MSI WindPad 110W Tablet Review + Windows 8 Impressions

[Julio Franco]

Read the full article at:
https://www.techspot.com/review/441-msi-windpad-110w-windows-8/

Please leave your feedback here.

 

[spydercanopus]

This screen and hardware design make iPad2 look like it's from the future.

 

[Guest]

I think they are trying to go with the retro 1960's look to attract the older crowd, which is probably the biggest market share. I know a lot of people who like Avocado green.

 

[treeski]

Am I correct with my understanding that non-active (or "minimized") applications in Windows 8 are in fact suspended? Could you see any difference resuming such apps versus just maximizing them in Win 7?

 

[slh28]

What's with these terrible names for tablets? Fartpad, iTampon, etc.

 

[Guest]

I really like this full review, you answered many questions I was asking myself about windows 7 tablets and their compatibility with windows 8.

The Winpad is great, but if the ASUS Eee Slate EP121 was not too large (12.2"), it would be worth comparing those 2 devices as they are the top windows 7 tablets on the market right now; without forgetting to mention that ASUS and MSI are both Taiwan-based companies.

Great review: 5/5 stars

David

 

[Lionvibez]

I also found this to be an excellent review. I currently bought one of those 32GB HP touchpads, so i'm curious to see if I'll be able to throw windows 8 on it in the future.

 

[Guest]

I found the comparison to be useful, but could be improved. As a desktop PC user, comparing to core i3, i5, and i7 was interesting data. However, I would be interesting to see the comparison focus more on Android and iOS comparisons so the tablets can be compared more closely. I understand the software needed might make apples to apples comparisons hard, but attempts could be made to neutralize this.

The other major challenge I have is the benchmarks focused on primarily desktop scenarios. Since tablets focus on Entertainment as much or more so than productivity, I'd like to see tests related to realistic entertainment usage on the tablet. Specifically, I think it would be interesting to see a frame rate comparison for Netflix viewing on this tablet vs. the competition (iOS, Android, other Windows Tablets). The 5fps measure shown in the review is mostly useless since I cannot expect the tablet to handle such tasks. But I am keenly interested in frame rate performance of YouTube, Flash, and Netflix.

The Photoshop blur test is also less than compelling (really Photoshop on a tablet?). However, perhaps Windows Live Photo Gallery Auto Fix performance might be interesting. Thanks for the great information as is, hope that in future more information would be provided to cover some of what I mention above.

 

[Guest]

Who wants a 110 watt tablet..?

Exactly. Fail for MSI marketing.

 

[Guest]

Shame there were no x264 encoding benchmarks .. it'd be great to see how this puppy fares when converting from m2ts to x264. My money will stay in my pocket till they go below the £99 mark. I do like the inecpensive kindle reader, tho @ $79, let's NOT make that £79 please... JeFF.
Win8 cant come out of the blocks fast enough, can it.

 

[Guest]

Geez ppl buy tablets for their looks instead for their function. ***** eye much? As to the 60s jibe, I hear that this new fangled widescreen ratio for screens have been floating around since the late 90s as opposed to the ipad's 60s tv screen aspect ratio.

 

[SmOkM]

I found this an excellent review....coming from my standpoint of a windows user who has many programs, web essentials and products to use with windows 7.

So the benefits of a tablet for me have been outweighed by those things, and is a reason I would not purchase an ios or android device as a mobile computer.

My first tablet will be something of this ilk, and this review and practical standpoint nudged me a little closer to a tablet.

excellent Steven

 

[Guest]

Very nice review. Nice to hear that the existing tablets could be upgraded later to Windows 8 and that OS supports both the fancy new metro look and has the ability to run also the normal windows applications. Was it a dual boot? (Win7 and Win8 on same hardware?)

 

[Guest]

After using this pad for 3 weeks it was the perfect tool for my mobile service. being a one man operation I was able to update schedules,manage customers & potential customers ,invoice,input all my accounting on quick-books, check my emails with a 3g usb adapter or WI-fi hot spots and have started paperless invoicing by emailing the invoice upon completion, and it kept my PDF repair manuals easily available . This is the perfect workhorse. I just installed a suction cup mount in the van this kept it at the ready and charged between jobs. It may not be the HIGH DEF GAMING DEVICE but it was the right fit for the job, waiting for a business the other day I watched a sy-fy channel show with a wi-fi hot spot and it was very good quality for a tablet. I did add a 64 gb sd card and I still have lots of room for additional manuals & data. this has given me more time at the end of the day, I used to spend 1-2 hours at the end of the day on these chores I now spend 10 Min. printing reports, backing up & I'm done. I did take your advice and changed the fonts & adjusted the power settings.

 

[excalibur1814]

Thank you for a well thought out review where you actually used the device and actually tried to make it better.

Here is another tip:
You can resize the border size, menu size, 'x' button, active window to make things a lot easier.

Right click the desktop (You have reduced the right touch time haven't you?), personalize, Windows color, Advanced appearance settings. Makes things MUCH easier. You can also increase the DPI which automatically increases the size of 'windows'

Right touch (Right click on a mouse) time can be reduced by visiting the control panel options for Touch and pen.... Right touch takes less than a second once the time is reduced which greatly reduces the 'Grr' time.

 

[Guest]

You can also right click by using two fingers. It is multi touch enabled up to 4 fingers I believe, and there are a couple other useful gestures I stumbled on accidentally.

Side by side with an ipad2, this has a better screen. Comes in handy to use its far better video format support. (e.g. hdtv from a networked tuner as media center is fully functional on this)

 

[Guest]

Your post is not acurate, windows have been in tablet for years, have you ever heard about tablet pc? I'll recommend you wikipedia

 

[Guest]

I use the Asus Eee Pad Transformer. Productivity Apps are being migrated to web-based apps (Quickbooks too!). You can work within the browser.

I remember IBM compatible computers, this shifted to Microsoft Windows compatible computers, now the shift is to GOOGLE compatible mobile web devices.

Might as well get your Android (Google) Tablet or Motorola Communications (Google) Droid (Google) smartphone, create your required GMAIL (Google) account... and live with it accessing online (Google) docs and apps on the road.

When home, run your favorite proprietary Windows or Mac Apps on the fast desktop system with large display and printer - and ample electric to run it all.

For everything else, there is Ununtu 11.10!!!

THINK!... What can I do today without Apple or Microsoft today!

 

[Guest]

I was going to add the advanced settings ability to customize just about every UI element to a size comfortable for your finger size. At least this reviewer mentioned some of the settings, most reviewers trash the touch experience with Win 7, and don't mention (may not even know about) the extensive customization abilities built-in to Windows. After customizing the UI elements to my finger size, my Win 7 tablets are just as finger friendly as the iPad, and Android tablets with the potential to be much more useful due to the power of a full desktop OS.

 

[Guest]

To install Windows 8 on the 110W do you need a USB hub with more than one USB port in order to make use of a keyboard when asked to key in data being asked during installation?

 

[Guest]

You can first copy the Windows 8 installation file inside the Windows 7. And then run the update in Windows 7. The only USB port is reserve for the keyboard as navigator during installation process.
Cheers!

 

[Guest]

As Windows 8 is going to be designed to narrow the gap between desktop, laptop, tablet, etc., I would assume that you wouldn't need a keyboard or mouse (assuming you have a touchscreen)

 

[Guest]

Big W are selling these for $125. Is it worth it as a "second" computer for the kids to use for homework (eg. reading eggs and mathletics) and the odd bit of internet searching?

 

[Guest]

I think you will find this is not the WindPad 110W with Windows 7 but the unit with Android and the Cortex CPU !!

 

[Guest]

Big W is selling these MSI WindPad for $174. Is it worth the money? I use it for watching TV and downloading emails... what do you think?