With Windows 8, Microsoft has added a touch-first tablet interface, along with a new applications programming interface (WinRT) and a new app distribution system, the Windows Store. The XP-based Tablet wasn't a success partly because there were no tablet apps: you just ran normal Windows programs, but controlled them with a pen (stylus) instead of your fingers. Indeed, it was also the idea behind tablets running Windows XP Tablet PC edition, launched with a fanfare at Comdex in 2001. This is the sort of scenario for which Microsoft designed Windows 8 and made its own PC, the Microsoft Surface Pro.

I have an Android smartphone and would like to use Evernote etc on the tablet too, but I assume that the major app developers will be making versions of the most popular apps that also work in Windows.

Which is most suitable for this kind of usage?įrom a work perspective, I fear the possible restrictions and compatibility problems that could arise if I go for anything other than Windows. I could then live without a laptop or desktop. I have been imagining my ideal setup computer-wise, and think it would be just a tablet (one with a case that doubles as a keyboard), which I could carry around easily when necessary and then connect to a larger monitor, keyboard and mouse, and external storage when I am working at home. I work from home and also travel frequently on business.

Windows 8 tablet computer