Checking things out today, I came across a bunch of price comparisons that made my head spin and which altered my entire tablet thinking.
Just look at these two compared (click each to enlarge):
64GB Dell Venue 8 Pro for US$319 vs 16GB HP Slate 8 Pro at US$329 (B&H has a sale right now, so the Slate is US$310).
How the hell can I justify a Slate 8 Pro up against that Venue 8 Pro?
I have a slow crap desktop PC that sorely needs replacing. The Dell Venue 8 Pro would give me three bangs for the buck:
1) It could replace this desktop (I’ve seen many videos that show it’s possible).
2) I could use the same Windows software I’m used to already.
3) I could disconnect it to use as a tablet for Google Books PDFs. Although it was crap at that with the built-in PDF reader, I now see that Foxit Mobile PDF — the same software that’s wicked fast with Android — is available for Windows 8 Metro UI.
Another thing to note is that the Venue 8 Pro is also less expensive than the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4, which has a rumored price of US$390.
My head is really spinning here.
Prices also get weird when you consider than a Kindle Paperwhite 3G without ads is a whopping US$209 — at a time when a decent brand-name tablet can be had for just US$150. Note too that the Kindle Paperwhite WiFi without ads (really, who wants ads?) is US$139 — spend the few dollars more for an actual full tablet! Those Kindle prices really have to drop to make any sense whatsoever.
So, all my past tablet thinking is now upset with that Dell Venue 8 Pro with 64GBs of RAM storage being less expensive than a premium Android tablet.
If there’s anyone out there with a Dell Venue 8 Pro, cut me a break and let me know how it does with Foxit Mobile PDF and a huge Google Books PDF — this American Magazine PDF.
Previously here:
My Own Tablet Thinking At The Moment, Part Three
My Own Tablet Thinking At The Moment, Part Two
My Own Tablet Thinking At The Moment
Mike Cane’s xBlog 
While I would consider getting one of these Windows tablets, it would have to be a real bargain. That´s because I have too much content already purchased in the Google Play store, and I imagine much of it is not available in the Windows app store.
That’s exactly why I can consider a Windows tablet: I don’t have any investment in Android apps. And most of the Windows apps I use are free. Desktops versions, yes, but as a desktop replacement, it’d be hooked up to my monitor anyway.
64GB of *RAM*?
No, it has 2 GB of ram. It has 64 GB of storage (or 32, depending on the model). But much of that storage is used up by Windows itself.
Since it is a full Windows device, you can load Adobe Reader, and not use the built in metro PDF reader.
Ops. Did I make a stupid typo? Will fix. Thanks.
Adobe Reader sucks. I use a different free PDF Viewer on my PC but would rather have Foxit Mobile on a tablet.
EDIT to add: I’ve fixed the typo and also added the storage capacity to the line comparing it to the Slate 8 Pro — which has 16GBs — to make it clearer. Thanks again.
One thing to note, Intel is reportedly going to”subsidize’ their tablet market entries to gain more market share. Reportedly as much as $1 billion could go into this effort. In fact I’m seeing both Intel and Microsoft tablet prices being dropped due to these efforts. Similar to how Amazon and Google sell at lower prices.
Yes. They’re doing it in China too, to gain new CPU partners — but it’s not dropping tablet prices over there, just gaining partners.