Windows Linx Tablet - Viable alternative to netbook?

[penfold]

Maybe not so much for work but as my wife is still opposed to a full blown laptop but does like her netbook I've recently seen the Linx Windows tablet which are offering up to £50 cash back for a tablet trade in. As this is available with Windows 8 and a keyboard for £180 in places, it looks like quite a nice alternative to paying nearly double for a netbook.

 

The only reason I took a second look is because I have an old tablet knocking around made me think twice about about it, but would it be worth it, or would they just be crawling after a few weeks? Anyone got any experience with these or similar?

Edited November 10, 2014 by penfold

[Cache]

Not much help, but I'd be interested on any feedback from anyone with the £99 version of them as it's something I've been thinking about a lot recently...

 

Not sure whether it would allow you to wipe and stick Windows Enterprise on it and tie it to a domain or whether it's best left as is. In a brief conversation with someone about them they believed that you could but they were not 100% sure.

[penfold]

bump just in case someone has any experiences with these...

[ITTony]

I would be interested in this aswell, Currently looking at purchasing a couple of these for the school.

After being burned with the surface RT I am sceptical about ever purchasing a windows tablet again!

 

BTW insight are currently doing these for £142 (ex VAT) for the 10" model with keyboard.

[SYNACK]

Nice, those are generally built cheap of reference platforms and TBH W8 is way more reliable a bet on a tablet in my experience than the mess that can be Android unless you are buying top of the line android tabs.

[penfold]

After recently getting a Windows phone, I can say it just works. I will say that the games side of things seems to be a little behind, but generally that is the free games I am talking about and in this case I would be looking to replace a netbook with one of these rather than an android tablet. As such they seem to be a decent option - at least on paper.

[knightrider]

Had a play on the 7 & 8 inch ones yesterday. Decent build quality for price but the big selling point for me is that you can join to a domain & you can manage them with SCCM & InTune! Ordered one today to go a full test.

[ITTony]

Win Win then especially that they are domainable be interesting to hear how you get on with a full test.

[pcstru]

I bought two here the 7in and the 10in. I've not had much time to play for far. They are not able to join to the domain and you can't seem to upgrade them with a standard windows 8.1 install. That kind of scuppers them as being immediately better than chromebooks. The 10in keyboard is useable but cheap (because it is). The screens are OK, I find them a little too glossy and the 7 in is a bit wierd when cleaned with a microfibre cloth (it seems to pull fibres onto the screen). That said, they are good value.

[mthomas08]

Not sure whether it would allow you to wipe and stick Windows Enterprise on it and tie it to a domain or whether it's best left as is. In a brief conversation with someone about them they believed that you could but they were not 100% sure.

 

Likewise - We do a Scheme so I always keep my eye open for better options.

 

W8 is way more reliable a bet on a tablet in my experience than the mess that can be Android unless you are buying top of the line android tabs.

 

Not sure what you mean by that, we have an entire year group of Android Tablets and the problems coming back has nothing to do with Android. Unless you mean the cheap as chips Tablets under £100 but again that has nothing to do with Android when buying the lowest spec device.

[ITTony]

I bought two here the 7in and the 10in. I've not had much time to play for far. They are not able to join to the domain and you can't seem to upgrade them with a standard windows 8.1 install. That kind of scuppers them as being immediately better than chromebooks. The 10in keyboard is useable but cheap (because it is). The screens are OK, I find them a little too glossy and the 7 in is a bit wierd when cleaned with a microfibre cloth (it seems to pull fibres onto the screen). That said, they are good value.

 

So does that mean they are in fact running windows RT? which in that case renders them to nothing more than a coaster!

 

Had a play on the 7 & 8 inch ones yesterday. Decent build quality for price but the big selling point for me is that you can join to a domain & you can manage them with SCCM & InTune! Ordered one today to go a full test.

 

Just to clarify did you actually join it to the domain? I just want to be sure these can be added otherwise they are useless for us in a school enviroment. As we tried the surface RT and they turned out to be a huge waste of money (thankfully only bought 3 as a test)

 

Thanks for your reply's

[chazzy2501]

You can get full Windows Tablets for £99 retail, with a Micro usb charging hub these can become full workstations! Somehow cheaper than a zero client?!

 

£99 tablet quad atom 2gbs ram and 32gb storage. http://www.amazon.co.uk/VOYO-A1-Quad-Core-Capacitive-Bluetooth/dp/B00O7ONGWY/ref=pd_sim_sbs_computers_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=0G8383E0G9HKV3QYBQ4P

 

and a hub example so you can usb and charge: niceEshop™ White 3 Port USB 2.0 Hub Charger Adapter with 5 Pin Micro-USB Interface +Free niceEshop Cable Tie: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

[plexer]

So does that mean they are in fact running windows RT? which in that case renders them to nothing more than a coaster!

 

 

They have Intel chips inside not Arm so should be good for a full version.

 

Ben

[localzuk]

See, now, at £100 a piece, I could quite happily have these on a 1:1 basis. Very interesting indeed!!!

 

They big question is battery life. The Linx 10" model claims 7 hours.

Edited November 27, 2014 by localzuk

[Chris_]

So does that mean they are in fact running windows RT? which in that case renders them to nothing more than a coaster!

 

 

 

Just to clarify did you actually join it to the domain? I just want to be sure these can be added otherwise they are useless for us in a school enviroment. As we tried the surface RT and they turned out to be a huge waste of money (thankfully only bought 3 as a test)

 

Thanks for your reply's

 

I'm guessing they come with Windows 8 home/basic which won't allow you to join a domain. The processors are x86 based so should run a full version of Windows 8 Pro/Ent, which you could then join to a domain.

 

Also, £50 cashback for these beasts! RM Tablet PC RTAB912-T01 Intel 2915 tri band

[pcstru]

So does that mean they are in fact running windows RT? which in that case renders them to nothing more than a coaster!

No - not RT. They are x86 devices but behave similarly to devices running Windows Home edition, i.e. you can't join them to a domain, the option is greyed out. You can install standard x86 windows software on them (32 bit), they are not like RT devices, restricted only to apps from the windows store.

 

I did try installing a pro version but the install refused to proceed after the first reboot.

[penfold]

So for a home device they do seem very good value especially if you have an old tablet to claim £50 cash back on the 10" versions. I assume you can still map a drive with these things which means the storage isn't too much of an issue if you can save to a NAS?

[Arthur]

I did try installing a pro version but the install refused to proceed after the first reboot.

Was that using a WIMBoot image of Windows 8.1 Pro?

[pcstru]

So for a home device they do seem very good value especially if you have an old tablet to claim £50 cash back on the 10" versions. I assume you can still map a drive with these things which means the storage isn't too much of an issue if you can save to a NAS?

 

I think as a personal device they look to be very good value. They both have slots for SD card so adding a 64G drive is cheap (not sure yet if that has the same behaviour as my surface pro which doesn't allow software to be installed to the card). They come with a years Office365 subscription which includes onedrive for storage (can't recall how much as standard). They have a micro USB and HDMI.

 

Bosses daughter ordered one but it has had to be returned - for some reason to do with the 365 subscription rather than hardware it seems.

 

Was that using a WIMBoot image of Windows 8.1 Pro?

 

No, just standard 8.1 Pro grabbed from the Volume Licence site. I have queried it with MS since the devices were mentioned to me in a conversation where I was berating the lack of cheap windows devices to compete with chromebooks, but which unlike the RT would integrate properly with the domain. I suspect the 'home' behaviour is quite intentional.

[pcstru]

Bosses daughter ordered one but it has had to be returned - for some reason to do with the 365 subscription rather than hardware it seems.

No, hold that, news just in. Apparently after a few calls to support and sending in some screen shots of the error - switching it off and on again fixed it!

Edited November 27, 2014 by pcstru

[gshaw]

That Linx tablet looks like a rebadged Schenker Element mySN.co.uk | XMG | Schenker Technologies - Schenker Element Tablet

 

Can't go wrong at the price they're selling for

[mthomas08]

Just purchased one to see what I can do with it.

[arh1a]

Just to confirm that you can install Windows 8.1 x86 Enterprise (x64 should work as well but will use up more disk space) on the Linx 10. The origami keyboard mouse worked within the Windows Setup so I haven't had to use anything more than just the Micro USB adapter which was supplied with the tablet. Below is how I have done this (I have also done this on other tablets like the Acer W510).

 

1 - Use Double Driver to Backup the Drivers (They're not on the Linx Tablet website yet) - Thanks to gshaw as they are a rebranded Schenker Element the drivers can be downloaded from here if you don't want to use Double Driver - http://www.mysn.de/secure/userarea/download.asp?KategorienOrder=010;010&show=Support

2 - Create a UEFI bootable Windows 8.1 USB Stick using Rufus

3 - Hold down the SHIFT key when you click the restart button to get into the boot menu

4 - With the bootable USB Stick plugged into the tablet choose the Removable Device boot option

5 - Install Windows 8.1 like you would on any normal computer

 

I'm sure you would be able to do this with the Linx 7 and Linx 8 but due to it not having a keyboard option you would need to use a USB Charging Hub like chazzy2501 mentioned in post #12

 

Hope this helps

Edited December 1, 2014 by arh1a

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Picked up a new Linx 7 over the weekend. They were going for £50 on ebay. Missus will be happy with the xmas present I think

 

Due here tomorrow. I'll let you know what it's like.

[pcstru]

Just to confirm that you can install Windows 8.1 x86 Enterprise (x64 should work as well but will use up more disk space) on the Linx 10. The origami keyboard mouse worked within the Windows Setup so I haven't had to use anything more than just the Micro USB adapter which was supplied with the tablet. Below is how I have done this (I have also done this on other tablets like the Acer W510).

 

1 - Use Double Driver to Backup the Drivers (They're not on the Linx Tablet website yet) - Thanks to gshaw as they are a rebranded Schenker Element the drivers can be downloaded from here if you don't want to use Double Driver - http://www.mysn.de/secure/userarea/download.asp?KategorienOrder=010;010&show=Support

2 - Create a UEFI bootable Windows 8.1 USB Stick using Rufus

3 - Hold down the SHIFT key when you click the restart button to get into the boot menu

4 - With the bootable USB Stick plugged into the tablet choose the Removable Device boot option

5 - Install Windows 8.1 like you would on any normal computer

 

I'm sure you would be able to do this with the Linx 7 and Linx 8 but due to it not having a keyboard option you would need to use a USB Charging Hub like chazzy2501 mentioned in post #12

 

Hope this helps

 

Thanks. I did get enterprise on but it's lacking drivers for the touch and most annoyingly for the wireless. Do you happen to have that working?