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    May 15, 2014
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    September 25, 2016
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    May 15, 2014
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illiniwatcher's Reviews
 
Only at Best Buy Increase productivity with this powerful Insignia tablet. It has an 11.6-inch touch screen that provides high-definition viewing, and the 32GB of built-in storage help you manage documents, music files and applications. Snap photos and chat with others via video-conference applications with the rear-facing and front-facing cameras of this Insignia tablet.
 
Customer Rating
4 out of 5
4
A Decent Windows Tablet For Just $199
on September 25, 2016
Posted by: illiniwatcher
from Houston
The things that hooked me on this tablet were the full HD screen and the keyboard. Let me explain both:
When was the last time you saw a full HD (1920x1080 resolution) tablet for under $200? Let me save you the trouble – NOWHERE. Best Buy’s Insignia brand is the only product where you can get a crisp, sharp, bright HD in a Windows tablet for under $200. Samsung doesn’t have one. Apple certainly doesn’t have one.
The other thing that snagged me was the keyboard. If you’ve ever tried Bluetooth keyboards or folio keyboards, you’ve probably noticed that there’s something that comes up short in all of them. Maybe the Enter key is the same size as the letter keys so you’re constantly putting line breaks where you don’t want them. Or a Shift key has the same problem, it’s in a strange place with a strange size. With this particular unit, it’s a good, full-sized keyboard. The Enter key is large. The Shift keys are large. There are two Alt keys. And while it has one Ctrl key, you can download a free utility to map the pop-up menu key to act like a right-side Ctrl key.
As of September 2016, this Insignia tablet is new. Last year, Insignia rolled out an 8.9-inch full HD tablet for under $150 (at one point on sale for just $99). I was delighted with that tablet, its build quality and the screen – but it didn’t come with a matching keyboard. I got a third-party keyboard from Belkin to use with it. And its unusually long dimensions made it hard to find a tablet folio or sleeve. This new unit with its keyboard cover provides its own protection.
The back of the body is patterned so you won’t see fingerprint smudges – a smart design decision. The keyboard has a blue lamp to indicate power on, and a second lamp for Caps Lock – rare in tablet keyboards I’ve noticed. And the main tablet part detaches easily from the keyboard using a magnetic “POGO” (that’s what it’s called) connector that lets you pivot the screen to many different viewing angles – better than some other systems out there. If you like the idea of carrying around a 1.5-lb tablet with a gorgeous HD screen, here’s your system!
As nice as this unit is, though, there are some flaws – but remember, this is a $199 device – you don’t get to expect blue-chip features for just two C-notes. First, the internal storagen is skimpy – it only has 32 GB of on-board storage. You can augment the storage with the built-in micro SD slot (nice feature) or by using a USB jump drive with the two – TWO! - USB slots in the keyboard cover. (Side note: the USB slots are underpowered. I was surprised to plug in an external 2 TB USB drive but it would not recognize it – the USB slots just don’t put out enough power. You can use larger non-powered USB drives but not the kind self-powered by the USB jack itself.)
Another review said the keyboard felt cheap but I disagree – I think it feels plenty solid. Where I see cheapness is in the mouse pad. It seems a bit glitchy and if you have fat thumbs you may find your cursor has jumped somewhere unexpectedly. You can, of course, just use the touch screen to navigate – this is a touch-screen unit, after all – if you run into mouse issues. Or you can use a wired or Bluetooth mouse instead.
As I mentioned earlier this is a new unit to the Insignia line. New offerings sometimes have bugs and this one had a few. I got (and still get) a message warning about the sound level being turned up too high – research said this might be an Insignia issue to work out, so if they issue new drivers for the audio that may fix that. Another surprise had to do with the speaker – when I ran Netflix and tried playing a TV show there was no sound initially. I had to go to the Control Panel’s Device Manager and uninstall the audio device drivers, then reinstall them and update them. That took care of the issue. I, though, am knowledgeable about computers so I was able to resolve this matter myself – most users will either shlep the unit to Geek Squad or just return it (if they don’t have a tech-savvy friend, of course).
Be sure to note also that this Insignia tablet uses the new USB-C (compact) charger. So if you have a micro-USB power cord you’ve been using, forget that. You’ll need to use the special charger that comes with this unit and plan on USB-C going forward. USB-C, though, is a new emerging standard in powering computer peripherals, so don’t fret.
But the biggest thing that gave me pause about this unit was its weight. At just over 3 pounds, it was surprisingly hefty. At least the heft, though, suggests a solidly built unit that should be able to take some roughhousing. But if you’re longing for a Surface, this most definitely isn’t your system – a Surface comes in a full pound lighter.
Battery life is to be determined; I wrote this review the day I got the unit. Based on the Windows estimate and my experience with other systems, I would say that under normal use – some video, some typing, some surfing, you can expect 5 to 6 hours of battery life. It’s not going to thrill users wanting a full 8-hour day out of it, but it will last a while.
So, who is this system for, and who is it not for? It is certainly not for power users, that’s for sure. Folks accustomed to 4GB of RAM or more, a 256 GB hard drive, and 2-lb. Units will dislike this unit – and will need to look at units starting at $400 to get what they’re wanting. The limited hard drive space built in will prevent the installation of larger applications, particularly those from Microsoft (like Visual Studio, a major software development package).
I would say this system is for anyone wanting an entertainment device that can do light productivity and web surfing. High-definition video looks great on it, and graphics applications will be a joy to use – as long as they don’t suck up too much memory. High schoolers and maybe even some college students may find this device useful for assignments and homework – but NOT gaming, it has too little RAM and hard drive space to support more popular offerings. And, of course, anyone curious about Windows 10 but not wanting to spend loads will enjoy this system.
This Insignia tablet continues Insignia’s commitment to low-priced offerings that look great, perform great, and offer much bang for the buck. If they can just work out a few of the bugs in this new tablet, they’ll have another winner for most users. And if its price drops it may become an even better buy, snap it up.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+18points
33of 48voted this as helpful.
 
Learn more about the New WindowsThis Asus X200MA-RCLT07 laptop's 11.6" touch screen simplifies content navigation and presents media in vibrant high-definition. The Intel® Celeron® processor delivers reliability for everyday mobile computing.
 
Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
Lightweight, Touch Screen, a Great Deal
on May 15, 2014
Posted by: illiniwatcher
from Houston
This is a terrific little laptop/netbook! I had previously bought an Acer at Best Buy (model V5-P122-0869) which was similar and close in price at $250, but dumped that to get this not quite a month later. This is a far better system! It comes with Windows 8.1, the latest version, has a nice touch screen, a keyboard that feels decent for a smaller unit like this, and a beautiful color screen. At 3 to 4 pounds, you can hold it in one hand particularly with the back end shaped the way it is (it flares out). It has an HDMI out jack which you can hitch up to a large-screen TV, a mic jack, an SD card slot, and three USB ports (one USB 3.0, two USB 2.0). Battery life on units in this class usually doesn't satisfy everyone, but I've been pleased with it so far. The lack of a CD/DVD burner built in is not an issue, either - just buy an external USB-powered unit and you're good to go. Thankfully there's far less bloatware than on the similar Acer unit. Finally, Asus makes good hardware - I have a larger Asus that's never given me any problems. This is a fun little laptop/netbook and at under $300 before tax, it's a great deal!
What's great about it: Lightweight, touch screen, HDMI port, three USB ports
What's not so great: Screen could open flatter, back end too fat for some sleeves
I would recommend this to a friend!
Display
5 out of 5
5
Performance
5 out of 5
5
+13points
13of 13voted this as helpful.
 
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illiniwatcher's Answers
 

Can you use a laptop for graphics? Photoshop/illustrator/etc.?

Sure! It just depends on how complex the graphics you're going to design are. The larger the file, the longer it will take to process. The more special effects, layers, etc., the longer it will take to process. The issue with smaller laptops isn't necessarily that they can't be used to produce graphics, it's the efficiency - the speed which it takes to render something. Larger laptops with more RAM (6 GB or more) or better graphics support have no problems with graphics. Smaller ones (under $300) will be slower.

Take a look at the version of the graphics package (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.) to see the minimum requirements then compare with your own laptop. If your laptop appears to exceed the requirements, you can be comfortable running the graphics software. Still not sure? Go to the manufacturer's web site, download a free trial of the software, install it, and play around with it. Many offer 30-day trials to let you make up your mind.
9 years, 10 months ago
by
illiniwatcher
   Houston
 
Learn more about the New WindowsThis Asus X200MA-RCLT07 laptop's 11.6" touch screen simplifies content navigation and presents media in vibrant high-definition. The Intel® Celeron® processor delivers reliability for everyday mobile computing.
 

Return policy

What is the return policy on this Asus laptop?
Should be 14 days, with all original packaging, components, and in the same clean, sellable condition in which you purchased it.
9 years, 10 months ago
by
illiniwatcher
   Houston
 
Learn more about the New WindowsThis Asus X200MA-RCLT07 laptop's 11.6" touch screen simplifies content navigation and presents media in vibrant high-definition. The Intel® Celeron® processor delivers reliability for everyday mobile computing.
 

does this laptop have good framerates?

Hi im looking for a good cheap laptop that I could play video games on like minecraft etc. And would this be a good laptop for framerates?
I would not say this class of computer is suitable for graphic-intensive gaming. While the 1.8-GHz processor is faster than other sub-$300 notebooks, I think most gamers aren't going to be satisfied with the lower-end chips. For casual gamers playing Windows 8 Store games like Solitaire or Sudoku, this machine is more than enough, but first-person shooter games will probably drop frames. You can always get one, try it out, and if it's not fast enough, return it within 14 days to a Best Buy to find out for sure!
9 years, 10 months ago
by
illiniwatcher
   Houston