It started as an offhand bragging , but turned into a dare . I was telling my Gizmodo workfellow why I hump my Windows 8 tablet : it ’s tight , it ’s cheap , it ’s a amply fledge PC . pit , I said , I could in all likelihood hook it up to a admonisher and use it as my workhorse for a week .
Now I ’m doing just that . It ’s not as bad as you ’d think .
Before we get into this , let me secernate you what I ’m not talk about : the $ 800 + Microsoft Surface Pro . That ’s a o.k. tablet , but my equipment of choice is a $ 300 Dell Venue . The Venue 8 Pro is one of half a dozen loud slates that perforate well above their Leontyne Price tag . In fact , that ’s exactly why I grease one’s palms it — Windows 8.1 loads World Wide Web pages quicker than my similarly price Android tablet ever did . It ’s a material PC . So this dare is totally endure to function out in my favor … right ?
My quest was almost over before it began : the Venue 8 Pro has only one tiny micro USB port , and I quickly instruct that it turn down to point the tab if you plug literally anything else in . My keyboard , mouse and DisplayLink monitor adapter all forced the tab to use its bombardment or else . It does n’t matter how equal to the ticket ’s small Intel Atom processor is — if I could n’t get it to last through a study day , I ’d lost the daring . So , I did what anyone would do : I asked Google . And Google point me to an intact community of people judge to find an response .
immerse deep within the “ Dell Venue 8 Pro Owners Lounge ” on theTabletPCReview meeting place , I foundanswers : some users had modified their USB hubs to trick the port wine into accept both office and data connections . ( Others give up , opt for wireless keyboards and Miracast monitors instead . ) And one peculiarly enterprising group actually designed and Kickstarted apurpose - built hubjust to get their tablets to become jury-rigged background .
I settled on the cheapest , simple answer possible : a splitter , an former DisplayLink USB hub , and a switch that causes an “ inadvertent ” unretentive in the connexion to initiate charging ( Dell actually makesits own cablefor this , too ) . I have no mind how this bizarre combination of wire in reality sour , but at the remainder of the day my tablet had three full - sized USB port , a monitor and a mouse and keyboard . That I can work with .
All told , get down the total thing set up was kind of a pain in the bum , but it work ! My super - sized tablet was more than capable of getting me through the work week . I could juggle half a dozen tabs for research , write post in Kinja ’s web - based editor in chief and even edit , resize and watermark photos in Manga Studio 5 ( Shush , I apply it for drawing on the pad and was too lazy to set up Photoshop ) . Fantastic .
The little getup even multitasks fairly well — palpate like listen to some music ? Spotify lurks in the backdrop without a enlistment . require to get social ? Alt - Tab into Tweetdeck , not a problem . Microsoft Office , Google Hangouts , Steam and all my other always - on desktop apps ran just o.k. . But it ’s not a full alternate for my desktop .
The longer I used my improvised workstation , the more I started to mark little flaw . extremely long page ( an endless Twitter stream , for object lesson ) gave my otherwise suave browsing experience some break , as did open more than a dozen tab at a time ( What ? I ’m a in use guy cable ) . It was n’t enough to force me to switch to my laptop computer , but it did make me more cognizant of the tablet ’s limitations .
I worked my way through these issues and forgave the setup for the sake of the trinket : hoi polloi used to babble out about “ lick from their iPad , ” but I really did shape from a pad . I loved it . The Dell Venue 8 Pro was a $ 250 toy I bought to puff cartoons and take digital comics — now it ’s a versatile , portable workstation . It has its issues ( and leave me languish for thetransition featuresMicrosoft promise for Windows 10 ) , but it ’s a start . Maybe the next generation of little , cheap Windows tablets will be a little more considerate of looney ( like me ) hell - out to on carrying around an 8 - inch do - it - all personal computer . High hop , I know .
An Illustrated Guide to Why Windows 10 Actually Impressed Me
As for that wager ? I think I get ahead : it ’s been a week ( longer , actually ) and I ’m still bring from a preposterous , rigged - up 8 - in tablet , and perfectly happy doing it . On the other hand , I would n’t recommend the experience to anybody less stubborn orhell - bent-grass on alternative computingthan myself — and surely would n’t call it a apparatus ready for the average user . Dell understandably never stand for for anybody to use its plucky trivial tablet this way , and that ’s a shame .
https://gizmodo.com/i-cant-stop-buying-ridiculous-keyboards-and-i-dont-know-1682683606
At good , it ’s a sample distribution of what our slates could be capable of in the nigh hereafter . I genuinely trust that tomorrow ’s tablets will be build up with this kind of modularity in intellect . Until then , my jumble of wire , adapters and switches is practiced enough for me .
But I ’m a stubborn , tinkering madman . Most masses should credibly just wait .
ComputersDellMicrosoftTabletsTechWindowsWindows 8
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and polish news program in your inbox day by day .
intelligence from the futurity , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
