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Kumabjorn · 05-06-2014, 11:13 PM

Asus recently released the M80TA more popularly known as the Vivo Tab Note 8, an 8" slate with a Wacom digitizer and stylus inside a silo. On paper this seems the ideal companion for colloege students, and it may very well be when we reach August, right now the build quality is less than optimal.

The device runs a 32-bit version of Windows 8.1, comes in 32 GB and 64 GB models, both with a Micro SD slot. The 32 GB model holds the recovery image on an included Micro SD card. On the 64 GB model it sits on the eMMC C:drive. Office H&S is also included all for a list price of $299 (32) or $349 (64), street price should be around $50 lower. This probably makes it the least expensive full blown Windows device on the market. A cheap USB OTG connector a hub and a keyboard and mouse, perhaps an external monitor and you have a very portable device that should work as decent productivity device in your dorm room. The Atom processor and the 2 GB of RAMs should tell you pretty clearly that games will be limited to chess and Candy Crush.

Advantages are that you can run any Windows based e-Reader inside the slate and it is just the right size to hold in one hand while annotating with th the other. Here, however, is where the main problem appears. The message from boards around the World is that Asus has messed up the Wacom digitizer. After around a month's usage the pen fail rate is, if not stratospheric at least troposhperic. Users have to request RMAs at an alarming rate from Asus. What is worse, depending on your country the response rate may vary wildly. It seems Asus lacks a Corporate wide strategy for dealing with manufacturing problems.

Until a new improved version is released, staying away is the safer bet.

05-06-2014, 11:13 PM	#1
Kumabjorn Basculocolpic Posts: 4,356 Karma: 20181319 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sweden Device: Kindle 3 WiFi, Kindle 4SO, Kindle for Android, Sony PRS-350 and PRS-T1	Asus Vivo Tab Note 8 M80TA Asus recently released the M80TA more popularly known as the Vivo Tab Note 8, an 8" slate with a Wacom digitizer and stylus inside a silo. On paper this seems the ideal companion for colloege students, and it may very well be when we reach August, right now the build quality is less than optimal. The device runs a 32-bit version of Windows 8.1, comes in 32 GB and 64 GB models, both with a Micro SD slot. The 32 GB model holds the recovery image on an included Micro SD card. On the 64 GB model it sits on the eMMC C:drive. Office H&S is also included all for a list price of $299 (32) or $349 (64), street price should be around $50 lower. This probably makes it the least expensive full blown Windows device on the market. A cheap USB OTG connector a hub and a keyboard and mouse, perhaps an external monitor and you have a very portable device that should work as decent productivity device in your dorm room. The Atom processor and the 2 GB of RAMs should tell you pretty clearly that games will be limited to chess and Candy Crush. Advantages are that you can run any Windows based e-Reader inside the slate and it is just the right size to hold in one hand while annotating with th the other. Here, however, is where the main problem appears. The message from boards around the World is that Asus has messed up the Wacom digitizer. After around a month's usage the pen fail rate is, if not stratospheric at least troposhperic. Users have to request RMAs at an alarming rate from Asus. What is worse, depending on your country the response rate may vary wildly. It seems Asus lacks a Corporate wide strategy for dealing with manufacturing problems. Until a new improved version is released, staying away is the safer bet.