AcerW510combinestabletandmini laptop

Keyboard, touch screen and a normal Windows 8: The Acer W510 combines tablet and mini-notebook. If you put the screen in the keyboard dock, you can write with Open Office long texts – holds up to 18 hours of battery. Our test reveals what is good for the writing tablet.A tablet, a netbook and a normal Windows 8 in one device for 499 euros: The Acer Iconia W510 sounds like a good deal.

The design is known from models like the Asus Transformer. If you want to write a text or edit photos, you put the tablet into a keyboard dock and tinkering so in seconds a netbook.Theoretically, Windows 8 is the ideal system for such combination devices with touchscreen. Microsoft’s new operating system has two surfaces. The traditional Windows desktop is good for keyboard and track pad or mouse adapted the tile surface is optimized for pure touch-screen operation on the tablet.

Keyboard, software, battery

The tablet fits comfortably in the hand. It is very light, which is probably also due to the plastic back and the plastic frame. Weighs 569 grams, the tablet is noticeably lighter than an actual iPad (652 grams) or the Google Nexus 10 (603 grams). The mechanics of the keyboard dock is smooth and stable.

Without fumbling snaps the tablet and immediately serves as a screen of a netbook – this is however not possible with 1.26 kilograms easier than the tablet alone. The screen can also fold down almost completely, if you will, for example, watching a movie. Therefore, you sit closer to the monitor; the keyboard stands out as a prop to the rear.

The keyboard of the W510 can be amazingly accurate and fast typing texts. One mistake more frequently than on a Macbook Air 11.6, because the keys of Acer’s tablet are still inching lower. The touch-screen operation is partly very well integrated; photos and text can be enlarged by two-finger gesture text passages can easily select with a finger on the screen.

Software Selection and Performance

Since install on the Acer W510 for the standard Windows 8 (and not ARM variant RT running Windows), you can all the traditional Windows programs. Open Office, Microsoft Office, Lightroom, Opera, and Chrome – the software runs easily and smoothly on the Windows desktop.