Eatup's Experiment Going Mobile

My current rig: C2D Dell laptop underclocked @ 1.0GHz, 2GB RAM (can't upgrade the RAM to 4GB on this model)

Backup system(s): Made-in-Japan laptop, Ivy Bridge desktop PC building myself.


So, I've actually sat down and calculated the cost of powering "my current rig" to be $75/yr. Suddenly, I came up with this brilliant idea: Instead of paying that $75/yr to the utilities company, why don't I use the money on a Windows tablet that sucks up a very green max 10W/hr (about $23/yr in electric consumption)? Assuming this tablet lasts me 2 years or more, the $150 I would have spent to use my laptop would be the same as owning the $100 tablet plus the $50 it would take to power it for 2 years...


Voila, here is the $100 dollar tablet I just bought off the web (Cube iWork8 Super Edition with Windows 8.1/Android dual boot):

http://www.cube-tablet.com/cube-iwork-8-2gb-32gb-tablet.html




So, basically, this thread will be about my use, or failure to use this tablet in place of my laptop that would cost the same bucks to power it as operating the tablet. (I'm essentially getting the tablet FREE this way...)


Some cautionary notes: I haven't actually received the tablet yet. It could possibly not be delivered to me for some unknown reasons and jinx the thread. Or, I may abandon the thread unexpectedly for reasons like device failure, etc.


Also, probably the only tablet (with Windows 8.1) I will ever touch. I absolute despise Windows 10 and will never use it. The only reason for me to get a new tablet in the future is if it comes in an easy-to-develop-apps-for OS, probably some future Chinese tablet OS (ecosystem)...

 

Why the iWorks8 Super Edition tablet rules:

TABLET:
2GB RAM
Quad core CPU @ 1.3GHz w TurboBoost up to 1.8GHz
Windows 8.1/Android dual boot
32GB eMMC drive + 16GB micro TF drive
mini-HDMI output

CURRENT LAPTOP:
2GB RAM
Dual core CPU *underclocked* to 1.0Ghz
Windows XP/7 dual boot
240GB HDD
VGA/S-Video output


So, there you have, the tablet is technically more powerful than my trusty Dell laptop...

 

(Btw, I spent a good few hours adding touch input capability codes to my personally developed .NET 4.5 app. I'm absolutely ready to put my laptop off-line for most of the time when the tablet arrives...)

 

Absolutely prepared to handle tablet problems (or so I think):

Ways, I'll revive a non-booting tablet, should it ever happen:

1. Hold down power + volume button for 10 secs

OR

2. Plug in charger, hold down power button while unplugging charger

OR

3. Actually open the back case (via YouTube how-to video), re-seat the lithium polymer battery inside to cause system to reset



And, oh yeah... I won't actually risk a malware infection on the tablet. Any sort of non-essential web surfing will be done either by booting into Android or a WindowsXP Hyper-V machine!

 

A glowing review about the Cube iWork8 tablet:

http://freaktab.com/forum/main-cate...s/25046-cube-iwork-8-dual-boot-edition-review

 

(... continued from above)

 

Why I'm all for tablets (and why I think even laptops will soon become obsolete):

Hey, I can even sit on the toilet and use the sucker! Can't do the same with me lappie... too much of a hassle.


Pics (not mine) of the iWork8 from the above review:







(This sweet sweet baby comes with a separate charger connector -- it means I can charge it and at the same time plug in a USB keyboard and use it the same as my laptop!)

 

^ Except the tablet is only capable of drawing 10W from the wall outlet, whereas my laptop would have drawn 65W on max load. (The difference in power consumption was used to justify the tablet's purchase...)

 

Compare Chuwi Vi10 with Windows 10 (BOOOOOOOOOOO!!)

It doesn't have a separate charger jack (the Cube iWork8 does), so I won't be able to use any USB device with it while charging [via the USB Type-C port]:

 

What a turd Windows 10 is. Even the iWork8 Ultimate edition that comes preloaded w Win10/Android doesn't have a separate charger jack, thankfully, b/c I will NEVER buy a computing product that can only run Win10...

 

I suppose it depends overwhelmingly on what you want to use the device for.

Have had a Nexus 7 tablet for a few years, and frankly, I hardly ever use it. Whenever I do, it has downloaded lots of updates that it wants to install, which probably takes 40 mins. Before it has finished, I will have completed the task on my desktop instead.

I would get rid of it, but hope it will find a use should I find a good buy on Ebay for a Roland UB1 Mark2 USB/MIDI interface. So far not seeing them less than £32 ( US$ 41.34 ) I use UB1 Mark1 on my desktop/laptops, and the newer device would allow me to play, from the tablet, MIDI files on my Yamaha keyboards: something which Microsoft OSs have made increasingly difficult to do.

I always seem to find that the computers get pressed into uses that I did not envisage when I put them together, such as programming micro controllers. So inter-connectivity is at a premium for me: something that desktop can usually accept an add-in to achieve.

Then again, the laptops only really see use if I want to work sitting up in bed: health not good, so that does happen.

 

Precisely why I opted for a Win 8.1 tablet: I can not only turn off updates and be done with them forever, but I can run Windows software on it too. And I'll wager it's the same with Win10, only there's a high chance the device won't function after the 40-minute update. I'd rather go to Linux or Android before I ever touch that turd called 10...

 

Thought about what would happen in a few years if I remove the battery from the tablet when it no longer charges. Answer I found:

Hehe. I'm so glad I bought the iWork8 Super Edition! It's a very rare thing for cheap tablets to come with a DC charging port:



(Image above: That's not a micro-USB charging cable, but one that connects directly to DC jack)


Just hope the AC adapter that comes with my tablet (yet to be delivered) is sufficient to power it without a battery. Of course, the eMMC drive has a limited life too and the tablet probably won't work after a few years b/c of this, but as a thought experiment...

 

Hahaha, nice job.
As I just saw in the replies: Windows 8.1 would be more stable for built PCs than Windows 10, and yeah, the updates are a pain to turn off since it just resets it.

Our school system is really slow on 10 yet it was fine on 8.1, but the computers were really old so eh :/ (they said vista capable on them, yet these windows 10 computers were new ones)

Btw nice high quality pics

 

OMFG, my Windows 8.1 tablet from eBay just arrived, with Windows 10 on it

Took a really weird path to get from China to North America. They had to send it via
Netherlands Post (b/c it contains a lithium polymer battery inside, which is a fire
hazard and requires special handling [ie. by Netherlands post])

Anyways, here are the things I've just discovered:

1. Has dedicated A/C charging port. I'm able to actually charge it while watching an
MKV video (most other tablets with micro USB charging will actually drain the
battery while plugged in doing this...)

2. Little sticker tab to help you peel off the protective screen cover is actually pretty useful
blocking the front cam (don't want Windows to spy on me)

3. Never turn on the Wi-Fi. The point of running this tablet is to avoid Win10 auto-updates
completely (see #4).

4. Tablet probably won't work if you try to force Windows 8.1 on it, the BIOS will only load
Windows 10's bootloader. To actually put Windows 8.1 on it, I had to tap into the hacker
within me: Using bcdedit, I was able to add a boot option for Windows 8.1. Next,
I'll link this boot option to a Win8.1 .vhd image for native booting (will try this later). Tablet
came with 13GB free on the Windows 10 partition. (I can probably fit Windows 8.1 into this
space). My micro TF 16GB card bought from eBay for <$10 will soon arrive. I hope Win10's
boot loader will allow me to 2nd boot from that drive as well. In the future, the eMMC drive
can't be over-written anymore, but everything can still be read (ie. the Windows 10 bootloader).
But, if Windows 10's bootloader will recognize the micro TF device for native booting, I'll be
able to swap out this part to extend the life of the tablet beyond the eMMC drive's limited
lifespan.

5. Thank God this version of Win10 still came with the old Control Panel. To save wear on the
eMMC drive, which has a very limited life, I used the old CP to turn off page file (virtual memory),
turn off defrag schedule, turn off sys recovery, turn off Windows Defender auto-scan.

6. If #4 works. After 2 years, I'll purchase another Win10 tablet (with better tech) and hack
Windows 8.1 onto it as a second boot option. Using/owning such tablets for 2 years will be the
same as paying the utilities company to power my laptop for 2 years...

7. Tablet maker was kind enough to include micro-USB to full USB adapter (why I was able to
watch an MKV video I put on my USB flash drive...)

 

Factory setting:

Power ON -> eMMC Win10 bootloader -> eMMC Drive -> Windows 10 OS (telemetry/spyware/auto-
updates/ect.)


My diabolical scheme:

Power ON -> eMMC Win10 bootloader (edit with Microsoft's built-in bcdedit) -> eMMC Drive OR
micro TF drive -> Windows 8.1 (with the factory installed Win10 left alone)


Basically, the Win10 bootloader is just a useless piece of code (boot menu GUI) that lets the user
pick which OS they want to run. Doesn't have all crap that actually load up with Win10 afterwards...

 

Oh, and btw, in East Asia, almost nobody uses a desktop/laptop save for in something like an animation studio. They're not very portable, are rather expensive, and use up crazy amounts of electricity. Most everyone in East Asia are on tablets nowadays...