Acer Iconia W500P

The Acer Iconia Tab W500 is a combination notebook and tablet that is one of the lower-priced tablet PCs we reviewed. This relatively new competitor in the market is sleek looking, boasts standalone tablet functionality and delivers good performance. However, an overall poor and frustrating design keep this otherwise good tablet PC from being a top contender.
Like many of the other tablet PCs we came across, the Iconia Tab W500 is surprisingly easy to use for a Windows tablet. Windows 7 wasn't designed for fingertip input, so using it on a tablet can sometimes be cumbersome. As such, Acer includes its own UI layer called TouchBrowser, which helps boost the usability of the device in tablet mode. The layer provides several custom one-touch apps that grant access to frequently used applications and functions.
The Iconia Tab W500 consists of a 10.1-inch touchscreen and a separate keyboard dock. This clever design allows you to conveniently detach the netbook-like screen to use as a standalone tablet or fold down over the keyboard. However, therein lies the device's most prominent drawbacks. To close the system, you must pull the screen straight up, fully detach it from the keyboard and close a flap on the dock that covers the docking connection. Then you must place the screen facedown on top of the keyboard, where a small magnet (barely) holds it in place. We'd prefer a rotating screen on a fixed hinge to such a cumbersome design.
Its design may utterly disappoint, but for those who can look past it, the Acer Iconia Tab W500 has decent technical specifications. Its AMD Dual-Core processor is low-power but still delivers good performance. You can watch videos and multitask with minimal stuttering.
The device is feature packed with an Ethernet port, a USB port, Bluetooth capability and a memory card reader. It also skips the standard VGA port and opts instead for an HDMI port. Aside from its design flaws, the most disappointing thing about this tablet PC is its scrawny hard drive. With only 32GB, the hard drive is definitely all tablet and no laptop. Competing systems have much larger hard drives, and we'd like to see Acer amp up its offering in this department.
The Acer Iconia Tab W500 comes with a standard one-year warranty and all the support resources we expected, including telephone support and an online knowledgebase.

Acer Iconia W500P Specifications

Operating System

• Operating system: Genuine Windows 7 Professional

Processor & Chipset

• Processor Manufacturer: AMD
• Processor Type: Fusion
• Processor Model: C-50
• Processor Speed: 1 GHz
• Processor Core: Dual-core
• Cache: 1MB
• 64-bit Processing: Yes
• Chipset Manufacturer: AMD
• Chipset Model: A50M

Memory

• Standard Memory: 2GB
• Maximum Memory: 2GB
• Memory Technology: DDR3 SDRAM
• Memory Standard: DDR3-1333/PC3-10600
• Memory Card Reader: Yes
• Memory Card Supported:
  • MultiMediaCard (MMC)
  • Secure Digital (SD) Card

Storage

• Solid State Drive Capacity: 32GB

Display & Graphics

• Screen Size: 10.1”
• Display Screen Type: Active Matrix TFT Color LCD
• Display Screen Technology: CrystalBrite
• Aspect Ratio: 16:10
• Screen Mode: WXGA
• Backlight Technology: LED
• Touchscreen: Yes
• Multi-touch Screen: Yes
• Graphics Controller Manufacturer: AMD
• Graphics Memory Technology: DDR3 SDRAM
• Graphics Memory Accessibility: Shared
• TV Card: No

Network & Communication

• Wi-Fi: Yes
• Wi-Fi Standard: IEEE 802.11b/g/n
• Bluetooth: Yes
• Bluetooth Standard: Bluetooth 3.0
• Ethernet Technology: Fast Ethernet

Interfaces/Ports

• HDMI: Yes
• Total Number of USB Ports :4
• Number of USB 2.0 Ports: 4
• Network (RJ-45): Yes

Input Devices

• Keyboard: Yes
• Pointing Device Type: FineTrack

Built-in Devices

• Webcam: Yes
• Microphone: Yes
• Finger Print Reader: No

Software

• Operating system: Geniune Windows 7 Professional
• Operating system architecture: 32-bit
• Software included:
  • Microsoft® Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word and Excel® only, with advertising. No PowerPoint® or Outlook®. Buy Office 2010 to use the full-featured software.
  • Bing™ Bar
  • Windows Live™ Essentials

Battery Information

• Number of Cells: 3-cell
• Battery Chemistry: Lithium Polymer (Li-Polymer)
• Battery Capacity: 3260 mAh
• Maximum Battery Run Time: 6 Hour

Power Description

• Maximum Power Supply Wattage: 40 W

Physical Characteristics

• Form Factor: Hybrid
• Height: 0.8"
• Width: 10.8"
• Depth: 7.5"
• Weight (Approximate): 3.48 lb

Acer ICONIA W500P-BZ841 10.1" 2GB 32GB SSD Tablet Gray   Acer $651.39