Asus VivoTab Smart (ME400C) Windows 8 Tablet Review

Rating: 8.0.

Want a tablet but struggling to justify the laptop-like price tag? Want a laptop but thinking that the larger size could be an inconvenience? Asus aims to make those problems a thing of the past with its best-of-both-worlds VivoTab Smart (ME400C) ‘hybrid' tablet. Has Asus successfully implanted laptop-class, x86 hardware into a 10.1″ tablet form factor?

As far as large screen tablets go, it's hard to beat Apple's 9.7″ iPad with Retina display. But for many customers who value performance, the base model's laptop-like – £399 – price tag is equally difficult to justify. So how does a company offer mobile hardware that justifies a device's circa-£400 price tag, while maintaining the flexibility and ease-of-use of a large screen tablet? Asus' approach is to combine low-powered, laptop-class hardware with a 10.1″ IPS touch screen display and full-blown, 32-bit Windows 8 operating system.

Packing a 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760 dual-core processor, 2 Gigabytes of memory, 64 Gigabytes of storage and a full-blown Windows 8 operating system into a 580g, 9.7mm-thin, 10.1″ tablet form factor, Asus' VivoTab Smart appeals to both the laptop and tablet audiences. With its x86 chip and proper Windows 8 operating system, the VivoTab smart can operate in a conventional – desktop – environment to run ‘standard' software, as well as the fresh – tablet – alternative with modern apps.

Aiming to provide a solution which eliminates the performance and compatibility shortfalls of ARM-based tablets and increases the portability of a laptop, has Asus hit the mark with its VivoTab Smart ‘hybrid' Windows 8 tablet?

Specifications:

• Display: 10.1″ with Multi-Touch Screen WXGA (1366 x 768) Screen, IPS Panel
• Processor: 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760 dual-core (1MB Cache, Hyper-Threading technology)
• Memory: 2GB
• Storage: 64GB + 32GB ASUS Webstorage space
• WiFi: WLAN 802.11 b/g/[email protected]
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth V4.0
• Camera(s): 8MP rear-facing, 2MP front-facing
• Battery: 25Wh Li-polymer
• Operating System: Windows 8 32-bit
• Dimensions: 262.5 x 171 x 9.7 mm (WxDxH)
• Weight: 580g
• Colours: White/Black/Red

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