Microsoft Surface RT

[kevsurp]

or get a dell xps 18 portable desktop with 18.4 screen is a full computer
that can be a tablet. i have the i3 4g ram 1 tb hard drive and it runs hero lab well and it was only $799 instead of the $2k 3 pro one.

it lasted around 4 hrs on battery the first night i used it at my game.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-18-1820-aio/pd?~ck=mn

as another option

[Jamz]

Good lord, I can't imagine carrying around an 18" screen as a tablet lol

BUT, it looks interesting enough I may replace our "GM Station" with one. Currently we use an outdated Sony Viao laptop. It's starting to show it's age...

[nullPointer]

That Dell looks interesting, but does it ID as a tablet such that HL doesn't lock-out the "tablet view" in-app?
I'd love to be able to just select "tablet view" in desktop mode

[charlieluce]

With more and more Windows 8.1 tablets and hybrids coming out and Windows 10 on the way, it would be neat to have the tablet mode available under Windows. On the other hand, Lone Wolf's project list is no doubt a quite crowded thing.

[Alarian]

If you want to check out a non-Microsoft full windows 8.1 tablet for fairly cheap, check out this one.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4...ablet_-_Black#

It's only $179 and runs the full version of windows. As long as you go into it knowing it's not going to run the latest games and such, the reviews on it are all pretty good.

There are quite a few reviews from people that are hooking it up to a keyboard, mouse and monitor and using it as both a tablet as well as their desktop computer.

[Exmortis]

Originally Posted by Alarian

If you want to check out a non-Microsoft full windows 8.1 tablet for fairly cheap, check out this one.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4...ablet_-_Black#

It's only $179 and runs the full version of windows. As long as you go into it knowing it's not going to run the latest games and such, the reviews on it are all pretty good.

There are quite a few reviews from people that are hooking it up to a keyboard, mouse and monitor and using it as both a tablet as well as their desktop computer.

That is an incredible price and not a bad deal, however people should understand what it is they are buying.

Widescreen IPS Touchscreen 16:10 10.1" 1280x800 Display
• Intel Baytrail-T Z3735D 1.33GHz Quad-Core CPU
• 2GB RAM & 32GB eMMC Flash Storage
• Windows 8.1 + Bing
• Expandable up to 64GB via microSD card

Despite the jargon in the ad, 1280x800 is NOT true HD, though it is an IPS panel, which is a decent score for the price point. Just be aware of its rather weak/low PPI.

The baytrail CPU is really weak, worse it can be a 6billion core it wont make a difference unless the software you run is multi-threaded, HL and RW and most low market vertical apps are not. But at this price point its what I would expect. BTW this is a 32-bit processor, thus 32-bit OS so keep that in mind, no modern 64-bit software will run..Or even install for that matter.

2GB Ram is decent for the price point.

32GB eMMC storage is the real weak issue here, thats slow and low. Now you can expand it with another 32GB card, the statment is pretty vague but Expandable up to 64GB via microSD card means it will only allow another 32GB card to be installed, meaning you have a lifetime max of 64GB. Also it will be a really low end interface, my bet is an ancient controller, thus weak performance.

If you are looking for a cheap tablet to run specific apps that will run on this device (HL and RW should run) and performance is not an issue, then at under $200 this is a good price. However be aware of the serious caveats (32bit, weak strorage, weak quad core CPU for single threaded apps), but the good points (IPS panel, price, light as sin). I also do not know what wireless controller is in it, but it has micro HDMI and USB 3.0, again pretty good selling points.

Despite its limitations I cannot imagine a better price on a windows 8.1 tablet, just do your research and ensure this does fit your needs, and will fulfill your future wants. A great price is not a good deal if it doesn't fit your needs.

[Alarian]

I agree with pretty much all of what Exmortis says about the tablet.

One thing I have read from the Q&A and reviews on it. You can install larger than 32 meg cards in it. There are people that use 64 and 128 GB cards in theirs with no problems.

I hadn't considered the 32/64 bit windows thing thing as far as newer software being only 64 bit. I've been running 64 bit windows ever since it was first available and depending on what you plan on running this may be a problem.

I currently don't own this tablet, but I do plan on picking one up when I get my tax refund in a week or two. I managed to brick my daughters ipad a week or so ago when I upgraded from iOS 7 to iOS 8 and felt so bad I gave her mine so I'm tablet-less currently. I figured at this price point even if it turns out to be not so great I won't be out a bunch of money. I'm also planning on picking up the optional keyboard for it as well.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4...Ons%3ECases%3E

[KungFuCharlie]

Originally Posted by Farling

Microsoft knew this confusion would happen, but wanted to sell very cheap things that they wanted to call PCs.

Hasn't this been their business model since Windows 3.1?

[Baron Munchausen]

Bear with me this post might help some folk out there..

Well For quite a while I was using a Nexus 7 (2013) tablet for table top gaming.. handles all PDF's fine (characters, books etc)..but of course like many people I use Hero Lab. Now I have a 17" laptop that is old and well.. using it for a tabletop game as a player..Ummm no..talk about taking space on a table (plus the battery life on those desktop replacement laptop really suck.)

SOOO for quite a while was thinking about gravitating toward a IPAD (I have hated apple since the 80's) but the price just for a IPad just to use Hero Lab? Ummm yeah spendy. So after a little looking I decided to buy..

A Asus X205ta notebook for sale price $179.99 (reg $199.99) which comes with Win 8.1 and hero lab works like a charm..no hiccups and can look at PDF's at the same time with no issue. The battery on this little puppy can push almost 14 hrs (video loop etc) so for using hero labs it should last a whole day of gaming and still have some power left.

Now I am sure the HP Stream 11 can work too but I have always been a Asus fan for ages.