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The Acer Iconia W5 is a 10 inch Windows 8 tablet that makes a pretty good case for why you probably don’t want to buy a Windows RT device. This tablet has a 10 inch screen, an Intel Atom Z2760 Clover Trail processor, and it can do pretty much everything a Windows RT tablet with an ARM-based processor can, including get something close to all-day battery life.
But while Windows RT tablets can only run apps optimized for ARM processors, the Iconia W5 can run virtually any Windows app. It just might not run some software as well as a laptop or tablet with a more powerful processor.
The Iconia W5 sold for $499 and up when it launched, but now you can often find it for a much lower price. Today Dealfisher has the best price I’ve ever seen — you can pick one up for just $325.
Here are some of the day’s best deals.
- Acer Iconia W5 10″ Windows 8 tablet for $325 – Dealfisher
- Samsung Ativ Smart PC 500T 11.6″ Win8 tablet w/keyboard, 4G for $500 – Dealfisher
- Asus Zenbook UX31 13″ ultrabook w/Core i5 Sandy Bridge, pink lid for $690 – Best Buy
- Refurb Dell XPS 12 convertible ultrabook w/Core i5 Ivy Bridge for $799 – GamingLaptops (via eBay)
- Refurb Acer Aspire S7 ultrabook w/Core i5 Ivy Bridge for $880 – Brown Box (via eBay)
- Refurb Google Nexus 7 w/32GB for $230 – GeekDeal (via eBay)
- Refurb Google Nexus 7 w/16GB for $175 – DigJungle (via eBay)
- Unlocked Sony Xperia Z 5″ smartphone for $560 – Newegg (coupon:Â EMCXRWS22)
- Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit for $80 – Newegg (coupon:Â EMCXRWS24)
- Motorola Droid Bionic Lapdock for $50 – IceMonkey
You can find more bargains in our daily deals section.
Hmm. It’s the first Windows machine to get my attention in a while.
I have to agree about battery life and chargers.
It’s a slippery slope because now you might just carry more stuff to support it if you have to carry a bag now for the charger anyway. At least that’s how it is for me.
There is a world of difference between “something close to all day battery life” and “all day battery life”. One requires you to carry a charger and the other doesn’t.
But one thing sticks out… that weight figure. 1.28 POUNDS? For an x86? Heck, that would be pretty good for any 10″ tablet but an x86? By Thinkpad X200 feels like a bloated hog now. 🙂
Samsung ATIV smart pc has AT&T LTE.
That’s one heck of a deal. For $499 you will get full windows 8 tablet with keyboard, stylus and 4G.
If you can’t dual boot with LInux, then what? Does it run Linux in any way possible at all?
Don’t think they are allowed to lock the bootloader entirely on any x86 based unit, including tablets. So Linux should be possible.
These Windows tablets will only get much cheaper as manufacturers start dumping the Clover Trail and Ivy Bridge tablets for Bay Trail and Haswell products, which could come before the end of this year. The Bay Trail and Haswell products could be cheaper, but at the very least, will offer better battery life, performance, graphics, and a chastened Windows 8.1 OS.
For me, the price difference between current (Clover Trail, Ivy Bridge) and new (Bay Trail, Haswell) products would have to be > 25% for me to consider buying the current models.
Kinda reminds me of the time Apple introduced a significantly improved iDevice (can’t remember if it was iPhone) very shortly after releasing a new one. Apple did it again with the iPad 4 a few months after iPad 3.