News - Schenker Element 10-inch tablet with Windows 8.1 starts at £299

[HEXUS]

Launched at The Gadget Show 2014 today, available from May.

Read more.

[raven1001]

1280x800 Display = no thanks.

[Biscuit]

4GB RAM or GTFO

only thing really holding me back at the mo!

[Flavius]

Why does it have to have 4GB of RAM in order for you to buy it? Pretty sure that 2GB is more than enough, even the new Galaxy Note 10.1 comes with "only" 3GB.

[Biscuit]

Windows is unpleasant with less than 4GB, even with 8.1, unless you are heavily into the whole MUI thing and dont use normal desktop apps much of course. Android is a different OS entirely and is largely ok with 1GB let alone 2GB or more.

[OilSheikh]

Who ? Is this another Chinese manufacturer ?

[Agent]

Who ? Is this another Chinese manufacturer ?

If only HEXUS included this information in the first paragraph of the article....

[SUMMONER]

For those wanting a higher res screen, the HP Omni 10 is £239.04 delivered at the moment.

1920 x 1200 screen, 32GB storage, microSD slot, WiFi, Bluetooth and WIDI. But unlike the Schenker Element it has no in-built 3G.

I am really looking forward to retiring my old "heavy" Thinkpad X61s, but all of these "budget" tablets seem somewhat half baked.

[3dcandy]

Pretty sure that 2GB is more than enough, even the new Galaxy Note 10.1 comes with "only" 3GB.

That will be the galaxy note 10.1 which runs which version of Windows again?

Kitkat 4.4.2. Mwahahahahahahahahahahaha

[davesom555]

I have a Asus T100 which I bought for work. It has a Z3740 bay trail atom and 2gbs of ram and windows 8.1. I gotta say its pretty damn slick. It's fine with 2GBs ram. I'm even running Eclipse (Android dev version) on it. I would imagine it's comparable in speed to this.

[crossy]

4GB RAM or GTFO. only thing really holding me back at the mo!

Was going to agree with you on that, but it's interesting to see that there's folks like davesom555 below and the HP Store revieweres of the Omni 10 that don't see to have too much problems with that minute 2GB RAM. Maybe the fact that the storage is SSD means that paging isn't as obvious as it would normally be?

Not that I'm suggesting that this (or the Omni 10) would replace a decent spec laptop of course - but for a "iPad+" it could be do-able. Much prefer the Omni10 though - an 800 pixel high screen sounds like it could be an annoyance. Then again, isn't the default budget laptop 1440x900?

For those wanting a higher res screenthe HP Omni 10 is £239.04 delivered at the moment. 1920 x 1200 screen, 32GB storage, microSD slot, WiFi, Bluetooth and WIDI. But unlike the Schenker Element it has no in-built 3G.

Dammit, dammit, dammit. I'm registered for the soddin' HP Store, so how the heck did that one get past me? Grr! Actually not that bothered about the lack of in-built 3G - since everyone's twittering on about "4G", having in-built 3G = in-built obsolescence. That Nokia 2520 I bought last month comes with 4G radio. Personally I'd prefer to use a wifi hotspot though - not as if these are massive these days.

[kingpotnoodle]

For those wanting a higher res screen, the HP Omni 10 is £239.04 delivered at the moment.

1920 x 1200 screen, 32GB storage, microSD slot, WiFi, Bluetooth and WIDI. But unlike the Schenker Element it has no in-built 3G.

I am really looking forward to retiring my old "heavy" Thinkpad X61s, but all of these "budget" tablets seem somewhat half baked.

Add a decent MicroSD card to the price then, 32GB won't go far with Windows 8.1 already installed...

[Andrew McP]

the HP Omni 10 is £239.04 delivered at the moment.

Thanks for that, not sure how I missed this machine when I was contemplating a Venue Pro 11. The Schenker looks interesting (compared to other 13x768 devices) but the Omni hits the bang per buck spot nicely, and it's a great screen.

I'd rather pay a bit more for 64GB, especially as Win8 must eat the vast majority of that, but SD'll give me breathing room, and for that money it's hard to complain.

[Noli]

Goddamnit! Just ordered the Asus T100 after waiting ages for decent alternatives.... Still, got it for 64gb US version £300 delivered (fleabay). The res on the Asus (1366x768) is meh and no battery in the dock but 64gb is essential I think and the Schenker and the HP seem to lack good docking keyboard options even if the Schenker does have a 64gb option... still, £250 for the HP is an awesome price if you want the extra res and don't mind 32gb/no dock.

[Andrew McP]

Goddamnit! Just ordered the Asus T100 after waiting ages for decent alternatives

The T100 has been a very attractive buy for a while, but I know I hate the 13x7 screen on my 4 year old CULV laptop. It's functional -- which is the whole point of a lightweight mobile device -- but cramped vertically, so the Schenker's 800 pixels would be very handy.

However while the Omni's resolution might strain the eyes and test the accuracy of my fingertip, it now comes in at a price point where all the other compromises don't look like an issue any more.

Overall this is still a very difficult area to be spending money. We've had enough experience of other tablets now to know they have a very seductive place in our tech repertoire, but the lack of Windows flexibility always leads to frustration. Getting that flexibility is now possible in a variety of compromise formats; none of them ideal. So it's very tempting to put off purchases waiting for 'just one more wafffer-thin iteration'. However with MS trying hard to clear out Surface Pros at a good price, and now the various machines discussed in this thread, it's getting harder to hold back.

Which means that the T100 Mk II will be announced tomorrow with a better screen. Such is tech life! :-)

[Noli]

13x7 screens are not good but I can live with them for basic work and they make more sense for light gaming.

What I find so hard is that the storage subsystem is so small. 32gb just doesn't cut it for what is a media consumption device and a few games or larger programs will eat that in a moment. Even 64gb is hard and that's the high end option!

If the 64gb version of the T100 was released in the UK, I'd have bought it ages ago, more so if they'd had the Asian version with the additional 500gb HDD (or even a slot for one) in the keyboard dock...