I think that the options are:

• Viewsonic Viewpad 10
• Archos 9
• Acer W500 ICONIA
• Samsung 700T
• ASUS Transformer (not 100% sure Win8 will run?)
• RM Slate 100
• HP Slate 500 
• Wait 6 months

Can anyone please help me; what should I avoid and will any of the Windows 7 slates be ok for Windows 8 beta?

Thanks.

C

I was looking at the Series 7 but I think circa 1000 is a lot of money when we are expecting some exciting new hardware in the next 12 months.

My plan B was to spend a few hundred on something like a Archos 9 (or a RM Slate 100 or even the Inspiron Duo N550) just to get a feel for the touch OS and get a little bit of inspiration.

Does anyone have anything good/bad to say about these devices?

I might get an Arm tablet when Windows 8 launches, or I might wait for a Haswell version sometime next year. But I also will want to test out my apps that I plan on creating on a tablet long before Haswell devices come out.

http://websurfaces.co.uk/2011/09/28/installing-the-windows-8-developer-preview-on-a-dell-inspiron-duo/

Anyone have any idea if getting a tablet like that is a possibility for W8?

13 hours ago, PaoloM wrote

I'd suggest to wait 6 months

This is great advice but isn't it a bit like asking children to postpone Christmas a couple of weeks till the January sales are on?   Disclaimer:  I am still a child.

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/list/parentCategoryID.44066900/categoryID.54536100

The Eee Slate B121 is a good competitior to the Samsung

Scroll down a bit, there is a list of devices they've been using in the labs to test with.

I found most of the touch experience on the W500 good but not great as Win7 has many small area where my fat fingers just would not hit the mark properly.  Example is the upper right corner "X" to close a window.  if this was a full screen window, it would be right to the edge.

The Win8 experience is much better.  Things are laid out much better for most operations.  Many steps in the right direction.  Thumbs up on the Acer.

spec:

2048x1536 hybrid OLED & eInk-type display.

It could be a RGBE (RBG=OLED, E=monochrome e-ink dot) configuration. I think this is doable today if the Ipad 3 panel is.

I'm not a developer, just a very early adopter (on a budget because I'm a parent now) that worked in the computer business back in the 80's. Kids have ipads/ipods but they are toys. I've wanted a Samsung/Fujitsu/W500 (almost bought one for $549 at frys last time I was in LA but got a more practical X120e for $400 instead) but couldn't stomach the price or the wonky keyboard dock. Good thing I waited. I happen to be living in China now and found new factory sealed Viewpad10's with no OS's installed for about $200USD. Best $200 I ever spent!!! Cheaper than my CM7 running Nook Color! I'm tired of android -- good for phones and game playing. I also have cheapo chinese tablets running ice cream sandwich. Enough. These toys can't replace a laptop without huge sacrifices in functionality and it's delusional to think that they can. 

Typically, electronics and western branded things are WAY more expensive here than at home. e.g. 500GB Seagate GoFlex Satellites just became available at Newegg.cn and they want $350USD for them!?!?! 

Windows 8 Consumer works FAR better than I would have expected, and that's before I even cracked the thing open to UG the ram -- yes, with only 1GB ram and 16GB of SSD. I have a 32G C10 microsdhc in it for data and downloads. Sure, the screen could be better/higher res (you have to do the screen res hack because it is only 1024X600), but a $200 purchase gets by the CFO without a blink. Plus I found a nice custom case for $10USD. 

The news apps were a pleasant surprise. I hope more are developed (engadget please!!!), especially with downloaded content updates for offline reading. I loved Pulse on the ipad/android devices and Mosaic on the Touchpad is pretty good too, but nothing beats a real computer for subsequent research on real websites after finding a cool story in the newsreader app. I was dubious before trying, but I'm particularly enjoying the Metro interface - fast and easy app switching, pretty front end, miles ahead of iOS and android (I was an android fan up until now). MS may finally be back in the game and do something about their market share erosion.