Tag Archives: tablet

Linx 10V64 Review – the budget Windows 10 tablet on a new playing field?

Rating: ★★★★

PROS:

  • Improved Atom processor and 4GB RAM for the first time in the Linx range
  • Windows 10 performance better than ever
  • New kickstand definitely a welcome design improvement

CONS:

  • Low resolution 720p screen (still!)
  • Touchpad leaves something to be desired
  • Slow to charge

Buy now from Amazon – £219

Linx are stepping up to the challenge of improving performance on their portable, lightweight tablet range this year and the latest product to reach the high street is this – the Linx 10V64. It packs a punch for the pricetag with a brand new Intel Atom processor and an impressive upgrade to the memory with it now boasting 4GB of RAM – but are the new features enough to make it the best budget Windows tablet around right now? Let’s find out!

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Introduction

The Linx 10V64 is far from the first Windows tablet they’ve ever made, and Linx now have a growing range of options to suit a wide variety of needs. They’ve come a long way from the Linx 10 they first released back in 2014 with a wide range of designs now available all with different accessories and specifications.

The current generation of Linx tablets for 2016 includes the Linx 820 for those who prefer the smaller screen size, the Linx 1020 which looks remarkably similar to last year’s 1010 and this – the Linx 10V64, which is a new specification baseline for 2016.

Where does this one stand? I’d say the 10V64 is aimed at slightly more power hungry users who are looking for more of a casual laptop substitute as opposed to a travel tool or toy. Don’t get me wrong – it’s never going to give the Microsoft Surface Pro a run for it’s money, but you’ll certainly be able to multitask more practically with it and possibly even handle light gaming (emphasis on the light, though!).

Design

The Linx 10V64 shares more design similarities with its distant ancestor, the Linx 10, than with its more recent predecesssors. With this model, you’ll notice the reintroduction of the fold-over material cover design, but with several improvements. Most signficantly, you now have a physical kickstand, and it’s fair to say this is world’s apart from the oragami style stand we had with the Linx 10. You have the capability to stand the tablet at two decent viewing angles – one that’s aimed at close up usage and the other that’s more aimed at film viewing. The kickstand is sturdy and while a little thinner than I’d like, it does have a reassuring level of strength that suggests it should withstand day to day usage happily.

Other design changes include the clip on keyboard cover, which makes a satisfying click when docking it to the tablet itself. Additionally, they’ve made a couple of connectivity changes which might be seen as better or worse depending on the angle from which you’re standing. You now only have a single USB 3.0 Type-A port (instead of two on the 1010), but you do get a microUSB OTG cable in the box to provide you with that extra port should you need it. The charger is now a hardwired microUSB plug which provides 2A of power – I’m not entirely sure why Linx decided to go down this route instead of providing a power brick with a USB port. Cost savings, maybe?

Hardware

Under the hood is where you’re going to notice the vast majority of improvements. The Linx 10V64 sports an Intel Atom x5-z8300 quad core processor which has a higher general clock speed and a lower SDP, resulting in greater performance with less battery drain. In addition, you now get 4GB of DDR3 RAM instead of 2GB. As a result, the device is much more capable of multitasking and will quite happily juggle 3 or 4 applications at the same time without any signifant slowdown.

64GB of eMMC storage is fitted by default (around 20GB of which is used by the device itself) – this isn’t a gargantuan amount but will happily store your office software and a small multimedia collection. For those that need more, there’s a MicroSD card slot which supposedly will allow you to add up to 200GB more storage with the right card.

Network connectivity is little improved since the last model with the device still supporting 802.11b/g/n. Sadly there’s still no 5GHz support which is a shame, but most day-to-day users probably won’t notice the difference.

The only real area of disappointment is the screen, which still only operates at a resolution of 1280×800 (720p). I’d have happily paid a little more to see this reach 1080p, but Linx clearly have a few old display units they need to use up!

Battery life

Battery life is one area where the Linx 10V64 carries the baton from the last generation. Under normal use (web browsing and music playback), I was able to achieve around 6 hours of usage which is more than usable. Dim the display a little and you might even squeeze out another hour of juice.

Unfortunately, the same level of enthusiasm isn’t felt when it comes to charging the tablet. From flat to full, it took almost as long to charge as it took to discharge. This is largely down to the poor 2A power input which really should have been improved since the last model.

Display, keyboard and mouse

I used the tablet as my daily driver for a few days just to get an idea of the user experience, and for the most part I was pretty impressed.

Typing isn’t a problem at all with this tablet – the soft keys took a little while for me to get used to but I found myself typing at a decent speed in no time. Key travel is average and the keys sometimes feel a little stubborn, but it’s more than acceptable for a device of this size with a decent amount of space between each key.

The touchpad is, as usual for this kind of device, fairly disappointing. In fairness, moving the mouse and clicking with the touchpad is pretty comfortable – however, it has a huge tendancy to be over-confident with the pinch to zoom function, meaning it’s all too easy to zoom in and out while browsing a webpage in error. If you’re going to be using this tablet a lot at a desk, I’d strongly consider investing in a Bluetooth or USB mouse.

Thankfully, the usability of the device is redeemed as soon as you start working with the touchscreen. It’s incredibly precise and has no input lag whatsoever – this is really great to see. Colours are a little washed out when viewing photos, but the brightness of the device makes it easy to work with it a well-lit environment.

Worth the upgrade?

If you’re still using a Linx 10 or any other old Windows 8 tablet, I think there’s definitely a fair argument in favour of upgrading. Linx have made the effort to improve the raw performance, and this does show when using the device for extended periods. Apps launch much more quickly than on older models and the boot up from cold speed is a matter of seconds – something that puts devices like the iPad to shame considering the size of the Windows operating system. You’re going to struggle to get better value for the specifications – when you consider you’re getting a specification equivelent to a mid-range small laptop, it’s hard to beat for a little over £200.

For those using the Linx 1010, it’s a more difficult set of scales to balance. The form factor is very different compared to the 1010, and those who want a solid keyboard/touchpad cover will be disappointed. However, if you’re looking for a power boost and you’re not too worried about the loss of one of your USB ports, this could still easily be soon as good value for money.

For the first time Windows tablet buyers…

This is a steal. If you’re in the market for a Windows 10 tablet and you haven’t got the cash to go for a Microsoft Surface, this is the one to go for in my view. You’ll want to look elsewhere if you’re going to be using this for professional video editing or gaming (although older, less demanding pre-2013 games will probably run just fine), but if you’re considering this as a university computer or a Netflix streamer this will be more than capable.

Buy now from Amazon – £239

Review: Lenovo Yoga 300 Intel Celeron 11.6″ Convertible – practical portability from Lenovo

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Rating: ★★★★

PROS:

  • Good all-rounder for most day-to-day tasks
  • Very decent keyboard with good feedback and decent key size
  • Excellent range of connectivity (3x USB, HDMI, Ethernet, Bluetooth)
  • Very decent wireless connectivity with dual band 802.11ac support
  • Very powerful and cleverly designed charger

CONS:

  • Touchpad leaves a lot to be desired
  • Intel Celeron processor performs reasonably well but isn’t hugely energy efficient
  • 2GB RAM is fixed and cannot be upgraded
  • Low resolution display (1366×768/720p)

Buy now from Amazon – best price at time of writing £159.99

Buy now from eBay UK – from £210 NEW or £160 NEARLY NEW

It’s been a little while since I last wrote a review for a portable computer, so I thought I’d head back to my roots and see what’s new on the market at the moment. I managed to pick up this budget Lenovo Yoga 300 tablet online and I’ve put it through it’s paces.

The Yoga line from Lenovo is nothing new. The concept is simple – any “Yoga” device has 360° hinges meaning that it is essentially a “convertible” and can theoretically be used as both a tablet and a conventional notebook computer. Yoga laptops from Lenovo have been around since 2012 and the release of Windows 10, but since then they have become more refined and have picked up several improvements.

Inside the box you get the notebook itself, a 45W mains adapter and a small amount of paperwork. Unboxing the device and powering it up for the first time was fairly simple – except I found that I had to plug the unit in for the first time before it would boot (despite having almost a complete charge from the outset). Relatively promptly you’ll end up at the Windows 10 setup screen (Windows 10 now comes pre-installed on these devices, despite earlier versions being available with Windows 8.1). It’s the usual set of set up questions, with the exception of one additional step for Lenovo registration (which is optional). Once you’re done with that, the notebook will reboot and you’ll be ready to go fairly quickly. The notebook comes with a fair amount of additional pre-installed software, such as various Lenovo tools (handy but not strictly necessary) and a 30 day trial of McAfee LiveSafe which is OK but nowhere near as responsive as Norton Security or even Windows Defender (which is free and comes with Windows).

The first thing I noticed with this notebook is the quality of the keyboard. Lenovo really seem to have a knack for putting together really decent keyboards with just the right level of typing feedback and the perfect level of movement, making lengthy periods of typing an absolute breeze. As I use a pretty wide variety of keyboards very frequently, it did take me a little while to pick up the position of prominent keys such as enter and shift, but this was a minor bugbear that’s very common with new devices.

Sadly, the same really can’t be said for the touchpad. It still baffles me as to why manufacturers decided to remove the physical left and right mouse buttons and rely on either the tap-to-click function or, worse still, a designated area that is possible to tap but almost impossible to click and drag. Youch! It’s not unusable by any means – it’s just such a shame that manufacturers haven’t learnt this lesson. For simple navigating as a mouse pointer it’ll work without issue – it’s just so painful trying to move things with a finger and thumb! This technique only seems to work with Apple MacBooks – primarily because they have a large enough touchpad area to make the idea workable. For everything else – forget it!

Thankfully, there are other areas where this device really shines. The overall build quality is very impressive and device feels really solid. The brushed black metal that lines the lid and chassis looks very professional – although it does show wrist marks a little more than I’d like. The touchscreen display also works impeccably, with very little delay and a high level of accuracy.

Connectivity stands out on this device with a grand total of three USB ports (consisting of 2x USB 2.0 and 1x USB 3.0), a full size HDMI connector, a collapsible gigabit Ethernet port, a full size SD card reader and a 3.5mm headphone jack. For a device that is just 14mm thin from bottom to keyboard level, this is seriously impressive. Having the USB ports is eternally useful on these portable devices – especially as one of them is what Lenovo call an “always-on” USB port, which basically means it’ll charge devices such as your mobile phone even if the computer is completely switched off (essentially acting as a portable battery bank). Furthermore, the device comes with a very well designed reversible 45W power adapter, meaning that charging from flat to full only takes around two hours and is easy to connect in low light. These small things matter!

File transfer speeds over the on-board wireless 802.11ac adapter were impressive.

File transfer speeds over the on-board wireless 802.11ac adapter were impressive.

File transfer speeds over the on-board wireless 802.11ac adapter were impressive.In addition to physical connectivity, you also have very decent dual band wireless 802.11ac networking, which performs very well. When transferring a large file from my NAS to the device over around a 10m distance through two floor levels, I was still achieving in excess of 11MB/s (~85Mbit/s) which is perfectly adequate and on a par with my much more powerful MacBook Pro. The device will of course still pick up your older 802.11a/b/g/n networks too.

Running multiple applications ate up the RAM fairly quickly, but the device handled basic multitasking well.

Running multiple applications ate up the RAM fairly quickly, but the device handled basic multitasking well.

Running multiple applications ate up the RAM fairly quickly, but the device handled basic multitasking well.Actual performance from a benchmarking point of view is more or less par for the course given the specs of the device. With a 1.83Ghz Intel Celeron processor (with Turbo Boost up to 2.25Ghz) and 2GB of RAM, it’s no ground breaker. It’s perhaps a little more snappy than the similarly priced Linx 1010 tablet, but the Atom processor in the Linx is a fair bit more efficient in terms of power consumption and this shows in the around 4-5 hour battery life while in light use on the Lenovo. Nonetheless, most apps load very quickly and boot times are better than average for a device of this class. It’s a shame to see a 11.6″ device with only 2GB of RAM as this will hold you back if you want to run several applications at once, but there are more expensive models available with better specs. As would widely be expected most basic applications (such as Spotify, Microsoft Office and Google Chrome) will run simultaneously without too much trouble. Streaming 1080p video from YouTube was flawless (even though the device has a 720p display).

There are a couple of other minor niggles that might irritate a few people. Unsurprisingly, the on-board speakers are weak and lack bass – I wouldn’t want to use them for any extended period of music playback. The keyboard, while very comfortable to use as aforementioned, lacks a couple of useful keys. There’s no skip forward and backward function keys, which meant I frequently had to stop what I was doing and pull up Spotify to skip between tracks. The bezel around the display is surprisingly large and leads me to wonder whether Lenovo would have been capable of providing a slightly larger screen area without having to increase the size of the device. Finally, there is a tiny of bit of play in the hinges on the device, so if you type quite heavily (like me) you might experience a teeny bit of screen wobble which, while not enough to annoy me, was a little too noticeable in some scenarios.

Overall, it’s a very impressive device but just has a couple too many minor issues to warrant a five star review. Don’t get me wrong – sometimes I can be a little picky with these minor things, but that’s what reviews are for! It does what it’s designed to do and makes working in a small space very enjoyable – which is much more than can be said for some other devices in this class. Who would I recommend it to? Well, if you’re looking for something to type up reports on the go with or you feel the need to be connected to your emails and social media around the clock this is probably the perfect device for you. If you’re looking for a larger laptop replacement that’ll cope with more demanding tasks such as multimedia editing or gaming, look elsewhere as you’ll want something with more defined internal specifications.

Buy now from Amazon – from £210

Buy now from eBay UK – from £210

See also: Linx 1010 Review – best Windows 10 tablet on the market right now?

Linx 1010 Review – best Windows 10 tablet on the market right now?

Rating: ★★★★½

PROS:

  • Massive improvement from a design point-of-view
  • Two USB ports
  • Windows 10 works well

CONS:

  • Low resolution screen (720p)
  • Office 365 no longer included with Windows 10

Buy now from Amazon – without keyboard 

Buy now from Amazon – with keyboard

Buy now from eBay UK with keyboard

Linx have recently released their follow-up to the great value Linx 10 tablet which ran Windows 8.1, and it’s called the Linx 1010. The new version comes just in time for the new release of Windows 10 and it’s one one of the first tablets to come preloaded with the new software. So what’s new – and how does the new tablet stack up against the old one? Let’s find out!

Introduction

The Linx 1010 is designed to follow on from the success of the Linx 10. It’s designed to be great value for money while providing ample performance for most day to day tasks – such as browsing the internet, checking email and watching streaming services on the go. But the Linx 10 did this job absolutely fine as I pointed out in my last review, so what’s new – and is it worth upgrading from the previous generation?

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[Quick fix] Fix no or incorrect auto rotate on Windows 10 tablets

One thing I have noticed having used Windows 10 on various tablets, is that in many cases the auto rotation feature doesn’t always work correctly – both out of the box and after upgrading from Windows 8. I was confused, as my system’s Device Manager reported that the built in accelerometer was working fine – but despite this I still had no rotation.

I believe the issue might be relating to the fact that, bizarrely, when you first activate Windows 10 (after a clean install or an upgrade), it is set to lock the auto rotate function by default. This meant, maybe coincidentally for me, that when I connected my tablet to a keyboard dock, it shows the screen as portrait when it should be landscape.  It seems like a bit of a design flaw to me, but it’s easy to fix.

With your touchscreen, swipe in from the right hand side of the screen to bring up the Action Centre. Then, check the option called ‘Rotation lock’ – if it’s on (i.e. its highlighted with a colour), tap it to turn it off. The icon should switch to a grey colour.

Then try rotating your tablet. It should work correctly now. When you dock your keyboard (if you have one), it should also stay in the correct rotation.

Drop a comment below letting us know whether this worked for you if you were having a similar issue.

A first look at the Linx 1010 – full review now live!

UPDATE: Our full review is now live – see it here!

I’ve just got my hands on one of the first fully-fledged Windows 10 tablets to arrive on the market. It’s called the Linx 1010 – and it is the successor to the great value Linx 10 tablet which I reviewed late last year.

I’m going to write up a full review over the next 2 weeks, once I’ve had a chance to give the device a full test as my daily driver. In the meantime, however, I thought I’d post up some initial photos and impressions to give you a feel for what the device looks like and how it works.

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The images above aren’t edited or cropped – they are simply to give you an idea of what the device looks like.

Initial thoughts:

  • The new keyboard dock is a MASSIVE improvement on the last one for the Linx 10 – such a better experience. It’s often difficult to use such small keyboards for large amounts of typing – just because the keys are too small – but this one works unbelievably well and gives very nice feedback as you type.
  • It has TWO FULL SIZE USB ports – I’m not joking. This is fantastic for such a small, budget tablet. I’m not 100% sure whether they are USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 – I would think most likely the former – but even so this is a fantastic improvement. They’re on the tablet itself too – not on the dock, so you’ve immediately got a way to charge your phone or sync music directly from the tablet. Well done Linx!
  • Hardware-wise there are very few changes on the last Linx 10 tablet. Same processor, same RAM, same storage.
  • Same 720p screen resolution – not bad and perfectly usable, but a little low given the standards set by many tablets these days.
  • Battery life about on par with expectations – six two eight hours of normal use depending on the types of tasks being performed.

Full review coming in the next 2 weeks – stay tuned!

Buy now from Amazon – without keyboard

Buy now from Amazon – with keyboard