Acer Iconia W510: a good compromise?

Acer Iconia Tab W510A few weeks ago, we tested the Asus RT VivoTab, tablet and keyboard that were running Windows RT. The Iconia Tab W510 Acer presents the same form, but is equipped with an Intel Atom Clover Trail and thus work on Windows 8.
And it changes a lot. Because during our test of the product from Asus, we were quite satisfied with the work of the brand, but very doubtful about the Microsoft OS. With a product similar to Asus running Windows 8, the Acer Iconia Tab W510 seems to have serious advantages to make, starting with its compactness and autonomy announced as very important (18 hours!).
The W510 wife is more a hybrid format tablet / notebook that seems to be the one who convinced manufacturers, since the main market will be their declension: Samsung Smart PC Smart VivoTab Asus, HP Envy x2, Lenovo Lynx ... Products comparable in all respects to that of Acer, puisqu'équipés the same processor.
Among the Windows 8 mobile products already tested by us (S7 Acer Aspire, Lenovo Twist), the Acer W510 seems best equipped to respond to the issues raised by the two heads of OS Microsoft. What happens in practice? The answer in this test.
Acer W510Acer Iconia Tab W510Key FeaturesOperating system Windows 8 32-bitIntel Atom Z2760 components (2 x 1.8 GHz)Intel GMA 36502GB LPDDR2-800Memory / Storage Internal Memory: 64 GBMicro-SD slot up to 32 GBDefinition screen technology and capacitive IPS LCD 10.1 inch (1366x768)8 megapixel camera on the back / 2-megapixel frontNo GPSLi-polymer battery (29.6 Wh + 29.4 Wh with dock)Dimensions 259 x 168 x 8.9 mm259 x 187 x 19.1 mm with the dockWeight 570/1 265 grams

The tablet back to overview
The Iconia Tab W510 is a tablet with a Windows 8 keyboard. Before coming to him, first of all talk about the main part of what the tablet product. In 16:9 and with a diagonal of 10.1 inches, it has a fairly simple design whose only trick is the double gray / white for the back of the tablet and its periphery, respectively.
Acer Iconia Tab W510
Its size, however, is surprising, since most of the products listed above offer a diagonal exceeding 11 inches apart the Asus Smart VivoTab only to share the diagonal of the W510. Difference may seem small, but is in fact important at this level of compactness, which mainly allows Acer to distinguish it from the competition.
With this format, the W510 is naturally quite small: 570 grams on the scale, it is heavier than 30 grams compared to the RT VivoTab but gaining 110 grams compared to the size of Microsoft. If we take into consideration the keyboard however, the Acer product is less well placed: 1265 grams for the W510, against 1,080 grams for VivoTab RT and 894 grams for size.
Acer Iconia Tab W510
While some see the return of the W510 netbook, we prefer to qualify this statement somewhat. On the one hand because the price of the tablet from Acer is not that of a netbook, we will. Secondly, because the tablet is finite and does not suffer any structural defect. Finally, because the screen (and therefore the shelf) of the Iconia Tab W510 is much more qualitative than a netbook. The IPS panel chosen by Acer offers indeed very interesting viewing angles, while a hardened Gorilla Glass comes to avert any scratches. As for the screen resolution, it is indeed quite small (1366 x 768), but remains higher than that of netbooks at the time (1024 x 600 for the diagonal).
The qualities of this slab are also quite commendable, since its luminance up to 300 cd / m², with a black dot at 47 cd / m². The contrast ratio of 640:1 is rather good, without too great a sacrifice in terms of colorimetry (deltaE average of 6.7). It is rather more skeptical about the sound performance of the Acer tablet.
Acer Iconia Tab W510
Not that the sound quality is so bad: the power is relatively correct, and if the lack of bass is clear, the record is good enough for a tablet. But where the manufacturer as we make a mistake, it's about the location of the speakers, which are positioned in a place where the hands come to rest in landscape. Shame!
Acer Iconia Tab W510
The dock back to overview
If part of the W510 tablet convincing, what about the dock that is associated? First remark, Acer thought to give hinge its large amplitude motion, which allows a large scale at 295 °, offering Tab W510 an ideal position to play a video. The keyboard is thrown back onto the support, but the inclination of the dock is sufficient to prevent the keys not rub against the surface of the support. It does not interest, but it is always good to show a little more hybrid side of the unit.
Acer Iconia Tab W510
Covered with a gray plastic same as Acer has placed at the back of the tablet, the dock has a finish equivalent to this: it is not very "sustainable" (plastic is easily scratched) but it is assembled and the presence of many rubber pads on both sides of the dock, reassuring.
Acer Iconia Tab W510
Only downside, the game suffered when the shelf is positioned in the hinge. About the device designed to separate the two, it seems to us quite relevant: unlike VivoTab RT, the button is positioned on the dock, not the tablet, which greatly facilitates the operation.Acer Iconia Tab W510Acer Iconia Tab W510

We have not encountered any difficulty to place the tablet in a hinge also fully lined with felt. Also note that Acer provides two connectors for the dock: the first allows you to charge the device, since it is equipped with a 29.4 Wh battery, and the other is a second (and significant) USB port 2.0.
Acer Iconia Tab W510Acer Iconia Tab W510Acer Iconia Tab W510
We now come to the main interest of this dock, that is to say the keyboard. Let's outset, the keys are small, and even if the choice of chiclet provides additional spacing, typing is not the easiest. However, difficult to fault anything at Acer space is used up, and finally the 10.1-inch size, which limits the usability of this keyboard. In the end, the manufacturer has done the best with the space available, and if we regret the small key caps or absence of specific shortcuts for Windows 8, we appreciate, however, the relatively long stroke keys and the presence of a second Fn key at the right end of the keyboard, which allows you to perform quick combinations for "back", "next page", "start" and "end".
Acer Iconia Tab W510
We will however a little tougher with the touchpad, both too small (even if it is more comfortable than the surface) and unable to handle multitouch, gestures and therefore associated with Windows 8. Needless to some, since the screen is touch sensitive. Certainly. But it may also have wanted to work with a screen without fingerprints ... Finally, our test was obviously suffering from a strange illness which made the touchpad particularly capricious. Since none of our colleagues seem to have found the problem, we assume that our model has a defect that is specific. Hopefully.
Acer Iconia Tab W510
Components back to overview
Intel Atom Clover Trail - 3Among the many Windows 8 tablet hybrid, there are two types of models. They will be equipped with an Intel Core (such as Surface Pro), and those driven by a Clover Trail Atom, although less powerful, as is the case with Samsung Smart PC Smart VivoTab Asus, HP Envy x2, Lenovo Lynx . All these products use the Atom Z2760, a double heart SoC running at 1.8 GHz. With 1 MB cache, manages Hyperthreading but only works in 32-bit: if this is indeed Windows 8 (Windows and non-RT) that is installed on the W510 is a 32-bit version that we are dealing.
The chip also contains graphics, the GMA 3650, based on a PowerVR SGX 545 and engraved in 32 nm. Operating at 533 MHz, it supports DirectX 9.1 and OpenGL 3.0. Without dedicated memory, GMA this is obviously not a lightning war and may not be used for the game, unlike a chip as Tegra 3, and a fortiori Tegra 4. Comparison with ARM processors is also interesting from the point of view of power / consumption: we will see what is going on with our tests. Please note that the Intel SoC heater small enough that the Acer tablet goes ventilation.
To support this chip, Acer has provided 2 GB RAM DDR2 low consumption. Storage side, you can count on the micro-SD slot to expand the capacity of the tablet, limited to 32 or 64 GB Especially as our test model, a 32GB version, has in fact only 7.5 GB available to the user. Insufficient. Fortunately, only the 64 GB version seems to be available commercially.
The rest of the equipment Iconia Tab W510 is in contrast to standard: 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 + HS, NFC chip, brightness sensor (deactivation and efficient) ... Add to this a particularly rich connection for a tablet (micro-HDMI to VGA adapter, mini-USB 2.0 adapter to USB, micro-SD reader) and a second battery 29.6 Wh. Regarding the latter, know that it enjoys priority of the load and begins his discharge after the dock, which is pretty well thought out.
Acer Iconia Tab W510Acer Iconia Tab W510Acer Iconia Tab W510
Conclude with the photo part of this tablet: the front camera is equipped with a 2 megapixel sensor, while the camera on the back of the tablet is capable of 8-megapixel snapshots.
Acer Iconia Tab W510
On our test scene, the picture provided by the Acer tablet is slightly overexposed, and shows a little less than the toe VivoTab. It is still usable, especially as white balance seem relatively well managed and that the colors are a little more dynamic than the picture obtained with the Asus tablet.
Capture Acer W510VivoTab RT: Photo Capture
On the left, the shadow of the W510, right, that of VivoTab Asus

1080p videos produced by the W510 seem to lack fluidity and because there are only 24 frames per second. Passing in 720p, there are excellent fluidity. Obviously, the Atom Z2760 Tablet flange somewhat from this point of view.
Acer W510: Capture video in 1080pClick on the image to play the video

Web, games, office: in practice! back to top
What this Iconia W510 in practice? Evoke the first touch layer, which manages up to five simultaneous support. A manipulation that also opens the Acer Ring, an application launcher rather well done can open some folders (My Documents, My Pictures, My Videos), to organize your favorite applications or access to a configuration menu very useful (network management wireless sensor brightness). The perfect management of this support to five fingers is the image quality of the touch layer of the W510: responsiveness is very good and does not suffer any approximation.
Acer Ring
The accelerometer is equipped with this tablet also shows up: it is far from the mistakes of Lenovo Twist! Management is impeccable and every movement of the tablet is quickly and correctly interpreted on the screen. What is now the performance of components of the W510? The amount of RAM (2 GB) may seem low compared to that currently practiced in the world of laptop with Windows 8. But in practice, we have not suffered from any lack.
However, we must admit that the SoC Intel is far, far away to show the performance of a processor Core. This does not bother us when surfing or launch applications Modern UI and use advisory responsiveness of the tablet at least very similar to what exists in competition iOS as Android. However, do not expect to play tracks that greedy Reckless Racing Ultimate, to perform assembly or photo editing, as can Windows 8 yet.
Reckless Racing W510
Performance and autonomy back to overview
Though in practice the Acer tablet seems at least as reactive as its competitors say about benchmarks? To find out, we compared the W510 surface at RT and VivoTab and used every time, Internet Explorer 10.

If a tool SunSpider is aging, it is nevertheless a reference in the field. And this test, the Iconia Tab W510 and Intel Atom are better than tablets Asus or Microsoft, led by the NVIDIA Tegra 3. The gap is even quite big, since it amounts to almost 33% compared to surface.

Other representative test use Web site Google Octane also the W510 Windows tablet before RT, with a higher score of almost 50%.

Same result as Mozilla Kraken, which gives an advantage to the tablet from Acer. The difference is again consistent with tablets RT of about 45%.

If synthetic benchmarks give the W510 far ahead, a practical test as a measure of the start time plebiscite also Acer tablet. For where Windows RT models are between 23 and 29 seconds to put it into action, it only takes 13.5 seconds to W510.

Level of autonomy Finally, we set the brightness of the screen on an average value and enabled wireless circuits. A video in a loop until battery exhaustion. Obviously this test, the Intel Atom SoC is expected to face ARM. And despite the presence of two sets of interesting capabilities (about 60 Wh between them), the W510 fails to match the score (impressive) of VivoTab RT, either with or without the dock. As such, the remainder to the ARM SoC Intel. But 15 hours and 20 minutes of battery life, it is still remarkable! Note in passing the relatively long time for charging two batteries: about 6 hours!
Back to top Conclusion
Acer Iconia Tab W510In concluding this test the Iconia Tab W510, a question comes to mind: what else happens to Windows tablets RT? For one side, you have a space or VivoTab RT 32GB version sold at 600 euros with a keyboard, and OS clamped limited performance, and another the W510, with a swifter Atom , the "real version" of Windows (such as Intel likes to call it) and with a 64 GB storage sold ... at the same price!
So obviously, the situation is a little steep and should qualify the subject. As to what is autonomy, Tegra 3 tablets that are VivoTab and size are more efficient. Similarly, these have nothing to envy to the W510 regarding the game, although in all cases it will settle securities particularly low resource intensive. Finally, the weight is also the advantage of two models under Windows RT, at least when we compare the whole tablet + dock. Blame it on a bigger battery on the W510 as the VivoTab RT.
Still not months Acer tablet has a performance / consumption seems more interesting, and the presence of Windows 8 makes it possible to install small applications daily, which will delight those who not necessarily want to go through Modern UI. In addition, the W510 has a good level of finish and a remarkably compact, which implies however a small deficit in terms of ergonomics, particularly at the keyboard.
But between this and the Asus RT VivoTab or Microsoft's Surface, our choice is clearly the W510. Remains whether the NVIDIA Tegra 4 will or not new arguments supporters Windows tablets RT, and if other manufacturers manage to do better in Acer. As such, the Asus Smart Vivotab only real competitor of the W510 to date, has no second battery.