Dell venue 8 pro

I am thinking about buying this. Any opinions?

murmur70,

I know this is quite some time since you posted this, but I wanted to give my opinion.  I wouldn't buy the Dell Venue 8 because it does not have a way to output to an external source.  It should have a mini-HDMI at the very least.  With an 8 inch screen, it is especially important to be able to display on an external monitor or a data projector.

There are at least a couple of 8 inch Windows 8 devices that have eschewed adding an HDMI port.  I am not sure why.  I have the Acer Iconia W-3 and it has a mini-HDMI port that I use with my data projector.

Of course, if that doesn't matter to you, then I think the Dell is as good as any I have seen in this category.  I remember numerous discussions about tablets with smaller screens and I thought people that wanted less screen real estate were crazy; now that I have one, I use it more than any other device simply because it is so convenient to always have with me.

I agree on all accounts Tim.  My NookHD is my most used device, simply because it's size is convenient!

Thanks Ed and Tim,

The lack of a video out is an issue but not a big issue that can't be worked around.  I have since moved on from wanting the dell.  Asus is coming out with a 8 inch windows 8.1 tablet with a Wacom digitizer and I am interested in now.  I haven't had the bet of luck with acer.  I even thought about a surface pro but after playing with one last night at Best Buy I decided that they are too big and heavy(that 4gb of ram is hard to say no to though).  I have the Samsung 7.7 Galaxy Tab which is just awesome even after two years and it is my go to device.  I do find myself missing a windows tab though.  I also just got the Note 3 which is just awesome.

It is good to hear from you.  I miss the old exopc days.

The EXOPC days were fun, but I can't believe I dedicated that much time to help moderate the board.  I do feel like the comradery was as good as I have ever felt in an online setting.  I appreciate Dreamcat setting up this forum, but I just haven't gotten into it yet the way I did with the EXOPC.  I will try to be a better citizen in the coming year and visit more than once a quarter.

It's tough to get excited when there's not a singular shiny new product for us all to focus on.

On the other hand, there's CES coming up in a week, and we may have a bunch of shiny new products to talk about.  

Alright, I went for it and bought the Dell Venue 8 Pro and keyboard. We'll see how it works out. Thanks for the input guys.

murmur70,

I will probably be coming to Bloomington at the end of February, first couple of days of March for a conference put on by BloomingFoods.  Maybe we coulld get together and compare 8" Windows tablets.  I have the Acer Iconia W3 and have had it since July.

Do you have a micro-USB to Female USB-A connector?  I had great difficulty finding one locally at any of the usual locations (Radio Shack, Best Buy, Office Depot (even though I bought the W3 through them), Staples, mobile phone stores, etc.).  I ended up having to order a couple through Amazon; it was specifically for a mobile phone that had an "On-The-Go" as its moniker. One possibility would be http://www.amazon.com/CNE13028-Female-Micro-On-The-Go-Adapter/dp/B005GI2VMG.  Without this adapter, you will not be able to use USB devices with your Dell Venue 8.  With the number of things that have micro-USB ports, you would think these would have greater availability.

Ya, that would be cool Tim.  I do have an on the go adapter I got for my cell phone that should work.  I can also get a miracast dongle to stream to an hdmi monitor for about $30.

There's a good selection for the adapter cables here as well: http://www.monoprice.com/Search/Index?keyword=usb+micro+male+female

Dreamcat wrote:There's a good selection for the adapter cables here as well: http://www.monoprice.com/Search/Index?keyword=usb+micro+male+female

Thanks DC. I should get it in the next couple of days and I want to have all my cordage in line.