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Unboxed: Dell Venue 8 Pro Windows 8.1 tablet

The Dell Venue 8 Pro is among the few Windows 8.1 tablets running a quad-core Intel Atom. This is one of several items we ordered on Amazon during Cyber Monday sale a couple of weeks ago. It finally arrive a couple of days ago and we immediately unboxed it.

The main selling point of the Venue 8 Pro is the promise of full productivity packaged in a small form-factor and with very good battery life, thanks to that Atom chip. Unlike Android or iOS tablets, the Venue 8 Pro comes with a full version of Windows 8.1 so you basically have access to all of the software and applications you’d normally use when using a laptop or netbook.

What’s inside the box? The tablet, a charger, USB cable, warranty card and the Windows 8 License (which contains the serial number so don’t loose it).

The tablet looks pretty simple — hard polycarbonate body, textured backside, bright HD display, and a 5MP rear camera. The power button is on the right side together with the volume controls and the micro USB port.

The left side is where the microSD card slot is located and on the top side, there’s a Windows home button and the 3.5mm audio port. The speaker is found at the bottom end.

The device feels light on the hands and is actually fairly thin and sleek. The over-all deisgn and look is a little similar to the first-gen Nexus 7 although the build quality is certainly much better with the Venue 8 Pro.

The tablet runs on the new Intel Atom Bay Trail with 2GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. Surprisingly, the system feels very snappy and responsive.

Dell Venue 8 Pro specs:
8.0-inch HD IPS display @ 1280×800 pixels, 189ppi
Intel Atom Z3740D Bay Trail 1.8GHz quad-core processor
Intel HD Graphics
2GB RAM
64GB internal flash drive storage
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
5MP rear camera
1.2MP front-facing camera
Windows 8.1

Dell claims the battery life can last up to 9.9 hours when watching movies. Although for the last 24 hours we’ve been using it, the battery does last very long, we doubt it’s close to the promised 10 hours (more on this on the full review).

There’s also an optional accessory, the Stylus Pen, that serves as a pointing device in lieu of a mouse. We’ll have to get that pen in a few weeks when we head to the US for CES.

We’ll also see if we can do some desktop gaming in this little tablet. For the meantime, we think it is best to have a Bluetooth keyboard paired with this when we’re doing some heavy writing or the like. Watch out for our full review in a week or two.

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

16 Responses

  1. Avatar for TotoyBrown TotoyBrown says:

    Which is better? This or Asus Transformee T100?

  2. Avatar for Barry Fliegelman Barry Fliegelman says:

    I AM IN IT TO WIN IT I WILL TAKE ONE AND GIVE UP MY APPLE I PAD MINI

  3. Avatar for jasonwilliams jasonwilliams says:

    You are surprised by the performance of bay trail? Wow.. fyi,, its comparable or even faster than the snapdragon800 cpu wise. It is almost equal to the old core2duo.

    Im using it, i got it from amazon last november for only 18k for 64gb – includes all tax and shipping here at ph.

    It is the best tablet imo, it got everything you want from a tablet. Its internet capability is awesome (dont use chrome its laggy), games are endless! From desktop version of angrybirds, plant vs zombies, fruit ninja (which are all touch friendly) to great games like left4dead, dota, civilization 5, and wolf among us – ofcourse you need a mouse.

    This tablet is just perfect. My battery info said it can last up to 8 hours with a heavy use – not bad, considering its better than nexus 7 2013.

    Did i mention it has a full office for free?

  4. Avatar for Mikealong Mikealong says:

    I guess this is the best alternative for Samsung Galaxy Note…I got one and its great so far…

  5. Avatar for meh meh says:

    Dell Venue 8 pro is a decent Windows 8.1 tablet

    but i would suggest waiting for the Asus Vivotab 8 early next year before making a decision

  6. Avatar for wildecox wildecox says:

    Was about to buy this in Amazon as an HTPC alternative, but alas, walang HDMI.

    Can you guys have a look how it plays 1080 vids and how it handles connection via chromecast? Thanks.

  7. Avatar for grammar nazi grammar nazi says:

    uh,

    “which contains the serial number so don’t loose it”
    loose = maluwag, lose = matalo/mawala

  8. Avatar for spbx spbx says:

    if does vivotab note 8 indded have wacom it’ll be miles better than the stylus here.
    the stylus this has is a synaptic one which need a battery for the pen to work

  9. Avatar for Mermo Mermo says:

    http://www.villman.com/Product-Detail/Dell_Venue8_Pro_32GB

  10. Avatar for lolwut lolwut says:

    I hope this gets released here in the Ph, and close to the price range in the US. I would really get one if it does. I may need this kind of device for simple Office apps, video lessons and note-taking.

  11. Avatar for Freeje Freeje says:

    I was looking for an alternative to the Note 8 and this was my first choice because it has support for a stylus and it can run Win 8 software. After reading a lot of negative reviews about the use of the stylus I settled for a Tegra Note 7 instead even if it’s not Windows based. Been using it mainly for note taking and it’s a very good alternative than the Note 8 with its proprietor Snote app. With Notes Anytime and it’s availability in all platforms, it’s a steal at $200. Quite good for gaming also.

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