The Acer Iconia W4 is a tablet with an 8 inch display, Windows 8.1 software, and an Intel Atom Z3740 Bay Trail processor. Earlier this month it went on sale in India and Hong Kong. Now it’s available for purchase in the US.
Amazon is selling the Acer Iconia W4 with 64GB of storage for $380
A $330 model with 32GB of storage is on the way, but it’s not yet available.
Acer was actually the first company to offer a Windows 8 tablet with an 8 inch screen. But the Acer Iconia W3 which launched earlier this year had a slower processor and an inferior display to the new Iconia W4.
The new model has a 1280 x 800 pixel multitouch display, a quad-core Bay Trail processor which should balance long battery life with decent performance, 2GB of RAM, and a display with better viewing angles.
The tablet has a 5MP rear camera, a 2MP front-facing camera, 802.11a/b/gn WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, a microSD card slot and micro HDMI output. Acer says the Iconia W4 should get up to 8 hours of battery life.
Acer’s little Windows tablet measures 8.6″ x 5.3″ x 0.4″ and weighs less than 15 ounces.
While Acer may have been the first company to launch a small tablet with Microsoft’s touch-friendly Windows 8 software, the landscape has changed a bit in the last few months. The Iconia W4 will have to compete with tablets from Dell, Toshiba, and Lenovo, among others. Most have starting prices around $300.
Is that 32 GB storage independent of the space used up by the bloated Windows OS? Or does Windows use up the vast majority of the 32 GB?
Good thing x86 Windows devices support SDXC media.
Its not bloated because it has full desktop OS rather than mobile OS on big screens like iOS and android.
My 32GB Surface2 has about 26GB free, with office.
Pricing it at $330 is big mistake by ACER. 3 months ago it might have been OK but Dell venue 8 pro is now available for $249 which has almost same specs and thinner as well.
Well, at least it has separate microHDMI and USB ports, which means you can use it “docked” into a monitor while also charging, unlike the Dell Venue 8 Pro. http://liliputing.com/2013/11/using-dell-venue-8-pro-tablet-windows-8-desktop-kind.html
other than the micro-hdmi this tablet is largely yawn-worthy. I am waiting for the Asus 8 inch model..
Does this model have the same problem of only being able to be charged OR have accessories attached? Not both at the same time? Not sure I would be willing to purchase a Windows device with only 2 GB of RAM. I am also not sure about usability of Windows on a 8″ screen. I have not tried it yet but XP on a 10″ netbook screen was pushing it for readability. I may have to see if I can find one to play with to see what I think of it.
If you’re 100% sure you won’t be running any desktop apps then a Windows 8 tablet is not worth getting over tablets with mobile OS’s. For me, I do have enough desktops that I want to use while carrying an 8″ device around even if it’s harder to use (it will be harder to use for sure).
I found that desktop mode on an 8 is difficult but not impossible.
The thought of seamless compatability with my home network and a few of the desktop programs I use is nothing short of intriguing.
Not sure if Android/iOS has any equivalents, but being able to use two apps side by side is definitely a winner for me. Desktop mode is there for when I plug in my external monitor; so far my T100 has pretty much replaced my ultrabook and fulfilled my need of a regular tablet.
I’m personally skipping on this Acer and the other 8″ Windows 8 tablets out right now. I’m still hoping for an OQO slider form factor. If it doesn’t come by Spring then I’ll settle for whatever suits my wants closest by then (ie. active digitizer or bezel mouse, full USB port, separate micro-USB for charging/OTG, full SD card slot, 64-bit UEFI for Linux booting and/or 4+ GB of RAM for Linux VMs). For me, I’m not interested in video out and docking capabilities.
Built-in silo for that active stylus too. Although, I would personally rather have a mouse in the bezel.
I’ve only seen a full size SD slot on the 7″ Raon Digital Everun Note mini laptop. Otherwise, only
microSD_C. I find it very annoying that manufacturers put micro this and that, which necessitates a dongle, messy and lost too easily. The Everun Note also had 2 USB ports, a full size one with host capabilities, and a mini (not micro) with USB slave. It also had a separate connector for charging. No HDMI or USB 3.0 though. Too bad Raon Digital is out of business.
So your wish list can be fulfilled, but only by a manufacturer eschewing convention. I’m with you though, as pollyanna as it looks.
ahh, the everun note, always wanted one but was put off by max 512mb ram?
ISTR it used an embedded optical mouse which worked really well.
The Everun Note had 1 GB RAM. which was not upgradable. It also had a resistive touch screen in addition to the optical mouse.
yep, I was thinking of the plain everun
Can you use the W3 accessories with the W4 or do you have to start from scratch?
Here’s my unboxing and startup video.There is 37.4GB free of 52.0GB. Not quite 64GB apparently.
For you Windows 8 users, can you force the taskbar to go to the longest side whenever the tablet is rotated? With the pinned apps, running apps and system tray icons, having them on the short side is cumbersome. It’d be nice to have the taskbar automatically move to the longest side when the tablet is rotated.
Thanks.
That’s a good idea. Too bad I don’t know how to do it if it’s possible.
I was waiting for this up until… like… quite literally the liliputing note about the Asus TD300LA on 12/25/13. If that has HDMI-out and is truly dual boot Win8/Android, my money’s going there.
That might just be where I’m going too.
dell venue 8 pro with windows 8 was actually launched before acer long time ago.
Hi, Recently purchased the iconia w4, very happy with the overall feel and usability of the product, however i feel windows is still not so touch friendly as android / iOS (current owner of nexus and iPad 4 retina) but from the productivity perspective, having a full blown windows in this form factor with the battery time comparable to an iPad (2 days 6+ hours of wireless mails with push notification, Skype chat and a java based customised full desktop app per day) i would say an awesome battery life which even my mac book pro is not able to deliver. Only crib is windows 8 is not designed for touch operations, almost no accessories available for this tab at the moment. Would love to have the keyboard case Photo 2 and 7 and the keyboard ‘should’ have had a pointer device (trackpoint or trackpad) when mobile + a nice… Read more »