It wasn’t that long ago that 8-inch Windows tablets were rare. In fact, prior to Windows 8 and its by-design touch capabilities, the few Windows tablets available in any form were inconsistent in terms of comfort and usability—and compact models just didn’t exist. (We consider tablets with screens 9 inches and under “compact” models, and between 9 and 11 inches “full-size” slates.)
In mid-2013, Acer was the first out of the 8-inch gate with its lukewarm Iconia W3 (soon to be supplanted by the Iconia W4, shown at CES 2014), and a few other major tablet makers have followed suit. Among them are Dell, with its recent release of the Venue 8 Pro, and Lenovo, with its $299-MSRP Miix 2 8, the subject of this review.
In many ways, the Miix 2 8 reminds us of the full-size (10.1-inch) Miix 10 tablet we looked at back in November of last year. However, in our tests, thanks to a much more powerful Intel Atom CPU (a member of the chip maker’s new “Bay Trail” family), this compact Miix ran circles around slates running on previous (“Clover Trail”) iterations of the Atom chip. (We’ll talk more about processors and benchmarks in the Performance section later on.)
Meanwhile, though: Yes, the latest Atom chip in this Miix (the 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z3740) is much faster. But there’s a caveat: The Miix 2 8 (and all other Windows slates built around that CPU, for that matter), still can’t execute 64-bit applications and are precluded from accessing more than 4GB of RAM. Because of that, these tablets typically ship with 2GB. Programs like Photoshop, for example, require more memory than that to execute most processes successfully.
According to Intel, 64-bit Bay Trail chips won’t be available until early 2014 (i.e., soon). So where does that leave this last round of tablets built around this Atom processor? As our charts in the Performance section attest, this Bay Trail chip is certainly faster than the “Clover Trail†Atoms we saw in a few tablets, but, alas, it still has most of the same shortcomings we discussed in our review of the Miix 10. According to several reports, support for 64-bit processing—in both Windows 8.1 and Android 4.4—on Atom processors should happen early this year. However, since you can’t update the RAM in this or most tablets, the point is somewhat moot. What you buy now is what you get.
You can buy the Miix 2 8 with either 32GB or 64GB of storage, for $299 or $339, respectively. This Miix is light, thin, and attractive—not to mention well-built and durable. Beyond the restrictions placed on it by virtue of its processor, it’s not a bad little tablet, especially considering it sells for under $300. The fact that it’s a full-Windows slate at that price and comes with a full license for the Home & Student version of the Office suite makes it an even better value.
Plus, you can accessorize this tablet pretty cheaply. For an additional $20, you can pick up Lenovo’s optional “smart” cover, which also comes with a stylus. The cover protects the tablet, of course, and it also lets you position the Miix 2 8 upright for video viewing or screen sharing…
Unlike the optional cover for the Miix 10, however, this one does not include a physical keyboard. (Our review unit did not come with the cover and stylus, so we weren’t able to review them.)
Overall, the Miix 2 8 felt good in our hands, performed reasonably well, and delivered decent battery life. Our primary concern? Bay Trail may support 64-bit code before too long, and that might be worth waiting for. Otherwise, this tab is a solid buy.
Read entire review at Computer Shopper.