First impressions of the Windows 8 Acer Iconia W700 tablet

| at Thursday, October 4, 2012 | Leave a comment

Acer announces its latest tablet, the Iconia W700, complete with a cradle dock, Bluetooth keyboard, and of course, Windows 8 compatibility.

As Acer continues to roll out its announcements on its latest Windows 8 lineup, we give you more hands-on impressions of the fresh new products right off the presses. Today, Acer unveils the Iconia W700 tablet complete with an 11.6-inch display in full 1080p high definition at a resolution of 1920 x 1080. The Iconia W700 will come in your choice of Intel Core i5 or i7 Ivy Bridge processor, and of course, the 10-point touch capacitive feature that will allow you to make the most out of Windows 8′s Metro UI.

One of the first things we noticed about the Iconia W700 is how modular the system is. The full set comes with a standing dock and a separate Bluetooth keyboard, both of which will allow you to use it like a PC at home or in your office. You can tilt the cradle dock up from 20 degrees to 70 degrees, depending on your viewing preference. Of course, you can also adjust the dock to stand vertically or horizontally.

Take it out of its cradle and you’ve got a tablet that’s approximately half an inch thich and weighs 2.3 pounds — not too much lighter than the Acer Aspire S7 ultrabook announced two days prior. However, the Iconia W700′s got a few more integrations that make it more of a mobile device than the Aspire S7. Case in point, the built-in G-Sensor, E-Compass, and Gyro-Meter — all of which are meant to help with location-based apps so you can check into a Foursquare joint, find your friends on Google Latitude, search nearby restaurants on Yelp, or the like, in as small amount of time as possible.

Spec-wise, you’ve got your choice of 64GB or 128GB SSD with 4GB of memory, a back-facing 5 megapixel camera that can record 1080p HD videos, and a 1-megapixel front facer that can capture 720p videos. The tablet also has a MicroHDMI and a VGA adapter if you want to hook it up to a projector. One of my personal favorite components of the set is that it comes with its own leatherette case that can pack up the dock, keyboard, and tablet all in a neat place. This makes it perfect for travel, and it’s nice to not have to spend extra on a decent case that can store all the little components and accessories.