ET Reviews: Acer Iconia W510

Rating: *** 1/2


Price: Rs 48,598 (with keyboard dock)

Specifications:

1.5Ghz dual core Intel Atom, 2GB RAM, 64GB SSD, 10.1-inch touchscreen (1366 x 768), dual cameras, microSD, microHDMI, dual batteries, Windows 8, 660 grams/1.36kg.

Positives: Multiple orientations (laptop, tablet, dock as stand), fantastic battery life, lightweight and easy to carry.

Negatives: Top-heavy design makes it fall over if pushed, keyboard requires getting used to, average hardware.



NEW DELHI: The W510 is one of the cheapest hybrid laptop/tablet devices available today. It has a 10.1-inch display and is powered by a dual core Intel Atom processor, 2GB RAM and has 64GB of SSD storage. You also get a microSD card slot, microHDMI and a microUSB host port (microUSB to USB adapter is provided) along with volume controls, a power button and a screen orientation lock.

With the keyboard dock, you get a chiclet style keyboard and a trackpad. The dock also adds a full size USB port to connect flash drives and hard drives directly. However, the keyboard is not full-sized and requires some getting used to. When the tablet is docked, you can switch to presentation mode by rotating the display — the dock then acts as a stand but the keyboard becomes prone to dust and scratches since it's facing down on the table.

In tablet mode, the touchscreen display (1366 x 768 pixels) is great with Windows 8 but you may feel that a 10-inch screen is too small for comfort when working with multiple windows in normal desktop mode. The computer scored a 3.3 on the Windows Experience Index with the lowest score in graphics.

Thankfully, the performance in terms of basic browsing, office work and multimedia was great for day to day usage. The images from the rear 8MP camera were great in daylight, but sufferred from visible noise indoors and under low light conditions. The tablet’s battery lasted well over seven hours on its own. With the additional battery in the keyboard dock, the battery life is extended to over fourteen hours — very impressive.

For a little bit more, you can also consider Samsung's Smart PC. It has a similar design and the same hardware specifications, but it also has a larger 11.6-inch display, more ports and a pressure-sensitive stylus.

karan.bajaj@timesgroup.com