Acer Iconia W510

Acer Iconia W510

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Hybrids such as this need to be priced appropriately (especially ones with Atom processors), and offer great design and usability in order to be a compelling alternative to other computing products in the same price range. As much as the Acer Aspire S7 touchscreen ultrabook was an excellent advertisement for Windows 8, the Iconia W510 feels like an advertisement for the iPad, or any of the AU$700 to AU$800 ultrabooks that offer slim, portable computing at a reasonable price.

There are small differences in colour, button placement and overall visual ID, but Windows 8 hybrid laptop/tablets I've seen from Samsung, HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer and others generally look the same. None are particularly streamlined as all require beefed-up hinge assemblies to keep the screen securely tethered.

The screen part of the W510 looks very professional, like a slightly smaller, squatter iPad, virtually indistinguishable from other Windows or Android 10-inch tablets with edge-to-edge glass and a gently curved back panel. It's solidly built, but not overly heavy.

In tablet mode, the Windows 8 UI moves smoothly, and the screen rotation in tablet mode feels faster and smoother than in the pre-production version of this system we tried several months ago. There's a rotation lock button on the top edge of the screen if you don't want the screen to reorient with every move.

The keyboard dock it plugs into is somewhat less upscale-looking than the tablet. It's bulky, but contains an additional battery such as Apple PowerBook G4 12.1-inch M9007B/A Ac Adapter, Apple PowerBook G4 12.1-inch M9007J/A Ac Adapter, Apple PowerBook G4 12.1-inch M9008B/A Ac Adapter, Apple PowerBook G4 12.1-inch M9008J/A Ac Adapter, Apple PowerBook G4 12.1-inch M9183J/A Ac Adapter, Apple PowerBook G4 12.1-inch M9184J/A Ac Adapter, Apple PowerBook G4 12.1-inch M9690X/A Ac Adapter, Apple PowerBook G4 12.1-inch M9691X/A Ac Adapter, Apple PowerBook G4 15.2-inch M8591J/A Ac Adapter, Apple PowerBook G4 15.2-inch M8591S/A Ac Adapter, Apple PowerBook G4 15.2-inch M8591T/A Ac Adapter, Apple PowerBook G4 15.2-inch M8592J/A Ac Adapter, so connecting the two parts help with battery life. The keyboard features white island-style keys against a light silver keyboard tray with a small clickpad below.

The keys, as noted previously, are on the small side, and reminded me of typing on a tiny Netbook keyboard years ago. Keystrokes were definitely more accurate on this final version than on the earlier sample hardware, but I occasionally ran into a double input, where a keystroke would register twice.

The clickpad-style touch pad (which means it has the left and right mouse buttons built into the pad itself instead of separate buttons) is functional, but feels cramped. As noted with the Acer Aspire S7, the Windows 8 interface doesn't work especially well with a touch pad, so you'll find yourself using a combination of pad and screen for navigation.