Windows tablets...Cheap Gen 1 Surface Pro vs. Dell Venue 11 pro

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knave:
No form factor will ever be truly extinct. Consumers have been moving to laptops because the mobility and convenience has outweighed better price/performance ratio of desktops. But their is still plenty of market for desktops. I do agree that at the budget end price and specs have become similar. ~$200 for a crappy CPU and 2GB ram 4 if you are really lucky. But for anything but the most budget models desktop specs will start to edge out laptops at higher price points.

Businesses Still prefer desktops for the majority of their users. (Unless they Need Mobility)Thin clients and ultra small form factor desktops are a threat to them but pricing for the enterprise level of virtualization software is not at a point where it makes it cost effective unless the shop has special needs. And then they can use cheaper one-of solutions. I'd say offices who do not need mobility can find a better desktop solution.

These laptop-tablet hybrids do have a place...it is about convenience vs need. The 2-3 year old surface has specs that are good enough to accommodate the needs of the average computer user. Put it in a box, hooked up to a monitor, keyboard and mouse and lots of people wouldn't notice. it is good enough for email, social media, TV and light productivity. But it IS portable...just you don't have a huge screen, or full keyboard, or mouse without hooking them up this sacrificing some convenience. At $150 it is totally worth it but at $800 I will pass and just use a Laptop. I still love the $200 old school Latitude I picked up off-lease.

I'm an anomaly in that I (am crazy) have the luxury to dedicate several computers to various purposes to meet my needs. Whereas I could easily just use one Laptop for everything. When I travel I take a Laptop, and tablet, and smartphone with me. I'm pretty sure that for most trips I could get by with the surface and my phone. That is the nitch. At home I use it to read, or watch TV if I don't want to disturb others...or to look up that "one thing real quick" because it there within arms reach. Sure I could use my phone...but the tablet is just nicer and I still don't have to sit down.

thomas_surles:
I got mine in the mail yesterday and put sims 4 on it for my wife. Runs great. I like that it can mount .iso out of the box without extra software. I need to get a pen for it to see if I can trace artwork and vectorize it.

RayB:
Just beware some of them are well engineered while others are old-school and have a fan inside to dissipate heat. They get noisey. No tablet should need a friggin fan, not this day in age.

thomas_surles:
I've noticed mine gets really hot.
It has overheated on my wife playing sims 4

knave:
I've noticed that mine gets warm...Not really hot and never uncomfortable to hold...there is a fan but it is pretty quiet. I can't hear it unless I put my ear to right up to the tablet and with any audio playing it is pretty inaudible.

My dell tablet has a fan as well it is louder than the surface and still never bothered me. I do think the fan on the Surface kicks on sooner and more.
I understand the need fan. Tablets with low power CPUs don't need a fan. But this is basically a full Laptop CPU shoehorned into a tablet. I'll take the fan noise and more grunt any day over weak and silent.

The fan in the surface is pretty well designed. The exhaust exits through a slot that runs most of the length of the top of the tablet. I barely notice it and I don't any risk in accidently covering the port.

After using it for a while I can say it is a pretty solid device. its few quirks are easy to overlook considering how well it functions.

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