Acer Iconia W500: Is Windows 7 ready for Tablets?

Now when the crowd is busy with the iOS vs. Android, Acer is busy releasing a new approach to the tablet computers market: Iconia W500. This Windows 7 tablet takes a completely different attempt to be the best alternative of the traditional notebooks and netbooks. The 1 GHz AMD Fusion processor is also another thing that makes this tablet completely different from the other tablets.

Still if your complain is about the on screen keyboard of this tablet, then you have a great alternative to that: a docking station with a keyboard is all that you need to convert it to a complete Windows 7 laptop. Besides this, the keyboard also includes a pair of USB ports on every side. The connection of the tablet with the dock is not something complex as it is actually connected through the USB port. About the design, the only complain you can make is the weight as it weighs around 950 grams and is bit of heavy to hold it with a single hand.

It has all the ports you would expect from a modern tablet like USB ports, HDMI port for connecting HDTVs or projectors and an SDHC card reader for extending the onboard 32 GB memory. For a Windows 7 Home Premium machine, 32 GB is really small though it sounds enough for a tablet, so you will have to make use of that SDHC slot to carry your tablet with all of your necessary files. The 10.1” display is wide and bright with 1280 x 800 pixels resolution, but one of the best thing about this tablet is undoubtedly multitasking. Can you run two or more apps on the same screen simultaneously on iOS or Android? Yes, and now it sounds like comparing a PC with toy like tablets.

Nothing to worry about Flash or any plugin like that because they work as it’s usual on every Windows operating system. Another big thing a tablet cannot miss is the availability of apps and this is a place where Android and iOS is way ahead of any other tablet OS. But still, has any of them beaten Windows? This tablet will have all the apps or software you will need and even some PC Games are quiet playable because this device comes with a Radeon HD 6350 graphics chip supporting DirectX 11. In terms of connectivity this new tablet also features Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth.

After you read more then two times the specs you will find out that Iconia W500 is not a device which can be called flawless as most of the software is not optimized for touch interface. The Acer Ring may solve some of your problems, but ultimately it is nothing but a launcher. Some problems are obnoxious: the multitouch gestures make it impossibly unresponsive for some moments, the customized web browser from Acer is also very slow in case of web browsing though it is optimized for touch interactions and the change of display orientation is also slow in the Iconia W500 which takes about 5 seconds to redraw after rotating the screen.

In the end the Acer Iconia W500 is not a good tablet at all, unless you are a die-hard Windows 7 fan, you should wait for this OS to be more optimized for tablets or look for alternatives. With equal or cheaper price tags other tablets offer much more than this one. Acer Iconia W500 is available worldwide and you can buy it right now for $549.