[Elect] Microsoft Store - Asus VivoTab RT $399

[raul7]

Thanks to everyone for letting me know of the deal, unfortunately i am going to return the product today, I really love the UI and overall its a great tablet, but lack of apps is a HUGE problem, no chrome, no youtube, no facebook, I think i am going to get the Galaxy Note 10.1.

[51s]

Thanks to everyone for letting me know of the deal, unfortunately i am going to return the product today, I really love the UI and overall its a great tablet, but lack of apps is a HUGE problem, no chrome, no youtube, no facebook, I think i am going to get the Galaxy Note 10.1.

Is Internet Explorer really that bad where you need Chrome and can't even get on Youtube or Facebook?

[raul7]

Is Internet Explorer really that bad where you need Chrome and can't even get on Youtube or Facebook?

no not at all, IE is OK but let me ask you this, is Windows RT that good that i should sacrifice all the apps ? i got the Galaxy on sale for same price 399, and all the apps, if Asus was 299, you can be sure i would keep it but not when i can get another device with all the apps i need for the same price !

[netmind]

I'm surprised this deal was not more popular. The vivotab rt is a pretty nice of hardware - latest specs and loaded up with microsd, micro hdmi, and usb. And you get the keyboard dock - all for 399. The apps are light right now for sure but considering what is at stake for MS, they can't afford to lose on tablet OS. I think they will carve out their share of the market and have a sustainable ecosystem. If there was any company able to be the 3rd player it would be them. I'm will to live without the variety of casual apps temporarily in exchange for MS office and productivity with the kb.

I bought mine from BB (price matched) and am still waiting on the kb dock though. I registered for it on the 24th and it still says my "application has been submitted". Can everyone has recieved theirs post letting us know when you registered and where you bought from (ie MS store or otherwise).

[chimp]

If you look at the pipeline of what Intel is in store(i.e. what will Surface Pro class machine be like), you may no longer see this as a deal, especially one needs to 'wait' till there are more metro apps for RT.

Even Apple is feeling the heat, their iPad 3+cell is on sale at future shop.

[netmind]

If you look at the pipeline of what Intel is in store(i.e. what will Surface Pro class machine be like), you may no longer see this as a deal, especially one needs to 'wait' till there are more metro apps for RT.

Even Apple is feeling the heat, their iPad 3+cell is on sale at future shop.

Its all speculation & matter of opinion right now - we'll have to see how good the new intel stuff is and at what price. It's an easy bet to say you'll get more for less later - that's always going to be the case. Everyone just has to make a their own decision on the time value of $$. The current near term Pro tablets are too expensive for me. My cut off is $500 for a tablet (including kb) - to each their own. I don't expect to see a Pro version of a surface for sub $600 which includes kb in near term - hence this is deal for me. Don't forget the Pro version does not come with office - you pay extra for that. Based on what is out there now, this the best deal for a tablet+kb imo.

I've owned an android tablet for a while now and I can say the windows metro is better than android for user experience. And I'm no MS fanboy. As long as they get some more decent video/movie apps, I'm good. I just need movies + office + browser. Btw the Metro version of Netflix is imo the best version so far of all their platforms.

[chimp]

Of course everyone has to make their own decision and it is just an opinion :-)

Did I quote the 'wait' ? If this thing meets today's requirement(say 70%), the wait is a bonus. If it will be the 'wait' that makes this thing useful, I would not put money into it. And just in case, this is just my OPINION, hope we don't end up needing a lawyer before saying anything here :-)

[82]

My dream machine is the Surface Pro with soft keyboard cover at $400 :-P

Its all speculation & matter of opinion right now - we'll have to see how good the new intel stuff is and at what price. It's an easy bet to say you'll get more for less later - that's always going to be the case. Everyone just has to make a their own decision on the time value of $$. The current near term Pro tablets are too expensive for me. My cut off is $500 for a tablet (including kb) - to each their own. I don't expect to see a Pro version of a surface for sub $600 which includes kb in near term - hence this is deal for me. Don't forget the Pro version does not come with office - you pay extra for that. Based on what is out there now, this the best deal for a tablet+kb imo.

I've owned an android tablet for a while now and I can say the windows metro is better than android for user experience. And I'm no MS fanboy. As long as they get some more decent video/movie apps, I'm good. I just need movies + office + browser. Btw the Metro version of Netflix is imo the best version so far of all their platforms.

[netmind]

Of course everyone has to make their own decision and it is just an opinion :-)

Did I quote the 'wait' ? If this thing meets today's requirement(say 70%), the wait is a bonus. If it will be the 'wait' that makes this thing useful, I would not put money into it. And just in case, this is just my OPINION, hope we don't end up needing a lawyer before saying anything here :-)

A tad touchy eh? Don't know if you took my response to be a flame but it wasn't intended as such ... but then again your posts have attracted mucho heat. lol

[chimp]

My dream machine is the Surface Pro with soft keyboard cover at $400 :-P

I don't mind paying for 1000 if it has a Haswell inside :-)

[chimp]

A tad touchy eh? Don't know if you took my response to be a flame but it wasn't intended as such ... but then again your posts have attracted mucho heat. lol

yup, they do touch some people's nerve LOL

[raul7]

User Interface IN MY OPINION Windows RT wins the game hands down, but unfortunately it ends there (for me), I see no advantage going windows vs Android, In my opnion, if MS wants to win this war, and considering they are very late , they should offer the devices VERY CHEAP, to gain market share, and pump loads of money into making apps, as a consumer for me to pay the same amount of money and get less makes no sense ! just for better UI ?

[RenegadeX]

am still waiting on the kb dock though. I registered for it on the 24th and it still says my "application has been submitted". Can everyone has recieved theirs post letting us know when you registered and where you bought from (ie MS store or otherwise).

Bought mine from the Microsoft store on the 23rd, registered on the 24th, received it today from FedEx - and am typing on it now. Me happy!

[rhorvath]

Bought mine from the Microsoft store on the 23rd, registered on the 24th, received it today from FedEx - and am typing on it now. Me happy!

Bought mine October 29 at Futureshop Kitchener, registered on November 1 .... Asus in Fremont, California sent me an email telling me they have run short on packing materials on Wednesday ... no lie! The emails back and forth are becoming unbelievable!!! Futureshop.ca and Futureshop Kitchener are of no help at all!

[RenegadeX]

Bought mine October 29 at Futureshop Kitchener, registered on November 1 .... Asus in Fremont, California sent me an email telling me they have run short on packing materials on Wednesday ... no lie! The emails back and forth are becoming unbelievable!!! Futureshop.ca and Futureshop Kitchener are of no help at all!

Ouch, that is brutal.

I saw the following posted on Dec 7th by an ASUS America employee over on a site called 'TransformerForums.com' [link]

[snip]
The docks have begun to ship out last week, so if you have already registered, please be patient, and they will get to you in the order that it was processed.
[snip]

As you know, that doesn't seem to have actually been the case. And FYI: 'ecaps', who posted in this very RFD thread, says in his/her BST thread that the RT currently being offered for sale was purchased at FS on Dec 22nd - and that the KB dock arrived on Jan 4th - so it seems that KB dock requests for some recent FS purchases *have* been fulfilled. I have a theory that explains why this was so...

The TransformerForum thread mentioned above was started in early November by someone who had purchased their Vivotab RT from a Best Buy in the USA and who had at that time been having problems registering for the KB dock online. When the ASUS employee first showed up a month later, he/she wrote in the same post as above:

If you purchased your dock from Best Buy, you are not eligible for the free dock through us. Best Buy is supplying the dock on their own. If you purchased one from Best Buy, the serial number will not be able to register for the dock, the site knows this and will restrict you from ordering."

Based on the fact that some American BB customers did not receive their KB dock at the time of purchase, it seems a miscommunication and/or supply issue was to blame. And as Future Shop is a division of/subsidiary of Best Buy, it doesn't seem too far-fetched to think that the manufacturer's agreement with BB might apply to FS also. As the online application form apparently didn't reject serial #s of RTs purchased at FS, the problem was compounded.

Put that all together and it looks like FS-based KB dock requests like yours were manually flagged and put into limbo while ASUS figured out how best to proceed. Meanwhile, they continued to ship KB docks for people like myself, who purchased an RT elsewhere. Why it took them so long to come to a decision (or to act on it) to get these 'problem' orders shipped, I can't begin to imagine, but whatever the case, it appears that subsequent new requests (such as the one by 'ecaps' that I mentioned above) were automatically green-lighted while the existing list of 'problem' orders had to be manually re-processed. And by the time they got to doing so/doing yours this past week, they'd legitimately run out of padded shipping boxes.