Saturday 25 January 2014

HP Envy x2 vs Dell Venue 11 Pro vs Acer Iconia W700:Who is the winner?

 W.A.Khan,                                                                                                                                               HP Envy x2                                                                                                                                                 The Envy x2 impressed us. Its outstanding industrial design really shows the potential of a tablet/laptop hybrid. The HP Envy x2 has a clean, comfortable design and feels lightweight in tablet form. It has excellent battery life, and works just as well as a laptop as it does as a tablet.                                                             Performance:                                                                                                                                           Unfortunately, as soon as we start talking performance we’re confronted by the fact that Clover Trail is still Atom, and Atom is still not in any way, shape or form a performance chip – and that 2GB RAM maximum doesn’t help here either.Don’t get us wrong, for navigating through Windows and average daily use such as browsing the web and running apps or light programs, the Z2760 in the HP Envy x2 runs smooth as butter. Performance is consistently superior to that in the netbooks of yore, especially when it comes to HD video playback and light multi-tasking, and most non 3D-gaming apps you’ll find in the Windows store should run without a hitch.
However, proper multi-tasking; running intensive HD video simultaneously with another program; or using demanding programs like an image editor can still quite easily bring this kind of machine to its knees. In other words, as a tablet the x2 performs admirably, but as a laptop replacement you have to be prepared to put up with its limitations.
3D gaming in anything but the most casual titles, meanwhile, is also a big no-no. Even at minimum settings our test games simply refused to run or crashed after getting through the menus. Mind you, this is not surprising given that Intel’s integrated GMA 3600 chip paired with the Atom Z2760 is derived from an old PowerVR design the benefits of which Windows drivers don’t fully bring out. Hopefully updated drivers will eek out more performance.                                                                                                                                     Battery life:                                                                                                                                                 Battery life is impressive, living up to HP’s claim of seven hours when we streamed video from BBC iPlayer. And, of course, there’s a second battery in the keyboard, which provides an additional seven hours of battery life. No ultrabook that weighs a similar amount can claim to last this long.                                       But, The laptop mode is top-heavy, and the awkward tablet detachment mechanism isn’t perfect; it has limited ports; and a slower Atom processor means in performance it's far behind most ultrabooks, even though it’s priced like one.                                                                                                                         The bottom line: The HP Envy x2’s capacity to be a full Windows 8 tablet or dock with a keyboard works as well as advertised, provided you’re willing to live with slower performance at a high price. You’re paying for style.
Windows 8 (32-bit); 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760; 2GB DDR2 SDRAM 1,066MHz; 747MB (Total) Intel GMA; 64GB SSD                                                                                                                           Processor 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760
Memory 2GB, 1,066MHz DDR2
Hard drive 64GB SSD
Graphics Intel GMA
Operating system Windows 8
Dimensions (WD) 11.9x8.1 inches
Height 0.6-0.7 inch
Screen size (diagonal) 11.6 inches
System weight / Weight with AC adapter 3.1 pounds / 3.6 pounds (tablet + keyboard)
Category Ultraportable hybrid                                                                                                                   Price; $849                                                                                                                                             VS                                                                                                                                                         Dell Venue 11 Pro                                                                                                                                   Dell's Venue 11 Pro is one tablet that works in three different ways. You can use it as a typical Windows 8.1 tablet, snap it into a keyboard dock and use it like a laptop, or remotely connect it to a dock hooked up to a monitor or TV to play movies and TV shows on a larger screen.Dell says it has "The power of an Ultrabook, performance of a desktop, portability of a tablet."The Venue 11 Pro is unmatched for practicality. There's a mini-HDMI output; a 3.5mm headset jack; a full-sized USB 3 port; a volume rocker switch; and a Kensington lock slot.The rear panel pops off to allow access to the 32Wh battery, and in a welcome change from its predecessor, the Latitude 10, the Venue 11 Pro charges via micro-USB.The Venue 11 Pro10.8-inch a Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) IPS display and will be offered with Intel's Atom quad-core Bay Trail processors or a fourth-generation Haswell processor up to Core i5 -- supporting up to 8GB RAM, 256GB of storage, WiDi and NFC.With the big screen and quad-core processor you’ll get around eight hours of mixed use from a single charge, and a little more if you turn down the brightness and avoid using Wi-Fi. That’s better than the Surface Pro 2, though not the ARM-powered Surface 2. Eight to nine hours is more than adequate for a day of work, and the Venue 11 Pro has one advantage in that you can remove the back cover and replace the battery with a spare – a real rarity in the tablet world.One thing that sets the Venue 11 Pro apart, however, is that the back cover can flip off, revealing a removable battery. Both versions of the tablet are pen-enabled, and each includes an 8-megapixel back camera. Accessories include a $99 dock that allows you to push the tablet's display to a larger monitor, a keyboard with a back stand, and a full keyboard dock with USB ports.Price:$500.
VS                                                                                                                                                           Acer Iconia W700                                                                                                                                     The Acer Iconia W700 can work as a tablet or a small desktop, and it has a high-res screen and excellent battery life.The tablet's performance was also responsible for a lot of that joy. With an Intel Core i5-3317U at the helm, along with 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM, Intel HD 4000 graphics and a 128GB solid state drive, the Iconia W700 can give laptops a run for their money when it comes to speed. It had no problems streaming video from the Web (from paid services such as NBA.TV, as well as YouTube and Vimeo), and it was responsive when it came to browsing Web pages, loading apps and flicking through photos. It really is perfect for media consumption.Acer claims the Acer Iconia W700 battery (4,850mAh capacity) battery lasts eight hours. This is a little optimistic. We found it was closer to six hours during normal, everyday use. Were it a laptop that would be ok, but it's not great for a tablet and unlike most tablets it has a proper dedicated charger - it doesn't charge via USB.
But, The non-adjustable stand limits viewing angles, and you'll need an external mouse or touch pad for efficient Windows navigation.
The bottom line: One of the only Core i5 slate-style Windows 8 systems we've seen, the Acer Iconia W700 asks few compromises for full-time use, but the design isn't for everyone.                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Specifications
ProcessorIntel 3rd Gen Core i5i5-3317U / 1.7 GHz ( 2.6 GHz ) ( Dual-Core )
Memory4 GB/ 4 GB (max)
Hard Drive128 GB- Serial ATA-300
Operating SystemMicrosoft Windows 8
Display Type11.6 inIPS
Max Resolution1920 x 1080 ( Full HD )
Graphics ProcessorIntel HD Graphics 4000 Shared video memory (UMA)
Optical DriveNone                                                                                                                                     Price;$959.99 

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