Performance, Who Is It For?

The Acer W5 ships with a full re-create of Windows 8. I've worked with Microsoft's latest operating system during my time with the Lenovo Yoga xiii, a convertible notebook / tablet hybrid. As mentioned in that review, Windows 8 (partially) offers a new UI experience that volition accept some time to get used to, only as yous volition quickly realize the operating system feels right at home on a hybrid like the Iconia.

The W5 was able to fully kick into Windows in just 18 seconds – information technology'southward not quite the 11 seconds that the Yoga 13 was capable of simply given the slower hardware, it's nonetheless impressive. One can credit the combination of Windows eight for the speedy boot time and perhaps to a lesser extent, the flash storage.

As I typically exercise with a new computer, I navigated over to the add together/remove programs list to see which software I would jettison from the get-go; in other words, bloatware. I was pleasantly surprised to find less than half a dozen programs fell into this category.

Given this new platform, we were forced to modify our benchmarking procedures slightly. PCMark Vantage refused to give an overall score no matter how hard I tried. We are besides doing away with our "real-world" web-browsing battery test in favor of the much more standardized Powermark application. All of our other testing procedures accept been carried over from Windows seven.

Obviously, we take compared confronting 'total' laptop machines also running Windows eight, which offer considerably more horsepower and are priced at around $1,000. So, performance-wise, information technology's not a fair comparison, but we wanted to give you precisely the perspective of what you are looking at if you decide to get with a hybrid vs. a (affect enabled) laptop, both capable of running total Windows.

Benchmarks Results

Synthetic Tests Iconia W5 Aspire S7 Yoga 13
3DMark 06
3DMark Score 461 3DMarks 5000 3DMarks 4393 3DMarks
Application Tests Iconia W5 Aspire S7 Yoga 13
iTunes Encoding Test half-dozen min 12 sec one min xx sec i min 25 sec
File Transfer Test
Pocket-size files 5 min 52 sec xvi sec 24 sec
Large file 1 min 51 sec 17 sec 22 sec

The iTunes encoding tests consist of converting 14 MP3s (119MB) to 128Kbps ACC files and measuring the operation's duration in seconds. For file transfers, we measure how long it takes to copy two sets of files from one location to some other on the same hard drive. On the small files test nosotros transfer 557 MP3s, totaling ii.56GB. For the big file, these same MP3s were zipped into a single file measuring 2.52GB.

  • 10.1" 1366x768 Active Matrix TFT LCD
  • Intel Cantlet Z2760 (ane.8GHz)
  • PowerVR SGX 545 integrated graphics
  • 2GB of LPDDR2 RAM
  • 64GB SSD
  • Windows 8 32-bit
  • xiii.3" 1920x1080 LED multi-bear on display
  • Intel Cadre i7-3517U (1.9 - 3.0GHz)
  • Intel Hd Graphics 4000
  • 4GB of DDR3 RAM
  • 256GB SSD
  • Windows 8 64-bit
  • 13.three" 1600x900 IPS LED multi-affect display
  • Intel Core i5-3317U (1.7 - 2.6GHz)
  • Intel HD Graphics 4000
  • 4GB of DDR3 RAM
  • 128GB SSD
  • Windows eight 64-bit

Using the Iconia W510

Acer pretty much nailed it with the aesthetics of the W5. The dimensions, weight and overall experience of the slate is top-notch. Nothing almost the arrangement feels inexpensive or as if it was a second thought. The aforementioned can be said for the keyboard dock as the hinge feels very sturdy and the keyboard is adequate in terms of rigidity. Practice notation that, like netbooks before it, the board is a bit cramped which can be a trouble if you have larger hands.

The W5 utilizes 64GB of wink storage space which going into the review, I assumed would be rather speedy. Peradventure it wouldn't be quite as fast as a dedicated solid state drive but I certainly expected more out of it. If constructed benchmarks didn't paint a clear plenty motion picture, the real-world copy tests certainly highlighted the arrangement'south storage shortcomings.

The big file transfer exam was somewhat acceptable but taking nearly half-dozen minutes to complete the small file transfer test is unacceptable. In fact, it'southward the slowest storage solution I have tested to date. Simply put, something is certainly off here.

As for capacity, 64GB of storage is plenty in tablet talk only it's not really a whole lot for a true PC. In fact, I had to uninstall 1 of the benchmarking applications to free upwards space for one of the game installs equally the organisation only ran out of storage. This may or may non be something to consider as in that location are multiple cloud storage options available but ultimately this volition come down to personal preference. The upside, however, is that you can use an external USB hard drive with the W5 or even a micro-SD card for added storage.

I conducted our standard notebook battery tests on the W510. Our video playback exam consists of looping a 720p rip of the movie Inception at total screen with max brightness and Wi-Fi disabled. This is a taxing test that resulted in 8 hours and 31 minutes of battery life.

Our Powermark test consisted of running the application at default settings under the "Balanced" profile which gives a mixed workload of web browsing, word processing, gaming and video playback. This test was too run at max screen brightness and resulted in half-dozen hours and fifteen minutes of uptime.

Go on in mind that the battery tests were run with the tablet non attached to the keyboard dock. When docked, Acer claims yous can expect up to eighteen hours of battery life. Based on our estimates yous can nearly double the W510'southward run fourth dimension when docked, and quite possibly reach the 18-60 minutes marking if you are conservative about screen brightness and you are not running demanding applications.

Our YouTube 4K resolution video test was unable to run on the W510 as it was just too taxing for the lowly Atom processor. CPU usage pegged at 99 pct and the video was reduced to a frame by frame photo slideshow. Notwithstanding, 1080p video was possible with the tablet and for the about role the system was able to proceed step. At that place were but a few instances where I noticed video playback seemed to stutter.

The dual speaker system was a little amend than expected just still nothing to write home virtually. The speakers go loud enough to savour music and videos without distortion but as you'd expect, there's nearly no bass to speak of. They are about on par with a quality set of notebook speakers in terms of quality and loudness.

If you were hoping to play non-mobile games on the W510, keep looking. The internal hardware simply wasn't able to proceed upwards with any of the PC games I tried, even on the most basic graphical settings. Mobile-inspired games, however, are possible but that'southward about information technology.

One of the few practiced things most the processor inside the slate is that information technology doesn't demand to be actively cooled. As such, the slate remained silent even under full load. The top correct side of the tablet does get a fleck warm with extended use just information technology's nothing to be concerned with.

One of the existent highlights of the W510 is the brandish. At 1,366 10 768, the display certainly doesn't carry a massive PPI just it looks fantastic from all angles. Color reproduction is outstanding and everything looked vibrant and alive. A number of other manufacturers could learn a thing or two virtually display selection from Acer.

Ane matter worth pointing out, unlike a traditional notebook, the screen doesn't turn off when you close the lid while docked. You'll instead need to remember to press the power button each time yous are washed with the slate in notebook fashion.

A hybrid similar this is the perfect platform for Windows eight to really showcase its potential but unfortunately, the Intel Cantlet processor holds the system back. Equally a tablet, the W510 shines but with a full version of Windows 8 controlling things, you're often compelled to practice more than simple tablet tasks at which fourth dimension the processor'southward lack of horsepower quickly becomes evident.

The bottom line is that every bit a PC, it still feels like a slow and limited netbook, and considering its $650 cost tag that's but too much of a compromise. With that kind of upkeep you're likely meliorate off getting a amend notebook or better tablet. Or, if you can leap the actress $250-$350, the Core i5 equipped Surface Pro will run Windows 8 without the slowdowns.

Pros: Solid build quality, excellent battery life and quality display. Windows viii feels at abode on a hybrid like this.

Cons: Cantlet processor holds the organization back in terms of performance, cramped keyboard.