Deal of the day: Windows Tablet w/Office 365 $79

[JustRalph]

http://deals.kinja.com/this-80-tablet-comes-with-95-in-free-extras-1684058758?rev=1423172083654

365 and a $25 gift card for apps

[raybo]

Been looking for a cheap Windows mobile device. This one looks close. Is there a way to install Excel 2002 (distributor's copy), from a disc or thumbdrive, into these mobiles? Maybe it could be run from a memory card? I see that Office 365 is only a one year subscription (yes, I am extremely thrifty!).

[JustRalph]

I spoke with the Microsoft store rep. For every one you buy you get a year of Office 365 and a $25 app card.

That's a $95 dollar value for each one, plus the tablet

I bought 3

Great little gifts for the niece and nephew or whomever

And I get office 365 for 3 yrs

With tax and everything it was $255

At this price one of these could remain in my truck full time.

It has an SD card slot

Sling box etc is said to run great on this. I'm going to find out

[Clocker]

I see that Office 365 is only a one year subscription (yes, I am extremely thrifty!).

I too am thrifty, and I am also very leery about "renting" software needed for something I was working on. Not only do you not know what the future price will be, you have no control over future "improvements and upgrades".

[raybo]

I too am thrifty, and I am also very leery about "renting" software needed for something I was working on. Not only do you not know what the future price will be, you have no control over future "improvements and upgrades".

Yeah, that is a concern. I am also, thus far, unimpressed with the processing speed of 2007 and later Office apps (Excel). I much prefer to use per-2007 Excel, for that reason. I own the Office 2002 disc, forever, and can produce as many copies as I wish, and install it on as many machines as I wish (I could care less if MS doesn't support it any longer, it works fine for me as it is).

[Dick Schmidt]

Thanks for the heads up. I am hoping I can get my trading software to run on this. For $79 it is worth a shot and if it doesn't work I'll give it to someone. Not sure I can run it in one gig, but SD cards are cheap.

Question Ralph: I have no use for Office 365. Can I give this to you or someone else? Seems like I can as you are "giving" two of your years to yourself. If yes, let me know how and you can have an extra year.

Dick

A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.

[Tom]

Is this a real computer?
Can I load other software onto it, or is just internet based stuff?

[JustRalph]

Thanks for the heads up. I am hoping I can get my trading software to run on this. For $79 it is worth a shot and if it doesn't work I'll give it to someone. Not sure I can run it in one gig, but SD cards are cheap.

Question Ralph: I have no use for Office 365. Can I give this to you or someone else? Seems like I can as you are "giving" two of your years to yourself. If yes, let me know how and you can have an extra year.

Dick

A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.

Dick, they say you cannot give it away, it must stay with original purchaser. but I was informed that you can share your subscription with four members of your household.

https://support.office.microsoft.com/en-us/article/Share-Office-365-Home-with-up-to-four-people-in-your-household-b389b9ce-3ae3-4a82-9017-39d79972fcba?CorrelationId=c0001bfb-d4b9-4ffe-81ce-bb0cf1c4c703&ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

I hope it works out for you. :ThmbUp:

[JustRalph]

Is this a real computer?
Can I load other software onto it, or is just internet based stuff?


It's a real computer running windows 8.1

It has 32 gig of SSD (no hard drive) but I'm sure windows takes up a ton of that. I'm guessing 20gig would be free. we shall see. It does have a an SSD card slot so you can add memory.

for 79 bucks ........ it's cheaper than a decent music player.........

[therussmeister]

It's a real computer running windows 8.1

It has 32 gig of SSD (no hard drive) but I'm sure windows takes up a ton of that. I'm guessing 20gig would be free. we shall see. It does have a an SSD card slot so you can add memory.

for 79 bucks ........ it's cheaper than a decent music player.........
Windows 8.1 takes up about 14.5 gigs after all the new updates are installed. I believe all Microsoft apps must be loaded and run from the hard drive, but any other programs can be run from the added SSD card so a 32 gig hard drive is no problem.

[therussmeister]

Been looking for a cheap Windows mobile device. This one looks close. Is there a way to install Excel 2002 (distributor's copy), from a disc or thumbdrive, into these mobiles? Maybe it could be run from a memory card? I see that Office 365 is only a one year subscription (yes, I am extremely thrifty!).
It would be no problem unless Excel 2002 is incompatible with Windows 8.1. It wouldn't surprise me if Microsoft did that.

[JustRalph]

related somewhat

http://gizmodo.com/can-a-cheap-windows-tablet-replace-your-desktop-1684130353?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_twitter&utm_source=gizmodo_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

[hyipro]

Paid $29.95 at Micro Center with a coupon received in the mail could not order it fast enough, ordered it on line on a Sat AM picked it up 2 hours latter
at the store, have to get used to the new look and feel of 8.1 as windows 7
will go by the wayside in five years, so wanted to get used to the new look, so far so good trying to figure out certain issues, but love the fact it has a
usb port and I can place my windows 7 racing programs there. With the
coupon there was another one to give to a friend for free for an e mail address so he got me the sd card, so all is good...........

[PaceAdvantage]

This is a 7 inch screen? Too small IMO, even so cheap...8" is barely usable when working with programs such as office...

[raybo]

This is a 7 inch screen? Too small IMO, even so cheap...8" is barely usable when working with programs such as office...

I agree, 10" is about the minimum for me, without having to do a lot of scrolling to see the whole display, and still be able to actually read the data.

[JustRalph]

I'm going to see.........or not...... :lol:

[TonyMLake]

I gotta side with Clocker. I'm DONE with subscription based software, so, for me, Office 365 is OUT OUT OUT.

There's always OpenOffice, it has everything MS-Office has (for the general purpose user). But then... if you can break away from Microsoft like that, you're not limited to a Windows tablet...so, you may want to weigh your options.

NOW, THAT SAID, I'm a programmer and many of my friends are programmers, and although I do NOT have a Windows tablet (I'm running an Android), my friends who have Windows tablets LOVE them. They have reported they were pleasantly surprised. Consumer Reports is your friend here.

So, there's a balance to be found just about everywhere.

[JustRalph]

Just for the record, I own several tablets. Apple, Android etc

I just thought this a great deal. I should get them tomorrow.

If I don't like the first one I open, I can gift the other two.

We offer prizes to employees etc. for this price, no sweat

[Dick Schmidt]

Got the tablet in just a couple of days and have been enjoying it. Still trying to get programs to behave themselves, many of them want mouse clicks or use keys the tablet doesn't have (Windows key for instance.) On the other hand, I do have my trading program up and running, though I'm having trouble hooking up with my desktop using the USB port. I have a Micro SD card coming from Amazon so I can get some custom indicators and templates into my trading platform. Have high hopes that this will become a handy little gizmo that will travel much better than a laptop. We'll have to see. Wonder if I can upgrade this to Windows 10 later this year???

Dick

Alas, I know if I ever became truly humble, I would be proud of it.
- Benjamin Franklin

[PaceAdvantage]

I've used this on my 8" tablet...it does the job

http://www.lovesummertrue.com/touchmousepointer/en-us/

[raybo]

I gotta side with Clocker. I'm DONE with subscription based software, so, for me, Office 365 is OUT OUT OUT.

There's always OpenOffice, it has everything MS-Office has (for the general purpose user). But then... if you can break away from Microsoft like that, you're not limited to a Windows tablet...so, you may want to weigh your options.

NOW, THAT SAID, I'm a programmer and many of my friends are programmers, and although I do NOT have a Windows tablet (I'm running an Android), my friends who have Windows tablets LOVE them. They have reported they were pleasantly surprised. Consumer Reports is your friend here.

So, there's a balance to be found just about everywhere.

You are free to state your opinions, of course, but for some here, who have invested 15 or 20 years automating their horse racing analysis in MS Excel, the decision to be made between spreadsheet apps is a no brainer, and OO is not even close to being an alternative. So, for them, Windows based mobiles is the only choice.

[JustRalph]

Started playing with it this afternoon

Screen is surprisingly nice

So far the responsiveness is very impressive

Right about 20 gigs available after adding Chrome

More to come......

[Dick Schmidt]

PA, thank you, this is perfect. You solved about 90% of my problems setting up my trading software. Now I'm just left with trying to get my tablet and desktop to talk to each other using the USB connection. Still looking for a solution but I'm sure Google has one somewhere.

Dick

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

[JustRalph]

PA, thank you, this is perfect. You solved about 90% of my problems setting up my trading software. Now I'm just left with trying to get my tablet and desktop to talk to each other using the USB connection. Still looking for a solution but I'm sure Google has one somewhere.

Dick

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Dick, mine wouldn't do anything via usb until I hit the "network" icon. This is a Lenovo laptop with Win8.1

It asked for credentials. I put in the same logon as the HP Stream and it allowed me to browse the Stream from the Lenovo. Total access it appears

Fyi, there is some lag time

[TonyMLake]

You are free to state your opinions, of course, but for some here, who have invested 15 or 20 years automating their horse racing analysis in MS Excel, the decision to be made between spreadsheet apps is a no brainer, and OO is not even close to being an alternative. So, for them, Windows based mobiles is the only choice.

... you're right. And you didn't even mention MS-ACCESS... how much of a labyrinth it would be to try to rewrite some of those ODBC calls to change an Access database over to Open Office or some other alternative.

And, as I said, my friends who have the Windows tablets love them. I personally would love to have one.

I do NOT like the subscription based Office software anymore, so I use older versions at work, and never write anything new in them.

So, I have no particular axe to grind. I love Windows, Apple, and Android (linux + JAVA) OSes.

[Dick Schmidt]

Dick, mine wouldn't do anything via usb until I hit the "network" icon. This is a Lenovo laptop with Win8.1

It asked for credentials. I put in the same logon as the HP Stream and it allowed me to browse the Stream from the Lenovo. Total access it appears

Fyi, there is some lag time

Thanks for the help, but I don't seem to have a "Network Icon" anywhere on my Win 7 desktop nor on my Win 8.1 laptop. I can find the network folder on the control pannel, but can't get either computer to recognize the tablet. Tried to go from the tablet to the other computers, but no joy. I have a micro SD card coming from Amazon, so I guess I'll move files that way when it gets here.

Thanks for trying,

Dick

I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not so sure.

[DeltaLover]

You are free to state your opinions, of course, but for some here, who have invested 15 or 20 years automating their horse racing analysis in MS Excel, the decision to be made between spreadsheet apps is a no brainer, and OO is not even close to being an alternative. So, for them, Windows based mobiles is the only choice.


I think you should rethink about your application if it really appears to be so tightly coupled to Excel.

The fact that you might have invested 20 years following a monolithic design, does not mean that you have to continue doing the same for ever, instead you need to work towards the next generation of your software adopting more up to date technologies and techniques, something that will bring it up to speed with the current landscape.

One of the most fundamental concepts you need to consider when developing a solution, is to deliver it in multiple tiers. A clear separation of the model – view – controller layers is something that will allow your solution to evolve through time, adopting newer technologies as they gradually substitute older approaches. Following this approach, your solution should be able to easily switch related technologies , which should be seen as implementation details rather than central points. For example, switching from excel or access to mongo or mysql needs to be a very simple choice, ideally configurable through a simple configuration file...

[Robert Goren]

How big does it has to be to be usable like a desktop? and how small does it have to be for a man (Women have purses which allow for bigger tablets) to carry around? Is there an intersecting point?

[raybo]

I think you should rethink about your application if it really appears to be so tightly coupled to Excel.

The fact that you might have invested 20 years following a monolithic design, does not mean that you have to continue doing the same for ever, instead you need to work towards the next generation of your software adopting more up to date technologies and techniques, something that will bring it up to speed with the current landscape.

One of the most fundamental concepts you need to consider when developing a solution, is to deliver it in multiple tiers. A clear separation of the model – view – controller layers is something that will allow your solution to evolve through time, adopting newer technologies as they gradually substitute older approaches. Following this approach, your solution should be able to easily switch related technologies , which should be seen as implementation details rather than central points. For example, switching from excel or access to mongo or mysql needs to be a very simple choice, ideally configurable through a simple configuration file...

All this is not applicable to me. My program(s) is/are fully automated, and complete. I have no use for OO at all (or any other app for that matter). Excel is an excellent analysis platform, one of the best that exist. All I do with it is racing related, and as such, serves my needs quite well, and will continue to serve those needs as long as there is a computer that will run Excel.

I have no interest in being able to switch from one platform to another. If that need ever becomes required, I will probably just stop playing the races.

[raybo]

How big does it has to be to be usable like a desktop? and how small does it have to be for a man (Women have purses which allow for bigger tablets) to carry around? Is there an intersecting point?

That would depend on your own uses and needs. For me, using Excel for racing, 10" minimum screen size, with the ability to use a cursor/mouse/track pad, connect to traditional (maybe multiple) monitors if preferred or needed, run programs from the web or a thumbdrive (Excel and JCapper to access the HDW site for downloading and converting files), is what I require.

Personally, I don't need, nor do I even care for touchscreens at all, but that's what tablets are all about, it appears.

Your needs may differ, so only you can answer that question.

[DeltaLover]

All this is not applicable to me. My program(s) is/are fully automated, and complete. I have no use for OO at all (or any other app for that matter). Excel is an excellent analysis platform, one of the best that exist. All I do with it is racing related, and as such, serves my needs quite well, and will continue to serve those needs as long as there is a computer that will run Excel.

I have no interest in being able to switch from one platform to another. If that need ever becomes required, I will probably just stop playing the races.


Hmm..
if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail

There is certainly use for OO and for several other concepts (like NoSQL, functional programming, sql to name a few) in your or in any other application.. There are many things that you will implement completely different after you extend your knowledge to some of the many alternative programming paradigms that you resist to adopt..

Take as an example the topic of my response in this thread:

http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=117713&page=28&pp=10&highlight=mysql

and try to think about how you would solve the same problem in excel and compare it with the neatness and simplicity of the sql code as presented there.. This is a good example of the right tool for the job..

[raybo]

Hmm..
if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail

There is certainly use for OO and for several other concepts (like NoSQL, functional programming, sql to name a few) in your or in any other application.. There are many things that you will implement completely different after you extend your knowledge to some of the many alternative programming paradigms that you resist to adopt..

Take as an example the topic of my response in this thread:

http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=117713&page=28&pp=10&highlight=mysql

and try to think about how you would solve the same problem in excel and compare it with the neatness and simplicity of the sql code as presented there.. This is a good example of the right tool for the job..

Excel is hardly a "hammer", as evidenced by the many thousands of scientists and researchers and analysts who have used (and still use it) over the years.

I understand you're a programming guy, and constantly suggest that everyone go back to school and learn to program, but that is your thing, probably because you use that stuff in your real career so everyone else should do as you do. Some (many) of us simply have no need for that. I never used any software at all in my chosen career (custom woodworking/millwork), Excel simply suited my needs in racing and I have never used it for anything else, no training, no classes, just me and help files, and communications with other Excel users, and lots of trial and error. Sure I could spend years learning to program, if I wanted, but I don't, nor do I need to, at this advanced point in my life. By the time I learn enough of it to do even the most basic of tasks required for racing (if I could even learn that much in the first place), I could invest the same amount of time and energy making money with Excel.

Thanks but no thanks!

[TonyMLake]

Excel simply suited my needs in racing and I have never used it for anything else

Nothing wrong with that! Although I don't follow that path- many, MANY successful businesses agree with you, Raybo.

[KyRacer]

I also bought one of these. I plan on getting a bigger model later on, but considering I don't even have a smart phone, at this price it was a good way to get started in mobile computing. The fact that it could run regular Windows programs caught my interest.

I'm impressed so far, but will need to get stronger reading glasses. I downloaded Bris's PP Generator and installed it with no problem. Was able to load a file. Print is small but I do have the pp's on screen. I also downloaded and installed Bris's Multicaps program and got it to work. I use that program a lot so it's nice that it would work. I got Ray Taulbot's Pace program to work. I didn't try to install it, but zipped up the whole folder from my desk computer and sent it to cloud and downloaded and installed it from there. It's bigger and colored fonts made it look pretty good on the small screen. I'll try some other handicapping programs later. Uploading to the cloud might be a good way for Dick to move files from his computer to the HP Stream. I believe this device has Bluetooth. I order a USB Bluetooth dongle for $8 to put on my desktop computer and hope to be able to move files between them without cables. Found a lot of videos on youtube about moving files with Bluetooth.

I have a hard time opening some of the menus because of the small size, but getting better at it. I wonder if this will work with a stylus or pen type device? Also installed a few games for entertainment. I may add a portable keyboard later. It will be nice to have computer away from home. Overall I'm happy with my purchase.

[JustRalph]

I found the Bluetooth settings

Click the arrow next to the battery icon in the system tray.

Accessible from there

I'm thinking I might have to try a Bluetooth headset. I've got a couple laying around. Pair this with one of the many music services and it might make a hell of a decent music player depending on what you run it through

Still lots of possibilities.......still playing with it

Lists an accelerometer in device manager.......what apps might work with that? Not sure........