GULEEK i8 is a tiny Windows 8.1 PC with built-in battery

[watercooled]

I think only the Linx10 can be charged while using the USB port, the rrp on the Linx10 is £150. To be honest the linx devices are just as well built as my Hudl and nexus 7.

You can get OTG charge cables, though I couldn't say for sure it would work on the 7/8. I don't see why it wouldn't though.

[ET3D]

I'd rather buy one of these from a known/trusted brand rather than a cheap China knock off

I agree with the general notion, but not with calling these "knock offs". The less known Chinese companies are leading the way with these products. They're also doing good work with Windows tablets. The main problem is quality assurance, that's what I'm looking for from the bigger companies.

[davidcrofter]

Depending on the price, this could make a very nice little HTPC

A few devices are due to ship (in January) with this chipset that may be better suited to an HTPC:
http://www.futeko.com/products/HT03.php
http://www.futeko.com/products/HT02.php

Hopefully these will come in around the £100 mark and with Windows 8.1 already installed and the option of adding XBMC you have the perfect little HTPC/streamer/internet browser. Be nice to see somebody bring a decent remote for media playback duties though ...

[crossy]

I agree with the general notion, but not with calling these "knock offs". The less known Chinese companies are leading the way with these products. They're also doing good work with Windows tablets. The main problem is quality assurance, that's what I'm looking for from the bigger companies.

My problem with these never-seen-before brands is that they pop up and then disappear just as fast. So you buy the gadget, but if you need support (or an RMA) then you're "outta luck".

On the other hand if - like Spud and I - you prefer to spend a bit more and buy from a "name" (Lenovo, HP, Dell, Asus, etc) then at least you can be relatively sure that they'll still be there next week. And that's not just me bigging up my employer - because I work for one of the companies I named.

Actually, there's a plus for these lill' Chinese companies - in some cases they trailblaze and the big boys follow later with more expensive, but better built equivalents.

Wrt to the GULEEK i8 - it's strange that they didn't bother with a microSD slot for user-expandable storage.

[3s-gtech]

paired with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage supplemented by a microSD card slot

They did bother.

[Saracen]

Really nice and useful little gadget. People go on and on about how much they hate Windows 8 with it's touch oriented controls and new start screen etc - but they always seem to forget how much work MS put in to making Win 8 run reliably and smoothly on what we consider to be lower end devices.

...

Well, as one of the "people" that's been known, on occasion, to moan about Win8, I'd just point out that my (and I stress my) criticism is that MS tried to force a touch oriented UI onto desktop users, and did so to try to leverage mobile hardware sales off the back of those desktop users.

I said, time and again, that MUI might well be fine for touch users (though, personally, I find it horribly ugly), but that does not justify trying to force the compromises touch implies onto desktop users that don't, and in huge numbers, won't have touch screens in anything remotely resembling the near future.

I also said, again and again, that all MS needed to do to defuse that was either to auto-detect touch-capable hardware and default to a non-touch UI if it's not there, or simply let the user choose.

So, at least in my case, no, I didn't forget how much work MS put in in making it work on low-end devices. All credit to them for that. But that doesn't excuse them trying to shove their new touch-oriented UI down desktop users throats, whether they want it or not, when they don't have "low-end" devices but muscle-bound desktop power systems.

It's horses for courses. Touch works fine on, for instance, the tablet I'm writing this on, but there is nothing that appeals to me about touch screens on my desktop. Mouse? Yes. Keyboard? Yup. Voice recognition? Hell, yeah. Graphics tablet? Amen to that. But touch screen? Nope. It's entirely wrong, both in usability and ergonomics, for everything I do on my desktop. Yet, that's what MS tried to force on us, for their benefit not that of Windows users, and THAT is why I have yet to forgive them, and unless they demonstrate by deeds not words that they've learned, why I never will.

As far as I'm concerned, the final, shipping Win10 UI is last-chance saloon for MS. If they get it right, I'll carry on with Windows. If they don't, then where I need Windows for legacy reasons, I'll carry on with XP or Win7, and everything else moves permanently to Linux.

And, I'm quite capable of using one OS, optmised to desktops, on my desktops and another OS, optimised for touch or low power devices, on touch or low power devices. So MS optmising Win8 for low power? Great. But don't expect me to be impressed by that, on a desktop system. Horses for courses, remember?

[Saracen]

Oh, one last thing. This new tiny device looks interesting. I can think of a few potential uses I could make of it.

[failquail]

Regarding the battery, just consider it a built-in UPS

[Gunbuster]

Around the same as a Zotac ZBOX PI320 Pico, but much cheaper and a battery.

[walibe]

It is really interesting but will probably end up in the draw or on the shelf,along with my hp slate, linx tablet, raspberry pi etc. I love trying new hardware and the problem with us being geeks is we get excited about so much stuff (oh look a tiny PC) then hardly use it and move onto the next thing.

My NAS uses a quad core atom and plex works very well on it so I suspect this will be OK but working out the exact purpose of such a device is difficult. (Drones, car pc, media centre?).

I want to resist but I imagine I'll end up importing one soon enough. The included windows 8.1 licence makes it good value.

[Joshyy]

I'm having a hard time really seeing the use for this. I suppose it has very specific uses. It doesn't do anything that a tablet couldn't do, and costs more than a windows 8 tablet (HP stream)

[Spreadie]

I think only the Linx10 can be charged while using the USB port, the rrp on the Linx10 is £150. To be honest the linx devices are just as well built as my Hudl and nexus 7.

The Linx 10 uses a conventional charging port and doesn't charge over USB, but the 7 and 8 inch models do.

Why would you buy this over the Linx 8 / Linx 10 tablets you can currently get for £50 and £80 respectively? Maybe the extra Gb of RAM over the Linx?

The Linx 10 has 2GB, the Linx 7 & 8 have 1GB but are only about 12% behind the 10 performance-wise. Based on the benchmarks I've run. That could be down to the reduced memory bandwidth of the Z3735G compared to the Z3735F in the Linx 10, as much as the reduction in RAM.

Portability, full sized USB port, faster x64 chip (slightly), much better battery life (in theory) - but yes for a lot of people the right question is "whats the point" The Linx stuff is just as poor on the quality front as this will be, so currently there isn't a lot to choose between them other than the slight differences mentioned above.

Have you used a Linx, or are you just making assumptions? Because the quality of all three match or better the Samsung and Nexus tablets we have at home. They aren't quite as good on battery life, but that issue is easily resolved by turning it off when you don't use it.

They boot up in 7 or 8 secs so it's hardly a major problem.

BTW the CPU isn't faster. There isn't a 1.8GHz BayTrail Atom - the Z3735 runs at 1.33GHz and boosts to 1.83GHz, which is what is in the Linx tablets.

Also both my Linx 7 and Linx 10 came with a USB OTG adapter. Curiously, the wife's Linx 8 didn't though.