind the tablet and disable the keys because now, it's not possible to use the tablet without keys being spammed.
Another issue I see is the tablet keyboard/cover itself. It does not fit like a glove and took more than a hassle each time trying to hit the sleep button. You must use some manpower to press on the plastic cover to reach the button. It's very very annoying!
Lastly, the cover does not have the sleep/wake function. :(
The Bluetooth keyboard does not wake up once in a while after windows go to sleep so I would have to reset the pc. Very annoying as well. Not sure if this was an os issue or not.
It's too heavy......Maybe I'm spoiled by the weigh of other tablets are made for consumption such as my kindle because 3 pounds plus another 14 oz keyboards does add up.
I'm okay with these major flaw only IF acer sells other accessories covers to address the issue. If not, heck, for twice the cost of an ipad, I fail to see why customers would flock to windows tablet except for legacy softwares for work. (im a windows guy)
That's my take on this tablet. I truly want a perfect tablet, but as of now. i'm still looking but at the time, i'll keep my w700 128gb since it's the best product / value on the market at this time.
UPDATE: Been using it for a month now and i'm getting the hang of it. Windows 8 is awesome and this piece of hardware is the best $1000 tablet / convertible on the market in my opinion. I will give it another star for the excellent work done by Acer. I'm still waiting for Acer to release better accessories such as keyboard for this tablet because the bluetooth keyboard that comes with this Iconia is blah.
UPDATE: 3/17/13
Still no patch / accessories out to fix the following major issue so i'm knocking off a star:
unable to turn off screen (sleep mode) and play media. How ridiculous is this? All tablets even the cheap $100 could go into sleep mode and play music. It's not windows 8 flaw because the ms surface does sleep and play.
This is a major flaw!
Come on, if you spent $1000 on this mainly for work, the device ought to have a better functional keyboard, etc.
AS OF today, there are no accessories out that allow this. #1. You simply cannot use this to sit on your lap and type. #2. The Keyboard is blah. #3. Does not have the auto wake/sleep function on a $1000 device's cover....
I'm keeping this device for work, however, it's because this is the best device on the market for work/portability. Unfortunately, it's not perfect but it is worth using until the next generation of pro tablet.
CONCLUSION: Was it worth the cost and the wait? Do I recommend it?
Although there are shortfall, the answer is YES. I am keeping mine and does recommend it to other. Reason for the 3 stars is because 3 stars is for good ranking in my mind and I am very very picky with my electronics because of my profession.
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