# Acer Iconia W500 Vs Asus Transformer



## GuilT1

I am looking at both of these tablets as my next purchase. The Acer has Windows 7 Home Premium, AMD Fusion C-50, 32gb SSD and ATI Radeon 6250. Everybody knows the Transformer with the Nvidia Tegra 2, but which is more powerful in terms of sheer horsepower? Is the AMD fusion all out faster than Tegra 2? I know the Acer will be a little slower running windows on 2gb of ram, but does the Fusion chipset make up for that? The Transformer is running Android 3.0. I do prefer the Acer because it's basically a full fledged OS, but I'm concerned about either tablets ability to stay relevant in today's fast moving market.


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## Oupavoc

Im not 100% sure but i read somewhere that the acer uses a mechanical drive and not an ssd


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## codejunki

Asus, W7 isnt built around tablets/touch screens unlike Android! A android tablet would be much funner becuase of the apps/and just sheer expierience you will have with it.


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## Jocelyn84

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Oupavoc;13529796*
> Im not 100% sure but i read somewhere that the acer uses a mechanical drive and not an ssd


Naw, its an ssd. Its .63" thick.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *codejunki;13529828*
> Asus, W7 isnt built around tablets/touch screens unlike Android! A android tablet would be much funner becuase of the apps/and just sheer expierience you will have with it.


I agree with this. If you're looking for a windows tablet, I'd wait for Win8 tablets.

Sent from my Asus Decepticon using Tapatalk


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## kaivorth

I think 2gb is plenty for a tablet with W7...but I also think that Android has tablets by the balls. What are your uses? If Android can do it, I'd say go Android. If it can't then go Windows.


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## FXTOi7

Actually, Windows WAS built based on Touch.
I remember a video showing off Windows 7 before launch, and the demo people used an All-In-One.


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## GuilT1

I'm basically ditching the desktop for good, no more gaming for me, but I still need some basics like watching videos on netflix, managing my music collection, I have a pretty vast collection of movies that I ripped to an external hard drive. I need great portability, most of the time it will be used to watch movies or listen to music while I'm on the treadmill. I'm not really sure if Android can handle all that, I wish it could because I really like the Transformer, but I still have pc needs and Android may not be up to those tasks. If I make the wrong mistake then I'm screwed because I have no other computer, one of these tablets will be my primary machine.
Actually my perfect device would be the Transformer with Windows 7, of course it would need more ram.
If the Transformer could dual boot with Windows, this would not even be an issue.


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## E_man

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mikepahl318;13531825*
> Actually, Windows WAS built based on Touch.
> I remember a video showing off Windows 7 before launch, and the demo people used an All-In-One.


The ability to use touch and being designed for touch are totally different.


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## Mr. Stroker

Hmm I actually am having the same dilemma. I like W7 and know how to use it and I like that I will have native M$ Office and other features. I really wish I could by an Asus with similar spec, mainly x86, and have the brand support.


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## cory1234

I can't imagine running Windows 7 on a weak tablet. Imo it would be best to wait for Windows 8 before buying a Windows tablet at the budget price range.

If your going to spend $1k plus then Windows 7 is fine.


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## Wiz33

I had a chance to play with the W500 and A500 pre-production sample before release and I just bought a retail W500 unit from Amazon.

I have been looking for a tablet that I can take with me and do lite office stuff and watch video while away from the office. I had high hope for the A500 with the Tegra 2 solution but I was disappointed that it it couldn't even do 720p mkv (much less 1080p stuff). Strangely it handled 720p and 1080p fine in the .mov format. I also have problem finding an app that will let me play RMVB files.

That basically left me with the W500. Although a bit bigger and heavier. It does great on video playback. Everything I had (SD & HD .mp4, 720p/1080p mkv, SD & HD RMVB, blu-ray ISO, 720p/1080p youtube, Netflix streaming, etc) played just fine on it (after installing the necessary codec). Battery life is not as long as the A500 with about 4 solid hours on video playback and 5.5hr or so on general use.

The C50 w/ati 6250 even do pretty good in lite gaming. I have not tried yet but reports have came in with people playing Crysis, Starcraft 2 at low setting and even MMO like Rift. I'm going to try Eve Online when I have a chance.

As to using touch on Win7. It's a mixed experience. Most general stuff works well but there is always that one click button and such that takes a few tries to get right. The unit (at least in the US) does come with the keyboard dock (with a ethernet port and 2 USB ports) with a IBM laptop style mouse stick so once dock, things work pretty well and you can actually do real work on it like any Laptop/Netbook.

The screen is bright (highly readable outdoor except in direct sunlight) and responsive. It is a glossy screen so reflection may sometime be an issue. The viewing angle is great and the colors are vibrant.

Having USB and SD card slot (support the newer SDXC card) is nice since there is only about 17GB left on the 32GB SSD after OS, You can probably squeeze out 18GB by uninstalling all the bloatware. But a simple solution would be to plug in a 32/64GB SD card. The only thing I don't like is that both USB port face down when in landscape mode which make it awkward to to use a sleeve stand unless you are willing to flip the unit 180.

Overall, I'm quite impressed with the unit. To get anything more powerful, you would need to move up to an ASUS EP121 which is almost twice the price, bigger and heavier at 12.1" with only 3.5 hrs of battery life.


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## umarali

Well i own iconia w500 w7 tablet for 3 days now and i would say that i absolutely love it. Im glad i made decision to get the windows tablet. touch is great, speed is amazing as compared to other w7 tablets. video playback is awesome.
only flaw i found so far is that when i play netflix, its horrible, it jerks more than a 286 could have, maybe its because netflix uses silverlight and amd fusion apu isnt made to handle silverlight. it kinda stops playing netflix. i dont understand why acer put netflix icon on desktop if its not capable of playing it.
besides this only problem, everything is great. battery life is amazing, it last me well over 4 hours of browsing hulu video playpback and youtube stuff.


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## Waltibaba

I have both W7 and android tablets, specifically an Atom n450 based 10 inch tablet (made in china i.e. no-name), and a Samsung Galaxy Tab. It also possible to install froyo on many W7 x86 based tablets btw, I was able to do so on my tablet. In terms of usability, my W7 tab is great with multitouch, though as someone said, once in a while you get that one shortcut or button that you have to tap a few times, or a scroll bar thats too slim... Also the Atom n450 is 1.6Ghz, so really crap compared to the AMD C50, with integrated GPU and 1 gb ram, I am still able to play 720p on it no problems. If you plug in KB and mouse, its just like a netbook. My battery life is terrible though so I never use that tab.

For android, I have a 2.2/2.3 Galaxy Tab, so I cant tell you much about the Iconia OS as it runs 3.0. However in general its great to use, I use it as my daily mobile phone. Apps and the market are great, they make everything much easier than searching forever for utilities online. Also since its built for touchscreens, those functions are perfect. The one discerning feature is that it clearly is a light, mobile OS, and so is honeycomb. Therefore what I really miss is a window manager, since all apps are full screen, no exceptions. I find that to be the missing piece to full multitasking support.


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## Wiz33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *umarali*


Well i own iconia w500 w7 tablet for 3 days now and i would say that i absolutely love it. Im glad i made decision to get the windows tablet. touch is great, speed is amazing as compared to other w7 tablets. video playback is awesome.
only flaw i found so far is that when i play netflix, its horrible, it jerks more than a 286 could have, maybe its because netflix uses silverlight and amd fusion apu isnt made to handle silverlight. it kinda stops playing netflix. i dont understand why acer put netflix icon on desktop if its not capable of playing it.
besides this only problem, everything is great. battery life is amazing, it last me well over 4 hours of browsing hulu video playpback and youtube stuff.


Un-checked the "Allow HD" on the Netflix player. I have been watching Stargate Atlantis on Netflix with no problem. I also streamed Amazon instant video in 720p with no problem.

I have not tried this but I have seen report that running Netflix under Window Media Center works fine.


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## guyladouche

A bit old of a bump. I'm considering buying this--seems to be the best for the money and the ability to use Windows 7.

How have you guys/gals found this tablet, now that it's been a bit longer?


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## Hawk777th

Go with the transformer between those two. I love my Samsung tab 10.1.


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## Wiz33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *guyladouche;14051692*
> A bit old of a bump. I'm considering buying this--seems to be the best for the money and the ability to use Windows 7.
> 
> How have you guys/gals found this tablet, now that it's been a bit longer?


If you can handle the little bit of extra weight and a shorter battery life (vs transformer). then definitely go for the W500. It will do pretty much anything that you would normally do on any Win7 PC short of heavy photoshop, video editing, and apps that really require a hafty CPU. You can take anything you have on the PC and it will play without needing conversion. There are some odd problems here and there but we have solutions for most of them.

Drop by here:

http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/acer/

We have a whole bunch of W500 user hanging out there.


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## guyladouche

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wiz33;14066952*
> If you can handle the little bit of extra weight and a shorter battery life (vs transformer). then definitely go for the W500. It will do pretty much anything that you would normally do on any Win7 PC short of heavy photoshop, video editing, and apps that really require a hafty CPU. You can take anything you have on the PC and it will play without needing conversion. There are some odd problems here and there but we have solutions for most of them.
> 
> Drop by here:
> 
> http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/acer/
> 
> We have a whole bunch of W500 user hanging out there.


Thanks for the added input--much appreciated!

I love the idea of running being able to run windows. I'm all for android on my phone, but honestly, it's always a little more of a hassle than I enjoy (but less of a hassle than the iOS, lol).

Battery life on the iconia okay? I'd be satisfied with at least 4 hours of media watching (not really much of a HD enthusiast, so I don't really care about 1080p performance).

I'll check out the site and read up on things.


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## Wiz33

Yea You can get 4 hours or so on video playback from internal storage (SSD or SD card). at med brightness. If you are streaming Netflix via Wifi, then expect it to drop to about 3.


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## james_ant

The TF is much lighter and has a better screen, I have tried both of them and the TF is just much more smooth.

Also why is everyone talking about windows 7? The TF does not have windows 7, that is an entirely different tablet. All Asus TF tablets have android.


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## guyladouche

Quote:



Originally Posted by *james_ant*


The TF is much lighter and has a better screen, I have tried both of them and the TF is just much more smooth.

Also why is everyone talking about windows 7? The TF does not have windows 7, that is an entirely different tablet. All Asus TF tablets have android.


Because the Iconia W500 runs off Windows 7 (in the OP, the original question was between the Iconia and the Transformer, but I bumped it asking more about the iconia, as I'd prefer a full-fledged Windows tablet).

I guess I really need to take the time and head over to somewhere like Fry's and play with all of them to see how they feel. Still leaning toward the windows one(s) though.


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## Wiz33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *james_ant*


The TF is much lighter and has a better screen, I have tried both of them and the TF is just much more smooth.

Also why is everyone talking about windows 7? The TF does not have windows 7, that is an entirely different tablet. All Asus TF tablets have android.


Because the W500 can do most everything you do on a Windows PC. Where as you would have to find some 3rd party software to either convert the files or simulate the experience with limitation on any Android tab. The W500 will also stream Netflix, Amazon instant video in 720p HD and from most major TV Networks. It will also play pretty much any video format without needing conversion like AVI, mpeg, mov, mp4, 720p/1080p mkv, RMVB and DVD ISO. It's a much more powerful media player. Full size SD slot mean you can increase internal storage with 64GB/128GB SD cards.


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## james_ant

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wiz33;14072009*
> Because the W500 can do most everything you do on a Windows PC. Where as you would have to find some 3rd party software to either convert the files or simulate the experience with limitation on any Android tab. The W500 will also stream Netflix, Amazon instant video in 720p HD and from most major TV Networks. It will also play pretty much any video format without needing conversion like AVI, mpeg, mov, mp4, 720p/1080p mkv, RMVB and DVD ISO. It's a much more powerful media player. Full size SD slot mean you can increase internal storage with 64GB/128GB SD cards.


Yes you don't need to list 50 differant formats. I know you can install media player classic and CCCP to play virtually any file you want. The problem is that that power comes at a price of battery life.

Do you want a talbet that can do everything needlessly and only last 4 hours? Or do you want a talblet that weighs twice less and lasts 9.5 hours?

There are plenty of netbooks with the same specs as this tablet for cheaper and I know for a fact that that the Asus TF can play 720p blu ray rips and I have little doubt that there are apps for netflix and amazon.

You also don't need to convert anything, the TF can play mkv files perfectly, thats what my buddy was playing on his TF. There are a variety of video players just like on windows.


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## oni5115

I am mostly happy with my TF. I got the docking station and tablet and like it so far. The only thing missing is support for real java. =/

Thankfully, most of the PnP RPG gaming I do uses either spreadsheets (Polaris), GCS (java, but exports to HTML or PDF) and or PDF files. So I can still do that just fine and won't need to drag my hefty old gaming laptop.









I just thought I'd point that out since it does bother me some. I am happy with the battery life so far though -- listened to music for about 5 hours today and its still at 96%+ life. =)


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## Wiz33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *james_ant;14087581*
> Yes you don't need to list 50 differant formats. I know you can install media player classic and CCCP to play virtually any file you want. The problem is that that power comes at a price of battery life.
> 
> Do you want a talbet that can do everything needlessly and only last 4 hours? Or do you want a talblet that weighs twice less and lasts 9.5 hours?
> 
> There are plenty of netbooks with the same specs as this tablet for cheaper and I know for a fact that that the Asus TF can play 720p blu ray rips and I have little doubt that there are apps for netflix and amazon.
> 
> You also don't need to convert anything, the TF can play mkv files perfectly, thats what my buddy was playing on his TF. There are a variety of video players just like on windows.


Good luck trying to get 720p mkv to play on any of the Tegra 2 based Android tab. I was given both the Acer A500 (same as Xoom) and the W500 to try out before release. I had high hope for the Android tab as it is lighter (but not 1/2 the weight, more like 2.2lbs vs 1.6lbs) and the longer battery life. But it turns out that the Tegra 2 cannot handle 720p mkv and since I also watch a lot of foreign language video in RMVB format (which won't play on the Tegra 2 either). I have no choice but to go for the W500. I was a bit worried about the lower battery life but it turns out that I'm never away from AC power for more than a few hours at a time so 4 hours of video or 6 hours of browsing works just fine for me.


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## guyladouche

Quote:



Originally Posted by *james_ant*


Yes you don't need to list 50 differant formats. I know you can install media player classic and CCCP to play virtually any file you want. The problem is that that power comes at a price of battery life.

Do you want a talbet that can do everything needlessly and only last 4 hours? Or do you want a talblet that weighs twice less and lasts 9.5 hours?

There are plenty of netbooks with the same specs as this tablet for cheaper and I know for a fact that that the Asus TF can play 720p blu ray rips and I have little doubt that there are apps for netflix and amazon.

You also don't need to convert anything, the TF can play mkv files perfectly, thats what my buddy was playing on his TF. There are a variety of video players just like on windows.


No official netflix app for (most) androids.









I'm still skeptical about the transformer (or even the honeycomb iconia) playing "standard" video files (i.e. .avi files with standard divx or xvid encoding). I'm not a HD whore, so I'm not too concerned about it playing HD, and I can always toggle non-hd if I'm watching streaming video.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Wiz33*


Good luck trying to get 720p mkv to play on any of the Tegra 2 based Android tab. I was given both the Acer A500 (same as Xoom) and the W500 to try out before release. I had high hope for the Android tab as it is lighter (but not 1/2 the weight, more like 2.2lbs vs 1.6lbs) and the longer battery life. But it turns out that the Tegra 2 cannot handle 720p mkv and since I do watch a lot of foreign language video in RMVB format (which won't play on the Tegra 2 either). I have no choice but to go for the W500. I was a bit worried about the lower battery life but it turns out that I'm never away from AC power for more than a few hours at a time so 4 hours of video or 6 hours of browsing works just fine for me.


What version of Android was the A500 running?

I'm worried that one of my primary things for the tablet is going to be movie-watching on longer business trips (like international flights), so I'm worried that the 4hrs of movie-watching is going to be a tough thing to live with. I am still not convinced that android for a tab is for me though, and I am still leaning toward a w7 tab.


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## Wiz33

I have access to the A500 anytime I want and I've been keeping an eye on it to see if later version of Honeycomb improves video playback. The last version that I tried a couple weeks ago is 3.1 i think.

As of international flights. Yea you would probably want more than 4 hours of video but usually you can find something worth watching on the in-flight entertainment system nowadays (at least enough to bridge the gap).


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## Ikrin

Honestly, there are more than enough media players in the Android Market to handle playback for whatever video files you may come across. The answer really lies in the context in which the device will be used. If you really need the "power" of a Windows system, you could always leverage the Splashtop application on the Transformer, given that you have an adequate wireless connection.


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## guyladouche

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Ikrin*


Honestly, there are more than enough media players in the Android Market to handle playback for whatever video files you may come across. The answer really lies in the context in which the device will be used. If you really need the "power" of a Windows system, you could always leverage the Splashtop application on the Transformer, given that you have an adequate wireless connection.


True, it depends on what will be done with it.

In my opinion, I think I'd _LIKE_ for it to lean more toward a netbook in terms of capabilities (low-end computing needs), and less toward a personal media device. But I think I feel that way because of the "just in case" scenario, where I might NEED something like that.

The issue I have with android media players--at least for the Android 2.2+ (haven't used the honeycomb OS yet) is that while there are a variety of media players to suit needs, there isn't often a one-size-fits-all option. Actually, that kinda describes the Android market in general. Lots of stuff that you could probably find to do something you need done, but then you have to worry about a ton of 3rd party apps and widgets. For that reason, I like the windows option better.

Still mulling it over...


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## jjsoviet

^ Why not try a Honeycomb device first? Honestly it feels like a scaled-down desktop OS with lots of options to play with.


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## guyladouche

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jjsoviet;14101919*
> ^ Why not try a Honeycomb device first? Honestly it feels like a scaled-down desktop OS with lots of options to play with.


I've played with the Honeycomb Iconia, but the only real way to see if it would suit your needs is if you actually have it and use it for a while. Playing with demo units is nice and dandy, but you can't know if it would suit your needs properly.

Don't suppose there's a way to install honeycomb on something like a "regular" notebook?


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## jjsoviet

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *guyladouche;14102366*
> 
> Don't suppose there's a way to install honeycomb on something like a "regular" notebook?


Sorry, Honeycomb is designed to run on ARM devices, not x86 ones like on a regular laptop or desktop.


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## Ikrin

On the other hand, depending on when Bluestacks will be released for testing, it could make Windows viable, if you also wanted to use some Android apps, as well.


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## Wiz33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ikrin;14099447*
> Honestly, there are more than enough media players in the Android Market to handle playback for whatever video files you may come across. The answer really lies in the context in which the device will be used. If you really need the "power" of a Windows system, you could always leverage the Splashtop application on the Transformer, given that you have an adequate wireless connection.


You are so Wrong. The Tegra 2 does not have the power to process 720p MKV no matter which player you uses. I have access to the Acer A500, W500 support team and they have not been able to get any of them to work on 720p mkv which happens to be one of the most popular HD standard for HD vidoe files.


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## Ikrin

My point was that you could find a media player to handle playback of *MOST* files types/containers. That was all that I implied. I spoke no absolute truth about being able to play all of them.


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## passey

im also lookign at either of these but heading more towards the acer.

Has any 1 tried to play eve online on it yet?


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## Aussie

So i havent used the asus but i bought the acer tablet w500 about 2 weeks ago. I gotta say i love it. however it seems to lack power i mean i can stream movies but when im watching a movie on a 2nd display via the hdmi output if i try and do anything on the tablet its a no go. As for the touch part it works amazing no problems at all' its accurate and resposive. All in all im very happy with it. it feels well built


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## Wiz33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *passey;14123633*
> im also lookign at either of these but heading more towards the acer.
> 
> Has any 1 tried to play eve online on it yet?


Eve Online will run at low detail except you have to turn off "Eve voice" in option before entering game, otherwise it will crash the client. I filed a bug report with CCP but have not heard back (except to turn off eve voice). I have not done any combat missions yet but I travel and such is no problem.


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## Wiz33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Aussie;14123710*
> So i havent used the asus but i bought the acer tablet w500 about 2 weeks ago. I gotta say i love it. however it seems to lack power i mean i can stream movies but when im watching a movie on a 2nd display via the hdmi output if i try and do anything on the tablet its a no go. As for the touch part it works amazing no problems at all' its accurate and resposive. All in all im very happy with it. it feels well built


Yea, the C50 is fairly weak. It's how it manage to last 4-6 hours. Think of it as a Netbook with a good GPU. and don't expect it to multitask.


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## passey

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wiz33;14125914*
> Eve Online will run at low detail except you have to turn off "Eve voice" in option before entering game, otherwise it will crash the client. I filed a bug report with CCP but have not heard back (except to turn off eve voice). I have not done any combat missions yet but I travel and such is no problem.


Brilliant. I think thats just made my decision. Played it on the mrs old laptop on low anyway so its not a problem. How many fps do u get in space.

If u zoom right out from ur ship and turn turrets and effects off it shud increase the fps.


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## Wiz33

Warping between stations, I get between 20-30fps. Sitting or moving around a station, I get 30-40fps. Captain's quarter is a killer though, only 5-10fps.


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## passey

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wiz33;14127800*
> Warping between stations, I get between 20-30fps. Sitting or moving around a station, I get 30-40fps. Captain's quarter is a killer though, only 5-10fps.


There pretty good stats tbh.

My mrs laptop doesnt get much better than that.
Cq kills most things atm. Got my desktop for the main stuff tabs gonna b for urgent meetings or moving stuff.

Does the touch screen work at all with eve?


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## Wiz33

As long as there is a icon you can click, no problem. Even moving the POV is ok but anything that require a right click maybe a problem. It will open the sub-menu but I can't seem to make any selection on it.


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## james_ant

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ikrin;14105506*
> My point was that you could find a media player to handle playback of *MOST* files types/containers. That was all that I implied. I spoke no absolute truth about being able to play all of them.


If your saying you can play 720p mkv rips o your tegra 2 tablet then I have to say thats good news. It confirms my buddies experience being aable to play 720p blu ray movie rips on his transformer.

I mean it is a dual core cpu it makes sense that it can at least play 720p files. It really all depends on the bitrate of the file though.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wiz33;14089473*
> Good luck trying to get 720p mkv to play on any of the Tegra 2 based Android tab. I was given both the Acer A500 (same as Xoom) and the W500 to try out before release. I had high hope for the Android tab as it is lighter (but not 1/2 the weight, more like 2.2lbs vs 1.6lbs) and the longer battery life. But it turns out that the *Tegra 2 cannot handle 720p mkv and since I also watch a lot of foreign language video in RMVB format (which won't play on the Tegra 2 either).* I have no choice but to go for the W500. I was a bit worried about the lower battery life but it turns out that I'm never away from AC power for more than a few hours at a time so 4 hours of video or 6 hours of browsing works just fine for me.


Like I said in my original post my buddy has told me that he has gotten 720p mkv blu ray rips to run on his transformer. As for you not being able to play RMVB files well it seams you havent discovered that android has many video player apps that you can use to play various formats.

Oh and foreign landuage films you say? Why don't you just come out of the closet and admit its anime.


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## Wiz33

There are 720p rips and there are 720p rips (I have seen 24mins 720p rip that's just 100MB but the most popular ones are about 1.5GB per hour) . Just Google "720p mkv Xoom" and you will see what I mean. most of the results are for video converter to convert 720p mkv into a lower bitrate to be played on a Xoom (or any other Honeycomb tab). Same thing with rmvb. Rockplayer can handle the basic SD files but there are HD rmvb around the even Rockplayer cannot handle. Bottom line Tegra 2 cannot handle the most popular 720p format on the web.

Ah. Anime I like! But most of the foreign language stuff I watch are dramas and variety programs.


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## passey

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wiz33;14140399*
> As long as there is a icon you can click, no problem. Even moving the POV is ok but anything that require a right click maybe a problem. It will open the sub-menu but I can't seem to make any selection on it.


ordered mine on sat shud b here by wed.

also ordered a silicon keyboard and bluetooth mouse as well so that eve will play properly.

How much HDD space is free after the os and how much did eve take up on yours?

I've got a 32GB SD card at home as well for it.

I might buy a mobile broadband adapter as well. (can play at work a bit then).


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## Wiz33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *passey;14166126*
> ordered mine on sat shud b here by wed.
> 
> also ordered a silicon keyboard and bluetooth mouse as well so that eve will play properly.
> 
> How much HDD space is free after the os and how much did eve take up on yours?
> 
> I've got a 32GB SD card at home as well for it.
> 
> I might buy a mobile broadband adapter as well. (can play at work a bit then).


If you remove all the bloatware, you get about 20GB. Cheapest solution is just to get a SD card. I'm running Eve off a 64GB SDXC card. While it is slow to load (slow) but once ingame. I don't see any lag. Yea BT mouse will slove all the right click problem. I got a Logitech 470. If I didn't I would have tried HP's new Wifi mouse and save a bit of battery not having the BT section on.

I tether mine to my phone. You have restricted access at work?


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## guyladouche

Well, I picked up a transformer yesterday. All I have to say is that it's a decent piece of hardware, but the general lack of honeycomb tablet support is severely disappointing...


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## passey

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wiz33;14173294*
> If you remove all the bloatware, you get about 20GB. Cheapest solution is just to get a SD card. I'm running Eve off a 64GB SDXC card. While it is slow to load (slow) but once ingame. I don't see any lag. Yea BT mouse will slove all the right click problem. I got a Logitech 470. If I didn't I would have tried HP's new Wifi mouse and save a bit of battery not having the BT section on.
> 
> I tether mine to my phone. You have restricted access at work?


restricted aint the word.

Can't go on anything that has music in it or anything that relates to games.

luckily they haven't blocked eve-search yet.

I mostly use my iphone for net anyway. Just waiting to get it back from apple for repairs that they've said there is nothing wrong with it. pressing home for 30 mins before it does antyhing is acceptable apparantly.

Does eve use much data when u tether?


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## Wiz33

I have not tried Eve while on the go so I don't really know what kind of data rate it will use.


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## passey

a few people have posted on the eve site.

It depends wat ur doing. empty systems just belt ratting about 5kb/s.

So thats not too bad.

But if u got to jita and sit outside station its more like 5000kb/s as it loads every1's 3D avatar now.

Its out for delivery at the mo so will try it wen i get home tonight.


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## passey

got my tab now.

uninstalled all the acer crap but have noticed tht download speed is about 110kbs on wifi. i get 350 over wifi on my desktop. any ideas y?

ive got avg zone alarm adobe 9 and office 2007


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## passey

neer mind had a power save mode on the wifi adapter


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## Wiz33

Be sure to let it sit and do all the windows updates and indexing. It will take a day or so for the system to totally settle down. Also, remove the screen protector for better touch performance.


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## passey

yeh have done all updates.

will download eve tmoz


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## Wiz33

We have a bunch of W500 user hanging out here, drop by and say hi ;-P

http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/acer/


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## passey

Ive downloaded eve now but its takin ages to install did urs? I mean about an hour to do half the install.


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## Wiz33

I actually just copied the full folder from my PC and then pull out a shortcut to desktop.


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## passey

sorted it now. SD card doesn't want to play so just copied the eve folder startight to C drive. still got 6GB space left plus 32GB on the SD.


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## Wiz33

Why did it not play from SD card? It ran fine from mine it just took a long time to load.


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## passey

I think its more of an sd card playing up not copying data accross


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## Wiz33

Hum, kinda strange, Did you format the card to NTFS?


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## passey

no it was running fat32 i'm going to do a full format of it tonight to ntfs


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## green robot

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *james_ant;14087581*
> Yes you don't need to list 50 differant formats. I know you can install media player classic and CCCP to play virtually any file you want. The problem is that that power comes at a price of battery life.
> 
> Do you want a talbet that can do everything needlessly and only last 4 hours? Or do you want a talblet that weighs twice less and lasts 9.5 hours?


I see you don't have any experience with one of the 2 products being compared in this thread, namely the Iconia W500. 4 hour battery is consistent with laptops that run on outdated C2D or AMD X2 processors. These days, Core i3, Core i5 and many of AMD's processors has already passed the 6 hour threshold, and are striving for more. AMD Zacate APU on Iconia W500 itself is good for more than 6 hours, or significantly less if you game or watch HD movies a lot. But the same is true of Tegra 2 tablets. Only thing on the Transformer is the lack of storage space, so you're not going to be able to carry many movies with you at one time.

Talk about games, you're certainly not going to be doing that a lot, seeing as there are only a handful of Tegra 2-optimised titles. The rest of them, such as Gameloft's Modern Combat 2, if you managed to find a Tegra version of and run it, will have serious problems on your Tegra 2 tablet. This is due to the game being written for 800x480 resolution rather than 1280x800. (Instead of iPhone games being run on iPad, which you need only to tap on 2X button to fill the larger screen, Modern Combat 2 simply conforms the graphics to 1280x800 screen size, but leaves out the HUD.) What this means is you can see the game running almost perfectly, but impossible to manuevre around it, because the weapon controls are shifted to the center!

Another title, Need for Speed Shift. For the most part it seems to run fine on Tegra 2, that is, if you look past the fact that it is technologically a lot older than Need For Speed Most Wanted, which runs PERFECTLY on the Iconia W500. I have also played a bit of Riptide GP, which is supposed to show off Tegra 2's graphics. Only the graphics keep reminding me of Quake III. I don't know about you, I'm sick of Quake III graphics! Where is the Unreal engine we keep hearing about? And then yes, we come to Unreal-powered titles such as Dungeon Defenders and Monster Madness. Dungeon Defenders has a snoozing effect on me. Monster Madness, got 3 stars on Android Market. I don't know, could be a great game. But ultimately doesn't inspire me to play because it's still another top down game, of which another similar looking game Samurai II already gave me the ZZZs.

That's my assessment of the whole Tegra 2 gaming situation in a nutshell. Hey, don't burn me, I'm only a reviewer.

That being said, I did however enjoyed 9mm on the iPad. Too bad it hasn't come out on the Android. Dare we hope for a Tegra 2 version? While we're at it, how about Assassin's Cr... I mean Backstab? Come on GL! You've already made it for the phone version of Tegra 2. Would it kill you to make a minor tweak so tablet users can give money to you?!

And for what it's worth, both Assassin's Creed and GTA:San Andreas can play relatively well on the AMD C-50, albeit at much lower res. But you know what? With the amount of mesh details and effects that you can see on Windows games as compared to stripped down Android versions, I'd much rather be playing a game at 640x480 on Windows.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *james_ant;14087581*
> There are plenty of netbooks with the same specs as this tablet for cheaper and I know for a fact that that the Asus TF can play 720p blu ray rips and I have little doubt that there are apps for netflix and amazon.
> 
> You also don't need to convert anything, the TF can play mkv files perfectly, thats what my buddy was playing on his TF. There are a variety of video players just like on windows.


Not all MKV files. This is the funny bit. I've tried MoboPlayer (the improved version of RockPlayer) to play a few self-ripped MKV files. And this is not some arcane codec like Indeo or what-have-yous. It's a basic x264 High Profile 2-pass at 640x360, 23.976FPS, bitrate of 800kbps. On the Transformer it blows thru the whole movie in fast foward mode, no audio. Kind of like old black and white movies, but 100x faster. It won't play at normal speed. My jaw plunked to the floor at this because this is how I ripped all my movies! Then I ran a little experiment and remuxed it without audio. This time it plays back normally sans audio, and it hiccups a lot.

So guess what two words I'm going to say to the "don't need to convert anything"? Uh huh.

In closing, I'm going to give the Iconia W500 two very enthusiatic thumbs up.

And before I go: Nvidia, before you plow ahead to Tegra 3 (and try to make people forget Tegra 2), please fix the AVC High Profile problem on the Tegra 2. I can't return the Transformer, and I don't want to eBay it at a frakkin loss.

Also, Samsung's Mali 400 and iPad 2's SGX 543MP2 don't have the same problem as your chip.


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## trog

OMG OMG i read someone managed to install and play Heroes Of Might & Magic V/Rift on the Iconia W500? I just want to play HOMM 3 and i think i'm gonna nab that W500!


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