flyinghaggis

The other issue is that you may be unable to find compatibile drivers for Windows 7/8. Best to try it on one laptop to see how it runs and whether you can get all the hardware (audio/video,etc) in them to work OK first before deciding.

I was thinking that. "So you'd like to buy my Macbook.... I'll meet you down the local pub.... please bring £1000... in cash!" I think most genuine buyers would run a mile!

I hope it is under £700 but based on the specs (core i5, 128gb SSD, 1080p touch screen) I can't really see if being much under £1000 especially by the time you factor in their pricey touchpad keyboard. Similarly specced ultrabooks go for that kind of money and I don't expect MS would want to undercut OEM's by £200-300.

It'll be interesting to see how Adobe fair now Microsoft have a built-in PDF reader in Windows 8. They're going to have to up their game (or start bribing OEM's to bundle it on new computers) if they want people to carry on using Acrobat viewer!

Been playing it for the last hour or so and I'm quite enjoying it. Does feel very familiar after playing the previous games but I guess that's not a bad thing. They've really managed to pull out the stops with the graphics as they're substantially improved over the previous version. Pretty damn impressive for a 6 year old games console! haven't tried the multiplayer or Spartan Ops Co-op online yet though. Anyone else playing it at the moment?

+ 1 for the nexus 7 TBH. Why spend £100 on no-brand junk when you get a tegra 3 bang up to date top of the line tablet backed by Google themselves for £160!

The vote was phrased "who is going to be.." rather than "who do you want to be..." so I wouldn't read too much into it ....

We've been looking at devices for pupils to use but haven't really moved forward with the plans as we've been waiting for Windows 8 tablets to be released to see how they compared with the IOS/Android tablets. From what I've seen so far some of the ASUS transformer sytle tablets with Windows 8 and an atom processor look like the way to go at the moment but I'll hold fire until reviews start to appear confirming the pricing and battery life. Asus Vivo Tab review | Tablets Reviews | TechRadar

In terms of the x86 based surface pro there's a lot of rumours floating about the internet suggesting the 90-day release delay might be so that they can equip it with intel's upcoming haswell chip rather than the current Ivy Bridge range. From what I've been reading it's literally suppoed to offer nearly a 20-30% improvement in performance whilst using around half the power of the current Ivy bridge tech. Graphics performance is also supposed to be double that of the existing HD4000 chipset. All sounds very promising for the Surface Pro and other Windows 8 tablets out next year

ASUS are about to release a new Vivobook with an atom processor that will run windows8 x86. It looks near identical to the android based transformer aside from running MS's OS. Quite tempted by one when I need to replace my laptop actually. Meet VivoTab? Series ? Three new Windows 8 Tablets designed for both work & play

I'm struggling to decide whether to go to see this as I really enjoyed Casino Royale but Quantum of Solace was so lacklustre I nearly fell asleep!

I've been trying it out on my laptop for the last hour and I'm finding the learning curve pretty steep after Windows7. I'm not sure how the public at large are going to take to Windows8 as it really is a quantum leap from any version update in the last 20 years. Microsoft should really have included something in the setup that actually tells you how to use the UI rather than simply saying move the cursor to the corners of the screen as a lot of things that are natural on a touch screen are very fiddly to carry out with a touchpad. Specifically I ended up having to Google how to bring up the 'options' menu that swiping up/down from the top of the touch screen would bring up. It's StartKey+Z by the way which is something you'll need to use in pretty much every metro app if you don't have a touchscreen (unless there's another cunning way of getting it to appear.) Edit: There is another way, right-mouse button...! Having said all that I'm starting to get the hang of it now and I like way it now links to your Microsoft online account and makes all your email, SkyDrive files, calendar all automatically available. The increased performance on my laptop is definitely noticeable too.

I guess the main problem here is simple demographics. The 'baby boomer' generation is about to retire whilst the birth rate has been dropping (despite immigration) and thanks to advances in medicine people are living long than was ever anticipated. A perfect storm situation is appearing globally when over 65's are going to start accounting for a substantial percentage of the population. Put simply there won't be enough people working to pay for those that are retired hence somethings's got to give. It doesn't help that politicians have lived hand to mouth and run the state pension like a ponzi scheme when we should have been saving money for the above scenario! Admittedly hearing it from a £120,000 a year retired peer is a bit hard to swallow but unfortunately what he's stating is going to come down to simple maths. I'll probably upset people by saying this but anyone in their 20's or 30's is likely going to be seriously disappointed if they expect to retire before 70 and live on a state pension alone! And I say that as someone in their (early) 30's!

I'm gonna download this to install the upgrade version onto my laptop [Dell M101Z] when it's available. I'll probably ultimately install it on my desktop but wanted to make sure all my peripherals and software worked OK first. Does anyone know if you're buying the upgrade lics @£25 per copy do you need to buy them all at once or can you order one upgrade then another later? On the site it seems to mention a limit of 5 copies per order? I'm thinking I should maybe buy 2 just to be on the safe side? Anyone else planning on upgrading their home computers tomorrow?

I've had it pretty much since launch (2006?)and it RROD'd about 2 years after I bought it. It's been fine since they repaired it though . I'm kind of at the point now where I'm hoping it will last until MS bring out the next xbox 720 in another year or two To that end, I've ordered the Datel Wireless N adapter for £35 from an Amazon marketplace reseller. Most of the reviews were fairly positive.

Just to update this thread I've ordered a Creative HS800 Fatal1ty Gaming Headset as I needed something with a built in Mic. I'm still unsure how well I'll get on with a headset so didn't want to spend too much cash. Picked them up for £26 on Amazon which seemed like a good deal. I've read several reviews that stating they're comfortable for extended use even when wearing glasses. I'll post an update when they arrive.

In my experience if you expect anything more than hideous design and sub-standard build quality from Acer you'll be disappointed I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. Better to wait and see what Samsung/Asus bring out. The more I read about WindowsRT the less it appeals. The thing that did surprise me is that the Tegra3 chipsets were even slower that the Intel Atom range. I'd have expected them running a dedicated stripped down OS without any legacy baggage to be quicker but in most of the benchmarks they're around half the speed of Intel's latest atom chipset!

Why not install windows 8 onto them? We've done it with ours and it seems to run pretty well. It's much more usable with the touchscreen than windows 7 ever was.

Good to see they've finally sorted out the screen rotation on the home screen in the latest version. It's a minor thing but it was really frustrating when your were browsing the web or watching a video in landscape mode and had to physically spin the device back round every time you hit the home button! I really hope they they implement multipe user accounts/logons in the next update. It's something that's been noticeably lacking in android/IOS tablets.

The reviews on the UK Play and amazon sites all say it works fine so maybe it's just an issue with the US version? Hope so....!

I have the old original 20Gb version so would still need to find £250 for that pack! Think I'll go with the Datel one for £35 unless anyone has any other suggestions?

I guess I could but I'd prefer to try and get a compatible USB adapter just for the neatness/convenience if possible. Datel do a wireless N one for £36 which seems to get OK reviews? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Datel-Wireless-Network-Adaptor-Xbox/dp/B003UYTGGW/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1350509207&sr=8-7

In anticipation of Halo4 being released I was going to get myself a wi-fi adapter for my xbox but I've been checking a couple of places and they all want around £60 for the thing! Maybe I'm being a skin flint but i steadfastly refuse to pay £60 for a wifi USB stick that probably cost them under a fiver to manufacture Hell, it would be more cost effective to sell my xbox and buy a new one with the wi-fi built in than pay for the adapter (maybe that's MS's plan!). Is there anywhere I can get it cheaper or can anyone recommend any of the 3rd party alternatives?

Sorry, I went a bit OT there. The x86 surface pro is going to be an i5 but i was just referring to Windows 8 Tablets in general! The surface pro sounds awesome but I worry about the effect of that Core i5 on its' battery life. The upcoming atom is promising power usage close to an ARM CPU so if Intel can match the performance of the tegra3 that would probably be a better fit for a tablet device IMO.

I'd kind of hoped that the Windows RT tablets would be a budget alternative to be honest. If they're going to cost upwards of £500 then personally I'd rather go for an x86 based version providing it doesn't hurt the battery life too much. Hopefully Intel can pull something special out of the bag with their upcoming clovertrail atom CPU's.