I have another tablet review for you. (See the bottom of the post for some followup on my last review.) This is a “tablet PC” meaning a tablet that runs a full on PC operating system, as opposed to a tablet-oriented operating system.
The screen and stylus use electromagnetic technology. So, you can hold the stylus over the screen, and it still interacts magically with the device. The stylus has a button on it, so when you are doing this spooky and very cool action at a distance, you can click on something or produce some other result. The stylus can also be touched on the screen, and is pressure sensitive. Given all these attributes, you can use the stylus to draw in ways not previously seen before on a tablet or computer. By me. Maybe you have. This is like the Samsung S Pen, as far as I can tell. It is, as I say, very cool.
The tablet also comes with a built in stand (see photo above) which has two positions. This allows what is essentially a small highly portable Windows computer to work with a keyboard and mouse in a very convenient way.
(Of course, you don’t need a mouse because it has a touch screen, but many will be more comfortable using both a mouse and the touchscreen).
This tablet specs are very impressive, with a good processor and screen, lots of holes to plug things into, a rasonable amount of ram and storage, etc., including:
<li>Intel Cherry Trail X8300 Quad C ore 1.44 GH plus processor. </li>
<a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/files/2016/10/Screen-Shot-2016-10-18-at-9.04.30-PM.png"><img src="https://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/files/2016/10/Screen-Shot-2016-10-18-at-9.04.30-PM.png" alt="screen-shot-2016-10-18-at-9-04-30-pm" width="282" height="608" class="alignright size-full wp-image-23122" /></a><li>A 10.6 inch screen (IPS, 1920X1080). </li>
<li>Intel HD graphics designed to save power and allow high end graphics use.</li>
<li>There are 4 GB of DDR3 Ram and 64GB of storage</li>
<li>HDMI output </li>
<li>There are two standard USB outlets and a micro USB, aside from the HDMI </li>
<li>It is designed to work, optionally, with a keyboard, but unfortunately I did not test out the keyboard and they are currently out of stock at GearBest, where this device is most readily available.</li>
Also, the device is uncannily light, at least in my estimation. I will probably be watching Amazon Prime videos on it.
NOTE: I just got this info I’ll pass on to you. If you use this coupon code, the price of the device drops to 168.29. I’m not sure how long that is good for.
sesep
You can charge the device through one of the USB slots, but you can also use an external brick, not supplied but readily available (the kind with the extra small connector thingie).
GearBest actually has a pretty impressive set of other tablets and accessories and they are often on sale. Also, poke around on their site, you will find a “Today’s Deal” section with some pretty good prices such as this Arduino UNO starter kit that I would have bought except I already have all these parts. That deal was 18.99 (normal price closer to %50) but unless you saw this blog post soon after I wrote it, no UNO for you! GearBest ships the product via DHL and that works great to the US in my experience.
</aAnd now, on a different but related matter …
Earlier, I had reviewed the Teclast Tbook, but I hadn’t said much about the keyboard. I’ve since played around with the keyboard, and I have to say that,for the price, it is very much worth it. It turns the PC tablet into a small computers. This, among other things, lets you interact with your android world with a pretty OK Keyboard (comparable to, and similar to, the Mac keyboard). Why would you do that? As a writer, I am shocked that anyone would ask such a questions. Keyboards!
This is the link to the keyboard.
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Okay, I’ll ask…
Can I spray it with Linux and wipe its Windows?
It costs six day’s cowboy’s wages.
Brainstorms, I’m not actually sure at this point.
To get to the bios, turn it off. Then hold one of the volume keys while you also hold down the power key. Wait until you get the bios.
The volume keys let you go up and down, but I’m not sure how to select options, or, for that matter, what the options mean.
The obvious thing to do, of course, would be to boot the device with the appropriate usb stick in place, and just see what happens. Probably nothing, but I’d do that first.
Also, there is WUBI. I’ve never used that.
I’m not impressed with WUBI. Better to flip things around and run Windows in a virtual machine on top of Linux. (I do this at home & at work. Replacing borked Windows “machines” is very easy this way.)
If you can boot a USB stick, you’re probably most of the way there… I’m curious to see if you can, if you can get something like an Ubuntu flavor to boot into “test drive” mode, and if the current kernels support your tablet’s hardware.
With shims out, if you can the above, you can likely defeat the BIOS Boot (“we won’t let you escape Windows”) Lock ‘feature’.
Does it have UEFI or a BIOS?
It looks more like bios than UEFI
That makes it all the more likely that you can boot from / install from a USB… In-ter-est-ing. Let us know!
The specs on this thing look powerful enough to run Ubuntu and be sufficiently responsive. I’m going to cross my fingers that the pen will work as a mouse…
Is there not a problem with Linux not installing properly on a PC once Windows 10 is installed? I read about the problem several months ago.
So far no luck.
And, thinking this might be the case, this Facebook thread:
https://www.facebook.com/laden.greg/posts/10209592744792156?pnref=story
Desertphile, the problems generally involve the UEFI BIOS on the machines, which replaced legacy BIOS some years back — before Windows 10.
One of the features of UEFI (and I’m not sure, but I think Microsoft was involved in getting this added to the spec) is that it can optionally force a crypto check of the boot loader and prevent booting if it doesn’t pass.
The set of PC manufacturers screwed up big time at this point, by collectively abdicating any attempt to control the crypto keys for this feature. Microsoft rubbed its greedy little hands together and snarfed up the SOLE control over this.
And then promptly used its Jaba-like heft to force all the major PC manufacturers to enable UEFI boot loader “locking” — and they then held the only key that would unlock the boot loaders.
The “fox” now pwned the “henhouse” — and all the chickens inside…
Linux maker, such as Red Hat and Canonical soon realized the depth of their screwup. And had to go hat in hand to Microsoft and request that they pretty-please digitally sign their Linux boot loaders. (Some tore into Canonical for “selling out” to Microsoft in getting the signed loader, but they were over the proverbial barrel.)
There were/are two other ways out of this predicament: One is to build a PC with OEM hardware that does not have the UEFI boot loader locking; the other is to buy only PCs that have UEFI that will allow you to disable the boot loader check (the so-called “unlocked boot loader”).
Microsoft is already forcing some manufacturers to only deliver their systems that have Windows 10 on them with the boot loader locked and with no ability to disable it (tablets, mostly, I think, at this point).
The scam from the get-go was this fraud about “protecting the consumer against boot loader viruses”, but those are as common as voter fraud in the U.S.
The real reason was so that Microsoft could force their minions in the PC fabrication business to build systems that could never run anything except Microsoft operating systems. All under the guise of “protecting you” (from Linux, not malware), which is really protecting their income stream.
So, as long as your PC has legacy BIOS, or has a UEFI that can switch to a legacy BIOS mode, or has a bootloader crypto check that can be disabled, you’re okay. (Most home-brew OEM motherboards allow these options. I build my own systems.)
And, at least for the time being, since Microsoft has signed several Linux bootloaders with their (current) key, if your Linux of choice has a signed kernel, you’re okay.
Thank you, Brainstorms, for the detailed explanation. I assumes it was Microsoft being evil. I have a Linux lap-top, which I bought with Windows Vista already installed, because I was told newer versions of Windows would prevent the Linux installation. I am astonished a corporation would willingly “take a hit” in public relations like that.
OK, so what is the best motherboard to a) run either an i5 or an i7, b) allow a lot of ram (like 64G), and otherwise have reasonable expandability, and be full size?
Currently? I’d have to do some research (which is typical when preparing to build a new system). I like ASUS and their subsidiary ASrock for mobo manufacturers.
In 2014, I built my current machine, and the driver then was the (at the time new) Haswell “E-series” CPUs. These are 6/8 core i7s with superior features, many unique to the Haswell line. I’ve got a dual Sandy Bridge Xeon system at work, and my Haswell E is the equal to one of those “workstation” CPUs.
It’s not a Skylake, of course, but it’s still fast, thrifty, and capable. (I got the middle of the 3, the i7 5930K. Best price/power break.) It was the best CPU at the time, so I built my system around that.
I then went shopping for motherboards for the E-series. Didn’t take long to settle on the ASRock X99 Extreme6 RT, from NewEgg. It accepts up to 64 GB (mine has 32 GB), and has excellent expandability. It’s a full-size board. I’ve got it mounted in a CoolerMaster HAF-922 case. The case has great airflow, and I’ve got a water cooling kit installed for the CPU (my first water-cooled system).
It will be a while before I build another, so I don’t have anything regarding current hardware that I could offer you. Maybe just manufacturers that I’ve had good experience with and that make good-quality gear. I tend to somewhat overbuild for my needs and I buy quality… That results in systems that are good for maybe 5 years before they start to “feel old”.
Of course, Microsoft is sticking with their lame assertion that they pushed boot loader locking for everyone’s “security”.
You have to careful now when shopping, to be sure that the boot loader check can be disabled. I’m not against buying a system from an OEM that delivers it with Windows (after all, that covers me to run a Windows virtual machine on it), but I damn well won’t put up with any vendor trying to force me to only run Windows.
And even then, I refuse to use Windows Nein! Er, I think they’re calling it Windows 10 now. I call it “Spyware”.
Brainstorms, thanks for the details, very helpful.
I’m pretty sure you can get around that Windows hardware restriction thing.
https://www.linux.com/learn/how-install-linux-windows-machine-uefi-secure-boot
True, but there are starting to show up on the market some machines that have secure boot that cannot be disabled, such as the Microsoft RT line. Caveat emptor…
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/07/15/windows_fix_closes_rt_unlock_loophole/
This will backfire on them, since the surface is a zombie operating system.
Is this even a review? Like seriously… Not many important details are mentioned like the battery life for example! I own this device and this device SUCKS, to be frank. The battery life is horrible! The maximum I can get it is around 3 hours of continuous use… While other tablets such as the Chuwi Hi10 can get up to 6 hours! To make it worse charging the device via microUSB is super slow when in use and the battery drains quickly even in sleep mode… Why is that?? Are you experiencing that with your device too? I am wondering if it’s just my device at fault but there is another user who is also experiencing the battery drain issue in sleep mode. So that must say something about this shitty tablet
Linda: Yes, it is a review. Can’t do much about your bad attitude, though.
But yes, after some use (which could not have happened prior to, well, time passing) I found that of all the tablets and phones and such in the house, this device drains the battery faster than anything else. I’m not sure it is the batter, though. I think it is the way the OS is set up. Not sure. But, draining down in sleep mode at this level is not what one would expect.
And yes, the USB hookup does not really charge the battery when it is being used, but rather, maintains its level or slows down the draining.
I still manage to use this tablet all the time though. For my particular uses, I just keep it plugged in a lot.
Where can I buy it?